no player wants to leave prematurely or get knocked out not playing to their strengths, it must be very infuriating for players that play at a high level to be in this predicament with England.. to me, the joy of Euro 96, France 98 was peak... it's never really found its form for me since..

This was once a quality forum....

I think it's great. At long last the pundits are giving an open honest opinion of the shortcomings of England. And there are loads. Starting and ending with Southgate.
Kane is clearly not fit and keeps playing out of position.
Southgate caused a stir picking all the youngsters. Now is the time to use them.
I would play Watkins up front with Gordon and Palmer.
Bellingham just behind with Wharton and Rice midfield.
Kane , Saka and Foden would make very good impact subs as required.

I'm reaching a point now where I almost don't want Wharton to play a part in this tournament and potentially have his confidence damaged by this absolute clusterf***.

Southgate is utterly useless and needs to go as soon as the tournament is over. Better for Wharton to start his England career properly under a new manager and less pressure.

We are miraculously favourites to win the entire thing once again, owing to the fact that Spain, Germany, France and Portugal have all ended up in the opposite side of the draw meaning our route to the final couldn't be easier in theory.

Once again Southgate has been incredibly lucky with his route in the tournament and if he gets us to the semi-finals or beyond it is by luck and not judgement.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Indeed however before the tournament he was getting pelters so I thought he might have a bit of sympathy.

"Shearer had not scored in 12 games in the 21 months prior,[15] and even his overall goalscoring record for England did not look too impressive so far, with five goals in 23 games.[82] However, he found the net in the 22nd minute of the first game, against Switzerland.[83] Scoring once in the following game against Scotland and twice in a 4–1 win over the Netherlands,[83] Shearer helped England to progress to the next stage in front of their own fans in Wembley"

One more point

Well, TAA and Gallagher have played themselves out of partnering Rice but there are still Mainoo and Bellingham dropping back from No. 10, ahead of him so I think there is little chance of him getting minutes. His interview, which I read as basically telling Southgate to play him, may not have gone down well

I think the only chance he will he gets is if Mainoo has a stinker and we are down at halftime because the Dutch, for example, are running rampant in midfield

Birth of his 3rd child. I, too was very sceptical.

Joy And Pain is like Sunshine and Rain
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