UEFA Euro 2024 Thread

[SSD]

How the heck did Foden start every game yet Palmer didn't even get a proper look in. That's always baffled me.

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

31 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

Spain pressed us high up the pitch, we didn't do enough to break it. 

Was this down to the players not knowing how to break the press or was it down to how the manager wanted the players to play.

Many of our players regularly have to deal with and beat a high press during a regular season. So why couldn't they do it when playing for England? 

I can only conclude it must be down to how the manager is asking the team to play.

This. The players were noticably not engaging Spain in their own half, that's not an accident, it's an instruction. 

The result is that it forced us too deep and when we did eventually win the ball back there was only ever one or two England players far enough up the pitch to represent an out ball, who where then quickly closed down and deal with. It just invited pressure which eventually told.

That is on the manager. Simple as that. Southgate is a great organiser and man manager off the pitch but on it he's a tactical coward.

[abertawe_ram]

27 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said:

I keep reading about England's "world-class" players. Who exactly are they? I'd suggest only Bellingham is anywhere near that status -  with Foden and Palmer with potential to reach that level. World-class players produce in the big tournaments and when it really matters!

I was thining the same when reading those comments. I'd say Saka is close but not consistent enough to be in the bracket, like the others you've mentioned potential is there

[gfs1ram]

Frankly England's performances at these Euros so remind me of what we have seen at Derby over the years. Indeed Warne may have been basing his methodology on the Southgate school of football, ie defensively minded, hard to beat but also hard to watch but got the results. 

Also I feel that England are now faced with a similar situation to what Derby saw at the end of the Nigel Clough era. Yet another defensively minded Manager but who accumulated a good and skilful set of players. Enter Steve McClaren and with basically the same squad produced excellent attacking football that was a joy to watch.

Southgate is surely finished now but England have a super squad of players all that is needed is for a 2024 version of McClaren to be found to get the best out of their undoubted skills, especially attacking wise !!

Any suggestions??

 

[MaltRam]

1 minute ago, gfs1ram said:

Frankly England's performances at these Euros so remind me of what we have seen at Derby over the years. Indeed Warne may have been basing his methodology on the Southgate school of football, ie defensively minded, hard to beat but also hard to watch but got the results. 

Also I feel that England are now faced with a similar situation to what Derby saw at the end of the Nigel Clough era. Yet another defensively minded Manager but who accumulated a good and skilful set of players. Enter Steve McClaren and with basically the same squad produced excellent attacking football that was a joy to watch.

Southgate is surely finished now but England have a super squad of players all that is needed is for a 2024 version of McClaren to be found to get the best out of their undoubted skills, especially attacking wise !!

Any suggestions??

 

Steve McClaren? 

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

I'd send Klopp a blank cheque and a four year contract. No idea if he'd take it but I'd give it a go if I were the FA.

I suspect they'll do something stupid like give it to Lampard though.

[Gritstone Ram]

9 minutes ago, SSD said:

How the heck did Foden start every game yet Palmer didn't even get a proper look in. That's always baffled me.

It might be something to do with the manager who made Kane captain and failed to drop him even though he was behind Pickford in most attacking moves.

[Gritstone Ram]

3 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

I'd send Klopp a blank cheque and a four year contract. No idea if he'd take it but I'd give it a go if I were the FA.

I suspect they'll do something stupid like give it to Lampard though.

I agree we need someone who knows what they’re doing 

[ariotofmyown]

10 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

I'd send Klopp a blank cheque and a four year contract. No idea if he'd take it but I'd give it a go if I were the FA.

I suspect they'll do something stupid like give it to Lampard though.

I'd almost like to see Lampard or Gerrard get it. Then all the people who moan about Southgate can see what a really clueless tactical manager is like.

[Gritstone Ram]

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

It was changing the midfield not changing the striker. 

Tbh you don’t even worthy any name associated with probably our all time best player when you know naff all about football.

[Marriot Ram99]

38 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

For a rich country with a hugely inflated ego of how we should be winning at football, it feels embarrasing if we get a non-English manager again.

Dont buy that at all, we dont have managerial talent with the right credentials but hardly an embarassment to look abroad for a top manager. Alot of our old generation players were as thick as pudding so we are  hardly going to have some of them manager. I would happily have someone relatively unknown  and foreign if they spoke decent English and had the right credentials to manage top players. Someone like a Bielsa in style and experience would be great.

[Jourdan]

Spain fully deserved it. Yamal and Williams were the two stars of the tournament and ran us ragged much like they did all of their previous opposition. We had no answers and they wore us down.

Southgate deserves credit for reaching another final, but I don’t think the belief was really there from England tonight and that starts with the manager. It’s a good time for change.

We played with 11 individuals rather than a team. I think that has been the crux of the issue for the entire tournament. The focus is too much on star individuals having to play rather than thinking about a blend of players that suit each other and get the maximum out of each other.

Spain arguably played their worst game of the tournament and they were still comfortably better than us and that speaks volumes.

We played well v Netherlands but that’s once in seven games. Fundamental problems were glossed over and that’s fine if you win the tournament. We didn’t.

