England

The lack of goals is a bit of a concern going into the World Cup.

Latest...England 0-2 Hungary

They're just friendly games . I wouldn't worry

Quoted from promotion plaice

The lack of goals is a bit of a concern going into the World Cup.

Latest...England 0-2 Hungary

End of the season. Plenty of tired players and it looks like Hungary's Cup final. December is what counts.

Although prepare for plenty of hysteria on Talksport.

How crap are England at the minute. I know we've not played our strongest team in these past few games but after the excitement of the past few Town games, these matches have been as dull as ditchwatet.

On this showing I'm not confident of the team winning a single game at The World Cup, never mind the whole thing.

England 0-3 Hungary  

Quoted from Les Brechin

How crap are England at the minute. I know we've not played our strongest team in these past few games but after the excitement of the past few Town games, these matches have been as dull as ditchwatet.

On this showing I'm not confident of the team winning a single game at The World Cup, never mind the whole thing.

Crowd singing you don't know what you're doing to a manager who has led us to a World Cup semi final and European final. Lunacy!

Quoted from smokey111

End of the season. Plenty of tired players and it looks like Hungary's Cup final. December is what counts.

Although prepare for plenty of hysteria on Talksport.

You’re making excuses. That’s 4 crappy performances and a humiliating defeat against poor opposition.

Southgate Out

I doubt it'll be coming home anytime soon.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

You’re making excuses. That’s 4 crappy performances and a humiliating defeat against poor opposition.

Would you sack him?

Quoted from smokey111

Would you sack him?

Not now, but after the World Cup when he squanders another opportunity.

The referee is French, bet Macron is laughing is socks off, oh dear, now it’s 4!!!

Quoted from Hagrid

Southgate Out

They say you can judge a person by the friends he keeps don’t they?

Well Gareth Southgate’s best friend is Andy Woodman.

Technically this beats 1953 doesn’t it? We only lost by 3 goals to Hungary at home then!

Worst home defeat since 1928

Quoted from smokey111

Crowd singing you don't know what you're doing to a manager who has led us to a World Cup semi final and European final. Lunacy!

As much as I think McGuire is a bell end I’m not sure people booing him when he came on was right.

We need to be very clear with the FA Hurst is not available!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

As much as I think McGuire is a bell end I’m not sure people booing him when he came on was right.

We need to be very clear with the FA Hurst is not available!

I think people were booing Southgate.

Wowsers. Worst home defeat in 96 years and fully deserved on that performance.

What have they been doing on the training ground?

Still can’t get over the 2nd stones yellow card. That poor poor poor lad must have  really felt that

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Still can’t get over the 2nd stones yellow card. That poor poor poor lad must have  really felt that

That was a hilariously bad decision, I honestly thought he'd booked their guy for diving!!

I will acknowledge that he needs to release the handbrake given the quality of forward players we have.

Sounds strange, but having just watched the new approach of the cricket team maybe this might jolt Southgate into a more attacking outlook.

Still think he has so much credit in the bank though.

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Still can’t get over the 2nd stones yellow card. That poor poor poor lad must have  really felt that

Wouldn't have changed the game but shocking decision by the ref.

We’ve been found out. Hungary played the same way in both games and beat us. Compact and well organised, the way Southgate sets us up we can’t break teams down. Far far to defensive.

At the moment we are so bad it is unbelievable. 2 attempts on target in a home game. Who is the common denominator - no desire - no idea - no  bottle - utter disgrace. Can't pick out a reasonable performance, they were all as bad. Our worst result since 1964  This lot couldn't beat Ragarse Rovers in the Sunday League

I know you can only beat who's put in front of you, but the fact remains we got very fortuitous draws in the Euros and World Cup and didn't beat one world class team - and no I don't count Germany as world class at the Euros, they were struggling.

Can't see that changing at the world cup

Quoted from smokey111

I will acknowledge that he needs to release the handbrake given the quality of forward players we have.

Sounds strange, but having just watched the new approach of the cricket team maybe this might jolt Southgate into a more attacking outlook.

Still think he has so much credit in the bank though.

" Hi Johnny Bairstow...., it's Gareth Southgate....do you play football at all ?"

Quoted from GollyGTFC

I think people were booing Southgate.

Possibly

It’s a shame C4 don’t have Roy Keane as pundit. Would be far more interesting and honest than Joe & Ashley Cole are willing to be.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Possibly

I think the give away was the boos being followed by “you don’t know what you’re doing…”

Quoted from wiggers

We’ve been found out. Hungary played the same way in both games and beat us. Compact and well organised, the way Southgate sets us up we can’t break teams down. Far far to defensive.

This. We’re weak at the back and Southgate over compensates by being negative through out the team.

My opinion is we should be playing 4-3-3. Declan Rice sat in front of the back four and 2 more attacking central midfields either side of him. Harry Kane with 2 pacy, attacking wingers/wide forwards.

