Only ever achieved at Wembley in 1966, 1996 and 2021.
Then why did he spend the second half like a bloke looking for a contact lens?
Pascal Gross is a set piece specialist, but some of his corners have been woeful recently, doesn't make him crap, not a single player in that Serbia side was under 6ft, set pieces are going to be difficult against a side like that. Like I said he is a good player for playing against a low block in which he was effective for 35 minutes, the only criticism here is maybe he should have been dragged slightly earlier. He isn't there to break up play however, that's Rice's job, to give TAA the opportunity to play, which is where we struggled second half, my criticism is that Southgate didn't realise that slightly sooner and brought on Gallagher around 55-60 mins. My other criticism is that Foden stayed on and we had no real pace to stretch the game late on, but with a right footed LB, its always going to be difficult to run the channels second half, which is where I think the main area that Southgate got the squad selection wrong.
To avoid any comments about aftertiming, and to enable me time to get to the bookmakers, how do you see the other two games panning out?
I agree, but you can only play what is in front of you. My criticism of him, is because he fails to adapt against top teams, think he got last night spot on however, thats what I find odd.
2-0 win v Denmark, Kane FGS, Slovenia 1-1 Draw OG FGS (I don't know if you can bet on that
).
Hopefully not Dunk2-0 win v Denmark, Kane FGS, Slovenia 1-1 Draw OG FGS (I don't know if you can bet on that
I'm pleased with the result, not so much about the performance. I thought that we made too many mistakes of our own and it felt that the team was disjointed. I worry that if this trend continues, we will get punished by the top sides and knowing our manager I fear that will happen.
I think he recovered pretty well from mediocre results at previous tournaments no? 0-0 v Scotland and we beat a good Czech side, then Germany, then a very good Danish side. 0-0 against USA and then we beat Wales (means nothing), then Senegal, then arguably matched France for 90 mins, who only got the win because Kane put a penalty into Orbit.
That's the problem and a repeat of the Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard issue.... need to play a team who fit together not the best.
Agreed, but the majority of the teams that you mention are teams that England would be expected to beat. The only exception would be Germany but, even then, we had the benefit of home advantage. I think Gareth Southgate lacks that "winning mentality" that other managers possess, that is why we were defeated by the top sides of Croatia, Italy, and France in what were all games of fine margins. If Southgate fails again, it feels the appropriate time to change managers because our main objective should be winning a trophy with our incredibly talented squad.
I feel like people really overlook that Danish side, as well that Croatia side we beat in 2021, wasn't too dissimilar to the one we lost to in 2018. I agree its time to move Southgate on after this tournament regardless, but who we get is another question. I don't think any top manager will take it due to the media and fan scrutiny, its a poison chalice.
Have to disagree. We went 1-0 up and were coasting but decided to take our foot off the pedal and drop back into shape. This allowed Serbia to gain momentum and put us under a lot of pressure. At 1-0 we should have continued pushing them back and not allowing them to play so that we could get a second and put the game to bed.
Insane levels of entitlement. We aren't the best side in the tournament - France are. Pure arrogance.
They came out second half and didn't allow us to settle as they were more on the front foot IMO. Think they did well second half, bringing on Tadic gave them a bit more quality and England more to think about, you can't give him much space. Should have brought on Gallagher the moment that sub was made, plus Pavlović really raised his levels second half and had Saka's number.
Yeah Gallagher sub (which I was sure would happen) seemed about 10 minutes too late - that is one slight concern I do have with Southgate, he can take a while on those in-game changes.
Nail on the head. England XIs tend to be a collection of the best players often shoehorned into sub-optimal roles to accommodate them with little thought on how them might work together.
