We've beaten ourselves up over the last few weeks about how England have been playing. But we can stop worrying now. All that matters is getting the job done… How many times have England teams been called naive in the past? How many times have they fallen short because they couldn’t see out a game? Not this team. Or at least not until now. No matter what happens, no-one can call this tournament a failure. Losing in a semi-final to the Netherlands would be disappointing. It would be falling short of the goal, but it isn’t disgraceful. Nor can anyone brand Gareth Southgate a failure. Three semi-finals in four tournaments tells its own story. England had two semi-final appearances in 48 years before he came into the job. I understand why people have been upset at the style. I myself have questioned how we have played as much as anyone. Particularly with the talent we have. But it’s got to the point now where the arguments over style don’t matter. England, with some dull draws, a last-second overhead kick and a penalty shoot out have put themselves in a position to win Euro 2024. Go back to my generation or beyond, we would have loved to have had that opportunity. But we never even gave ourselves a chance, unlike this team. I was thinking about what Sir Alex Ferguson would say. To be clear, over the course of a season, he believed you needed to play with possession, tempo and rhythm, because without being better in those departments, you couldn’t expect to win trophies. Yet if he was here, at this stage of the tournament, with two games to history, he wouldn’t care how he got it done. Stay in the game, he would say. Just get over the line. Two games out from history, it’s a case of getting this done. Best of luck to Gareth and the team tonight 🏴
Rob Flaws
3w
What has been disappointing is how poor generally the teams have been. Other than Spain and a few flashes from Germany, teams with high quality players domestically such as France, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and of course England have been dull, formulaic and played without any style, rhythm or inspiration. I don’t know if that’s a reflection of the way modern football is being played at international level where pragmatism beats individuality.. or simply another indicator that players are simply playing too much football. Probably a bit of both.
Just maybe at last an England manager has had some good luck when it mattered. Ask them abroad- I was forever being told England “were unlucky”. And they weren’t being polite, believe me. All those penalty shoot outs!! And just maybe our current manager has learned all the lessons on and off the pitch over the years ?? But you still need tournament luck. And as ever England will need it tonight. Time for prayers!!
Sean Sankey
3w
"All that matters is getting the job done... arguments over style dont matter" Sooo... the entire point (and business model!) of any professional sport is to provide 'entertainment'. Remember that? Showing up and ... putting on a show. That's the essence of why someone (fans, audience, customers... however you think about it) would give up 2 1/2 hrs of life to give their attention to something. Trying to sidestep that with "Just getting the job done" as another way of saying "as long as we're advancing in the competition" completely misses this. Pride in winning when the way in which its done is hollow and empty erodes the basis on which people engage with and support the sport. So, no mate. In a business based on entertainment and value for money / time, arguments over style do matter. They matter very much.
Sick of reading about people criticising Southgate. Anyone who has played the game knows Football isn’t straight forward and it is tournament football. Rightly or wrongly Southgate has a style of play which compared to past England managers has worked in tournaments. We’ll win tonight….come on England!
Samson A
3w
The problem is that we're not quick enough to score, and they don't play like a team that wants to win. Why are they still playing Kane up front? The man is old.
Tim Albutt
3w
I disagree and think your starting to play to the same narative as the players and staff…if we lose tonight in the same manner as what we have been playing… like France and Deschamps who’s legacy has surely been tarnished by the way he has set up his team… we will be muted out of this tournament very quickly and there will be a very sour taste of what could have been again… The difference between your era and now is the quality of opposition… the teams we have played have been average at best… and we have limped over the line against them like a championship side on an fa cup run… 😂🤷♂️ we are better than that and should be aiming for more than look at my CV… I’ve reached semi finals and a final etc… your sounding like Ten Haag…🤦♂️😂
Spain have won all of their 6 games and played beautifully, hope they win it, 🏆
Ryan Owens
3w
When was it that we accepted making a semi final or losing in a final as being a success? It shows how far we've come where we believe that not winning a trophy is still successful. Much smaller countries have had success like Greece and Denmark with a fraction of the player numbers that we have but we still celebrate England not winning anything. Its beyond doubt that Southgate is an excellent man manger, the players talk about how great he is and how they now enjoy coming to play for England, The Press love him as he's given them way more access to him and the team than any other England Manager of the past. What he hasn't got when it really matters is that tactical nous to make a change when its needed or those small tweaks in a game to see England over the line. He's demonstrated that in the 3 previous tournaments. Losing to Croatia when winning, Losing to Italy with a goal after 3 minutes and then no further shots on target in the rest of the game and losing to France when they were there for the taking! He's not proactive at all, you can see this with his substitutions in matches. He won't change to try and win a game but happily will react when needing to save a game. We saw this in the last game against Switzerland.
Capital Allowances Manager at Bonham & Brook
3wYou talk about being naïve and not seeing out a game, but how often in this tournament so far have we taken a lead and seen it out? Once, the opening game against Serbia. We took the lead against Denmark then conceded minutes later. Couldn't score against Slovenia. Required an injury time equaliser against the mighty Slovakia, and had to come from behind to scrape a draw with the Swiss. Every game in this tournament I've gone into it with a positive attitude hoping that group of outstanding players can reach their potential and put in a performance to strike fear in the rest of the teams, but after 10 mins every time it's the same old same old. It's like their playing with the handbrake on. It's like racing a Ferrari against a Vauxhall Corsa but the Ferrari doesn't get out of first gear. Might still beat the Corsa just about but there's nothing impressive about it, just frustration. I just hope this tournament is Southgate's last and we can move on to a coach which can deliver exciting attacking football as well as getting the results which this group of players merit.