is this thread about Southgate or Allardyce?
What a lovely elegant man. Loved seeing him coming out 1 hour after the end of the game to clap and orchestrate the England fans. Big Fat lying Sam would have done the same , 5 grand from the FA would have done it for the greedy bustard.
is this thread about Southgate or Allardyce?
There's no doubt Gareth Southgate is an amiable chap and is unlikely ever to give the FA any trouble, which is why they appointed him.
Forgive me, though, if I don't get carried away with the current hysteria or the notion that he's become a managerial genius. He did a moderate job with the only club he ever managed, but being the intelligent guy he is, realised that he had nothing to lose by giving the England U21 and senior jobs a go. Fair play to him, it's paid off and he will emerge with a much enhanced reputation (and earning potential) but if I was a club chairman I wouldn't get blinded by his international win percentage.
Chris Coleman made a similar calculation by taking over Wales after moderate spells at Fulham, Coventry and Real Sociedad, and got a similar boost to his status, but his short spell at Sunderland reiterated his limitations.
Last edited by jackal2; 08-07-2018 at 03:42 PM.
I know I underestimated Southgate. He's far more intelligent than I gave him credit for. The main thing though is his thoroughness. He is meticulously preparing for matches whereas Fat Sam would be drinking pints of wine and/or gravy.
His record years ago at Middlesbrough is no longer relevant. He is learning even now, on a match by match basis.
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.
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.