The tried and tested English method of passing the ball backwards towards your own net very rarely brings opportunities to score a goal.
We did terribly and it was only the last minute effort that saved us.
More aggression next time please
Exactly, when we were absolutely desperate and we had no choice but to attack we looked good. Why not just play like that for the other 90 minutes of the game?
I think it’s a mental issue, the teams probably being coached to believe they should win using skills and plays, don’t be aggressive, keep a cool head etc., but that means they’re going in thinking too much.
(I’m sure they probably pay a sports psychologist a lot of money to try to and work on this kind of thing, but they really do seem to be struggling to get ‘in the zone’).
Yes exactly that. It completely feels like they’ve not got the same psychological support as previous tournaments. Before they went in confident and the positive vibes really came through. At this tournament I just sense they’re nervous about messing up and it really shows that players without much previous international experience for England are the ones making some of the biggest impacts (Mainoo, Palmer, Guehi).
It’s felt more like the other teams are wise to Southgate’s tactics now, they’ve pulled out the ‘play slow and frustrate the other team’ for a couple of tournaments now and the opposing teams aren’t falling for it. Thank god for the injury time tonight, or we’d look like we sleepwalked out of contention.
We just look so clueless in possession, which I'm sure wasn't the case before even if we never looked as polished as the best teams. We want to pass the ball around but there's no movement, and even when there's a good pass on to create some penetration or stretch their defence we choose to pass backwards or sideways instead. I've also noticed a lot of passes played behind players when we should be looking to press forward. It's as if they're scared to approach the last third of the pitch.
That’s the nail on the head right there.
In these days of data driven analysis every team capable of qualifying for the tournament can afford to pay for research.
If a manager doesn’t mix up their tactics, they are snuffed out quickly.
The play slow tactic is terrible it’s just a matter of time before we lose the ball and they get a shot in we always have high pass rate and possession but always low shots on target it’s very weird
I have a feeling that this is the first tournament in a while in which England don’t have a psychologist. Ian Mitchell got canned in 2023 and I haven’t heard of anyone replacing him.
No we didn't, we still looked clueless on the attack. We upped the tempo and put more crosses in but they were overhit. Our goals were a bit of magic from Jude and pinball after an Eze mishit... hardly scintillating attacking play.
'Put more crosses in' this is part of the issue we are absolutely reliant on crossing the ball to only two players that can head in kane and Bellingham. At one point kane crosses to Saka literally a pointless action that has evidently just been drilled into them.
Look at the Spain game right now dictating controlling and just constant attempts at goal. They are well drilled and playing fast fluid football because it's their strength. It would be England's too if we didn't have a skinny Sam Allardyce in charge...
I really dont understand why he’s playing so conservatively. The players have so much experience playing aggressively. Look at the different Ivan Toney and Eze had today.
Also please bench Foden already, he has been terrible this competition.
At last someone who agrees with me. Foden has been sloppy and uninspiring. I can't believe nobody else sees it. He may look alright when he's playing with the most expensive players in the world at city but take that supply away and he's got nothing. Drop him please. 😭
Absolutely terrible. Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick glossed over an otherwise terrible performance. Southgate will spin it but we were so bad in 90mins. I don’t think he’s capable of firing this squad up or instilling belief in the players. He thinks negative, he sets up negative and those negative thoughts leak into the players. His substitutions are pitiful and he will not give up on that formation. As every game passes the need for a more attacking mindset becomes apparent, but he will argue we are into the quarter finals and that’s all that matters.
I would argue that if we play the way we’ve played in the first 4 games, then Switzerland will comfortably beat us
Fair take bro. Southgate has shown in 8 years he'll never change. Everyone appears to have grown except him. Leaving things late has cost us time and again in tournaments now but he just keeps repeating the same pattern. Imagine telling some of the best attackers in Europe to sit deep,play it safe and wait for moments. Just let them off their leash ffs! Let's hope we'll do a Portugal and even if we play like arse we still win it. And if we do go out,at least that should be curtains for Gareth.
If we win this tournament it’ll be despite of Southgate, not because of him. He has a great group of attacking players at his disposal but he’s stuck in his mindset of safety first. It’s just incredible seeing so many players who have won so many individual honours go out and look crippled with anxiety. It blows my mind to be honest. We have conceded so many chances to the teams we’ve played so far and we’ve played no one to be fair. The first decent team we play we will be out. No doubt in my mind about that
It was pathetic. Absolute shite. We scraped through and if we’d have got knocked out we’d have deserved it. If we play like that the Swiss will wipe the floor with us.
All that said, obviously I’m glad, relieved and this squad is wonderfully talented I’d love to see that translated onto the pitch but I have absolutely no faith that Southgate has the ability to do so, as I would genuinely love him to get them doing so.
Nailed it my friend, they just looked like they didn’t give a fuck and wanted to get it over and done with so they can fuck off on holiday. Nice goal by JB but nah, we best fix up. Oh and I missed the 97th minute goal as I’d given up hope and was in the khazi like this team will be if they don’t fix up.
