England v Malta

[TheGunnShow 5,985]

43 minutes ago, king canary said:

This is obviously the big challenge of international football- you can't just bring in guys who suit your system.

I think there are a fair few fans who seem to believe he should be able to put Foden, Maddison, Saka, Bellingham, Grealish and Kane on the pitch at once. 

Yeah, but those fans are so ****ing dense they probably think Al-Gebra is an Islamic terrorist group, so their opinions aren't worth the steam off their p*ss.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

I am firmly in the camp of England football is just the holiday from club football. Too much importance is placed on it. We have so many different tournaments that it doesn't take anybody long to reach 50 caps. In fact, its almost just a marketing tool. I watch England games hoping we will see some real entertaining stuff but it is few and far between.

The same old mantra comes out. Well, we qualified and that is the main aim. Get to the tournament is paramount. Then in the tournament its you don't want to lose your first game as the pressure mounts. Getting out of the group is the most important.

Then we hear there aren't that many good players and we do well to get where we are. Yet we have Kane, Bellingham, Foden, Saka, Rice, Maddison, Stones, Walker, Sterling, Rashford who on form are as good as any.

[Ken Hairy 3,779]

4 hours ago, king canary said:

You realise this is just unhinged right?

You don't want to see England win a major international tournament because you don't think the manager deserves it? 

Bizarre. 

Not unhinged just the levels of boredom I find watching Southgate football. He's a terrible manager who makes Dean Smith seem exciting.

[Ken Hairy 3,779]

3 hours ago, Robert N. LiM said:

The contortions people will get into on the internet to avoid saying 'Fair play, I was wrong' are just astonishing. Rare to see it in such neon clarity, though.

How can I be wrong on the opinion Southgate bores the living **** out of me so much that I'm no longer bothered what happens next summer and I'd rather a more positive coach get the rewards of ending the run?

If he wins in fair play, I'll still want him gone though 

[king canary 7,654]

3 hours ago, Ken Hairy said:

Not unhinged just the levels of boredom I find watching Southgate football. He's a terrible manager who makes Dean Smith seem exciting.

But surely by definition if he becomes only the second manager to lead us to a major trophy then he isn't a terrible manager? I don't get it at all. The rest of the country celebrating while you sit, arms folded, muttering about how much you dislike Southgate is unhinged behaviour. 

[hogesar 9,722]

No way 😅😅😅😅😅

[TheGunnShow 5,985]

The whole left flank is a problem. Not much in terms of left-backs, and the attacking midfielders on that side aren't great at providing defensive coverage.

[shefcanary 2,444]

3 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

Agreed.

I didn't watch the match live. (Was watching Scotland u2s beat Belgium 0:2)

I did watch the match later, though.

Take away the OG and it was 1:0.

The starting XI was crazy. A center back at left back. A right back in midfield. Rashford is void of confidence

But It's systematic of the problems facing Southgate (and his successor). He has to reply on a much maligned Harry Maguire simply because there are no better alternatives.

The main issue is in midfield. Anyone who denies it just isn't living on this planet.

England don't have a deep lying playmaker. They don't have a midfielder who has the ability to control the tempo. Rice is a good anchorman he he doesn't have the passing ability to dictate tempo.

Harry Kane's heatmap summed it up. He spent most of his time either side of midfield. He's forced to do that as he doesn't receive service.

Gallagher is a number 10. Henderson is on his last legs. Trent isn't a midfielder.

For me, Gareth Southgate is performing miracles. Reaching the previous European Championships was an averachievement.

England will beat the majority of teams, but their lack of a deep lying playmaker will expose them when they come up against teams like France, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Argentina, etc, in later stages of tournaments

Southgate should be applauded.

I have a feeling that he'll only be appreciated when he's gone. His successor has a big job on his hands.

Things will get worse judging by the percentage of foreigners in the EPL.

--

England: £434.70m -  Ranked 4 

Malta: £8.4m - Ranked 171

Just goes to show his ridiculously inflated the EPL is and English players are.

