UEFA Euro 2024 Warm Ups & Friendlies ** spoilers ** [3rd - 11th June 2024]

How we missing bringing Grealish on last night, considering he got an assist and was fully involved in the third goal against Bosnia. Think Northfence is going to rue leaving him and Braithwaite out. Hell, I'd have probably taken McGuire over an injured Dunk too. Stones and McGuire have so much experience playing together, even though McGuire ain't the best, he's always been fairly good for England.

I'll be amazed if England get to the semi's, never mind win the euros. At least we know that Northfence will no longer be the coach after this tournament and we can get a different manager with more experience and an attacking mindset.
Colonel_Klinck said:
Southgate is a fraud! Thank god we are counting down the matches to him leaving. Imagine what a top class manager could do with this squad. Everything about that was disgraceful.
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How he lost us that Euro final will haunt England forever tbh. That was the best chance we'll ever have for a long time to win something again.
 
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I wouldn't worry about friendlies at all. We've had times where we've had good wins and then go on to flunk at tournaments.

We need to take on the attitude of the Germans. Sometimes scramble your way along until the back end of a tournament then blow teams away.

Wonder if we could entice Klopp to the job, now that I would get behind :)
 
adidan said:
I wouldn't worry about friendlies at all. We've had times where we've had good wins and then go on to flunk at tournaments.

We need to take on the attitude of the Germans. Sometimes scramble your way along until the back end of a tournament then blow teams away.

Wonder if we could entice Klopp to the job, now that I would get behind :)
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I am sure this is another of Gareth's "strategies". Let's be honest, he's got lucky.
 
Colonel_Klinck said:
The manager is overrated. He is Championship level at best. Every time he comes up against a team with similar talent and a better manager we lose. Put a top class manager in charge and this squad could really do something. There are winners throughout the squad.
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This is the thing I am still to understand about why people think Southgate is good.

The only time we need remotely well was with a VERY lucky selection of teams in Euro 2020 and then when we came up against a genuinely decent team we lost.

It seems to me that anyone would have done as well as Southgate. I cannot see what he actually does.
 
Silly Goose On The Loose said:
The only time we need remotely well was with a VERY lucky selection of teams in Euro 2020 and then when we came up against a genuinely decent team we lost.

It seems to me that anyone would have done as well as Southgate. I cannot see what he actually does.
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It was nice to beat Germany, who knows how we would have fared against the Dutch but the Czechs knocked them out before we beat Denmark who had subsequently knocked them out.

You can only play against who you face. France went out to Switzerland and the Dutch to the Czechs which was a 'lucky' selection' for them.
 
adidan said:
It was nice to beat Germany, who knows how we would have fared against the Dutch but the Czechs knocked them out before we beat Denmark who had subsequently knocked them out.

You can only play against who you face. France went out to Switzerland and the Dutch to the Czechs which was a 'lucky' selection' for them.
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That's a fair point but we've lost to other good teams. I just don't put our ability down to anything Southgate does.
 
Silly Goose On The Loose said:
That's a fair point but we've lost to other good teams. I just don't put our ability down to anything Southgate does.
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That's a fair point too, although I think with some of the players we've had over the years we've underperformed too often when it counts under various managers.

National teams are a double edged sword for a manager though I think.

Now if we could attract a Klopp or a Pep, that would certainly jumble things up a bit. Create the best team, not necessarily just use the 'best' players and hoik them off if they're not doing the job.
 
adidan said:
That's a fair point too, although I think with some of the players we've had over the years we've underperformed too often when it counts under various managers.

National teams are a double edged sword for a manager though I think.

Now if we could attract a Klopp or a Pep, that would certainly jumble things up a bit. Create the best team, not necessarily just use the 'best' players and hoik them off if they're not doing the job.
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The players have certainly underperformed, I couldn't agree more. But some have also underperformed with Southgate. Southgate has his favourites (i.e. Kane) and the rest of the team play around him.

My problem with Southgate has always been that he cannot adapt. We play the same way against every team and when it works it works but we get found out (as France proved) and then we lose.

My point is not that Southgate hasn't done well, it's that I think any vaguely competent manager would have done well, I don't think it's anything special he's done. Personally I credit him more with turning the team away from "lads lads lads" and more into a respectful voice and representative of the UK but not to sound coy, that's slightly irrelevant if we don't actually win anything. I think he has got immensely lucky and this tournament will see the scales drop from the eyes of people quickly.

I don't really see many good options to replace him, any ideas?
 
Silly Goose On The Loose said:
I don't really see many good options to replace him, any ideas?
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It's hard to say, how do you attract good available managers to an international post?

It's why I mentioned Klopp, he's the only decent available manager I could think of who would readily give new blood a go, adapt tactics, hoik off 'names' if they're not doing a job and with a pedigree.

But, yes, I agree one of the key things Southgate has done is broken up the cliquey lads crap.
 
I would question why Southgate has this great team of great talent but we lose against good teams. On paper we should be at least matched with some of them.

I think he's done well because of how good the players are, not because of how good he is at management. His tactics are score early and then don't concede. But that rarely works.
 
Bassmansam said:
What does a “good” manager do? I don’t get it and i’ve been following football for years. Surely its 99% about the quality of player?
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The manager dictates who plays, where they play, how they play, what style of football the team plays, when to make subs to change the game, when to change formation. Adapts based on the opposition and players he has. There is a reason the top managers are so in demand and paid so well and there is a reason teams go through managers so quickly. If the manager didn't make much difference they wouldn't be paid well or sacked so often.
 
Silly Goose On The Loose said:
I would question why Southgate has this great team of great talent but we lose against good teams. On paper we should be at least matched with some of them.

I think he's done well because of how good the players are, not because of how good he is at management. His tactics are score early and then don't concede. But that rarely works.
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I say the same thing about Guardiola and people look at me like i'm crazy.
 
fez said:
The manager dictates who plays, where they play, how they play, what style of football the team plays, when to make subs to change the game, when to change formation. Adapts based on the opposition and players he has. There is a reason the top managers are so in demand and paid so well and there is a reason teams go through managers so quickly. If the manager didn't make much difference they wouldn't be paid well or sacked so often.
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they aren't paid anywhere near as much as the top players, that tells me a lot.
 
Bassmansam said:
they aren't paid anywhere near as much as the top players, that tells me a lot.
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They very much are. Guardiola is on ~£380k/week, Klopp was on ~£300k/week. Simeone is supposedly on a ridiculous wage of something like £500k/week+.

Thats ignoring the fact that players can have their career ended at any point and are likely to be past it in their early/mid 30s whereas managers could work for 30+ years easily.
 
CR7 notched up his 129th and 130th international goal in the 3-0 defeat of Ireland. Crazy really. Looking forward to seeing what the Portugese can do in this tournament.
 
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