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England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread 23:10 - Jun 25 with 43727 views

We’ve had three match threads from a Southgate fan and three terrible England performances so surely it’s time to have one from a Southgate critic?

Walker switched to LB, TAA in at right back, Bellingham dropped back next to Rice, Foden central, Gordon on the left and Palmer on the right. Come on Gareth: you can do it!

[Post edited 27 Jun 15:28]

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 15:57 - Jun 30 with 1703 views

Malintabuk

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 23:35 - Jun 28 by stainrods_elbow
He hasn't literally painted himself into a corner, has he? To do this he'd have to be (literally) a painter with some kind of weird complex or who hadn't thought the job through!

Well he has certainly thought this team selection through. As said he just doesn't have a clue
One change as expected... and that is Mainoo... a defensive change
Still no Shaw.... Still no one on the left ...who is left footed.
Well done Boregate

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:02 - Jun 30 with 1659 views

daveB

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 14:36 - Jun 30 by Benny_the_Ball

Phillips' form has dropped off a cliff since those qualifying games so Southgate decided not to select him for this tournament. Before reaching that decision, he should have established whether he has a ready-made replacement lined up or is willing to alter his tactics to suit the players he selected.

The bottom line is the question was asked and I've answered it, unequivocally. Gareth has 3 viable options available to him in the squad. The time has come for Gareth to stop making excuses and put his best foot forward. The footballing gods have once again smiled upon him with a very favourable draw. If he doesn't make at least the final with this group of players then he deserves all of the criticism that will inevitably come his way.

[Post edited 30 Jun 14:45]

When was he supposed to do that?

Had one round of friendlies where he tried Gallagher and Mainoo in March and Trent pulled out injured then it was time to pick the squad

-1

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 16:02 - Jun 30 with 1646 views

daveB

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 15:57 - Jun 30 by Malintabuk
Well he has certainly thought this team selection through. As said he just doesn't have a clue One change as expected... and that is Mainoo... a defensive change Still no Shaw.... Still no one on the left ...who is left footed. Well done Boregate

Mainoo is about as much of a defensive player as Foden is, he don't have a clue defensively

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 16:03 - Jun 30 with 1640 views

Ned_Kennedys

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 15:57 - Jun 30 by Malintabuk
Well he has certainly thought this team selection through. As said he just doesn't have a clue One change as expected... and that is Mainoo... a defensive change Still no Shaw.... Still no one on the left ...who is left footed. Well done Boregate

One change in his ‘experiment’ position, nothing else of course.

Steady as she goes Gareth.

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:08 - Jun 30 with 1607 views

Benny_the_Ball

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:02 - Jun 30 by daveB
When was he supposed to do that? Had one round of friendlies where he tried Gallagher and Mainoo in March and Trent pulled out injured then it was time to pick the squad

That's his job. He's paid £6million a year to figure those problems out. Either find an adequate replacement OR change the tactics to suit the players at your disposal. What you don't do is experiment with a right-back in midfield at a major championship. Now stop apologising for the man. If he doesn't get to at least the final, he's a failure. End of discussion.

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 16:08 - Jun 30 with 1613 views

Malintabuk

England v TBC last 16 Match Thread on 16:02 - Jun 30 by daveB
Mainoo is about as much of a defensive player as Foden is, he don't have a clue defensively

He will have to adapt to being more defensive in a Boregate team.... after all Boregate is striving to replace Kalvin Philips
After all Boregate likes fitting square pegs in round holes...

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:12 - Jun 30 with 1579 views

DWQPR

So the TAA experiment didn’t work so he replaces him with a massive downgrade in Gallagher, who is nothing more than a walking yellow card waiting to happen. Mainoo is a massive upgrade on Gallagher but the reality is that the team remains imbalanced whilst we don’t have a recognised left back. For me the answer was dropping Bellingham back a bit, Foden supporting Kane and either Gordon or Eze on the left.

Poll:

Where will Clive put QPR in his new season preview

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:24 - Jun 30 with 1510 views

CamberleyR

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 23:01 - Jun 28 by Snipper

When Southgate became England manager, he ditched the likes of Rooney etc…..
It was a breath of fresh air when we had a good mix of youth leading into the 2018 World Cup.
There was a feel good factor in the country as players were no longer picked on reputation, and the people got behind them.

It was a píss easy group to get out of, and we ended up in the ‘easy side’ of the draw. We played an average Colombia in the last 16 and an even more average Sweden in the last 8.
We lost to Croatia in the semis, but I gave Southgate credit for galvanising the nation, and rekindling the love for the national team again.

In the Euro’s in 2021, we had another easy group. We then had to play the second worst German team in my memory at home in the last 16, followed by an absolute bang average Ukraine in the last 8, followed by a slightly impressive Denmark in a home semi final.
The final vs Italy still boils my píss to this day. Going 1-0 up after 2 minutes against an ageing defence, Southgate should’ve gone for the jugular. But no, we went all defensive, and tried to defend our way through to 90 minutes.
Southgate shít the bed that night so to speak. We’ve never really recovered from it either.

World Cup 2022 we had yet another easy group. We then came up against Senegal in the last 16, and then France in the last 8.
Southgate’s substitutions baffled me vs France. He took Saka off who was giving their left back a torrid time. We lost impetus after that. We still had a late penalty to take it into extra time though.