I heard Gilmour would probably walk into this England side. 😉

[Terminally Yellow 2,477]

11 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

There's also no obvious candidate to replace Harry Kane.

It should've been Mason Greenwood. He's the most natural finisher I've seen since Fowler and the most powerful since Shearer.

No chance of that now.

Not for me, Jeff. Greenwood lacked the work rate that would have seen him become anything close to Kane. 

Suspect Ollie Watkins is the next best option. Maybe see how Ivan Toney is after his suspension too. 

[Midlands Yellow 4,044]

17 hours ago, Ken Hairy said:

How can I be wrong on the opinion Southgate bores the living **** out of me so much that I'm no longer bothered what happens next summer and I'd rather a more positive coach get the rewards of ending the run?

If he wins in fair play, I'll still want him gone though 

Fully agree, caution has already cost him. England had everything put on a plate for them in the last Euros, (every match bar one on home soil) one up in that final in minutes just like the WC semi v Croatia and its then 80 odd minutes of protect what we have. Not many club fans would want Southgate as their head coach. 

[Capt. Pants 4,274]

Different type of manager for international. Successful club managers steer well clear of it likewise international managers are seldom any good in a club set up.

[hogesar 9,722]

10 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

Fixed it for you.

Despite being absolutely dominated by a Kalvin Phillips who'd had no league match time under his belt. 

Despite being completely anonymous against England's midfield.

Despite making Brighton worse and negatively impacting their form the more he plays.

[Justin time 182]

17 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

Agreed.

I didn't watch the match live. (Was watching Scotland u2s beat Belgium 0:2)

I did watch the match later, though.

Take away the OG and it was 1:0.

The starting XI was crazy. A center back at left back. A right back in midfield. Rashford is void of confidence

But It's systematic of the problems facing Southgate (and his successor). He has to reply on a much maligned Harry Maguire simply because there are no better alternatives.

The main issue is in midfield. Anyone who denies it just isn't living on this planet.

England don't have a deep lying playmaker. They don't have a midfielder who has the ability to control the tempo. Rice is a good anchorman he he doesn't have the passing ability to dictate tempo.

Harry Kane's heatmap summed it up. He spent most of his time either side of midfield. He's forced to do that as he doesn't receive service.

Gallagher is a number 10. Henderson is on his last legs. Trent isn't a midfielder.

For me, Gareth Southgate is performing miracles. Reaching the previous European Championships was an averachievement.

England will beat the majority of teams, but their lack of a deep lying playmaker will expose them when they come up against teams like France, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Argentina, etc, in later stages of tournaments

Southgate should be applauded.

I have a feeling that he'll only be appreciated when he's gone. His successor has a big job on his hands.

Things will get worse judging by the percentage of foreigners in the EPL.

--

England: £434.70m -  Ranked 4 

Malta: £8.4m - Ranked 171

Just goes to show his ridiculously inflated the EPL is and English players are.

I bet that under 2s match was great! Made it look like kids stuff.

[Samwam27 532]

Like how we scraped a 2-0 win over Malta, and France manage a 14-0 win over Gibraltar 🤣

[king canary 7,654]

10 hours ago, Samwam27 said:

Like how we scraped a 2-0 win over Malta, and France manage a 14-0 win over Gibraltar 🤣

France beat them only 3-0 a few months ago.

Running up scores against minnows is meaningless. 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,778]

11 hours ago, Samwam27 said:

Like how we scraped a 2-0 win over Malta, and France manage a 14-0 win over Gibraltar 🤣

To be fair I get the feeling most top ten international sides playing against a 10 man Gibraltar side for 80 minutes would hit cricket scores

[hogesar 9,722]

37 minutes ago, king canary said:

France beat them only 3-0 a few months ago.

Running up scores against minnows is meaningless. 

Yep, and we've been the, or one of, top scorers in most recent qualifications for Euros / World Cup, if we want to have that pointless debate which, as you say is pretty meaningless.