Euro 2024 - Live

comment by MaHeed'sNippin aka I’m the competent Wullie Collum (U3633)
posted 17 minutes ago
comment by Humble Hamish (U21959)
posted 3 minutes ago
The discussion last week about whether the media, fans etc all owed Gareth Southgate an apology!!??

An apology for being honest and questioning why he persisted with a CF who ran like he was towing John Lundstram, why he took a LB to the tournament but persisted with playing a RB out of position there, why they sat back in every game as soon as they scored a goal?

But aye - they should all apologise for Southgate who essentially scraped through to the final despite having a spectacularly easy half of the draw and a massive amount of talent to draw on. FFS guys worth £50-100m like Maddison and Grealish didnt even make the squad.

England have an embarrassment of riches in the final third in particular yet were probably the dullest team in tournament behind Scotland.
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And Scotland beat Spain 2-0 😃 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
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Aye, beating Spain isn’t for everybody.

Southgate has resigned.

comment by Blue Heaven (U20912)
posted 2 hours, 47 minutes ago
Southgate has resigned.
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Aye, gutted.

comment by Humble Hamish (U21959)
posted a day ago
The discussion last week about whether the media, fans etc all owed Gareth Southgate an apology!!??

An apology for being honest and questioning why he persisted with a CF who ran like he was towing John Lundstram, why he took a LB to the tournament but persisted with playing a RB out of position there, why they sat back in every game as soon as they scored a goal?

But aye - they should all apologise for Southgate who essentially scraped through to the final despite having a spectacularly easy half of the draw and a massive amount of talent to draw on. FFS guys worth £50-100m like Maddison and Grealish didnt even make the squad.

England have an embarrassment of riches in the final third in particular yet were probably the dullest team in tournament behind Scotland.
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France were exactly the same at Euro 2024, yet Deschamps doesn't have to suffer the same pi$h.

Deschamps has been in charge of France for over 12 years, and been France manager for 7 major tournaments

Obviously they won the 2018 World Cup, but otherwise under Deschamps, France have lost 2 quarter finals, lost 2 semi finals, and lost 2 finals, one of them played on home soil

Southgate has been England manager for 4 major tournaments, and under him, England have lost a World Cup quarter final, a World Cup semi final, and 2 Euros finals, one of them also played on home soil

Deschamps still has a job
Southgate has took nothing but stick

When are England going to learn that what they are achieving, is actually the level that most of the major footballing nations around the world do well to achieve, which is be consistent at major tournaments.

If they don't win the fcking thing, it is always considered a failure...for me that is their number one issue, this attitude that they should be winning these tournaments.

At no point in history have England ever been the highest ranked national football team in Europe let alone the World, so ffs why do they think they are failing if they are not beating teams ranked higher than them?

Fair point Stevie but thought you'd have to analyse national psyche and how it has derived from colonialism, settlement, language and historical leadership in much of the modern world's development.

Then also consider that what we get presented is the fan hubris and the fans in the media stoking a story. I fully imagine that within the squad there is realism amongst players and staff.

I mentioned the other day about how the FA have done very well to correct the issues of underachievement. As you say they are where they should expect to be. The question is whether they are able to move it up a gear?

I agree to an extent Silver, but imho, Southgate resigning after what's he's done, would be like Arteta getting dogs abuse for not winning the Premier League with Arsenal and quitting coz he's failed to win it despite having several goes at it...despite the fact that during his reign, there have clearly been better teams than his in the league in the shape of Man City and Liverpool

comment by St3vie (U11028)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
I agree to an extent Silver, but imho, Southgate resigning after what's he's done, would be like Arteta getting dogs abuse for not winning the Premier League with Arsenal and quitting coz he's failed to win it despite having several goes at it...despite the fact that during his reign, there have clearly been better teams than his in the league in the shape of Man City and Liverpool
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There are a few important differences to the Arsenal analogy though. Arsenal play really good football, for starters … Southgate’s Eng played dreadful football. Arsenal ain’t the best financed team in their league … the England international set up undoubtedly has more finance behind it than any other nation, and that’s been the case for some time now.

Also, nobody would deny that Southgate’s “success” has been hugely assisted by some of the easiest routes to the latter stages ever seen. I think he’s a very decent bloke, who has instilled a good team spirit in their squad, but his managerial qualities pretty much end there for me … as his record against other top 10 sides would suggest, on the rare occasions he’s actually had to play one of them. I also think it’s giving both him and his squad (collectively the highest paid group of players on the planet) a bit of a free pass to suggest it’s all the fault of unrealistic expectations from the media and fans. There’s an element of that, but come on.

Southgate is the figurehead but there's a massive team ensuring no all needs are catered for, no problems arise and every possible marginal gain is achieved. Not sure if he's played on anything better but when he played there junior said StG park was the best surface he'd ever played on and that was one of the 'outside' pitches albeit they are supposed to all have been prepped and kept to the same standard.

Switch to Scotland and the squad have to rebel about the Oriam because the rugby surface was not safe to play on! On top of that the fooking SFA are so incompetent they couldn't even reserve rooms at the Marriott there! Now the squad train at Lesser Hampden - did they put grass in?

comment by Dave The Jackal (U22179)
posted 17 hours, 9 minutes ago
comment by St3vie (U11028)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
I agree to an extent Silver, but imho, Southgate resigning after what's he's done, would be like Arteta getting dogs abuse for not winning the Premier League with Arsenal and quitting coz he's failed to win it despite having several goes at it...despite the fact that during his reign, there have clearly been better teams than his in the league in the shape of Man City and Liverpool
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There are a few important differences to the Arsenal analogy though. Arsenal play really good football, for starters … Southgate’s Eng played dreadful football. Arsenal ain’t the best financed team in their league … the England international set up undoubtedly has more finance behind it than any other nation, and that’s been the case for some time now.

Also, nobody would deny that Southgate’s “success” has been hugely assisted by some of the easiest routes to the latter stages ever seen. I think he’s a very decent bloke, who has instilled a good team spirit in their squad, but his managerial qualities pretty much end there for me … as his record against other top 10 sides would suggest, on the rare occasions he’s actually had to play one of them. I also think it’s giving both him and his squad (collectively the highest paid group of players on the planet) a bit of a free pass to suggest it’s all the fault of unrealistic expectations from the media and fans. There’s an element of that, but come on.
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Haven't said it's all the fault of unrealistic expectations from the fans and media...and for me money doesn't mean $hit when it comes to the national team, coz the pool of talent can't change no matter how much money you throw at it

I just don't get the slaughtering Southgate gets when he's done better than any England manager has for a long time

I suppose he doesn't help himself much....Deschamps came out and basically had a go at some of his players because they didn't perform to their level

Southgate would probably get some critics off his back if he did the same but he defends his players to the hilt no matter how $hite they are playing

Stevie … I wasn’t referring to your comments when I mentioned blaming everything on unrealistic media & fan expectations, but a fair few Eng posters on here have been playing that card throughout the Euros. On the money side, the Eng set up is awash with cash, so everything they do is the best of the best … that’s got to help, surely? It also clearly helps them attract players who have a “choice” of countries they can represent, both in terms of getting the very best facilities etc and the commercial endorsement spin offs on the back of Eng duty. Declan Rice, for example.