[Football] Euros 2024 - Matchday 3

[hart's shirt]

I fear nothing will actually make you appreciate Southgate as most of his detractors have already made their mind up about him, and ultimately the only thing that won’t make him the worst manager in the world is if he wins it, just like every single manager since Alf Ramsey.

We've had almost 8 years and 3 major tournaments to make up our mind about Southgate.

Go ahead, then sit back, surrender the initiative and let the other team back in. Croatia WC2018, Italy Euro 2020. Same old story.

In September, England can look forward to Nations League B football having been relegated under Southgate.

None of opponents Greece, Republic of Ireland and Finland made the Euros.

So much for 6 competitive friendlies in the WC2026 buildup then.

At least we can content ourselves with the fact that Southgate should be long gone in 3 months.

His £4.88m salary, comfortably the highest of all Euro 2024 managers, will be better spent elsewhere.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1910173/England-Gareth-Southgate-salary-Euro-2024

No, he won't be the worst manager in the world if he doesn't win the Euros. He certainly wouldn't be the best if he did.

But compared with many top flight managers, he's a tactical pygmy who lacks in-game decision-making skills.

Just my opinion, of course. Contrasting ones of an apologist nature are also valid.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

boo hoo we might not win the tournament.

Surely its more enjoyable getting behind the team and going on the journey.

Brighton were shit for the majority of my life , never once did I write them off and desert them

We have what we have , its OUR country. Get behind the lads

I chose Brighton like you and never have I deserted them. England have a great squad managed by a failure, a well paid failure at that. He's won duck all ever. His right hand man has won even less and coached Chelsea reserves FFS. They are out of their depth.

 

[jackalbion]

We've had almost 8 years and 3 major tournaments to make up our mind about Southgate.

Go ahead, then sit back, surrender the initiative and let the other team back in. Croatia WC2018, Italy Euro 2020. Same old story.

In September, England can look forward to Nations League B football having been relegated under Southgate.

None of opponents Greece, Republic of Ireland and Finland made the Euros.

So much for 6 competitive friendlies in the WC2026 buildup then.

At least we can content ourselves with the fact that Southgate should be long gone in 3 months.

His £4.88m salary, comfortably the highest of all Euro 2024 managers, will be better spent elsewhere.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1910173/England-Gareth-Southgate-salary-Euro-2024

No, he won't be the worst manager in the world if he doesn't win the Euros. He certainly wouldn't be the best if he did.

But compared with many top flight managers, he's a tactical pygmy who lacks in-game decision-making skills.

Just my opinion, of course. Contrasting ones of an apologist nature are also valid.

Well yes we’ve had 8 years, I agree after this tournament it’s time to move on, but for the last tournament, it’s worth seeing how well he does. He has the most talented team he’s ever had, and a slightly below par win against Serbia, where he had to grind out a result, doesn’t indicate to me that he won’t win it, plenty more to come, and a slight over reaction I fear. I believe in years to come we’ll look back at his time with fondness, remembering where the team was when he came in, he’s massively revitalised the entire set up, and that will be his legacy and given a great platform for the next manager.

 

[hart's shirt]

Well yes we’ve had 8 years, I agree after this tournament it’s time to move on, but for the last tournament, it’s worth seeing how well he does. He has the most talented team he’s ever had, and a slightly below par win against Serbia, where he had to grind out a result, doesn’t indicate to me that he won’t win it, plenty more to come, and a slight over reaction I fear. I believe in years to come we’ll look back at his time with fondness, remembering where the team was when he came in, he’s massively revitalised the entire set up, and that will be his legacy and given a great platform for the next manager.

At this time, there's very little else England fans can do, irrespective of views on Southgate.

I hope there's plenty more to come, but it currently feels like success is being achieved in spite of the manager, not because of him.

Not sure I'll look back on Southgate's time with total fondness. Dour football, missed opportunities and misplaced player loyalties.

I'd agree with you re the set up and behind the scenes. Ultimately his lasting legacy may well be off the field rather than on it.

None of the previous makes me want England to win less, even under Southgate. If he does, he'll get my deserved praise.

But I just hope the FA's hiring criteria for his eventual replacement extends beyond a safe pair of hands to include tactical prowess.

 

[BevBHA]

I haven’t commented on this thread post England game, but I wonder if opinion has changed at all with this Belgium result. It’s very hard to win any game in tournament football, plain and simple.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

The French team is far superior to ours, if I was them I’d be expecting to win, the Germans not so much.

The Germans are on home soil, have a talented squad and fully turned up for their first fixture. I wouldn’t write them off as I suspect they do think they can win it

 

[BevBHA]

The Germans are on home soil, have a talented squad and fully turned up for their first fixture. I wouldn’t write them off as I suspect they do think they can win it

Hopefully, I’ve got them in my sweepstake after years of my only hope of winning anything being the wooden spoon prize!

 

[Dave the OAP]

How in all that is holy was that a handball enought to overturn a perfectly good goal

What fuckibg advantage

He wasn’t even looking at the ball.




VAR is absolutely SHIT

 

[Flounce]

boo hoo we might not win the tournament.