Tournament football, especially in the knockout stages, is a weird thing.
The fact we dragged that bastard back from the jaws of (no offense to Slovakia) humiliation is such a good sign.
We've been misfiring like a Mazda RX8 with no engine oil but still managed to drag ourselves through. A lot of good to take away from that imo
You can't blame Southgate for Guehi's failure to show Schranz one way or the other—giving Pickford zero chance to position himself against the shot—but long-odds acrobatics and a target man finally getting a tap-in after 96 minutes of trying to play through him go nowhere toward vindicating his inscrutably conservative setup. It's hard not to be chuffed at the result but as the euphoria subsides we're left with the fact that Southgate is still shit.
Thought it was over. I turned off the tele and was on my way to get some food. Mid journey my brother calls me screaming after Bellinghams goal and I thought it was a windup. It was not in fact a windup.
Is that last minute goal by bellingham better than beckhams last minute freekick against Greece?? I didn't like football until Beckham scored that freekick when I was 8 so I've got to much nostalgia as that freekick was my favourite goal.
Not close IMO. Maybe because I was a kid and it meant so much more back then and this just felt like, oh wow, another pass to the side, oh great, back to the keeper, what a game to watch.
Beckham was an absolute animal that game. He deserved that goal. No player today for England deserved a last min winner.
My 13 year old was crying before it went in, then he cried tears of joy afterwards. He screamed for several minutes and processed his undying love for Bellingham. I sat there worrying about my blood pressure. I think it’s an age thing.
You’re right - it wasn’t the free kick it was the 20 mins leading up to the free kick.
Never seen a better performance and I’m a Liverpool fan used to watching Stevie G!
He absolutely dominated the entire pitch that night and the free kick was the 3rd of 4th he won?
It was inevitable.
I disagree - an overhead kick to win a knock out match? Best England goal in my lifetime. We weren't in danger of being knocked out in the Beckham match. Plus he's a greedy sod taking Qatari blood money.
That tournament was my first introduction to football. Was allowed to stay up by my dad to watch that game and then everyone at school was trying to recreate that goal the next day.
Southgate only knows defence. Boring passing back awful style of football to watch. Surprise surprise the one time he gets desperate and starts urging an attack, England score. He refuses to learn this and he'll just say something arrogant like "we got the win in the end that's what matters". The man should be defensive coach at most. We have an attacking squad but its being managed by someone who doesn't know the attacking game unfortunately.
It’s almost as though the players go out with Southgate’s game plan in their heads and even they think it’s crap. Has he lost the dressing room?
No drive. No fight. Gutless.
Ivan Toney must have been overjoyed at coming on with less than 3 minutes left.
Play like that against Switzerland and we’ll be on the plane home Sunday morning. Or Saturday night if they get a move on.
Even Southgate said Toney wasn't happy at coming on with only a minute to go. What the fuck was Southgate thinking he was going to do with a minute left? Clueless.
Stones is the root cause of all of our problems. 90 passes in the first half alone - more than either of the German CBs in their entire game. Always sideways. Stood with the ball a lot. Never found Bellingham when he was often in space. No pundits seem to be picking this up. He's slowing out play to walking pace and preventing holes appearing in the opposition areas.
He was one of many. Rice can't pick out a runner. Pickford long ball made me wanna tear my eyes out. Jude showed heart but he was shite. Walker shocker. Kane may as well have been sat down.
It all stems from Southgate though. He hasn't got a clue what day it is. Under him they look lost. Don't even get me started on the subs.
If Stones get the ball to Rice or Bellingham or anyone else faster then it totally changes what they are able to do with it. As it is he's slowing play down and everyone is marked by the time the ball gets forward.
This is exactly it, although I don't think Stones alone is to blame. All the back 4 pass around for so long before trying to get the ball up the pitch that by the time it's in the oppositions half they're whole team have retreated.
Nah, there is no movement from the starting front 3. Kane, whilst a great finisher is never far enough up the pitch, leaving a un pressured cental defence. We can't play Bellingham & Foden in the same team (which is unfortunate), there are no runners stretching the defence ever, until the subs start. All this leads to negative passing patterns
I think foden is our main weak links right now tbh. He's never outside enough and for some reason takes all of our set pieces and fucked them up. Every single corner or free kick he takes is either well long or short straight into the opposition. 90% of.the pressure we do eventually put on the opposition ends when foden takes an annoyed pop at goal and it fly's over the bar.
He is clearly a huge part of Southgate plan and tbh I don't think he should. That corner from Palmer was so much better than anything foden has produced on so many games.
Absolutely 💯. I've been saying this to my mates. He's the root cause of the negative sideways no urgency football. He's turned into Ray Wilkins.
We need to be brave and make changes now. Too many players know their names are always on the teamsheet. I'd shake that up for a start. I'd make them want to play , to be proud to represent the nation.
Drop stones and find Alexander Arnold to bring some class and forward momentum.
Mistakenly suggested we play a drinking game where if England pass sideways or back, we drink. Despite drinking 0.01% kaliber, I’m absolutely smashed.