Something like…

Pickford
Trent AA     Stones     ?????????     ????????
                    Rice
            Henderson     Mount
Sterling                            ????????
                     Kane

Southgate has reached his ceiling as England manager. Had some very favourable tournament draws. They'll never get rid of him because he's so embedded in the establishment. He should be getting more out of this crop of players, The amount of them he's now using is proving he's losing his way. A couple of the newer players in the starting eleven tonight have nowhere enough ability to be anywhere near an England squad.

Boring, one-dimensional, negative and predictable. Time for a change..

One of the most embarrassing nights I can remember as an England fan. I don’t think Southgate knows his best side and he seems too stubborn tactically, as others have said he really needs to let the hand break off, particularly at home against sides who we ‘should’ be beating comfortably.

I don’t see him going before the World Cup personally, but it feels like he’s lost the support of many tonight.

England cricket team demonstrated what can happen when shackles come off.

England's worse home defeat in 150 years?, when having not scored and conceded 4 goals.  Pity Kane was not on the pitch.  He was, for 90 mins?  Well, that is plan A out of the window.

Terrible result, although this group of players aren't all that like some people think either.

I’ve generally been a fan of Southgate since he got the job. A semi-final and a final after the embarrassment of 2016 is good going whatever context or narrative you try to apply to it.

All that said, whilst this was a relatively insignificant game in the big scheme of things, tonight’s performance and result is pretty indefensible.

Shambolic, the worst performance I've seen since the 2010 World Cup. We were generally terrible all across the pitch. Defensively, we were all over the place, Midfield we were toothless and upfront we played sloppy ball after sloppy ball. 4-0 flattered us and not Hungary.

Southgate has got a lot of problems to fix.

Firstly, if you look at the players who played against Italy in the Final there is literally nobody you can say had an outstanding season.  Rice probably had the best season, but if you look at the side in totality it's pretty awful.

Pickford - Everton nearly got relegated and were awful defensively for most of the season, admittedly when it really mattered he did pull out some big performances.
Walker and Stones, Neither had awful seasons but they aren't the key defenders that Pep relies on.
Maguire and Shaw both had a truly awful seasons at Man Utd
Trippier - injured for most of the run in
Phillips - Most of the season injured
Rice - good season at West Ham
Mount - the most overated footballer, didn't set the world on fire at a Chelsea side falling apart due to Ukraine
Sterling - Has dropped fown the pecking order
Kane - worst scoring season for Spurs, sulked first few months
Saka - good season at Arsenal, but he's bang average in reality
Henderson - Injuries
Grealish - move not 100% working out
Rashford and Sancho - more disastrous seasons at Man Utd.
H'es got a big problem that both Chelsea and Man Utd are basketcases at the moment and it's clearly having an impact .

I also think were overated. Kane is damn good striker, Grealish is creative and Foden could be very good but in reality we've got a bang average international goalkeeper. Our centre halves are by international standard average and we've got big problems if Kalvin Philips is a regular pick - he's barely Premier League Class.Really you say only our front line and Right back are genuinely decent.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

This. We’re weak at the back and Southgate over compensates by being negative through out the team.

My opinion is we should be playing 4-3-3. Declan Rice sat in front of the back four and 2 more attacking central midfields either side of him. Harry Kane with 2 pacy, attacking wingers/wide forwards.

Something like…

Pickford
Trent AA     Stones     ?????????     ????????
                    Rice
            Henderson     Mount
Sterling                            ????????
                     Kane

The problem there is that TAA isn't the best defensively, Stones is prone to a rick too often and who else will be picked in the other positions? Maguire has been right out of form (though he's generally done well in recent tournaments), but who are the other suitable central defenders? Coady not good enough in my view, White, Tomori and Guehi extremely inexperienced at international level and not exactly blowing the doors off in the league. I'd perhaps have Mings in ahead of most of those, though he's a bit limited himself. We'll just have to hope one of them has a stormer during the first few months of the season or Maguire regains some form. Left-back is perhaps a bit easier in Shaw's absence as Trippier is capable enough and reliable. If we were to play with a back 4, I think we'd need to have Walker at right-back as he's most reliable defensively in that position. James has disappointed me during his appearances in these Nations League games as he just hasn't put the required effort in. Then midfield. Rice obviously our best holding midfielder, Phillips is too limited, Ward-Prowse not good enough, Gallacher looked untidy in possession tonight. Luckily, Bellingham is a good player but it still leaves a 3rd space if we're going to be playing a 4-3-3 and I really don't see Mount as filling this role as he's in and out of the game too much. Not quite a midfielder, not quite a forward at present. I also think Henderson isn't quite up to the task, especially as he's slowed so much. Who else is there - Smith-Rowe, perhaps or Lingard? Both quite attacking players, I suppose.

Up front it has to be Kane and we've got pretty much no chance if he's not fit or is out of form because Abraham is an honest player, but nowhere near the same quality. I think I'd probably go with Grealish and Sterling alongside Kane (though Sterling has been right out of form over the past couple of weeks as well), with Foden on the bench. Saka and Bowen are both OK but nothing more. Where are the goals going to come from, however? From recent call-ups, only Rashford is in double figures for England and his form has been terrible over much of the past couple of years. Next highest scorer after Kane and Sterling is Maguire!