Onto Euro 2024. Southgate hasn’t got a clue what his best team is.
His squad is unbalanced. He named a crock left back, with no back up left back named.
He then played Trent Alexander Arnold, who’s actually a right back, in midfield vs Serbia & Denmark. He actually called it an experiment.
In an interview after the Denmark game, Southgate said we’ve never found a replacement for Kalvin Phillips. Jesus bloody wept. 😡😡

Phil Foden is absolutely wasted out on the left as he has no proper left back to support him. Nearly every tv pundit, be it Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Ian Wright or Gary Neville, have said that Bellingham should drop into the middle with Rice, and Foden should play the No10.

We’ve made bloody hard work winning the group, and we’ve been extremely lucky with the side of the draw we’re on.

Unless he grows a backbone and makes some changes, it’s going to be dire again vs Slovakia on Sunday.
Slovakia will play with 2 banks of 4 behind the ball, and try and hit us on the break. We’ve struggled to break teams down thus far. I can see extra time and penalties.
If he’s brave, and changes it up a bit, I think we’d win comfortably.

The upshot is, England have some fantastic players, and they should be one of the best teams to watch.
Southgate gets paid around £5-6m per year to pick the best team and system, but he’s sadly lacking in this department.
He’s fallen into the trap of most England managers of the past by trying to pick his so called best players. In doing so, he’s putting square pegs in round holes. The team is very unbalanced as a consequence.

I’ll just finish with a story Jack Charlton told years ago. When he was being picked in the lead up to the 1966 World Cup, Jack knew he wasn’t in the top few best English centre halves in the country.
He actually asked Alf Ramsey why he was being picked. Alf Ramsey told him that he knows he’s not the best centre half in the country, but he was the best for what he wanted him to do.

You can see why Alf Ramsey won a World Cup. But for Gordon Banks suffering from food poisoning, he could’ve won us back to back World Cups.

It shows that the best players on paper are not necessarily the best players for the team.

Re Big Jack, you could also say the same with Nobby Stiles. Few football journalists back then would have had him in the England team but Alf Ramsey picked him to do one job, win the ball in midfield and give it to Bobby Charlton which he'd probably seen many times before when playing together for Man Utd.

Poll:

Which is the worst QPR team?

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:25 - Jun 30 with 1511 views

rbee

I think the line up today is not as important as the issues affecting the squad culminating in lacklustre performances.

You could draw comparisons with our own team three seasons ago that plummeted down the table from a strong play off spot.

Expect another dour game today with perhaps a single goal in it, penalties would not be a great surprise. Anything more than that then well done to Gareth and the team for turning it around.

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:32 - Jun 30 with 1476 views

Northernr

He’s madly fixated with that midfield spot isn’t he? I reckon he’ll still be out there ruminating plans for it long after we’re eliminated.

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:33 - Jun 30 with 1476 views

CLAREMAN1995

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:25 - Jun 30 by rbee

3-0 England the door has opened I expect them to burst through today

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:35 - Jun 30 with 1463 views

CamberleyR

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 09:42 - Jun 28 by Lblock

Yeah….. Belgium and Schifo were shite in ‘90 weren’t they.
Holland with Ruud etc clearly a pushover

Cameroon were fantastic
Don’t get your cheating stance, that was a monumental effort to get past them.

I’d say we were better than the Jerries in that game and deserved to win.
The lottery of penalties killed us yet again.

Maybe 1990 was such a good year for me that I’m inexplicably emotionally attached to Sir Bobby, a man whose managerial career GS will never emulate.
However my point was that Sir Bobby realised he needed to change back in ‘86 and he did - mid tournament after two poor results. What followed was a Lineker hatrick to get out of the group, another decent three goal win and then the hand of God
Can you see Safegate going for it now and being brave as he banged on about after picking his squad?
Me neither!!!

Sorry LBlock, he only changed that team in 1986 because he was forced to for the most part with Robson dislocating his shoulder and Super Ray getting sent off for his throwing the ball in the direction of the ref brain fart. Granted he did also drop Mark Hateley for being, well, Mark Hateley...

Poll:

Which is the worst QPR team?

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:41 - Jun 30 with 1450 views

rbee

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:32 - Jun 30 by Northernr
He’s madly fixated with that midfield spot isn’t he? I reckon he’ll still be out there ruminating plans for it long after we’re eliminated.

You have inside knowledge that Gareth will be taking us to the 2026 World Cup?

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:42 - Jun 30 with 1444 views

BrianMcCarthy

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 16:35 - Jun 30 by CamberleyR
Sorry LBlock, he only changed that team in 1986 because he was forced to for the most part with Robson dislocating his shoulder and Super Ray getting sent off for his throwing the ball in the direction of the ref brain fart. Granted he did also drop Mark Hateley for being, well, Mark Hateley...

He did also change to three at the back, to be fair.

	"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Poll:	Player of the Year (so far)

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 17:04 - Jun 30 with 1340 views

Malintabuk

Guéhi out for the next game after our lb sold him short ... Pickford has had more touches than any other England player.. impressive start

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 17:11 - Jun 30 with 1291 views

PlanetHonneywood

England v Slovakia last 16 Match Thread on 17:04 - Jun 30 by Malintabuk
Guéhi out for the next game after our lb sold him short ... Pickford has had more touches than any other England player.. impressive start

TAA to the rescue!