[Football] To all the Southgate haters / wrong again and again and again **SOUTHGATE NOW RESIGNED**

[theboybilly]

I think that’s more Pickford than Southgate. Pickford seems to like to be centre of attention rather then playing the simple pass and build. up. Like nearly every top team does; Everton do and are neither of those.

That's all very well but when you've got 2 CBs unwilling to bring the ball out the midfield have to come and get it. Every team England have faced have done it better. Shaw looked the most promising starting attacks

 

[Siney]

Pickford - an average keeper

Walker - a 34 year old who is immense but past his best

Stones - always the second best of the 2 Man City CBs, great in his Libero role, England don't use it though.

Guehi - error prone

Shaw - had a great game but his first start since February, never a top top player but good enough.

Rice - top CM who has been out of form.

Mainoo - youngster who is very promising but very inexperienced.

Bellingham - world class but fatigued and needs surgery on his shoulder

Foden - PL POTY, yet to show he can do it when not surrounded by Man City players

Saka - best English player at the tournament, great player, not world class

Kane - world class striker who has never won anything and was clearly injured.

So basically, you have picked out the best for the Spanish players and the worst for the English players. Have you taken off your Spanish shirt and put your tapas left over in the fridge yet, mate?

 

[Originunknown]

Time to go Gareth, take the donkey Kane with you for an early international retirement thanks

 

[John Byrnes Mullet]

Goodbye Safegate. Great Manager at choosing tactical substitutions. Unfortunately no idea on how to play a high press which is part of football these days.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde "To lose one Euros final, Mr Southgate, may be regarded as a misfortune to lose both looks like carelessness"

 

[oldboyroy]

I was discussing this with @Bozza during the match. How much of our retreat after we equalised is down to the manager and how much is on the players themselves?

Or, how much was it down to Spain simply being too good for us? They were so much better than us throughout (other than 10 mins when we got subs on and equalised).

 

[BN41Albion]

Or, how much was it down to Spain simply being too good for us? They were so much better than us throughout (other than 10 mins when we got subs on and equalised).

But surely they were too good for us because of Southgate and the coaching? As said before, on paper there is no way we should have been so poor against Spain. Southgate failed again when it mattered last night. Reverted to type, back to terribly defensive, aimless football. We clearly got lucky first half v Netherlands only because they gave us the freedom of the park!

Southgate has obviously done well behind the scenes to bring the players together, etc. Tactically, though, he is shockingly bad at international level. Had nightmares about Pickford's aimless hoofing up the pitch last night. That was the most embarrassing part of the night for me! Archaic, anti football.

 

[BadFish]

But surely they were too good for us because of Southgate and the coaching? As said before, on paper there is no way we should have been so poor against Spain. Southgate failed again when it mattered last night. Reverted to type, back to terribly defensive, aimless football. We clearly got lucky first half v Netherlands only because they gave us the freedom of the park!

Southgate has obviously done well behind the scenes to bring the players together, etc. Tactically, though, he is shockingly bad at international level. Had nightmares about Pickford's aimless hoofing up the pitch last night. That was the most embarrassing part of the night for me! Archaic, anti football.

Yep, we lack identity and cohesion on the pitch.

Agree that if Spain were too good for us it is because they have a plan and an identity. The players aren't better so it is surely down to . . .

Southgate has worked wonders with the England set up but our identity and football style is too limited for the group of players we have. As you say defensive and aimless football that seems to involve giving the ball back to the opposition or kicking it long to try and dive/go down easy to get a free kick (while having our best free kick taker sitting on the bench). Then we go behind and start playing, equalize and then give the ball back again.

We are constantly told how well England have done in getting to finals and semis etc and this cannot be denied. Personally, I would swap it all for some exciting football.

 

[oldboyroy]

But surely they were too good for us because of Southgate and the coaching? As said before, on paper there is no way we should have been so poor against Spain. Southgate failed again when it mattered last night. Reverted to type, back to terribly defensive, aimless football. We clearly got lucky first half v Netherlands only because they gave us the freedom of the park!

Southgate has obviously done well behind the scenes to bring the players together, etc. Tactically, though, he is shockingly bad at international level. Had nightmares about Pickford's aimless hoofing up the pitch last night. That was the most embarrassing part of the night for me! Archaic, anti football.

Agree. What I can't fathom is when we equalised after putting them under a bit of pressure for once!, they just took control of the game back instantly. There was only going to be 1 winner whereas the equaliser should've spurred us on to get the winner. They just seemed to find another gear and we sat back and let them. Is that down to Southgate or the players or both?

 

[nicko31]

Agree. What I can't fathom is when we equalised after putting them under a bit of pressure for once!, they just took control of the game back instantly. There was only going to be 1 winner whereas the equaliser should've spurred us on to get the winner. They just seemed to find another gear and we sat back and let them. Is that down to Southgate or the players or both?

We were only ever going to beat them on pens, Southgate or not….

Did well to get to the final, onwards …

 

[MJsGhost]

I've tried to stick up for Southgate through the tournament. Obviously he's done a lot right behind the scenes.

