Is Gareth Southgate a shiite England manager?

balaks

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Where does this myth England are so stacked in talent come from? England have very good strength in depth for wide forwards and right back. That's it. There is no notable depth elsewhere, and the depth in central defence and central midfield - the spine of the team - is flat out bad.
England fans overrating their players and team is standard practice.
 

Cheesy

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Capello had Rio, JT, Ashley Cole, Carrick, Gerrard, Rooney, and Lampard. Perhaps the shit from Capello's days was shitter, I'll give you that.
Was an odd side in attack insofar as you had one genuinely top-class forward in Rooney surrounded by relatively mediocre options by comparison.

Capello's obsession with Heskey was odd though and probably summed up why he'd never be successful with England, can't remember how Defoe was performing around the 2010 WC but so long as he was playing alright would have surely been a much better option.

Would say England's defence was generally stronger then, but that was also balanced out by the goalkeeping options typically being a bit cack.
 

Teja

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World Cup probably epitomised that. Solid group stage and last 16 performances, no real scares or failings, then narrowly knocked out by a team slightly better than them. Just about meeting expectations without doing much more.
Yep I agree with this. He's fine. Probably not going to win anything but he does what's supposed to do.

If I were England I'd be more ambitious and go for it with this generation of players. A side with Rashford, Foden, Saka, Kane, Bellingham, Rice, TAA, Shaw, Walker, Chilwell, Tripper, Grealish, Toney etc. should be able to give anyone a game.
 

Jezpeza

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England's central midfield is average and the defence is quite poor. I don't think they have the players to 'play like one of the best teams in the world on the front foot all the time'.
rice and bellingham average. Wow.

guess with those two in midfield and kane rashford saka front 3 we probably should just sit back and see if we can nick something on the break like an underdog side.
 

croadyman

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He's being snidey towards Marcus,has the guy forgot he postponed an operation to play in Euros
 

MackRobinson

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Another nail in the coffin of “football fans don’t know shite about football”

It’s fine to want him to do better, but the notion he’s shite, given how well he’s done in tournaments, is an asinine take.
 

Bondi77

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Another nail in the coffin of “football fans don’t know shite about football”

It’s fine to want him to do better, but the notion he’s shite, given how well he’s done in tournaments, is an asinine take.
Some just use any angle to put shit on England....nothing new really.
 

stw2022

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The aboutface has hardly been subtle. Not so long ago the drumbeat was that England were deluded and shit. Now the same people pretend they rate England so highly that not winning every tournament and every game playing a very specific brand of football is a disgraceful under achievement
 

marktan

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Where does this myth England are so stacked in talent come from? England have very good strength in depth for wide forwards and right back. That's it. There is no notable depth elsewhere, and the depth in central defence and central midfield - the spine of the team - is flat out bad.
It's the depth in attack - probably the best or second best in the world and certainly the best I can remember. Players like Rashford and Grealish barely even get minutes.

Left backs you also have Shaw and Chilwell.

Midfield is good - Rice, Bellingham, Henderson, and then Grealish and Maddison to play as an AM if you want (which of course Southgate choses not too).

The only noticeable weakness is CB, but that's only recent with Maguire regressing. It may not be the best in terms of first XI, but it's the attacking depth that makes the squad so good. It's rare to have that depth, and much more the shame that Southgate is afraid to use it.
 

frostbite

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It's the depth in attack - probably the best or second best in the world and certainly the best I can remember. Players like Rashford and Grealish barely even get minutes.

Left backs you also have Shaw and Chilwell.

Midfield is good - Rice, Bellingham, Henderson, and then Grealish and Maddison to play as an AM if you want (which of course Southgate choses not too).

The only noticeable weakness is CB, but that's only recent with Maguire regressing. It may not be the best in terms of first XI, but it's the attacking depth that makes the squad so good. It's rare to have that depth, and much more the shame that Southgate is afraid to use it.
You forgot the goalkeeper. Even SAF had serious difficulties with mediocre goalkeepers (Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Tim Howard, Roy Carroll), till he found VDS. A world-class goalkeeper is very important when you try to win cups.
 

Fluctuation0161

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Stuff like this is despicable, anyone with a small brain would know the right wing press will target Rashford with anything so why give them ammunition. Complete Cnut.
He's a shite manager and a cnut on top of it.

Limited ability so targets the press onto his players. He has previous.
 

