Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England

[ClaphamFox]

35 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

The worst thing about it is you already have Trippier having to play on the left side, in an unfamiliar position so the whole side of that pitch doesn’t have any natural players. It’s unbalanced and doesn’t work. Southgate really does frustrate me, when we went 1 up for some reason we again started to sit back, thankfully rice guehi and stones looked composed enough for us to not really have major problems. Against better teams though we don’t get away with it 

Given that Luke Shaw is just returning from injury and we have no other left-footed left backs, the decision to omit Tyrick Mitchell from the final 26 seems a bit odd.

[Trent Steel]

too many "world class" players that were ghosts for most of the match but i think thats down to the managers/staff tactics

 

a wins a win but we wont get away with it against the big boys

 

need to change things next game and also make some subs more earlier on if its not working, its not the end yet but carry on like this and we wont get past the quarters

[Eurofox]

It's not coming home yet 

[Mike1983]

4 hours ago, purpleronnie said:

Southgate does remind me a bit of Rodgers.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Rodgers didn't have the luxury of a £1.1 billion squad. Southgate, on the other hand, is squandering our generational talent.

[foxile5]

23 minutes ago, Mike1983 said:

Rodgers didn't have the luxury of a £1.1 billion squad. Southgate, on the other hand, is squandering our generational talent.

It's happened to better managers with - arguably - better squads.

 

I think English managers get paralysed with fear and overwhelmed by the occasion and expectation.

 

Absolutely no reason for Southgate to be ultra-defensive beyond the train of thought "drawing is as good as winning because at least it's not a loss". We're also seeing the issue of needing to shoehorn all of the perceived best players onto the pitch even to the detriment of the wider team. TAA playing central midfield is a baffling move but it gives that little bit of relief that GS can always say he didn't drop TAA for someone 'lesser'. It's the Lampard/Gerrard conundrum. 

 

There's also a wider picture coming into focus with this tournament, though. Unlike club football where you're playing anywhere between 30 and 40 games a season - there isn't a premium being placed on possession based football. It isn't lots of idle passing with snap attacks being played. Perhaps because teams have more of an immediate pressure to win. Perhaps because international managers are beholden to the same standards as domestic. But there does seem to a be a focus on scoring goals and attacking that's missing in club football.

 

Gareth needs to pick up on that. Get the ball forward to the attackers and get scoring. That seems to be how teams are succeeding at this particular tournament. I could be wrong, though.

[Fear Of The Fox]

5 hours ago, Dr Marco said:

I know I'm a fanboy and I've always hated Kane but I would take Vardy aged 37 over Kane

It's not about being a fanboy. You're pragmatic. Any striker with pace would have had a great time running behind the slow Serbian CBs, especially after the 1-0. The issue is Southgate. Even an 8yr old with one year experience in Football Manager would have replaced Kane with Watkins at around the 60th min mark. 

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

We need to improve massively and quickly. Basically saying come on then try and score while we put 10/11 men behind the ball for an hour against Serbia is just not the mentality that is going to win you a tournament. All goes back to extra time against Italy for me , they were absolutely knackered and the game was there for the taking but Southgate was too scared to try and win the game in case we lost it. You can’t score after 10 minutes and sit back against the best teams in Europe, i mean you can and it might work sometimes but you won’t win a tournament doing that. We just got away with it against Serbia, but won’t against better teams, why I can’t stand Southgate he’s so negative.

[foxfanazer]

1 minute ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

We need to improve massively and quickly. Basically saying come on then try and score while we put 10/11 men behind the ball for an hour against Serbia is just not the mentality that is going to win you a tournament. All goes back to extra time against Italy for me , they were absolutely knackered and the game was there for the taking but Southgate was too scared to try and win the game in case we lost it. You can’t score after 10 minutes and sit back against the best teams in Europe, i mean you can and it might work sometimes but you won’t win a tournament doing that. We just got away with it against Serbia, but won’t against better teams, why I can’t stand Southgate he’s so negative.

Thank you. People saying that we'll definitely improve and it's a good win are missing the point imo. To go into a tournament with everyone banging on about our squad being the best in the tournament and then to play with such cowardice and no patterns of play is concerning to say the least. 

