We’re not sh1t but we are not as good as we think. If we then constrain the team by playing negative football, which only serves to exploit the weaknesses of the players you have - rather than their strengths - then you get what we got.

His tactics are those you would use to avoid relegation whereas with the players we have they should have been to win the prize. The evidence to support that is within our own club. It’s the same tactics, almost a mirror image. We beat those below us and lose to those above (generally) and survive. It’s why Wilf gets so frustrated - he’s not a bloody defender and wants to bomb forward and attack ( so Foden, Sterling, Sancho etc). But there’s nothing there so we go backwards. We were playing a team ranked 40 places below us and he was trying to nick a goal. I suspect he was so scared of losing to Scotland he gave them the level of respect he would give Germany. If he does that in the knockout stages - we’re toast. God knows what he said to the players to elicit that performance.

Anyone really think Pep or Klopp, with that group of players, would have set them up like that? Of course not. Southgates purely a survival manager and not a winner. (And that survival instinct includes his own job in my view).

Edited by Helmet46 (19 Jun 2021 11.35am)

He certainly looked static didn't he.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

In those tactics he was to England what Benteke is to us.

Scotland were like us in the Championship, England just like the Hodgson version.

Red and Blue Army!

Which rather proves my point. Those that claim it was Freedmans team that took us up can discount Southgate finishing 12th as you could argue that’s someone else’s team. When he put his own stamp on it he finished 13th and then got relegated.
He was doing OK (ish - 4th) in the championship but that’s his level, I reckon, but they sacked him.
We do not have a tactical footballing genius in charge. This bloke is not the messiah.

Edited by Helmet46 (19 Jun 2021 12.35pm)

An England team manager just gets a few days to weeks with players the position is less about their club manager abilities with players and more about their understanding of players and how they fit the tactics.

I agree with the criticisms of Southgate but personally I think you could take most managers and give them the England job and it would be the same result.

It's more about the number of quality players available for England and how they fit the tactics used. I certainly would like to think a better tactical manager would do better with this particular set of players but hey ho.

When the Premiership was started we were told many times that it would improve the England team....errr...it didn't.

In my view, until they set the rules to increase the number of England qualified players in Premiership squads things won't change.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)