The problem, as some of the pundits have mentioned, is what has Southgate learned over the past 4 games? We've chopped and changed, generally played poorly regardless of the combination of players and haven't looked a goal threat with any of the tweaks Southgate has tried.

One thing is for certain, we're going to have to find some sort of a way to sort out the defensive weaknesses as it doesn't seem likely that we're going to suddenly start scoring a hatful of goals once again.

I didn't even know England had a game last night until I logged onto here just now. Oh well. Did I mention the town are going up?

Literally forgot England had a handful of games at a time when literally no player or manager wanted them.

Results across the board have been pretty excrement and we’re no different.

I listened to the match at have to say that Hungary, with no World Cup coming up seemed to fancy themselves but England were clearly experimenting and didn’t even seem to react.

excrement early but literally not arsed and wouldn’t read anything in to it…

Southgate claims that he was trying outs younger team, but yet once again Kane played, I believe he played in all the games, so how can Southgate see if anyone else is capable of leading the line if they never get a chance.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Southgate claims that he was trying outs younger team, but yet once again Kane played, I believe he played in all the games, so how can Southgate see if anyone else is capable of leading the line if they never get a chance.

Probably because if you are playing with a Centre Forward there isn’t anyone else to lead the line.

I suspect if Kane was injured mid-tournament, Southgate would play Sterling centrally with two of Mount, Grealish, Saka and Foden either side.

Tammy Abraham’s all round game isn’t good enough and I don’t even think his goal scoring record is that great, particularly when you compare it to someone as similarity limited like Immobile.

You could argue you could try Foden or Saka as a false nine but I don’t think our midfield is good enough to make that work.

I blame the radio commentator who stated confidently Ramsdale hasn't conceded now in 200 minutes of international football - he then let in 4 from 5 shots in the next 70 mins! Jinxed it!

Watched the last few minutes and it was boring again.  Its like we are used to plugging away against minnows and winning 5 nil with a load of late goals, and have no idea how to play against better opposition.  

Feel sorry for bowen coming into this team, what a time to come in, then again at least he's been given a chance.

Southgate made a comment in the build up about how hard it would be for rashford or sancho to force their way back in now, well not so sure about that now!!

This whole Nations League thing is a farce and I am not reading too much into it . Southgate took us to the final of the Euros when it mattered - lets give him a chance again in this years World Cup  

Clearly England shouldn’t be losing 4-0 at home to a willing, but limited, Hungary side.

I am sure The Mail and The Sun will be calling for Southgate’s head but…

1. As many have posted above, several key players are either not fully fit, coming back from injury or just knackered (James, Trippier, TAA, Stones, Walker, Saka, Rice, Mount) or not first choice at their clubs at the moment (Sterling, Grealish, Maguire).

2. Remember that Saka’s penalty miss against Italy was on 11 July. The EPL started back up again on 13 Aug. Money doesn’t stop you from being mentally and physically tired.

3. The Chelsea, Liverpool, City, West Ham players played an awful lot of football at the back end of the season. Rashford, Sancho and Greenwood are out of form or unavailable.

4. A lot of the higher ranked international sides have struggled for motivation and fitness in the Nations League. Most of them don’t want the matches, they want to be on holiday. Look at France (still my favourite for the World Cup), they lost two and drew two of their four NL matches.

5. I still think Southgate’s preferred first eleven is roughly what most sensible people would pick. If you play Kane, you need Sterling or Saka to provide a threat in behind. Could he ditch the double pivot and play Mount, Foden, Grealish or Saka deeper? We’ve speculated this on here before and the problem is they don’t play that deep for their clubs.

Quoted from Maringer

Coady not good enough in my view, White, Tomori and Guehi extremely inexperienced at international level and not exactly blowing the doors off in the league. I'd perhaps have Mings in ahead of most of those, though he's a bit limited himself.

He's just won Serie A!

Make them watch the comeback Kings on Youtube
And show them how it's done.

We set up and play negatively, we didnt push forward and get players in the box till we were 2 down. How are we going to score goals when our CF spends most of the game in midfield and no one makes runs beyond him. One player down, losing 3-0 15 mins to go, replace an attacking midfielder with a central defender to try and shore things up at the back (hence boos when Maguire came on). The bloke wouldn't know what an attacking mentality is.

Quoted from Exiled in Leicester

This whole Nations League thing is a farce and I am not reading too much into it . Southgate took us to the final of the Euros when it mattered - lets give him a chance again in this years World Cup  

It does mean we have to play some decent teams regularly rather than a procession of games we can win at a canter and look fantastic in, only to fall on one of the rare occasions we come across a decent team.

Unfortunately, we'll now almost certainly get relegated so will be pitted against relatively weak opposition again for the next 2 years, so the whole cycle can begin anew!

Wouldn't know what tiredness is, try playing three good teams away from home for 120 minutes a match, then come back and tell me.

Perhaps these poor performances  are part of Southgates cunning plan.😉

Quoted from Abdul19

He's just won Serie A!

Gah. I was confusing him as playing for Roma! I know he's not Smalling, but didn't realise he was actually playing for Milan, just knew it was out it Italy somewhere. Just goes to show how much attention I've been paying this season.