Gareth Southgate

[Pies4u]

Southgate is very much, his own man. He has not surrounded himself with sycophants and hangers on from his playing days. He has chosen his support staff wisely and maintained the internal harmony within the FA and "age group" staff.

As Bo rightly says, he does appear to be learning game by game and he is not inhibited by fear, either if the opposition or just failure. He has produced a squad based on an approach to the game and not built around individuals, egos and star names. His achievements this far are hard earned and well deserved IMO. The care & thought that has gone in to the planning process no his management of the squad have been exemplary. Credit to the bloke for that.

[KeepTheMagpieFlyingH]

I love the way he ditched the old guard and went with youth . Fat lying Sam would have taken Hart, for a fee. The thread is about Southgate.

Do you smoke Crack? The only person to reference Allardyce on this thread is you.

[navypie]

I don't know if this owes more to Southgate's tactical input, or the cultural changes to the way Premier League football has been played since the arrival of managers like Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, but I've never seen an England team make such an effort to play patient, possession football and thereby control the tempo of the game. We lost the plot and reverted to bad habits in the last 15 minutes of normal time and the first 15 minutes of extra time against Colombia, but otherwise the best thing you can say about the current team is that it HASN'T been like watching England, and that's a compliment!

I commented before the tournament that England teams usually try to play the defence splitting pass too early, giving away possession and therefore spend a lot of the game chasing to get the ball back, which usually means we're knackered by the end of the qualifying rounds. This time, the likes of Stones and Maguire in particular have been prepared to put their foot on the ball and play short passes between defence and midfield, and sometimes back again, waiting for the right moment to play the key pass. We haven't perfected the art yet, but we're certainly showing a lot more intelligence than I've seen from an England team in my lifetime, possibly because we've got younger players who are growing up within this new culture. Undoubtedly, this gives us a much better chance to go deep into tournaments than the old huff, puff and rush approach.

Agreed , great post jackal. I must admit , I struggle with posting something more than 2 lines.

[navypie]

Do you smoke Crack? The only person to reference Allardyce on this thread is you.

Only on Sunday afternoons. I hope that's answered your question.

[jackal2]

Agreed , great post jackal. I must admit , I struggle with posting something more than 2 lines.

Sometimes less is more. I tend to get carried away!

[navypie]

Sometimes less is more. I tend to get carried away!

I enjoy reading great posts like yours, it's just the crack takes hold and I fear I might more spelling mistakes.

[sidders]

The one aspect of Southgate that hasn't been mentioned thus far is his long term involvement with most of these players. To them he has always appeared reliable, honest and trustworthy - which is just what he is. He cannot possibly be judged now by his performance as a much younger man with minimal experience as the manager of Middlesbrough.
The other thing to take on board is the long term and positive effect of some wonderful foreign players who now staff so many Prem League teams. It has taken almost 20 years to come through and constant moans about young English players not getting first team experience, but to use Spurs as possibly the best current example, look at the talent that has emerged with a great foreign boss and a generation of top South American and European players.

[navypie]

The one aspect of Southgate that hasn't been mentioned thus far is his long term involvement with most of these players. To them he has always appeared reliable, honest and trustworthy - which is just what he is. He cannot possibly be judged now by his performance as a much younger man with minimal experience as the manager of Middlesbrough.
The other thing to take on board is the long term and positive effect of some wonderful foreign players who now staff so many Prem League teams. It has taken almost 20 years to come through and constant moans about young English players not getting first team experience, but to use Spurs as possibly the best current example, look at the talent that has emerged with a great foreign boss and a generation of top South American and European players.

Great post sid .

ps. Must admit , been slightly worried about you lately.

[jackal2]

The other thing to take on board is the long term and positive effect of some wonderful foreign players who now staff so many Prem League teams. It has taken almost 20 years to come through and constant moans about young English players not getting first team experience, but to use Spurs as possibly the best current example, look at the talent that has emerged with a great foreign boss and a generation of top South American and European players.

I've never bought this argument that foreign players prevent English players from coming through. Clubs are driven by financial considerations and don't bother about nationality, only quality and value for money. If English players can't get into Premier League first teams (or any other league for that matter) it's either because they simply aren't as good as the foreign imports, or because the wage demands of foreign players are less than English players of the same quality. Either way, it's up to young English players to improve their standards or adjust their demands to make sure they are at the front of the queue.

[navypie]

I've never bought this argument that foreign players prevent English players from coming through. Clubs are driven by financial considerations and don't bother about nationality, only quality and value for money. If English players can't get into Premier League first teams (or any other league for that matter) it's either because they simply aren't as good as the foreign imports, or because the wage demands of foreign players are less than English players of the same quality. Either way, it's up to young English players to improve their standards or adjust their demands to make sure they are at the front of the queue.

Once again , great post jackal. I must admit I thought bringing all these foreign players into the English game would harm us but it seems it's now bearing fruit. Just goes to show if you're good enough...……..Still prefer the lower leagues though.