Euro 2024
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On Southgate and the luck he has had with the draw in major tournaments - these are the pre tournament odds of the teams he has faced in all of the knockout rounds from 2018. (P) = match went to penalties, (L) = match was lost. Not posting this to diminish his achievement, just to point out that whoever gets the job will be expected to win the whole thing based on reaching 2 finals in the past but it doesn't really reflect how good England have been,
Colombia (P) 31
Sweden 81
Croatia (L) 31Germany 8
Ukraine 76
Denmark 23
Italy (L)(P) 9Senegal 126
France (L) 8Slovakia 251
Switzerland (P) 67
Netherlands 17
Spain (L) 8 -
@KiwiPie His teams still had to beat them.
For/against Southgate has become a weird sort of culture war in England with people having very fixed positions. But let me try to offer some sort of balanced analysis.
Clearly, he ranks highly among England managers for taking them to two finals and to a World Cup Semi Final and a World Cup Quarter Final. He also changed the culture of the national team, taught the players to be more likeable and got the English nation behind their team again after a series of poor tournaments from 2006 to 2016. In the ranking of England manager's, Gareth Southgate is second only to Sir Alf Ramsey.
But he can't be seen as a great international manager as his sides never won a tournament, nor did they play consistently entertaining or dominant football.
For all Southgate's gifts as a motivator, a unifier of teams and in winning over the media, his tactics were overly defensive and never utilised all of the talents available.
A very decent man, an excellent man manager and very good at front of house, if a limited strategist and a dull tactician.
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I think part of the hype is related to the English fans, especially, and media putting the EPL on such a pedestal. This means that the abilities of the English players are often inflated relative to players from other leagues/nationalities. How many would have heard of Fabián Ruiz or Mikel Oyarzabal before the Euros?
What? The EPL on a pedestal? The most watched annual league of the biggest sport, by a mile, on the planet?
I’m not sure of your on this thread to wind up or just generally have no clue.
I work with and socialize with season ticket holders to Arsenal, spurs, Chelsea, United, palace and qpr. None of them rave about the English players, and all of them you could name a top league player anywhere snd they’ll know.
The hype, the mania, is a country getting behind a team. And it’s fantastic. I know not one person who thought it was coming home. There was hope, yes, but deep down not much confidence.
But anything can, and will, happen in football. So all jump on the bandwagon. And it’s a fucking fun
One to be on. Lots of hope without fear and expectation. -
Pretty good record. The game they play is pretty dire, but I think that is in the English DNA for a number of sports? Southgate favours toilers and athletes over X factor guys like Maddison (admittedly out of form since injury) and Grealish. I can recall the same mindset applied to Glenn Hoddle back in the day as well
I reckon this is a bad take. A 'Cullen at centre' kind of take. Drop those carthorses like Bellingham and Foden for Maddison?
Or move him to centreback?
Maybe maybe not. I did say Maddison is out of form. But the fact remains, England huff and puff a lot at the moment, but they don't score many goals
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@canefan He's a good manager, just took the wrong gig at Chelsea.
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@African-Monkey said in Euro 2024:
@canefan He's a good manager, just took the wrong gig at Chelsea.
Not always comfortable with media scrutiny
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@African-Monkey Fails on 2 and 5.
I think it will be Poch or Tuchel based on the advert.
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@sparky Would suprise me. Feel like they still have plenty to offer at club level.
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@African-Monkey I would have thought a return to club manager at a medium-sized club would suit Potter a lot better.
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@African-Monkey Tuchel seems to want it. Poch is out of work at the minute.