The Boy

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Where does this myth England are so stacked in talent come from? England have very good strength in depth for wide forwards and right back. That's it. There is no notable depth elsewhere, and the depth in central defence and central midfield - the spine of the team - is flat out bad.
Bellingham, Rice, Philips, Maddison, Ben White, Shaw, Chilweill and John Stones are "flat out bad"?

Maguire and Pickford could be improved on, but apart from that England have one of their strongest squads for years.
 

KetilOwren88

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He obviously isn’t shite, but I find him very uninspiring to say the least. I used to think he was a humble and nice man though, but given how he speaks about the likes of Marcus Rashford and threw Mason Greenwood under the bus are the actions of a cynical person. Seems a bit false in that manner.
 

Pughnichi

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He’s brought the group together and has them actually enjoying playing for England. They look like they enjoy each others company regardless of domestic club rivalries. He’s done this better than any England coach in the last 25 years and deserves credit for that.

he is quite lucky in that this group are also very talented and should be right up there challenging regardless if (as above) he can keep them a happy group

But…I do think tactically he’s not quite there and should be less pragmatic in tournaments. Italy and France were there for the taking
 

kthanksbye

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I don't think he's shite, he's done well in getting the players to perform up to the level they of their talent/quality. England beat the teams they're supposed, and lose against teams they're expected to lose against.
 

SilentWitness

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Was an odd side in attack insofar as you had one genuinely top-class forward in Rooney surrounded by relatively mediocre options by comparison.

Capello's obsession with Heskey was odd though and probably summed up why he'd never be successful with England, can't remember how Defoe was performing around the 2010 WC but so long as he was playing alright would have surely been a much better option.

Would say England's defence was generally stronger then, but that was also balanced out by the goalkeeping options typically being a bit cack.
Good to see you back.
 

Spaghetti

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Where does this myth England are so stacked in talent come from? England have very good strength in depth for wide forwards and right back. That's it. There is no notable depth elsewhere, and the depth in central defence and central midfield - the spine of the team - is flat out bad.
Goalkeeper?

I don’t think there is a myth that England are stacked in every position. The talk of several options is usually about goalkeepers, right backs and attacking midfielders, isn’t it?
 

SilentWitness

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Bellingham, Rice, Philips, Maddison, Ben White, Shaw, Chilweill and John Stones are "flat out bad"?

Maguire and Pickford could be improved on, but apart from that England have one of their strongest squads for years.
not to pick on you but why does Pickford always get caught in the fire like this? :lol: He’s been one of the best performing international keepers in the past decade and his club form in the past 2-3ish years has been consistently up there with some of the best in the league.
 

Real Name

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not to pick on you but why does Pickford always get caught in the fire like this? :lol: He’s been one of the best performing international keepers in the past decade and his club form in the past 2-3ish years has been consistently up there with some of the best in the league.
He has an annoying face.
 

Remember the geese

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not to pick on you but why does Pickford always get caught in the fire like this? :lol: He’s been one of the best performing international keepers in the past decade and his club form in the past 2-3ish years has been consistently up there with some of the best in the league.
Because he's no David Seaman and he's also a complete prat.
 

Abraxas

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Ultimately, surely he had to win one of the opportunities presented to him. To me it is very strange that you can get into that position in tournaments, with teams and match situations before you that are eminently winnable, contribute to the downfall of your side with abject decision making and then be rewarded with another major tournament. Surely he's out on his arse if he flounders again. I don't know where the FA get their confidence that he is going to deliver within the context of what happened against Italy, France, Croatia.

It's tough because there aren't many tournaments to win but if you're England manager what other goal is there except to win a tournament. Yes you have to develop a squad, but that takes place in the months and years preceding tournaments, it's not the outcome in and of itself, the endgame is always tournament results. Which look nice but ultimately we've won feck all.

I think his cycle should have ended, we should have shaken hands, thanked him for a good tenure and moved on. I think this hanging around with Southgate is going to backfire massively at the next one where it's the same old voice, same ideas, same staleness. We'll qualify impressively but when the big teams turn up motivated with winning managers our chances are next to nothing.
 

The Boy

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not to pick on you but why does Pickford always get caught in the fire like this? :lol: He’s been one of the best performing international keepers in the past decade and his club form in the past 2-3ish years has been consistently up there with some of the best in the league.
The Athletic says: "Jordan Pickford’s critics are lazy and misguided – he is a modern England legend"
Roy Keane says: "The bottom line with Pickford, I don't need to see the stats. I know he's not a good goalkeeper. He's not up to it."
 

