Gareth Southgate

[NickDRFC]

Something that hasn’t been mentioned (I don’t think it has anyway) is the quality of some other nations has improved so much.
I remember years ago that we used to beat teams by seven or eight goals but those countries now have exceptional coaching and are so well organised that massive wins are very rare.
Even teams like San Marino don’t get hammered every time they play.

I definitely agree that the quality of what you'd previously call middling/also ran teams has come on leaps and bounds (teams like Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Hungary etc) but I don't really think they've ever been whipping boys and although they often just make up the numbers at the World Cups/Euros it's rare that they'd ever get beaten heavily.

San Marino, though, are definitely still no stranger to a hammering - in the last 5 years Italy have past 7 past them, Belgium & Russia 9 each, we scored 10 (less than 3 years ago!) and even Scotland have put 6 past them.

[NickDRFC]

Rumours abound that he’s going to go 3-5-2

Not sure how I feel about that. In a sense it's exciting that Southgate is looking at ways to improve us but is this  just another desperate roll of the dice? Feels like the 3rd midfield slot has just been guesswork so far, so is this just the next step from that?
Is Shaw fit to play LWB or is Saka going to be moving there? Is Toney going to get a game or will Bellingham effectively be the 2nd striker? Will this get more out of Foden? Will Palmer potentially get a start? Will we get more out of TAA at RWB?

Still, better questions to be thinking about than "will Gallagher be back in for this one?"

[drfchound]

Something that hasn’t been mentioned (I don’t think it has anyway) is the quality of some other nations has improved so much.
I remember years ago that we used to beat teams by seven or eight goals but those countries now have exceptional coaching and are so well organised that massive wins are very rare.
Even teams like San Marino don’t get hammered every time they play.

I definitely agree that the quality of what you'd previously call middling/also ran teams has come on leaps and bounds (teams like Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Hungary etc) but I don't really think they've ever been whipping boys and although they often just make up the numbers at the World Cups/Euros it's rare that they'd ever get beaten heavily.

San Marino, though, are definitely still no stranger to a hammering - in the last 5 years Italy have past 7 past them, Belgium & Russia 9 each, we scored 10 (less than 3 years ago!) and even Scotland have put 6 past them.

In the last two years, with the exception of a 6-0 loss to Finland, San Marino’s biggest defeat has been 4-0 and they only lost 2-1 in a match against Denmark.

[NickDRFC]

Something that hasn’t been mentioned (I don’t think it has anyway) is the quality of some other nations has improved so much.
I remember years ago that we used to beat teams by seven or eight goals but those countries now have exceptional coaching and are so well organised that massive wins are very rare.
Even teams like San Marino don’t get hammered every time they play.

I definitely agree that the quality of what you'd previously call middling/also ran teams has come on leaps and bounds (teams like Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Hungary etc) but I don't really think they've ever been whipping boys and although they often just make up the numbers at the World Cups/Euros it's rare that they'd ever get beaten heavily.

San Marino, though, are definitely still no stranger to a hammering - in the last 5 years Italy have past 7 past them, Belgium & Russia 9 each, we scored 10 (less than 3 years ago!) and even Scotland have put 6 past them.

In the last two years San Marino’s biggest defeat has been 4-0 and they only lost 2-1 in a match against Denmark.

They lost 6-0 to Finland just over a year ago, but the point I was making was that when they come across the sort of quality they would do in a group game at the Euros they still get hammered.

[drfchound]

Something that hasn’t been mentioned (I don’t think it has anyway) is the quality of some other nations has improved so much.
I remember years ago that we used to beat teams by seven or eight goals but those countries now have exceptional coaching and are so well organised that massive wins are very rare.
Even teams like San Marino don’t get hammered every time they play.

I definitely agree that the quality of what you'd previously call middling/also ran teams has come on leaps and bounds (teams like Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Hungary etc) but I don't really think they've ever been whipping boys and although they often just make up the numbers at the World Cups/Euros it's rare that they'd ever get beaten heavily.

San Marino, though, are definitely still no stranger to a hammering - in the last 5 years Italy have past 7 past them, Belgium & Russia 9 each, we scored 10 (less than 3 years ago!) and even Scotland have put 6 past them.

In the last two years San Marino’s biggest defeat has been 4-0 and they only lost 2-1 in a match against Denmark.

They lost 6-0 to Finland just over a year ago, but the point I was making was that when they come across the sort of quality they would do in a group game at the Euros they still get hammered.

Yes, I saw that 6-0 result after I posted and came on to edit my list, which I now have done.
It is unlikely though that they will ever play in a group game in the euros but they still play in the qualifying groups and the point I was making is that they don’t often get battered by big scores whereas in years gone by they regularly did.

[grayx]

Rumours abound that he’s going to go 3-5-2

I’d be happy with that IF he picks the right players.
I cringe when i hear Connor Gallaghers name being mentioned.

[Little Wolf]

In addition to that Southgate has generally got very lucky with the opposition England have faced. This tournament possibly the easiest group and then easiest side of the draw.

Last World Cup we only had to beat Iran and Wales (couldn’t beat USA) and then beat Senegal.

World Cup in Russia we beat Panama and Tunisia (with a last minute goal) Columbia (on penalties) and Sweden.

Euros final maybe the exception as we had to get past Germany but otherwise it was Croatia, Czechs (couldn’t beat Scotland), Ukraine and Denmark.

