Rooney

Precisely! Other international teams can cohesively put a press together that works with triggers, but we can't. We regularly score a goal and then decide to play compact, which means we try and play on the counter, except we're not dangerous on the counter. We were incredibly lucky in 2018, we got an easy draw. We've never beaten a top team under Southgate in a major tournament expect Germany. Southgate will go down as giving England fans some great moments, but come on. We've got the most gifted squad we've had for nearly 20 years and we play like we're an underdog. We're the a good team, we need to play agressive and on the front foot. As much as he's given us great moments there's also a distinct pattern of Southgate play, where we're timid, go in to our shells and end up losing. The problem is everyone's seen this story a few times now and we're all bored of it. Too negative, too compact, no width and not even a half decent press. This is all on the manager. Just shows you that England were poor with Trent, but even worse when he came off. We could have a front three of Messi, Mbappe and Haaland and still stink the place out.

Nobody expects the team to play like properly coached Premier League team. In 2018 we got lucky, but we had a much worse squad and a defensive set up suited us. We’ve actually properly coached players who are tactically in tune and can play on the front foot but we don’t play that way. We score a goal then play behind the ball, I can understand that with 20 minutes to go but we do the same every time. It’s obviously tactical.

He'll just do what Foden does. That was absolutely mind numblind awful and boring. We look gassed, absolutely terrible. Trent and Foden will get stick, but the whole team were terrible. Which points to something not right with our set up and coaching.

No shock that Trent and Foden are probably our two most naturally gifted players in terms of technical levels and Southgate can’t get a tune out of them. Just shows the standard of coaching. I know it’s different at international level but look at the difference Naagelsman has made after a year.

Sir Jim doing his bit to be the most corportate and hated man in football :lol:

It's shit coaching from Southgate. You want Trent further back, he's the best right back on the pitch. Instead he's playing with his back to goal, with no idea what to do. Then you have Foden coming in field, so there's so switch in. Trent is the best passer we have by far, but he's totally wasted in this set up. Just bizzare really, there's so runners so as much as I love Trent, this tactical set up does not suit him. He's quite good defensively tho. Just no balance in this team whatsoever.

The pitch is terrible which doesn't help, but classic Southgate tactics. Thought we started well, even game, got the goal, then we set up in a low block. None of these players play in a low block for the most part, which is stupid tactics. Foden, Bellingham and Kane all want the same space. Bellingham is having a shocker too. Denmark playing well, but we let them play well. It's like watching prime Stoke City.

Can see the merit in the same XI, gives the team time to build again. Southgate's problem though is he is a reactive rather than a proactive manager, he's always been this way with this England team, we're way too late to make changes (Euro final a classic example). I think it's just his style, but clearly we want to win this game and then ring some changes for the final game.

It was a sleeper hit during series 1 though and I reckon it would win vs I'm a Celeb on it's current trajectory. Could see them trying a Christmas style launch though.

Someone’s claimed that fillming has finished for series 3 and there’s a celeb version on the way too. Anyone reckon they might bring this back in the November/December slot? Be interesting to see.. both timeslots have worked really well.

Unlikely that happens unless there’s a complete pasting in a knockout game where a team collapses. Good to see imo, shows the teams are close to each other rather than a huge disparity in quality that sometimes happens.

The thing is with Reform, most people won't have read the manifesto. They'll be voting for Farage and because they want change. Usually the root cause is issues with split communities, and plaves which have had little to zero investment. I honesty think Reform will win Clacton at the absolute most, and even then if Labour held up the white flag, the Tories would easily win it.

Usually if someone does the press rounds, they're a lock to start, so I'd certainly think he's starting. Reckon it's the same team as last time with Mainoo for Trent unless someone picked up any knock from Sunday.

Well they need to not lose. Not sure if they will play on the front foot or be fairly cagey and wait for it to open up in the 2nd half. I'm suspecting the latter.

Hard to work out how good this Portugal side is. Martinez got a bit unlucky with Belgium in their draws in the major tournaments, especially in 2018. Be interested to see how the Portugal team fare up against some good pace as their back line looks weak. Pretty mad Pepe still starts for them :lol:

It's coming next season. They've used this tech for a while in UEFA competitions, but this iteration is definitely quicker than the one I've seen in the Champions/Europa League.

They have such an easy run-in, so if it looks inevitable again :lol:

Yeah it's pretty bonkers full stop. The next election cycle is going to be interesting. I fear the Conservatives will sell out to Reform, but I also think off the back of this a lot of voters will abandon them. The problem I think Labour will have is then nailing that massive broad spectrum.

He plays all over for City, but mostly starts on the right. And then he always drifts in-field too. The problem is Foden looks so good for City at times because of the patterns he's coached to play. He naturally wants to drift in to the space that Bellingham and Kane play in, and likewise some of his patterns he plays you can clearly see he's thinking he's in a Guardiola team. He's a big game player, but I do think we might be a bit better without him starting.. although Southgate clearly sees him as someone for the left and not the right side.

It's in next season, although I think it's the tier below the one UEFA use. Weird as they use it in the UEFA club competitions and it's nowhere near as fast at this technology.. can only assume UEFA are using something different again.

Let the season commence!

Wonder if we see some changes or if Southgate keeps the same XI. Reckon he keeps it the same to get the 3 points and then mixes it up a little in the final game providing we get 3 points.

And if that happens, a great reason why Labour may not want to push for PR voting and keep FPTP. I can't see Reform getting any more than 2 MPs at a stretch.

And this is why Corbyn never got in to power! There's no way a Labour government under Corbyn would be winning this election against the Tories imo. Even though I've made it clear I'm not a fan of him, his polling data currently is about level that of the current Tories and there's no way he had the political nous and guile to navigate some of the foreign policy parts too. It's all moot imo as I am very unsure whether he would have been able to navigate NATO/Ukraine/Gaza in the way that cuts through to the public. I do agree on the latter points though.

Surely none of this is new? :lol: This is exactly how we play under Southgate. We'll grow in to the tournament and play better, but we protect the lead and drop off. There is a real lack of control and a calm head when under pressure to force teams back, and we were a big naff aginst the press too. Really dull, but int he groups you play for the points. Saka got marked out of the game 2nd half and that meant we lacked an outball. Uninspiring.