| England this evening. 19:03 - Jun 4 with 5491 views | BigKindo |
Well my just how boring were England today. Usual excuses coming up "Well they have had a long season etc etc" Obvously going to the bank has taken its toll. Should donate their match fee to charity. |  | | |  |
| England this evening. on 15:04 - Jun 15 with 803 views | 442Dale |
| England this evening. on 14:32 - Jun 15 by AtThePeake |
How talented is this squad though?
When you compare our best XI now to the team that beat Germany 5-1 in 2001 for example (and won only two games at the following year's World Cup), how many of our current squad would get in the starting XI?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Germany_v_England_football_match#Match
I'd argue Sterling and Kane over Barmby and Heskey, but I'm struggling beyond that. Maybe Walker over Neville? But then, McManaman, Cole and Fowler are on the bench there and I'm sure many would have argued at the time that they should have been in the starting XI over Barmby and Heskey too.
I'm genuinely intrigued as to whether I overestimate the ability of the players in that generation compared to the current crop as it was when I first started to take an interest in football whereas I feel pretty disconnected from the Premier League at the moment. Or is our current crop not actually as good as it seems and expectations are higher based on some relatively deep runs in tournaments? |
We have far too many players who, whilst obviously talented, don’t impact games on a regular basis and aren’t significantly better or worse than the competitors for their positions.
Thinking of the wide forward players over the last couple of years illustrates this. Rashford, Lingard, Sancho, Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Foden, Saka, Sterling, Bowen. Apart from Sterling and possibly Foden with assists, who has ever really stood out? That’s just one area of the field but it’s across the squad and illustrates that we don’t have a truly great set of players.
Worrying it looks as though Southgate himself looks to have lost some focus into what our tactics are and we are changing them too often game to game and within the 90 minutes. Where he’s been strong has been identifying players to play within a system they all understand. That’s not the case now and is the number one priority to address in the last two Nations League games.
That and playing a left back at left back. |  |
| |
| England this evening. on 15:06 - Jun 15 with 797 views | AtThePeake |
| England this evening. on 14:58 - Jun 15 by D_Alien |
I tend to think that the best players will naturally be concentrated in those teams reaching the finals of European club tournaments
So off the top of my head that'd include Kane, Sterling, Stones, Foden, Walker, Mount, Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Abraham... any others?
Extend that to European semifinals and it'd include Rice and Bowen
The comparison can then be made with previous squads, plus those of other countries such as Italy or Croatia who've beaten us at the last two major tournaments
In the end, it may well come down to who's coaching them at international level, but it's still difficult to be dismissive of Southgate's record (not suggesting you are) when we lost last summer on penalties. What was disappointing was the way we faded in both the Euro final and WC semi after taking an early lead
[Post edited 15 Jun 2022 15:05]
|
Trippier & Dier played for Spurs alongside Kane in that final vs Liverpool.
I think Southgate's done a fine job of getting deep into tournaments with a squad that, for my money, isn't as strong as people seem to believe. To me, we have a lot of good players, but not many at the world class level you'd expect of a World Cup winning team. I definitely get the frustration at the way we faded in the final and in the WC semi-final, but when you consider where we were in tournament prior to his arrival (winning one game from four against Russia, Wales, Slovakia and Iceland at Euro 2016) I don't think we have much of a right to complain. |  |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
