England

[Young_Nudger]

Not impressed.
We have fabulous players (as we have done since 1966) but played the usual timid Southgate tippy tappy disjointed not seen you before type of football.
Hair pulling out frustrating football.
SHOOT FFS !!!

Bits of quality from a few highly gifted individuals have seen us over the line
This against an Italian team that are good, but haven’t the number of quality players that England has got - and so were there for the taking.

IMO - HossFace must go.

[Shadrack the Red]

After watching the bore fest against Australia last friday I feared the worst but I will put my hand up and say I really enjoyed the match against Italy , instead of the usual boring fare there were two teams who were both really trying to win the game , it was lively & entertaining & watching Bellingham alone was a real pleasure & the two goals in the second half were both superb , both teams played with pace & movement but more to the point they both looked to get on the front foot at every opportunity , it certainly was a pleasant surprise , more of the same next time please Gareth .

[SBRed48]

I thought they laiked o'reyt as well Shads.
A top quality manager could build a team around "the likes of" Bellingham, Rice and Stones to be a leading world power for a few years to come.
( Missed first ten minutes due to watching end of Emmerdale )

[Young_Nudger]

I thought they laiked o'reyt as well Shads.
A top quality manager could build a team around "the likes of" Bellingham, Rice and Stones to be a leading world power for a few years to come.
( Missed first ten minutes due to watching end of Emmerdale )

Well that’s more or less my point - we have as usual, but probably even more so this time, a set of brilliant players, but watching them is often akin to watching the fire go out.
In other words - sparks of brilliance followed by long periods of cold heavy showers.

It’s interesting to watch Southgate's interview before a game - turn the sound off and just watch the expression on his face.
His eyes are as big as saucers.
A frightened man.

A top quality manager (as you put it) could dominate the world stage with these players.

[pass_and_move]

I think the performance last night was very good. Some excellent football by both sides at times. What impressed me was how, at 2-1 up, we were looking to put our foot on the Italians neck and kill the game off which we did.

Southgate has earned the right for this next tournament. However, I genuinely expect us to win it with the quality that we have in offensive areas. Only France and Germany (who will be a tough nut to crack as hosts) or perhaps Spain are there for England to worry about in my opinion. I must emphasise though, if Southgate doesn't win the Euros next year, it's time for a change. It has to be a shrewd appointment though, no shytehouses like Allardyce this time please. We need a manager who has played and managed at the very top. My call is, if we went foreign, it has to be Ancelotti or Guardiola. If we went English, it has to be Eddie Howe, although his CV doesn't fit the criteria that I mentioned. Nevertheless, he's the most promising English manager out there at the moment and is tactically very good.

Back to the players- Bellingham is the real deal. A world class player already at 20 years of age. A very intelligent and level headed young man. Av never been as excited about an England player in a very long time. He has everything. Frightening how good this lad is and he will improve further barring injuries to become one of the very best. I'll call it now.

Phil Foden is pure silk. Another who is developing into a world class footballer. Declan Rice is another and a key part of the machinery. Without him sitting deep and breaking up the opposition play, our other attacking threats like Saka, Rashford, Grealish etc can't have the influence on a game that their talents merit.

The defence is suspect and could be a concern in the knockout stages of a tournament, but we have goals and attacking threat to counteract that. It's a bright future for this England team, no doubt about it.

[perkytyke]

Good post that pass, couldn’t agree more. We have the likes of Grealish, Maddison, Alexander-Arnold, Watkins on the bench…….the strength in depth is frightening.
The defence for me would be stronger with either Guehi or Dunk partnering Stonesy, for me Maguire slows the whole team down, I don’t know if it’s purposeful or not, but whenever he gets the ball he puts his foot on it, passes sideways or back to Pickford and the whole tempo seems to disappear. Don’t get me wrong I don’t expect him to hit searching passes all the time but it’s all he does he never looks forward, like Stonesy or Dunk do.
I wouldn’t play Phillips either, even when he gets game time at club level he always seems to miss time tackles, he should have been sent off last night, but got away with it, problem is we don’t have a really good spoiling midfielder other than him.
Bellingham though….just WOW what a player that lad is, I listened to his post match interview and he is so humble and speaks with such confidence and maturity, his parents have done a cracking job with him, FFS he’s hit 8 goals in 8 for Real Madrid and is the first name on the team sheet for his country and he’s 20, he could end up being one of the best footballers to have ever played the game.
I think we have as good a chance of winning the euro’s as we have ever had and if we do the next World Cup as well, personally I think Southgate has done a great job and long may it continue, he has been the most successful England manager since Alf Ramsey!!!!