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England - The Southgate Years


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48 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

Quite an entertaining game for an England friendly. 

 

31 minutes ago, The Gazz said:

Our collective inability to adapt to a different formation is shockingly bad.

 

2 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I completely forgot about this. Looks as though nothing surprising happened.

 To the tower with you lot.

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The FA have been fined £16,000 after one of the U20's was spotted drinking a can of Red Bull at the U20 World Cup when Red Bull is not the official drinks sponsor of the tournament. Really puts that £22,000 fine Russia received for repeated racist chanting incidents into perspective regarding FIFA's priorities...

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Gareth Southgate intends to maintain England’s bold attacking approach at the World Cup and has warned his defensive midfielders Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier that only one of them may start at the tournament.

Henderson, who will begin in a much changed lineup against Costa Rica at Elland Road on Thursday, and Dier are members of a five-strong leadership group alongside the captain Harry Kane, Fabian Delph and Ashley Young which has emerged recently under Southgate’s stewardship. Yet, with the manager keen to have two forward‑thinking players flanking a single midfield pivot, one of the relatively experienced pair is likely to step down when England begin their campaign against Tunisia in Volgograd.

“It’s a key decision, but that’s management,” said Southgate, who has adopted a 3-5-2 as a system of preference since qualification was secured. “You either select players or you choose your system and pick the best people to fit into it. They’re the tough calls. I’d be amazed if the two of them aren’t important figures during the tournament for us, but there is clearly the possibility they might not both play in every match. We have to look at that because I think we will only want to play with one pivot.”

England will seek to give as many of their squad as they can game-time against Costa Rica and are likely to make 10 changes from the Nigeria win, with Henderson, overlooked for the permanent captain’s role, potentially leading a team out containing five Yorkshiremen for the national side’s first visit to Elland Road since 2002.

The former Leeds youth-team players Danny Rose and Delph will start, while Harry Maguire will join Phil Jones in a back three. Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold will make his debut at right wing-back at some stage.

Southgate appears to be resisting the temptation to assess Kane and Jamie Vardy as a front pairing in a formal fixture, but the Leicester City forward will start, with Ruben Loftus‑Cheek expected to gain a fourth cap.

“There are some players who will play who we believe can definitely feature in the first game [in Russia],” said Southgate, “and others like Trent and Delph who we haven’t had on the pitch yet from the start and we’re really tempted to see. We do have different options, and we need that. Who knows what problem we might have to solve, or what defence we have to unpick? We have to be ready.

“But I sense belief growing within the group that they’re a team who are improving and are starting to see what’s possible for them. Talking to them individually after the game on Saturday [against Nigeria], they can see the things they are working on in training happening on the pitch. That’s giving them confidence.

“There is still improvement we need to make to go as far as they believe is possible, but that’s natural. We will be the third youngest team in the tournament, and the least experienced in terms of caps. They have to keep working, not satisfied with the level we’re at, and keep improving.”

The manager is convinced England can travel to the World Cup free of some of the weight of expectation that has affected previous selections at major finals, with a visit from the Royal Marines to St George’s Park having offered all a sense of proper perspective.

“Pressure is what you perceive it to be,” Southgate said. “What is it really? We are going to play football. We had some guys in from the Marines on Tuesday who had lost limbs in different situations. What is the pressure on us? We are going to play for England at a World Cup, the highlight of anyone’s career in football. It is fantastic.

“Of course there is scrutiny, but we don’t want to be involved in matches where there is no possibility of achieving history. You want to be in games that matter. Let’s enjoy the experience. The Marines we had in shared some brilliant and inspirational stories, and it had a big impact on the group. They’re very strong men. Two of them had suffered incredible injuries while serving, and another once he had returned, and yet a couple are running marathons or rowing the Atlantic. Impressive guys.”

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8 hours ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

Seriously, the more I hear from Gareth Southgate the more I like him.

Then you watch England play and realise just how bang average we are?

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I mean him as a man, as a personality. Nothing to do with our playing style or how many central midfielders he plays. He's much more relatable, personable and professional than pretty much all of our managers since Sven, arguably even right back to Bobby Robson.

I don't think we're "bang average" anyway. We've got some really good players, many of whom are not yet in their prime. It's so easy for the people of this country to be down on the England team instead of being optimistic and getting behind them, I don't choose to join in with that attitude. It's one of the reasons I'm seriously considering watching all England's matches at home on my own instead of meeting friends and going to a pub.

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I find it hard to get optimistic with England when I'm kind of spoilt in that I watch a normally exciting football team in the one I support on a weekly basis to then watching less than exciting football with England when I know full well we have talented players like Kane and Sterling who we don't seem to get the most out of on an international level and the players from teams like Tottenham and ourselves who are used to playing a high tempo pressing game and it feels like they are shackled a bit.  I'd like to see us be adventurous and attacking especially with some of the players we have creatively and up front.  

I don't know, I'll obviously get behind us come the tournament but having grew up seeing us from France 98 which was my first tournament as Euro 96 I would only be 5 up until the end of Sven that was probably the best time as an England fan for me and had some of our best football. I just feel like I've been burnt watching us under McClaren, Capello and Woy. 

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1 hour ago, DMo Salah said:

I find it hard to get optimistic with England when I'm kind of spoilt in that I watch a normally exciting football team in the one I support on a weekly basis to then watching less than exciting football with England

Yeah same.

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3 hours ago, PanamAdam said:

I mean him as a man, as a personality. Nothing to do with our playing style or how many central midfielders he plays. He's much more relatable, personable and professional than pretty much all of our managers since Sven, arguably even right back to Bobby Robson.

I feel the same way. I don't think much of him as a tactician, but he talks a lot of sense about player development and gives thoughtful and measured responses to questions. I can't say he excites me as a head coach, but I do think he'd be a good person to have around the England setup in another role.

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Yeah, decent enough so far. I think we just need to try and avoid falling into the trap of slowing the pace down a bit. 

Boom, 1-0!

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