[ariotofmyown]

43 minutes ago, Marriot Ram99 said:

Dont buy that at all, we dont have managerial talent with the right credentials but hardly an embarassment to look abroad for a top manager. Alot of our old generation players were as thick as pudding so we are  hardly going to have some of them manager. I would happily have someone relatively unknown  and foreign if they spoke decent English and had the right credentials to manage top players. Someone like a Bielsa in style and experience would be great.

Many people think Southgate is all that is preventing us from achieving world domination, so they put a huge level of importance on the role of manager. With all the riches available to England in a football sense, it really should be possible to find an English manager who can run the national team. It feels a cop out to me to take a manager from another country because we can't produce our own.

[Jourdan]

Saka and Mainoo were the bright sparks of the tournament for me.

Everyone will point to Kane as a major problem, but we didn’t play to his strengths whatsoever. If he’s your main striker and your main goal threat, you have to figure out a way to get him opportunities and doing what he does best.

The bigger problems for me were Foden, Bellingham and Rice and the way these three players have become almost undroppable and always have to be shoehorned into the team even when ineffective.

[Alph]

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

Nope.

He played some of the best midfield balls for us all tournament. Ridiculous that he kept having to drop deep to get the ball. Somewhat like wondering why we didn't see the best of Bellingham or Foden isn't it. 😄

You're entitled to your opinion but it's pretty universal that Kane was poor from many fans, pundits and ex players.  Even Southgate said something about games coming into tournament and tiredness when asked about Kane specifically. 

But yes, he did come and spray the odd pass out of defensive midfield like the majestic Robbie Savage in his Derby days. 

An alternative way to get the ball would have been to win the odd header, not give it away more than any other England starter (pass accuracy was lowest in regular starters) and to offer some kind threat in the channel or even be a target like the good old Derby days of a Chris Martin with his back to goal. 

He can't lead the pressing either. Maybe he's not fit. Maybe he doesn't suit the tactics. But he was pretty useless and was rightly subbed off again. 

I'm criticising his contribution not ability

[Bris Vegas]

37 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Saka and Mainoo were the bright sparks of the tournament for me.

Everyone will point to Kane as a major problem, but we didn’t play to his strengths whatsoever. If he’s your main striker and your main goal threat, you have to figure out a way to get him opportunities and doing what he does best.

The bigger problems for me were Foden, Bellingham and Rice and the way these three players have become almost undroppable and always have to be shoehorned into the team even when ineffective.

I agree. The balance isn’t there in midfield and Kane needs runners beyond, with no attacking threat down our left side.

Spain have the perfect balance, even if Morata isn’t the best he could still stretch the defence.

The have a 6 in Rodri, an 8 in Fabian and a 10 in Olmo. Super smooth with two quality wide forwards in Yamal and Williams. 

Compare with England and we lacked a wide forward on the left, while trying to shoehorn two number 10s in the team and Kane can’t stretch the defence as he doesn’t have the pace to go in behind.

If you remove Kane and Foden, putting in Watkins and Gordon, the balance is already better. I’d also be tempted to remove one of Rice/Bellingham for Palmer to get even more control in that midfield. 

Assuming this is it for Southgate, the next England manager will have some tough decisions to make, as some star names will need dropping for the good of the team.

[Jourdan]

2 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

I agree. The balance isn’t there in midfield and Kane needs runners beyond, with no attacking threat down our left side.

Spain have the perfect balance, even if Morata isn’t the best he could still stretch the defence.

The have a 6 in Rodri, an 8 in Fabian and a 10 in Olmo. Super smooth with two quality wide forwards in Yamal and Williams. 

Compare with England and we lacked a wide forward on the left, while trying to shoehorn two number 10s in the team and Kane can’t stretch the defence as he doesn’t have the pace to go in behind.

If you remove Kane and Foden, putting in Watkins and Gordon, the balance is already better. I’d also be tempted to remove one of Rice/Bellingham for Palmer to get even more control in that midfield. 

Assuming this is it for Southgate, the next England manager will have some tough decisions to make, as some star names will need dropping for the good of the team.

Williams and Yamal were the stars of the tournament and clearly add a different dimension to the team and as you say, it becomes more balanced.

They’re not just two players with sheer pace, they are two very technically good players with good footballing intelligence.

I don’t think we saw anything new from the likes of Morata, Olmo, Rodri and Fabian. They are excellent technicians. We have seen that in previous tournaments.

What we haven’t seen is Williams and Yamal. They just have that game-changing quality that takes Spain from being fairly predictable to really problematic for any opposition.

People have been criticising Kane but if you put him in that Spain team, he would have looked a completely different player.

It was a tough sobering night as an England fan. If we want to get over the line, we need spend two years actually building a team to a clear and effective plan, not six weeks.

[littleover ram]

I’m surprised Mason Bennett wasn’t stating in the number 9 role for the final  

[EtoileSportiveDeDerby]

6 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

For a rich country with a hugely inflated ego of how we should be winning at football, it feels embarrasing if we get a non-English manager again.

Apart from Eddie Howe and let’s face it he has zero international experience, you haven’t got much else I am afraid.

[RadioactiveWaste]

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