Woodgate to Southgate…

People have short memories as to how bad England were pre Southgate. A team of galacticos that collectively looked as though they preferred to be at the clubs rather than England and showed a lack of team unity.

Southgate was sensational in sweeping all that culture away, bringing in the youngsters, forging bridges with media and making the fans proud of their country side once again. Few men would have done that.

However, with this new platform I don’t see
Southgate as the man to take us to the next stage. Not his fault. Honourable and very likeable man but we have lost our way with holding midfielders: we are not an exciting team that plays to our strengths instead of shoring up the defence. Fans want us to go for it against the Scots and Germans rather than be worried about letting goals in.
 
I like Southgate. He's a nice man. That's good enough for me. That alone gives me a reason to hope England do well. My liking of him counterbalances my indifference towards the players and contempt towards the England fans.

I hope they give him a new 10 year contract.
 
MB1980 said:
Semi finals are a decent achievement, but like you say, we had a fortunate route, like we re probably will never have again.

Usually meet one of stronger nations before that, but we avoided them somehow.

Croatia were decent, but really nothing special, and they looked better than us most of the game.
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First two paragraphs I agree, but we were definitely the better team first half in the semi, but couldn't get the second goal that would have seen us in the final.

Only someone biased or with a point to try and prove would claim otherwise.
 
DW313 said:
I like Southgate. He's a nice man. That's good enough for me. That alone gives me a reason to hope England do well. My liking of him counterbalances my indifference towards the players and contempt towards the England fans.

I hope they give him a new 10 year contract.
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But surely your opinion of him should be mostly influenced by what he's wearing, apparently? :innocent:
 
We lost to a very average Croatia in the Semi's. And are clearly not capable of beating any country of status in a competitive tournament, If we draw with Czech and beat Sweden or Slovakia in last 16 then we bow out to France in last 8.
 
Vlad_The_Impaler said:
We lost to a very average Croatia in the Semi's. And are clearly not capable of beating any country of status in a competitive tournament, If we draw with Czech and beat Sweden or Slovakia in last 16 then we bow out to France in last 8.
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Indeed, it seems many are missing the bigger picture :D.
 
blandford_cherry said:
We’ve got 4 points after 2 games. Jesus
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And I think a lot of the country think, wow how have we got 4 points after 2 games. I think what people are trying to say is that is far from convincing when you consider how good we think we are. Have seen teams like Italy who look head and shoulders above us due to desire and also game management.
 
fred1407 said:
And I think a lot of the country think, wow how have we got 4 points after 2 games. I think what people are trying to say is that is far from convincing when you consider how good we think we are. Have seen teams like Italy who look head and shoulders above us due to desire and also game management.
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Indeed, its a bit like with Tindall, even when doing well points wise, the performances were mostly average, despite the quality of players at his disposal.

The funny thing is that even if Southgate is deliberately trying to come 2nd (which I doubt he is), it looks likely we could meet Spain in the next round...
 
Waz afcb said:
What, you mean in a group with Panama. Needing a late goal to beat Tunisia. Edging out a very average Sweden side in the last 16, and then scraping past an equally average Columbia side on penalties? Literally every time we played a half decent side we lost, Belgium twice and Croatia. He got lucky with the draw, that’s all.
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And Harry Kane getting an MBE for scoring a hat trick against the worst ever ranked side in the completion. 2 tap ins and one hit his heel
 
MB1980 said:
Indeed, its a bit like with Tindall, even when doing well points wise, the performances were mostly average, despite the quality of players at his disposal.

The funny thing is that even if Southgate is deliberately trying to come 2nd (which I doubt he is), it looks likely we could meet Spain in the next round...
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Poland beat Spain tonight and they might not qualify
 
Notmarcjackson said:
I've always thought that he is a Trevor brooking type person. Very good at playing the political game and beloved by the blazer squad at the FA
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Yes agree. He’s exactly the type of figure the powers that be want heading up the national team, bland, non controversial, good family man, English, been part of the system for a while. He ticks a lot of boxes for them, just a shame he isn’t actually good at the job.
 
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