Southgate's England and the next England manager

First topic message reminder :

Get to close the Allardyce thread in record time, now caretaker manager Southgate has a chance to stake his claim for the job, whilst we all discuss almost anyone else as the thought of Southgate worries many.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Maddison, Sancho, Foden, Chilwell etc go to u21s, I presume.

Foden not included in the squad, or the U-21’s. Correct call by GS, and AB. Haven’t bent over to include him because of media pressure. He might be the savour in some eyes, but until he’s loaned out and performing regularly, he shouldn’t be considered.

Nonsense, he’s on the bench and getting spells for City and is a huge talent. The reason he isn’t loaned out is because training with City is better for him.

Implication there is that he’d be better off at Preston or similar not learning from the best coach in the country (world?) and the players there that surround him.

I can understand not the seniors, even though he’s had more domestic minutes than some this season, but 21s don’t have many players who’d get on for City against Chelsea

England XI: Pickford, Trippier, Shaw, Maguire, Gomez, Stones, Henderson, Lingard, Alli, Rashford, Kane.

Spain XI: De Gea, Carvajal, Nacho, Ramos, Alonso, Niguez, Busquets, Alcantara, Isco, Aspas, Rodrigo

England 1-1 Spain - Rashford, brilliant assist by Shaw - Saul

Luke Shaw is excellent

Oh, 1-1

England 1-2 Spain - Rodrigo

Kane looks shot

Spain dominating now. Alli & Lingard are anonymous (lacking any creativity). Kane looks shot, but is starved of service.

If Rashford could finish, England would be winning. Funny game

Never a foul there, De Gea has faked a head injury too. Should be 2-2

Unfortunately, the muddling along in midfield remains an issue. I’d like to see us abandon the back three, but not sure we fan whilst midfield options are so weak.

Same old England - always cheated.

Duty281 wrote:Same old England.

It’s pretty much normal service resumed with England, and the WC easy draw, seems a distant memory now. As for RLC, it’s still puzzling as to why the media cream themselves over him. He should be nowhere near the England setup.

England 1-0 Switzerland FT. Meanwhile, it’s Spain 6-0 Croatia

Croatia only starting with four of their World Cup Final contingent, so perhaps not too great a surprise? England will be fighting relegation, so they need a solid 4 points against Croatia. Probably wise to forget the possibility of winning all three remaining games.

Nicest aspect of today's England game was it not being played at Wembley. They should tear that whole structure down and only play national games in proper places: Leeds, Derby, Bolton, Millwall, Sunderland and the like.

You’re a knob.

From what I watched, England looked slightly better against Spain than against the Swiss. Midfield continued to be a problem.

Duty281 wrote:

Nicest aspect of today's England game was it not being played at Wembley. They should tear that whole structure down and only play national games in proper places: Leeds, Derby, Bolton, Millwall, Sunderland and the like.

Giggle

BamBam wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Nicest aspect of today's England game was it not being played at Wembley. They should tear that whole structure down and only play national games in proper places: Leeds, Derby, Bolton, Millwall, Sunderland and the like.

Giggle

I hope so.

Dominant stuff from England tonight. Should have won two or three nil, but the woodwork and poor finishing cost them. Sancho was impressive off the bench, should have been on 10-15 minutes earlier, but Southgate is far too passive. Croatia should have had a player sent off, but it's same-old-England-always-cheated.

4-3-3, 3-5-2 - whatever it is Southgate opts for, the lack of quality in central midfield will always hinder. England badly need a Rakitic, a Kroos, a Pirlo type player, but simply don't have one. Creativity? Don't make me laugh.

Any realistic hope of winning the nations league is now gone, but England should remain in...er..the top tier, if the event ever happens again.

Hopefully it doesnt

Draw seemed fair, although Rashford should have won it for England. All those calls for him to play over Sterling in the summer cos of his finishing.

Dier needs replacing, Rice would be a major improvement were he to choose England

Gotta fancy England tonight looking at the respective line-ups.

Going for a 3-1 to the England, personally, but that does rely on England finishing well.

England bloody ruining the Spanish and their pathetic fan base. Two excellent finishes, and the third was a thing of delicate beauty.

Clinical, professional and effective. Not a great England performance, as it will no doubt be termed by the media circus, but a solid one. Excellent win. If it weren't for Welbeck having a goal wrongly chalked off, England would be top now.

Great experience as well for this young English side to be playing regular competitive football for their country in a hostile environment, rather than the glorified training sessions and 'qualifiers' against ex-Soviet states that normally comprise the International calendar at this time.

Not sure I see Pickford thing on the Spanish attacker as a foul, but they got the Welbeck goal chalked off so I hope it was a foul and th cry.

Counter attacking brilliance, Pickford will make the odd mistake but doesn’t create two goals if he doesn’t play in that way. Midfield seemed a little overwhelmed still, but Barkley is at least creative. Dier still a centre back masquerading as a midfielder.

