He's too limited at the moment imo. He persists with sterling in a position he shouldn't be playing in and some of his substitutions have been poor. Why did he bring that clogger dier on instead of loftus-cheek?
He's what England need - get players feet on the ground, create a unity within the team, generate an atmosphere within the group where the players want to play for and more importantly isn't afraid to play for England. 3 Lions doesn't need a master tactician, this is what they need. Southgate can't magically produce the players though, that's up to the clubs and academies. At the moment, especially the midfield isn't good enough.
One positive apart from the fact he will have the respect of the squad now is that Southgate has said we can improve and get better so is clearly thinking there is more to come and this shouldn't be the end..
Southgate should be given one more tournement to show if he can grow tactically, that's it. Along with Kane, Walker & Stones he is most resposible for us not playing in a world cup final.
Because Loftus-Cheek had done terribly all tournament, and substituting Loftus-Cheek for our only defense-minded midfielder would've been suicide.
Hope the FA reward him with a fat new contract. He's surpassed everyone's expectations and brought happiness and optimism back to the English fans. I also can't really think of anyone better to bring through the exciting youth we have waiting in the wings.
I like Southgate and want him to stay on, but he needs to be more tactically astute in future and learn from his mistakes. He was out of his depth last night for sure.
He would of been better than dier who has been awful. Not sure about this. The teams we beaten were pretty limited teams and we've struggled against the first footballing side we played against. I also don't think he deserves a long-term contract yet because he has shown naivety at times in terms of substitutions and we need to see how we perform at euro 2020.
We were the better team for an hour and should've been 2-0 up but for the width of a post. Small margins. He 100% deserves a chance to carry on his good work.
Wtf does that have to with what I said?. I've actually made some good points and regardless I wasn't banned anyway.
Dier did well when he came on. Loftus-Cheek as our defensive midfielder would've been suicide I'd imagine.
While I enjoy not going out ridiculously early, and that Southgate did bring more players on form rather than reputation, I am not entirely convinced we have actually improved to any great extent. We struggled against Tunisia, lost to Belgium twice, barely scraped past Colombia, and got outclassed in almost every area by Croatia. Our most impressive moments come down to beating a nothing side in the group stages, and beating Sweden. Neither of which are much of an upgrade to what we would expect even in years prior. This WC has certainly been a morale boost, but come the next tournament when our luck is likely not so strong, I think we have a real chance of being shown up just as much as previously, and it will likely be a big reality check.
I mean he’s hardly going to come out and say “Well, we fluked our way this far, I fully expect us to bomb out of the group stages in 2 years time because we’re actually shit.” Staggers me how much people buy in to the meaningless soundbites managers give.
Fair point - the media just seem to like him more than most managers...for now. Well I guess Southgate isn't old or foreign which helps...
I was very pleased to see Southgate appointed at the time. In fact I said on another forum (where they were totally opposed to him) that I thought even if we bombed out of the world cup he should be kept on long term. And give him time to see his plan through to the end.
This 100% We would of made the semi final in every world cup if we had this draw in the past 1998 - took argentina to knock us out 2002 - took Brazil to knock us out 2006 - took portugal to knock us out 2010 - took Germany to knock us out If you wrote down a draw to a Semi final youd struggle for a better draw than Tunisia, Panama, Columbia, Sweden and Croatia
Was there progress or just luck? Sorry for being cynical now, but at the end of the day our record was won 4 lost 3 and the teams we did beat were Tunisia, Panama, Columbia, Sweden and Scotland. When you consider we went out to Iceland in the Euros then yes I suppose there has been some...
The thing that has annoyed me the most about Southgate is the fact he’s getting praise for bringing players from less fancied clubs. People bang on and on about him not taking Wilshire, Hart & Rooney whilst completely forgetting he shoehorned in Welbeck, Cahill, Jones and Young. Apart from two Burnley players who didn’t see the pitch and two Leicester players he really didn’t pick outside the big clubs much, unless we count RLC who people seem to forget is a Chelsea player. 2010 we took players from West Ham, Portsmouth & Villa nobody praised Capello. 2006 - Newcastle, Middlesbrough, numerous Spurs players when they weren’t a top club. The 2002 also squad had players from about half the clubs in to the Prem if I remember correctly but yet for some strange reason dropping the big names and giving players from outside the top 4 now seems to be one of the positives assigned to Southgate
