England

Thought we played well tonight. Unlucky to lose. Grealish is quality. Though Saka looked good when he came on.

One thought was that we really missed Sterling tonight. A front 3 of Grealish, Kane and Sterling would be an absolute nightmare to face.

I worry about our defence, although Walker played well, not sure Dier will ever be an international Centre Half. Not sure we need both Rice and Henderson. We were better when Henderson came off.

Quoted from horsforthmariner

Thought we played well tonight. Unlucky to lose. Grealish is quality. Though Saka looked good when he came on.

One thought was that we really missed Sterling tonight. A front 3 of Grealish, Kane and Sterling would be an absolute nightmare to face.

I worry about our defence, although Walker played well, not sure Dier will ever be an international Centre Half. Not sure we need both Rice and Henderson. We were better when Henderson came off.

Created nothing, scored nothing.

It does not matter how much possession you have or how good you look with it, it's what you do with it that wins and loses games. England under Southgate are a team of pretty pretty fancy players with no bite and no idea how to be winners.

That last point is really interesting.  It's the under Southgate thing.  Because that squad is full of natural winners in my opinion.

Natural winners with lots of cutting edge.  Rashford, Kane, Sancho, Sterling, Grealish....all players capable of producing something from nothing and putting teams to the sword.  I think you can probably add Calvert-Lewin in there at the minute.  Appreciate one is on the naughty step and the other has just come off it but Foden and Greenwood too.

But in the last 12 months Southgate has reverted to type and gone very negative and defensive in his approach.  There's an embarrassment of attacking riches at his disposal but, as with many who have gone before him, he seems petrified of sending a side out to really go at teams.

Grealish is ace isnt he....really like watching him play, seldom gives it away, a real talent.

Will be at the forefront of our drive towards European and World Glory

Quoted from diehardmariner

That last point is really interesting.  It's the under Southgate thing.  Because that squad is full of natural winners in my opinion.

Natural winners with lots of cutting edge.  Rashford, Kane, Sancho, Sterling, Grealish....all players capable of producing something from nothing and putting teams to the sword.  I think you can probably add Calvert-Lewin in there at the minute.  Appreciate one is on the naughty step and the other has just come off it but Foden and Greenwood too.

But in the last 12 months Southgate has reverted to type and gone very negative and defensive in his approach.  There's an embarrassment of attacking riches at his disposal but, as with many who have gone before him, he seems petrified of sending a side out to really go at teams.

There are some worth the benefit of the doubt but how does Southgate manage to hang on to his job? If it was still Big Sam and we had the same results the knives would be out on here and in the media.

“Long ball rubbish, we need a passing game, patient build up to suit these players who are used to being surrounded by foreigners in the PL.” That is sort of criticism we would see. But Southgate clearly has friends in high places, he is intelligent, a good organiser and dresses well but as a coach/manager he is simply not up to this job.

One of his ex-players at Boro, Mido, said as much this morning. Mind you I didn’t agree with his solution of appointing Mourinho.

I have never seen Dier do anything .Don't think he would even be an improvement in Town's team. £130000 a week

Quoted from golfer

I have never seen Dier do anything .Don't think he would even be an improvement in Town's team. £130000 a week

Dier by name, dire by nature.  

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

There are some worth the benefit of the doubt but how does Southgate manage to hang on to his job? If it was still Big Sam and we had the same results the knives would be out on here and in the media.

“Long ball rubbish, we need a passing game, patient build up to suit these players who are used to being surrounded by foreigners in the PL.” That is sort of criticism we would see. But Southgate clearly has friends in high places, he is intelligent, a good organiser and dresses well but as a coach/manager he is simply not up to this job.

One of his ex-players at Boro, Mido, said as much this morning. Mind you I didn’t agree with his solution of appointing Mourinho.

I personally think you can only really judge the England manager on either the Euros or the World Cup (or the qualification for such).  As much as I enjoyed the original Nations League, it's still a glorified friendly - especially when the carrot of qualification doesn't really mean a lot for teams who will qualify anyway.

Of Southgate's one tournament, we exceeded expectations massively.  You could argue we were fortunate with the drawer but some could also argue unfortunate to go out in the manner we did.  Either way, if you had offered a semi final place 2 years ago, most English folk would have bit your hand off.

A year ago I was full of optimism going into the Euro 2020 run-in.  I really felt that we had enough quality to be genuine contenders.  In the following year the likes of Greenwood and Foden have emerged along with players like Alexander-Arnold, Rashford and Sancho growing in their game.  Added to this is the later development and elevation to the squad of the likes of Coady, Ings and then Grealish.  On paper alone we're stronger than ever.

Southgate needs to find a system and style that takes us into next summer, one that isn't reliant on packing the team with defensive minded players.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I personally think you can only really judge the England manager on either the Euros or the World Cup (or the qualification for such).  As much as I enjoyed the original Nations League, it's still a glorified friendly - especially when the carrot of qualification doesn't really mean a lot for teams who will qualify anyway.

Of Southgate's one tournament, we exceeded expectations massively.  You could argue we were fortunate with the drawer but some could also argue unfortunate to go out in the manner we did.  Either way, if you had offered a semi final place 2 years ago, most English folk would have bit your hand off.

A year ago I was full of optimism going into the Euro 2020 run-in.  I really felt that we had enough quality to be genuine contenders.  In the following year the likes of Greenwood and Foden have emerged along with players like Alexander-Arnold, Rashford and Sancho growing in their game.  Added to this is the later development and elevation to the squad of the likes of Coady, Ings and then Grealish.  On paper alone we're stronger than ever.

Southgate needs to find a system and style that takes us into next summer, one that isn't reliant on packing the team with defensive minded players.

Maybe so but people were doubting Big Sam even before his first game and they certainly doubted Roy Hodgson before he got to a tournament. Why should Southgate be any different? He talks a good game and seems to have some fans amongst the sports writers, that's for sure.

He did well by bringing in kids he had worked with in the youth set up but he failed to develop them any further into a unit. He has shown an inability to work out a positive way of playing that puts pressure on opponents and allows his side to use their youth and athleticism to best effect. Worst of all, when things do go wrong he looks clueless and his substitutions are dire (pardon the pun).

I don't think it matters whether he packs the side with 10 strikers or 10 full backs, it is his negativity that will fail the side not his selections.

The negativity seems to have crept in recently as he tries to find a way to compensate for having a lack of top class centre backs. The balance doesn't seem right and we missed pace up top last night. I don't think we've been negative throughout his tenure though. We've scored bags of goals and made lots of chances at times. A bit more clinical in that World Cup Semi final and we'd have been out of sight but we took the game to them and got behind them repeatedly. I hope he's just trying to find a formula for the Euros but we do seem to have regressed a bit.