Why no Mainoo?

Against the teams we played, yes, it was the most fortuitous draw I think we’ve ever had.

Croatia was really the first game he needed to make a tactical tweak for and didn’t. I’d have to back on here or rewatch it to remember why I was so irritated though!

Yeah but you overrate tactical tweaks. The biggest issues was Kane not squaring to Sterling was what lost us that game, not tactical tweaks. At 2-0 we’d have had such belief we could win it.

Croatia was really the first game he needed to make a tactical tweak for and didn’t. I’d have to back on here or rewatch it to remember why I was so irritated though!

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I certainly thought he had to make a tactical change during that game when Croatia started dominating the wide areas in the latter stages of normal time and extra-time.

We couldn't cope with their overloads and the midfield had far too much space to cover horizontally and he just let things play out like that until the final whistle.

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah but you overrate tactical tweaks. The biggest issues was Kane not squaring to Sterling was what lost us that game, not tactical tweaks. At 2-0 we’d have had such belief we could win it.
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That maybe so but the reason you make tactical tweaks is so things like that happening don’t come back to bite you.

That and it’s international level, we aren’t really talking in depth tactics here as it doesn’t really happen, it’s just the basics of reacting to the opposition and situation in game and hopefully getting the balance right in the first place.

comment by The Red Side™ (U11275)
posted 20 minutes ago
Croatia was really the first game he needed to make a tactical tweak for and didn’t. I’d have to back on here or rewatch it to remember why I was so irritated though!

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I certainly thought he had to make a tactical change during that game when Croatia started dominating the wide areas in the latter stages of normal time and extra-time.

We couldn't cope with their overloads and the midfield had far too much space to cover horizontally and he just let things play out like that until the final whistle.
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That’s pretty much how I remember it. I can’t bring myself to watch it again!

I find the feeling of losing is worse with England because major tournaments only come along every two years and they're over in a flash.

2021 was incredibly hard to take.

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 16 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah but you overrate tactical tweaks. The biggest issues was Kane not squaring to Sterling was what lost us that game, not tactical tweaks. At 2-0 we’d have had such belief we could win it.
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That maybe so but the reason you make tactical tweaks is so things like that happening don’t come back to bite you.

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But that’s just the name of the game when you play against better teams in international football. Especially when it’s international bottlers like England, they’re almost an inevitability.

Too add a point RE international tournament, I think they are important but it’s more on a basic level that any of us would implement on a FM save. Make sure you have have the right balance and right players in each position.

I thought our tactics were wrong in the 2018WC, it was abundantly clear by this point that the midfield trio of Dele/Lingard/Hendo was overrun against any decent midfield and RLC (who was good against Belgium) should play alongside Hendo instead of Dele (I also thought Rose should’ve played instead of Young by then).

However the tactics were good last Euros (bar Scotland) and last WC. They have been abysmal this tournament.

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 16 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 18 minutes ago
Yeah but you overrate tactical tweaks. The biggest issues was Kane not squaring to Sterling was what lost us that game, not tactical tweaks. At 2-0 we’d have had such belief we could win it.
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That maybe so but the reason you make tactical tweaks is so things like that happening don’t come back to bite you.

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But that’s just the name of the game when you play against better teams in international football. Especially when it’s international bottlers like England, they’re almost an inevitability.
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It’s not the name of the game to make some of the basic errors Southgate does at times though. He’s done a lot right as England manager, his tactical choices at times have been his biggest weakness though. The games we’ve struggled in, including the two already at this tournament, have clearly not been down to players bottling it, it’s been really stupid tactical and selection choices.