Surely its more enjoyable getting behind the team and going on the journey.

Brighton were shit for the majority of my life , never once did I write them off and desert them

We have what we have , its OUR country. Get behind the lads

I have kept out of this so far. Expectations for the Albion historically were very low, we had bang average players and accepted we were not going to win much, it’s a shit comparison imo. England, however, currently have some of the best players in Europe and it can be incredibly frustrating to see them nowhere near their club form when playing for England. Why is this? You shouldn’t be surprised that some blame the lack of nous of the current manager. As it happens, Sven, Capello, Graham Taylor, Kevin Keegan etc all got the same brickbats.

For what it’s worth I don’t and never have expected to win anything under Southgate. What has he won as a senior team manager at any level? We have the players, we need the manager if we are to win things. Who that is I have no idea, but sure as hell it ain’t Southgate

Yes, I’ll support us but my expectations are more “ glorious failure”. Other options are obviously available but years of hurt have taken their toll on me

Feel free to bounce when we win the Euros.

 

[jackalbion]

Hopefully, I’ve got them in my sweepstake after years of my only hope of winning anything being the wooden spoon prize!

So have I!

 

[Seagull58]

Agree with that. The commentators were acting like England were on the ropes. I didn't think they were. It was mostly long range pot shots.

Agree with that. The commentators were acting like England were on the ropes. I didn't think they were. It was mostly long range pot shots.

The stats show that Serbia had 47% possession, one shot on target, one shot off target and xG of 0.08 in the second-half, so we clearly weren't on the ropes but watching live it seemed that we continually gave the ball away and did not attack with much conviction. The first half stats for both teams are very similar to the second half though.

 

[Seagull58]

Agreed. Serbia were on par, or even better, than England throughout the match - and that is also reflected in the statistics. If we want to win the EUROs, which is certainly achievable with our squad, then we must perform better in the following group matches. I'm not indicating that Serbia is a weak side, but there are definitely stronger teams from what I've seen so far; it is down to Southgate to adapt and improve throughout the tournament so that we can have a good run.

The stats don't say that. They say that England had more possession, more shots on target, more shots blocked, much higher xG and many more free kicks. Serbia had 2 corners to England's one,

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

At this time, there's very little else England fans can do, irrespective of views on Southgate.

I hope there's plenty more to come, but it currently feels like success is being achieved in spite of the manager, not because of him.

Not sure I'll look back on Southgate's time with total fondness. Dour football, missed opportunities and misplaced player loyalties.

I'd agree with you re the set up and behind the scenes. Ultimately his lasting legacy may well be off the field rather than on it.

None of the previous makes me want England to win less, even under Southgate. If he does, he'll get my deserved praise.

But I just hope the FA's hiring criteria for his eventual replacement extends beyond a safe pair of hands to include tactical prowess.

I fear we will look at this time like Belgium do with the stacked team they had, regret they had an average manager to overseas them, a missed chance to win something.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

The stats don't say that. They say that England had more possession, more shots on target, more shots blocked, much higher xG and many more free kicks. Serbia had 2 corners to England's one,

Never liked Shot stats, TAA blasted one from 30 yards wasting possession that sailed into the keepers hands.

However, Those stats show two very dull sides.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The stats show that Serbia had 47% possession, one shot on target, one shot off target and xG of 0.08 in the second-half, so we clearly weren't on the ropes but watching live it seemed that we continually gave the ball away and did not attack with much conviction. The first half stats for both teams are very similar to the second half though.

Those stats don’t tell the whole story though. Serbia were woeful in the last third, and this saved England. There were a number of times where, if they had got lucky or England made a big mistake, they’d have scored. Thankfully for England this didn’t happen.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

 

[BrickTamland]

Those stats don’t tell the whole story though. Serbia were woeful in the last third, and this saved England. There were a number of times where, if they had got lucky or England made a big mistake, they’d have scored. Thankfully for England this didn’t happen.

Meh. If my grandma had wheels.

Keeper made a worldly save from Kane, and Walker should have done better when through on goal and make a poor cutback (should have shot).

IF those had gone in we win 3-0 and no one’s saying anything but games aren’t won or lost on ifs.

 

[BevBHA]

Those stats don’t tell the whole story though. Serbia were woeful in the last third, and this saved England. There were a number of times where, if they had got lucky or England made a big mistake, they’d have scored. Thankfully for England this didn’t happen.

So it’s because we didn’t make a mistake at the back that we won? So by your logic, we defended well and deserved our clean sheet? What’s your point?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

So it’s because we didn’t make a mistake at the back that we won? So by your logic, we defended well and deserved our clean sheet? What’s your point?

My point is I felt England were on a bit of a knife edge in the second half but Serbia’s performance was woeful in the last third.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Meh. If my grandma had wheels.

Keeper made a worldly save from Kane, and Walker should have done better when through on goal and make a poor cutback (should have shot).

IF those had gone in we win 3-0 and no one’s saying anything but games aren’t won or lost on ifs.

I’m not denying any of this happened…I was replying more to a post about Serbia’s stats and performance