Momentum is everything and whilst we'll muddle through the group, the second we have to raise our levels against a France, Germany, Spain we'll be found out

 

The weird thing is it's the people that overhype these players who are quick to defend performances like last nights. Feels like the same blind loyalty that kept Rodgers in a job for so long

[foxes_rule1978]

The defeat to Italy shouldn’t have happened, and Southgate should have gone afterwards. That game was so poorly managed, just has was yesterday’s. I’m optimistic but even I realise that Southgate isn’t going to suddenly change his style. How he is still manager I don’t know, I don’t think many would be happy if their club appointed him. 

Edited 17 June by foxes_rule1978

[Dr Marco]

Please Klopp take the job!

[Super_horns]

35 minutes ago, Dr Marco said:

Please Klopp take the job!

The media - some of them would never accept a German as manager though.

[foxes_rule1978]

Just now, Super_horns said:

The media - some of them would never accept a German as manager though.

I thought they loved klopp, I’m sure there would be no issue with him 

[Super_horns]

1 minute ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

I thought they loved klopp, I’m sure there would be no issue with him 

Yes they did but not as an England manager surely?

 

The ones who probably hated having Sven or Capello as manager I mean.

Edited 17 June by Super_horns

[foxfanazer]

Create a go fund me to get Pep in. Almost guarantees us a trophy

Edited 17 June by foxfanazer

[foxes_rule1978]

1 minute ago, foxfanazer said:

Create a go fund me to get Pep in. Almost guarantees us a trophy

I was thinking about Pep, I mean he may not want to manage Spain so if the England job did come available he may be interested once he wants to get into international football 

[FoxTimmy2]

Pep's robots don't seen to fare too well once their outside of their system.

[lcfcdamo]

Faes Vestergard in the prem is going to be painful 

[BillyFOX12]

16 minutes ago, lcfcdamo said:

Faes Vestergard in the prem is going to be painful 

Faes is the worst player for Belgium, and yesterday, Vestergaard was the second worst, just behind Hojlund.

Edited 17 June by BillyFOX12

[foxfanazer]

Just now, BillyFOX12 said:

Faes is the worst player for Belgium, and yesterday, Vestergaard was the second worst, just behind Hojlund.

Faes hasn't been the worst Belgium player in this game

[Super_horns]

Someone had an interesting night’s sleep !

 

 

Edited 17 June by Super_horns

[foxfanazer]

Just now, Super_horns said:

Someone had an interesting night’s sleep !

https://x.com/FBAwayDays/status/1802735705996636235?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1802735705996636235|twgr^7edf24a50f3a00321ce18a4312fe2a215b1cf472|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.otib.co.uk%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2FFBAwayDays%2Fstatus%2F1802735705996636235

That's what Gareth Southgate's football will do to ya

[bovril]

3 hours ago, Super_horns said:

The media - some of them would never accept a German as manager though.

Quite rightly. Only thing worse would be an American. 

 

Frenchman is the logical choice, especially with the three lions connection.

[leicsmac]

25 minutes ago, bovril said:

Quite rightly. Only thing worse would be an American. 

 

Frenchman is the logical choice, especially with the three lions connection.

... should have gone for Wenger when we had the chance?

[bovril]

Just now, leicsmac said:

... should have gone for Wenger when we had the chance?

Would've been a great appointment, although he's an Alsatian not an Angevin. 

[Foxy DK]

Aside from your world class attacking players and our world class defender (Christensen) and much better keeper, England and Denmark look quite similar. I mean, you’ll be 75-85 % favorites against us, but both teams were running the show, scored and let the opponent in the game later on. Both coaches get criticized for not keeping the intensity and subbing too late.
 

Denmark’s strongest side used to be defense and the solid spine up through midfield, but we’ve been so painfully fragile the last couple of years. Peak Kjaer instead of big Jannik would make me much more confident. I really hope we can make better use of Hojlund’s pace, but I fear you’ll cut through our left side like laser through very slowly flowing melted butter.

Edited 18 June by Foxy DK