GazTheLegend

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not to pick on you but why does Pickford always get caught in the fire like this? :lol: He’s been one of the best performing international keepers in the past decade and his club form in the past 2-3ish years has been consistently up there with some of the best in the league.
Not to pick on Pickford but he's basically a living representative of everything people hate about Southgate. In a similar place to Maguire, really.
Because it's sort of obvious that he's not really better than Pope or Ramsdale, but will never ever be dropped because he's "just good enough", has never been BAD, and is exactly why England and Southgate will never, ever, win anything. "Just good enough" should never be good enough.
 

Baxquux

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Not to pick on Pickford but he's basically a living representative of everything people hate about Southgate. In a similar place to Maguire, really.
Because it's sort of obvious that he's not really better than Pope or Ramsdale, but will never ever be dropped because he's "just good enough", has never been BAD, and is exactly why England and Southgate will never, ever, win anything. "Just good enough" should never be good enough.
Agree that Ramsdale''s probably the best all-round choice, having stepped up beyond general expectations the last 12 month. Nevertheless, Pickford's arguably better than current-form ( or really, just post 2020) Lloris, and the latter was 'good enough' to take France towards the verge of winning WC. Only thing that stopped England progressing on the day was Southgate not being decisive enough with subs at the clutch point (specifically Rashford) and Kane curiously having no plan for the second penalty, given how much he preps (and honestly, it's Lloris -when it comes to penalties, particularly in-game, just blast it down the middle and he'll dive out of the way...)
 

SilentWitness

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Not to pick on Pickford but he's basically a living representative of everything people hate about Southgate. In a similar place to Maguire, really.
Because it's sort of obvious that he's not really better than Pope or Ramsdale, but will never ever be dropped because he's "just good enough", has never been BAD, and is exactly why England and Southgate will never, ever, win anything. "Just good enough" should never be good enough.
Actually, Pickford is out performing both Ramsdale and Pope in terms of PSxG.
 

GazTheLegend

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Actually, Pickford is out performing both Ramsdale and Pope in terms of PSxG.
I did see he'd saved a LOT of shots, but the stats I was looking at both those keepers had better save %. I didn't see the xG one unfortunately but that's quite interesting. Kind of damning of the Everton defence of course ...

My personal favorite is "He's done well but he's still shite". Braindead.
This is unironically exactly how I felt about Solskjaer though. He finished 2nd and 3rd. So he did well but he was still etc etc
 

Carl

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Not to pick on Pickford but he's basically a living representative of everything people hate about Southgate. In a similar place to Maguire, really.
Because it's sort of obvious that he's not really better than Pope or Ramsdale, but will never ever be dropped because he's "just good enough", has never been BAD, and is exactly why England and Southgate will never, ever, win anything. "Just good enough" should never be good enough.
Say what you want about his Everton performances, but he's generally been very good for England.
 

Revaulx

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Ultimately, surely he had to win one of the opportunities presented to him. To me it is very strange that you can get into that position in tournaments, with teams and match situations before you that are eminently winnable, contribute to the downfall of your side with abject decision making and then be rewarded with another major tournament. Surely he's out on his arse if he flounders again. I don't know where the FA get their confidence that he is going to deliver within the context of what happened against Italy, France, Croatia.

It's tough because there aren't many tournaments to win but if you're England manager what other goal is there except to win a tournament. Yes you have to develop a squad, but that takes place in the months and years preceding tournaments, it's not the outcome in and of itself, the endgame is always tournament results. Which look nice but ultimately we've won feck all.

I think his cycle should have ended, we should have shaken hands, thanked him for a good tenure and moved on. I think this hanging around with Southgate is going to backfire massively at the next one where it's the same old voice, same ideas, same staleness. We'll qualify impressively but when the big teams turn up motivated with winning managers our chances are next to nothing.
Excellent post. You actually manage to focus on Southgate’s actual failings rather than rant on about the usual stuff England managers get pilloried for, like not picking one’s favourite players.

Given how embarrassingly bad England have been in recent years, it’s hardly strange that the FA are persevering with him. I imagine the thought process is that eventually he’ll get it right and beat a top side, while in the meantime avoiding embarrassments against the likes of Iceland.

