Does Gareth Southgate deserve more respect and gratitude?

[Nymzee]

Surely he can't go out remembered as the man who bottled two Euro finals on a row, surely????

Is it bottling if we lose to Spain?

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Is it bottling if we lose to Spain?

Depends how he sets up.

 

[Saint Domingo]

He's probably the luckiest man in football.

A lucky penalty and then Watkins scores a beauty that he pulls out his backside.

If the opposition striker had pulled a beauty out of his backside and we went out would he be unlucky?

 

[Rita_Poon]

Back-to-back Euro finals.
He's going to be the next PM isn't he. What a world.

 

[Efcjake]

If the opposition striker had pulled a beauty out of his backside and we went out would he be unlucky?

No

 

[Efcjake]

Is it bottling if we lose to Spain?

No. They're the best team in the tournament by a mile.

 

[Saint Domingo]

No

Sounds like a double standard.

 

[Efcjake]

Sounds like a double standard.

It very much so is.

I expect this England team to be able to put away that Dutch side.

Just as I would expect them to dispatch every other middling to decent team they've faced in the tournament so far.

He's no superhero for making extremely hard work of meeting the expectation.

 

[Saint Domingo]

It very much so is.

I expect this England team to be able to put away that Dutch side.

Just as I would expect them to dispatch every other middling to decent team they've faced in the tournament so far.

He's no superhero for making extremely hard work of meeting the expectation.

Don’t know why there’s that expectation. We’ve got Kieran Trippier playing left wing back, a brand new CB pairing with either Guehi or Konsa playing with Stones, we’ve played a full back in midfield, swapped to Gallagher and now have a teenager in there who hadn’t played for England before. We’ve got no depth in any defensive position or midfield position. Kane is also slowing down and can’t press any more.

It’s a decent group of players with some very good talent in Foden Saka Palmer Stones but the rest including Rice and Bellingham are very workmanlike. I’d take Rooney Owen Scholes Beckham Joe Cole Lampard Gerrard Terry Ferdinand Ashley Cole over this lot every day of the week.

For me it’s quite simply not a team that should be brushing middling opposition aside with ease. That just hardly ever happens in latter stages of international football regardless.

 

[JammyP]

 

[Efcjake]

Don’t know why there’s that expectation.

Because they have better players than most of the other teams. It's pretty simple.

I'd expect them to put aside most everyone besides France and Spain. They're ranked 5th in the world and have been as high as 3rd in the FIFA rankings since the 2018 World Cup Semi loss with typically only one or two European teams ranked above them.

You can't blow smoke up their arse about how many semi finals and finals they will have been in recently and then act surprised when a level of expectation follows.

 

[Efcjake]

Don’t know why there’s that expectation. We’ve got Kieran Trippier playing left wing back, a brand new CB pairing with either Guehi or Konsa playing with Stones, we’ve played a full back in midfield, swapped to Gallagher and now have a teenager in there who hadn’t played for England before. We’ve got no depth in any defensive position or midfield position. Kane is also slowing down and can’t press any more.

It’s a decent group of players with some very good talent in Foden Saka Palmer Stones but the rest including Rice and Bellingham are very workmanlike. I’d take Rooney Owen Scholes Beckham Joe Cole Lampard Gerrard Terry Ferdinand Ashley Cole over this lot every day of the week.

For me it’s quite simply not a team that should be brushing middling opposition aside with ease. That just hardly ever happens in latter stages of international football regardless.

Oh and all of those complaints you have are actually because deep down you know Southgate is muck.

 

[MikeH72]

Oh and all of those complaints you have are actually because deep down you know Southgate is muck.

The fact we’re playing Trippier at left wing back is actually on the manager. Acting like there are no other English left backs other than Shaw. As is the fact we decided to play a full back in midfield over a top young talent in Mainoo.

Shaw needs to start the final. The match fitness excuse won’t wash anymore. We’ve survived this Trippier experiment somehow but we’re about to meet an opponent in the final who will not allow us to get away with it another time.

 

[LinekersLegs]

Because they have better players than most of the other teams. It's pretty simple.

I'd expect them to put aside most everyone besides France and Spain. They're ranked 5th in the world and have been as high as 3rd in the FIFA rankings since the 2018 World Cup Semi loss with typically only one or two European teams ranked above them.

You can't blow smoke up their arse about how many semi finals and finals they will have been in recently and then act surprised when a level of expectation follows.

In Southgates defense we have often had better players than other teams but it often hasn’t helped England progress, in fact has often been a burden.

I still have reservations about Southgate tactics, squad selections (one one half fit left footer???), late substitutions and generally negative play.

However he does seem to have made the players a happy team off pitch, reduced the “weight of the shirt” that made them wilt at the slightest setback and even made them believe they can win penalty shootouts. The latter was something I honestly never thought I’d see given the history.

Has he been lucky, yes, but I don’t think getting so far in so many competitions is all down to luck and the talent he has been handed.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Because they have better players than most of the other teams. It's pretty simple.

I'd expect them to put aside most everyone besides France and Spain. They're ranked 5th in the world and have been as high as 3rd in the FIFA rankings since the 2018 World Cup Semi loss with typically only one or two European teams ranked above them.

You can't blow smoke up their arse about how many semi finals and finals they will have been in recently and then act surprised when a level of expectation follows.

England have had better players than most other teams for decades, it’s got us nowhere. It’s this season’s Everton argent all over again. If the manager gets a group of players to get better results than others have previously the. It out shows that the players are good enough ergo the manager deserves no credit. It’s a silly one.