So the FA have given Southgate an expected contract extension to 2022. I still think he has something to prove after a reasonably lucky World Cup run. I guess they are looking for stability, but forthcoming games away in Spain and Croatia should be a good marker of how we have progressed or regressed. One things for sure, no Watford players in the squad for another 4 years at least. Although saying that I bet he names someone like Hughes in the squad in the next few minutes...
Chalobah is called up, so as usual shows what I know! Mount being in the squad in front of Hughes is a bit weird though.
Maddison fair enough and our former youth player is doing well abroad but Hughes must feel hard done by. Barkley , Mount ? Bit of Chelsea bias maybe .
That's an interesting description of P7 W3 D2 L2. The squad performances against any "decent" opposition* were woeful. *Croatia and Belgium.
Southgate's a hack massivey lucky in the Workd Cup but he's the perfect 'Yes Man' for the FA so no surprise there.
Whether he was lucky or not, he took England to the semi-final of a major international tournament, something only three other managers have achieved, even though most of the others were blessed with much better players. Does anyone seriously think that he was not going to be awarded an extension?
It's a bit odd that Chalobah gets an England call up when Hughes doesn't, yet Hughes is a starter and Chalobah is not.
Be more pressure and expectation for him to do well at the Euros than Qatar. in 2022 really given the climate!
Southgate was incredibly lucky to get a free ride into the semi final but lost when came up against a strong team Don't really get the love in for him , was bang average manager at league level Don't get why Will Hughes not picked when England crying out for creativity , having said that don't know why always first subbed off by Gracia
If he were in charge, I suspect Gino would have thanked Southgate for his services & elected to upgrade after the tournament.
What a clown Southgate is. Spouts on about the youth he has called up in centre mid and then starts Henderson AND Dier in the same team in an effective friendly. Utterly useless.
It's because we are away to a side with a top quality midfield so he is being defensive and cutious rather than trying anything bold .. Set plays are our best chance to score again .
But it doesn't matter if we lose? Dier and Henderson obviously are not the answer together (and frankly even individually). This is a complete waste of trying out Maddison/Mount/Chalobah.
Fair point and actually we are to be getting a lot of the ball attacking wise so more quality might do better with the ball . Rashford just missed a sitter .
Commentators so annoying. "Sancho is the heart of Southgate's philosophy". Yes the coach who didn't start him in a friendly and played Dier/Henderson.
Taylor missed a trick. Pick the youngsters, but start your midfield donkeys like Carlton Palmer. Press lap it up.
It pretty much is. In fact I found myself thinking it's unbelievably actually worst than a friendly. A friendly with something mildly at stake which made it worse because, as well as playing a weakened team, we seemed to sit back and play for the result at the end on top. A friendly with a fear of losing rather than a free hit as it were. Who the hell thought this was a good idea?!
Be careful what you wish for. Closely following behind Southgate is the current England U21 manager, Hoofroyd. I did a coaching course several years back and their very first question to the group was "what is wrong with English football"? I wanted to say "The FA" but bottled it.
Did we play a weakened team? It's a bit early the write off this Nations Cup thing yet. I think there'll be more interest in 2 years time once people have seen a whole round play out. UEFA haven't helped by selling the tv rights to Sky.