Saying all that, it will be hard to ever drop Dier after that tackle on Ramos.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46089205

Utter disgrace.

Duty281 wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46089205

Utter disgrace.

Had to check the date when I read this...

No , not April 1st.

Suppose this stunt is intended to add some interest to a generally meaningless friendly. My gut doesn't like it much ; but I don't honestly care that much one way or the other. Sure there will be plenty of online opinions from those with strong views

Does it matter?

Should raise a lot of money for charity. It’s something done a lot in other countries. Arguably he’s earned a spot by killing it in America

My issue lies with the number of pointless international friendlies than using one as a glorified testimonial and raising money for charity.

Croatia have beaten the Spanish 3-2.

So it's perfectly simple - Croatia win on Sunday, they're in the final four. England win, they're in the final four. A draw, and Spain are in the final four.

Rooney could still make that squad

We should win the group. Home advantage, and the Croats have been done by the schedule, with only 48 hours to recover. Rakitic also missing.

Intriguing team selection. No Henderson (presumably injured?) and Alli on the bench. Barkley, Dier and Delph in midfield. But a good front three, at least, with Sterling/Kane/Rashford.

Expecting an England win by two or three.

England totally outplaying Croatia, but not yet registering it on the scoreboard. Great to see an England side passing it out from the back, being tactically fluid and creating so much. We've only had to wait 20 years to see it!

Barkley and Delph are running the midfield, best games I've seen them have in an England shirt. The pace of Sterling and Rashford is a constant worry to the Croats. Alli and Sancho to come off the bench, if need be.

Just got to get that first goal.

England 0-1 Croatia

Not ruthless enough are England. Sterling and Rashford mostly to blame

1-1 Lingard tap in

Ugliest goal I’ve ever seen. Grandstand finish time.

Harry fecking Kane, yes!

Football's glorious. England play so much attractive football and their two goals come courtesy of tap-ins. Added bonus that Croatia got relegated.

Love pretty much everything about this England squad and coaching set up. Now off on a summer holiday to Portugal...two games from glory.

Glorious.

Brilliant win - should have been by much more, but the fact we are winning and still moaning about chances missed against the world cup finalists shows how far this team has come...

Some serious young talent coming through. When you're bringing Sancho/Lingard off the bench that's pretty handy...

A word for the CBs too - thought Stones and Gomez were brilliant.

Nations League Semi-Finalists

Portugal
England
Switzerland
France or Netherlands

Terrible line-up

Can hardly bemoan them their places. The Swiss have just battered the Belgians, who would be seen as much better. Netherlands and France have both pissed on the Germans so far and have talent.

Well done the lads. Delph ran the show for England for a lot of that game, whilst Barkley is still fine tuning away from being excellent but shows that he’s an asset. Still think Dier can be upgraded on, just need to sort out where Rice is gonna choose to play.

Just John wrote:Nations League Semi-Finalists

Portugal
England
Switzerland
France or Netherlands

Terrible line-up

England favourites to win a tournament and end all those years of hurt and misery.

In all seriousness, the Dutch will probably get through and they look a very capable side again. Switzerland just put five past Belgium, so can't be written off (even if they did lose to Qatar the other day). And the Portuguese have home advantage and Cr7 (hello 2004).

Think England will be hoping to draw the Swiss in the first semi-final. Very exciting times for the English football team whichever way this tournament goes; they have by far the best youth teams in the world and the seniors are no longer cowed, it seems, by playing tier one nations.

Portugal made it to this semi final without CR7 even playing. Swiss couldn’t even beat Sweden at the WC. Netherlands didn’t even make the WC, and are now somehow rejuvenated with Ryan Babel and Daley Blind. Laughable stuff.

It’s a tin pot tournament

Just John wrote:Portugal made it to this semi final without CR7 even playing. Swiss couldn’t even beat Sweden at the WC. Netherlands didn’t even make the WC, and are now somehow rejuvenated with Ryan Babel and Daley Blind. Laughable stuff.

It’s a tin pot tournament

still much better than endless friendlies though

Yeah but some people didn’t do something in summer so must be awful.

This is preferable to friendlies, but less in season international football gets my vote.

Netherlands through to the final four after scoring two goals in the last five minutes to rescue themselves against the Germans. Sickener for the French. This has been a tremendous tournament and, though I was initially sceptical, it has been a great shot in the arm for international football.

Rather than mismatched qualifying games and crap friendlies, we’re regularly seeing proper contests in a competitive element. Lower ranked nations have chances to develop through playing similar standard teams, promotion and relegation is something all fans identify with, and international heavyweights are playing regularly against each other (competitively).

England get the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifying. If England somehow don't finish in the top two, they'll still be entered into the playoffs for qualification. It's impossible that England won't qualify!

Poor Northern Ireland get both the Dutch and the Germans.