In general, with the exception of Germany in the Euros, we’ve fallen short everytime we’ve faced a decent team - and even sometimes when we’ve come up against an average team.

That’s not correct either
We got knocked out by Iceland not long ago, italia 90 we faced Belgium and Cameroon both very poor international sides at the time.
The arguement we only do well because we’re playing rubbish teams is just an easy arguement for the people who can’t accept it when we do well under Southgate

Cameroon did beat argentina at italia 90

[dickos1]

Saudi Arabia beat them in the last World Cup too

[karldew]

Rumours abound that he’s going to go 3-5-2

I’d be happy with that IF he picks the right players.
I cringe when i hear Connor Gallaghers name being mentioned.

Rumoured line up below. I don’t get why we leak squad and or formation changes.

Pickford
Konsa Stones Walker
Saka LWB
Trent RWB
Rice/Mainoo CDM
Foden/Jude used as 10’s
Kane main man

[Canadian Rover]

It's bizzare, each and every time the squads have come out as per the "rumour" surely this shouldn't be happening.

[dickos1]

The media will be the ones leaking it. Any other country and they’d be keeping it quiet and helping the national team. Our media are always looking for us to fail so they can have their story

[IDM]

No, the media are looking to sell newspapers, airtime etc.  It's sensationalism and lots of people look at it.

[Little Wolf]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cd19x2d9pxno What other nations fans think of england this tournament

[dickos1]

Ha ha
Portugese & french should concentrate on their own teams failures I reckon

[Spud]

I don't mind 3-5-2 if that's what we actually play & not just an excuse to sit back with a back 5. Christ, when Eze came on against Slovakia he basically played left back, I'd love to see a heat map for him that night

[Lesonthewest]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cd19x2d9pxno What other nations fans think of england this tournament

So Europeans are saying it too, although we knew it anyway.

[dickos1]

Knew what ha ha ha
The French are the most defensive, pragmatic team in the world so they’ve not really got a leg to stand on when criticising us

[goalkick]

Not ste about Pickford with his constant back passing.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Thing with 3 at the back is it becomes 5 very quickly if your not brave and don’t allow the centre halves to step out and engage.

The way Southgate is it’ll likely mean we sit deep in a back 5 instead of a back 4. Not much difference.

The team I saw still had Kane on his own up top just with Foden and Bellingham playing closer to him. So we’ve still no pace in behind. I don’t know who should be dropped but having Watkins and Kane play together would give us options imo.

[GazLaz]

I think we will win and likely win the tournament. Their outlet to progress the ball from the back is Rodriguez. Stop him playing out down that left channel and we will nullify a lot of what they do. I’d consider playing two up top and put Toney on him or alternatively Jude has to play high and step onto him when out of possession. Come on England.

[Chris Black come back]

This era has got us to at least the quarters in every tournament since Southgate took over.
Euro 96 we played well in one half of football against Holland the rest of it was pretty poor, italia 90 we were poor all the way through, best performance was in the semi which we lost.
Our record from 1990 to 2016 was pretty atrocious!
92 failed to get of group
94 did not qualify
96 semis
98 last 16
2000 failed to get out of group
2002 quarter finals
2004 quarter finals
2006 quarter finals
2008 did not qualify
2010 last 16
2012 quarter finals
2014 failed to get out of group
2016 last 16

Compare that to Southgate’s reign
2018 semi final
2020 final
2022 quarter final
2024 ?

So yes the record under the golden generation and even the one before with Lineker was terrible, it’s just a fact that the current national team is performing in tournaments much better than it has before on a consistent basis

Whilst I sympathise with your position doing a wholesale comparison like that is near impossible.

Not only was the format different for a lot of those campaigns so was qualifying, and so was the number of teams in each competition. Not only that but its only in recent years that the Euro's have become a summer competition with qualifying during the playing season and the finals in the summer, it didn't use to be like that and most of the competition part took place during the playing season.

I remember the days when WC qualifying groups consisted of just 3 teams, and any failure at that time meant no qualification at all. Its got so much easier these days with umpteen chances to qualify!

Also the location is critical. The 2020 tournament was basically a home tournament. The most impressive result arguably since 1966 was the 2018 semi final (which we could have won) being played in Russia. Our away record isn't much cop if we are honest so that 2018 performance stands out.

[dickos1]

The squad in 2018 was really poor too so it’s a miracle they got that far

[Lesonthewest]

Knew what ha ha ha
The French are the most defensive, pragmatic team in the world so they’ve not really got a leg to stand on when criticising us

That we've played shite in 4 games.

[dickos1]

France haven’t scored a goal from open play in 600 minutes, so as I say they should maybe be worrying about how shite they’ve been

[drfchound]

Such a great game between France and Portugal …….. that i fell asleep and missed most of the second half.

[Lesonthewest]

France haven’t scored a goal from open play in 600 minutes, so as I say they should maybe be worrying about how shite they’ve been

Don't really care about which other country in the tournament has or hasn't done. We have played garbage in 4 games. Concensus of opinion by the looks of it tend to agree.

[scawsby steve]

Bloody penalty shoot-out. I hate them.

I've a feeling it could be France out.

[scawsby steve]

I was wrong. Portugal out.

[Little Wolf]

Who was the best player on the pitch, mpappe, ronaldo no pepe give his soul tonight for portugal , i wish england players had his passion

[Metalmicky]

France haven’t scored a goal from open play in 600 minutes, so as I say they should maybe be worrying about how shite they’ve been

Make that 720 mins.....