But christ, on the pitch that was absolutely dire tonight, again. False hope when Netherlands gave us the freedom of the park first half the other day. So so poor considering the talent we have in the second half. By far the worst performance against Spain compared to France and Germany.

Pickford aimlessly hoofing the ball up the pitch time and time again was just embarrassing.

Southgate absolutely needs to move on now

My wife (who dislikes football and usually takes no interest) was asking why the England GK kept just booting the ball away.

I had no answer.

 

[DJ NOBO]

My wife (who dislikes football and usually takes no interest) was asking why the England GK kept just booting the ball away.

I had no answer.

Football newbies and old heads were probably asking the same question : ”What are we trying to do?”.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

That's all very well but when you've got 2 CBs unwilling to bring the ball out the midfield have to come and get it. Every team England have faced have done it better. Shaw looked the most promising starting attacks

i Suspect this is Southgate ball rather than the players themselves as stones does this for cite.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Giving the ball away tonight, was largely down to not having the out ball available.. Kane simply nullified any potential forward momentum with his very static approach.... Also, Rice simply refused to look to push forward with any imagination that you might expect from a £100m player... he needs to go along with Kane and Southgate.... Mainoo flattered too...tactics were non existent...we were set up to fail against a very mobile opposition.

Kane should have been dropped for Watkin. Rice did what he was told and played how any DM plays for a Southgate team.
Come deep and pick the ball up. The concept of ball playing CB’S hasn’t reached planet Southgate yet.

 

[BN41Albion]

Agree. What I can't fathom is when we equalised after putting them under a bit of pressure for once!, they just took control of the game back instantly. There was only going to be 1 winner whereas the equaliser should've spurred us on to get the winner. They just seemed to find another gear and we sat back and let them. Is that down to Southgate or the players or both?

Southgate 100%! Has to be tactical; none of the players on the pitch last night play that way tactically for their clubs so it cant be a mental thing. I didn't notice last night but heard just before spain scored their second Gallagher was preparing to come on. That says all you need to know about Southgate’s tactical mindset.

Like Italy the other year, its absolutely on Southgate and his tactics that we lost last night. Surely absolutely no-one can argue against that. I hate to say that, too, as he's clearly a very nice guy who's done a lot of good for the national side. But we really now need to employ a manager to take us the next step in terms of playing to these attack minded, possession based players' strengths. In terms of the op's post - I don't think you have to be a 'Southgate hater' to agree on the above. Clearly he has held us back tactically, whatever you think of the guy. Ultimately, we got to another final largely in spite of him, not because of him - he got very lucky again, let's be honest.

 

[Justice]

I wish the players would stop protecting Southgate. Only a few players looked upset last night the others looked like they expected it to happen. When we lost the semi to Manure we left everything out on that pitch you can’t say the same about England last night.

 

[Han Solo]

I was discussing this with @Bozza during the match. How much of our retreat after we equalised is down to the manager and how much is on the players themselves?

I don't think its a tactical decision. Its mainly down to the players.
But why do players do the choices they do?

Southgate has spent the entire tournament, and quite some time before it, to point at problems and talk a whole lot about them. Any time the English team enters the pitch, they do it as a gang of people with "problems", and they feel they need to be oh so careful if those "problems" shouldn't turn into tears.

Spain went in thinking it was a game of football, England went in thinking its a "Euro final and we're all going to die if we don't win".

Those feelings are perhaps inevitable when you do your first tournament; its hard to entirely prepare for something you haven't done before. But this is Gareths eight tournament as a player or manager. If he hasn't been able to defuse the anxiety and fear by now, its just not going to happen. He is humble and sensible, and I do believe the players like him, but he's not able to get the team in the right mindset.

I'm sure there are more people than me wondering what England could have looked like yesterday if they had a manager with a masters degree in how to emotionally lead a group through crisis or high pressure situations...

Southgate appears to be a good guy and he's probably not a bad tactician either. But its quite obvious he can't stop the players from the feeling that each game is a massive burden, or a problem that needs to be dealt with rather than a game of football.

Spain had fun for 90 minutes yesterday, England had anxiety for 90 minutes. This was the main difference between the teams.

 

[El Presidente]

England are 5th in the FIFA Rankings, the equivalent of Spurs last season.

A DULLARD converted England’s opponents FIFA rankings into finishing league positions for last season, which resulted in this.

Results

 

[oldboyroy]

My wife (who dislikes football and usually takes no interest) was asking why the England GK kept just booting the ball away.

I had no answer.

My partner who supports Brighton with me but isn't a fanatic like myself, just kept saying last night "we aren't very good like Spain are we". Also " Spain play like us(Brighton), all the possession but Spain score and finish teams off".

 

[BN41Albion]

I wish the players would stop protecting Southgate. Only a few players looked upset last night the others looked like they expected it to happen. When we lost the semi to Manure we left everything out on that pitch you can’t say the same about England last night.

I thought some of the players clearly looked pissed off with the tactics again last night, just like during the group games. None of those players play on the back foot for their clubs, so its obvious why, too. Why on earth did we go back to 4 at the back!? At least we looked half decent with the diamond midfield.