Like you I’m certain that it’s a forlorn hope. His inability to learn from his mistakes is incredibly frustrating.
 

SilentWitness

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I did see he'd saved a LOT of shots, but the stats I was looking at both those keepers had better save %. I didn't see the xG one unfortunately but that's quite interesting. Kind of damning of the Everton defence of course ...


This is unironically exactly how I felt about Solskjaer though. He finished 2nd and 3rd. So he did well but he was still etc etc
Save percentage can be skewed because you can save easier shots. PSxG is a better metric in that regard. I don’t think there is loads between each of them, they all excel in some areas and are weaker in others and balance each other out but when that’s the case you can look at their club and country form and Pickford has been very good consistently for 2-3 years now for his club and for 5+ years for his country.

I just find it weird that he’s labelled as one of the England losers when he’s arguably one of the most undroppable players.
 

miked99

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He's clearly not shite. He's acheived more than any England manager in the last half century.

People talking like getting to a Euros final - the first one in our entire history - or a World Cup semi-final is no big deal :lol: Oh hold on, we should win because we've got really good players. Let me guess, a Golden Generation? I'm sure I've heard that somewhere before. Been hearing it since 1982, in fact. England have got really good players and are totally gonna win stuff! And yet, constant failure.

The reality is England have always been shite. Prior to Southgate taking over, we'd won ONE knockout match in the history of the European Championships. One match, ever :lol: That is pitiful but it's the reality of our pedigree. If you were given that stat and asked to name the country it belonged to, you'd be guessing Austria or something. And yet fans and the media always talk about us being massive contenders for every tournament there is.

We'd only won five knockout matches in the history of the World Cup as well. That's the record of a third rate football nation right there. No wonder fans of other countries mock us and call us deluded.

England have no pedigree in major tournaments. The reason we lose to bigger nations when it matters is because that's what always happens. We have no history of winning these games. But we do have a rich history of failure, and that mentaility has been entrenched for decades.

Overall he's done pretty well, and when the dust settles he'll be remembered as the manager who got us to within a penalty shootout of winning the European Championships and to a World Cup semi-final. That's pretty good going, by our standards.

Doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, but obviously he isn't shite.
 

MoskvaRed

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He's clearly not shite. He's acheived more than any England manager in the last half century.

People talking like getting to a Euros final - the first one in our entire history - or a World Cup semi-final is no big deal :lol: Oh hold on, we should win because we've got really good players. Let me guess, a Golden Generation? I'm sure I've heard that somewhere before. Been hearing it since 1982, in fact. England have got really good players and are totally gonna win stuff! And yet, constant failure.

The reality is England have always been shite. Prior to Southgate taking over, we'd won ONE knockout match in the history of the European Championships. One match, ever :lol: That is pitiful but it's the reality of our pedigree. If you were given that stat and asked to name the country it belonged to, you'd be guessing Austria or something. And yet fans and the media always talk about us being massive contenders for every tournament there is.

We'd only won five knockout matches in the history of the World Cup as well. That's the record of a third rate football nation right there. No wonder fans of other countries mock us and call us deluded.

England have no pedigree in major tournaments. The reason we lose to bigger nations when it matters is because that's what always happens. We have no history of winning these games. But we do have a rich history of failure, and that mentaility has been entrenched for decades.

Overall he's done pretty well, and when the dust settles he'll be remembered as the manager who got us to within a penalty shootout of winning the European Championships and to a World Cup semi-final. That's pretty good going, by our standards.

Doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, but obviously he isn't shite.
I generally agree with your summary but I’m fairly sure England have won more than 5 WC knock out games pre-Southgate. One win, one SF and various QFs (in an era of 32 teams) must add up to more than 5…
 

Doracle

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I generally agree with your summary but I’m fairly sure England have won more than 5 WC knock out games pre-Southgate. One win, one SF and various QFs (in an era of 32 teams) must add up to more than 5…
Possibly they meant since 1966? It’s Paraguay (86), Belgium and Cameroon (90), Denmark (02) and Ecuador (06) since then.
 

Lee565

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not to pick on you but why does Pickford always get caught in the fire like this? :lol: He’s been one of the best performing international keepers in the past decade and his club form in the past 2-3ish years has been consistently up there with some of the best in the league.
He was at fault for France first goal, it's small margins like this that make the difference to losing and winning, if he was a top keeper he would have takers from top clubs but nobody seems interested in him