FAO: Gareth Southgate

[Van der MoodHoover]

4 hours ago, Parsnip said:

Owd your 'osses! We were one kick away from being sent home only having beaten Tunisia & Panama! Scraping through against Colombia sans Rodriguez is hardly setting the competition on fire! 

Nope. I'll be reserving judgment until the last day when Maradonna's crying crack laced tears onto his tight fitting Brazil shirt.

And wtf is that supposed to mean? Racist pig.

He's rooting for you really.....?

[SSD]

2 hours ago, Smyth_18 said:

I find myself on this bandwagon of loving Gareth Southgate but then i doubt myself.

We've conceded in every game which shouldn't be happening against Tunisia and Panama. I think any manager out there could easily have got us to this point.

The only thing i can credit Gareth with at the moment is the team spirit (which is fantastic).

It's what happens from now which will form my opinion on him as a manager.

I can accept conceding silly goals as long as there's a togetherness on the pitch which for once in my lifetime, I feel the team has. The Welsh could only manage a draw against Panama last year and Tunisia have beaten some decent African teams to get through to the finals. So many big boys have fallen due to a lack of team spirit and I feel with a different manager, we'd have been dumped out of the group stage along with ze Germans.

[Alph]

Anyone else feel a bit split on Southgate?

He has picked a young hungry team based on them suiting the way he wants to play and the way they compliment each other rather than picking players on reputation then chucking them in a system hoping they'll fit. 

Super Southgate

Then when the team is in a good position he tends to let them become lazy on the ball as they sink deeper while constantly hoping Kane and partner will perform a miracle from the hoof. This was seen vs Colombia, Croatia and to some extent vs Panama and Sweden. 

Stupid Southgate!

Some really sloppy play after taking the lead in some games compared to the precision composure when level. 

[Mr Tibbs]

1 minute ago, Alpha said:

Anyone else feel a bit split on Southgate?

He has picked a young hungry team based on them suiting the way he wants to play and the way they compliment each other rather than picking players on reputation then chucking them in a system hoping they'll fit. 

Super Southgate

Then when the team is in a good position he tends to let them become lazy on the ball as they sink deeper while constantly hoping Kane and partner will perform a miracle from the hoof. This was seen vs Colombia, Croatia and to some extent vs Panama and Sweden. 

Stupid Southgate!

Some really sloppy play after taking the lead in some games compared to the precision composure when level. 

I'm all for him Alpha.

If we accept who we are and where we deserve to be we'll be fine. We know Southgate has flaws. Just like Henderson does, just like Kyle Walker is erratic, John Stones a liability, Sterling wasteful...

If we accept all that and they can still go out and give 100% for the country whilst winning games I'll be happy. 

[Alph]

40 minutes ago, Mr Tibbs said:

I'm all for him Alpha.

If we accept who we are and where we deserve to be we'll be fine. We know Southgate has flaws. Just like Henderson does, just like Kyle Walker is erratic, John Stones a liability, Sterling wasteful...

If we accept all that and they can still go out and give 100% for the country whilst winning games I'll be happy. 

Yeah I'm definitely happy. England must have won hundreds of thousands of people over with this tournament. 

Haven't England been threatening to scrap the old players and in with those trying to establish themselves for a good few years now?

I'm sure a good few managers have threatened it and it's gone as far as giving 5 new caps out in qualifying before calling up James Milner?

Just a little Nigel Clough nostalgia. Took their foot off the gas too much which considering the progress was bit cheap. 

Only a minor irritation. I still really hope they beat Belgium. I know it means nothing and is probably a burden but in a year I think the bronze medal looks quite a bit better than no medal. You know, when the pain has gone 

[PistoldPete2]

Southgate has benefited from having been manager of the under 21s ... Been able to pick the best of them and blend them into a useful team against lesser opposition. 

What could he have done to stop Croatia coming back at us? They changed their formation second half... Couldn't we have done the same to counter that, maybe brought rose on earlier . Obviously frustrating that we were so on top and then let it slip but even in first half Croatia had more possession as they have better passers of the ball. The England boys looked tired , a familiar story .. What can we do about that? Is it lack,of fitness or too many games? The Croatia game looked like  one too many, specially as it went to extra time.

[Bob Gnarly]

This England team made almost all of the country fall in love with football again. They went into it with little to no expectation, but played great football throughout most of the tournament. they played with speed, integrity skill and most importantly to me at least, Passion.

I am so proud to say that those lads are our national team, for the first team in god knows how long, the squad wasn't full of individuals that were shoe horned into a formation that didn't really suit their playing style. They cared about each other and played well with each other, there were no ego's in that side.

Yeah we had our flaws but what team doesn't? 

The fact that we made it to a semi final is wonderful, we all believed in them, and although we didn't make it by god it was amazing just to be in that position.

Than you Gareth for capturing our imaginations with Football once more and long may it continue.

[bx3]

For some reason, the media chose not to ride Gareth Southgate. The country's feel would probably have been a whole lot different if they had.

Trouble is though, having a memory that stretches back four years, eight years, 12 years, 16 years, 20 + years, not much appears to have moved forward on the pitch. A win at Tunisia. A win at Panama. A scrape past Colombia. Followed by a good Sweden win. That and Germany, Spain, Argentina, and Brazil chose not to turn up this time.

Not being a negative nelly. Just can't help being a realist.

[SaintRam]