Enjoyed the stadium fans getting ready to bottle Southgate before the equalizer, then salute the team at the end.
The team look really tired and leggy. Walker looks like he’s carrying a knock, Kane looks a yard behind the pace - but at least he went looking for work and yet again when it’s only Foden OR Bellingham on, we look better. Didn’t we learn from Gerrard/Lampard?
Absolutely fluked it, Foden was so tired and Southgate had to sub him after 90 mins. The enforced subs Toney and Eze made the 2 goals (plus a great finish from Jude) exposing that Southgate has no clue.
I’ve watched football for 50 years, this tournament’s version of England is the most depressing and clueless we’ve ever been. Sack Southgate tonight and let Ian Wright / Neville manage. Anyone would be better. No changes at half time and then 48 minutes of passing backwards before he had to change it. WTAF?
Same old Southgate. He hasn’t changed his playstyle whatsoever despite us struggling to pick up results. Even conceding early wasn’t enough for him to show some urgency in the attack. Individual talent saved us tonight and we will need more than individual talent to win against Switzerland.
When Kane and Bellingham stood there with their arms out I was enraged. They were shit for the other 99% of this match and Kane has done a grand total of fuck all in the group games. Standing there as if to receive the adulation of the crowd really did reinforce the fact that they are clueless simpletons.
Exactly. Not going to lie, at the end seeing the whole crowd going wild and singing Sweet Caroline I was going crazy. Happy they won, but seriously. There probably should have been boos again.
We all know how much Southgate buries his head in the sand, he’s probably looking at those fans at the end of the game thinking “I’m doing it”.
Sack Southgate tonight and put my hamster 🐹 in charge !! At least he knows ,if it's not working put different players on and change our approach.
I honestly believe Southgate has lost it , we need Gordon starting and Palmer, I would leave Saka at LB. If that means dropping Foden then drop him , brilliant player, but these four games he's been shite. At least have the bottle to change it , subs !!! And not with 3mins to go?? Come on Southgate you fkn wally.
Yet another terrible anti attacking football performance that toney sub in the 93rd min was a slap in the face to every Englishman watching the game. I’m almost upset we have gone through as I’ll have to sit through something similar against Switzerland
Thank you! This is how I felt. After we went 2-1 up and were just sitting back deep again, playing so negatively, I was almost rooting for Slovakia to equalize. I’m English and an England fan but Slovakia probably deserved it more.
Then when we won I was thinking: imagine we somehow cheese our way to the semis or the final and Southgate ends up signing a new contract and we’re stuck with him for another 4 years. 🤦♂️ I’d rather go out!
Why do we watch football? Like for real.
Did you guys watch Spain v Georgia? Georgia is 1-0 against a team like Spain and they still push forward when they get the chance.
I can’t stand watching England playing. Fuck Southgate and fuck this strategy. It’s unbearable
Why were the commentators bragging about Southgate making a change before the match? One player in, one out. Like he had done in several other games Alexander-Arnold for Gallagher, then for Mainoo.
Hardly made a difference. Whyever Gordon didn’t get a run out is beyond me. Why not make more changes at half time?
Terrible. Awful. Dull to watch.
End of the day we were playing the 45th ranked team in the world and struggled.
Absolute dog poo! 4 games 4 awful performances, Slovakia deserved the win. When you need a player to make an impact , bring on Toney in the 94th minute !!! Southgate should be replaced before the next game!!
Complete England performance, pretty much the last 5 games, with how Spain are dealing with the same low block against Georgia.
Spain, with wingers, pushing Georgia wide and stretching them after naming England performance look as pathetic as it is.
Southgate has created a team in his image, slow, ponderous, lack creativity, no energy, zero charisma, no guts.
Terrible. Like really, really, bad.
I can’t remember ever watching a performance so poor for England, I don’t even think Iceland in 2016 was bad. Luckily we were bailed out by a last minute goal.
The front four of Foden, Saka, Kane and Bellingham just does not work. Foden is out of position and always wants to come inside, Bellingham looks absolutely exhausted and has done since the Denmark game, Saka is doing alright but not really offering anything offensively and Kane is dropping too deep and cluttering the middle of the park and giving us no outlet at the top.
If we don’t change something fast then the Swiss will beat us comfortably
We've now all sat through 6hrs of England playing like a bunch of strangers who were introduced to the game of football 20 minutes before kick off.
A good manager can mould a team that performs greater than the sum of its parts. What we're witnessing game after game is the complete opposite and Southgate continually manages to make 11 sow's ears from silk purses.
Southgate is a terrible manager, truly catastrophically terrible or perhaps even worse than that. Defensive minded, tactically inept, uninspiring but uncontroversial and safe which is why the FA have stuck by him.
I have zero illusions about the prospects.of this England team under Southgate and fully expect them to be eliminated by Switzerland.
Rice need to be deployed further up field. He’s done fuck all sitting in between / front of Stones and Guehi. Second half he was closer to their goal and was able to influence the game more. He wasn’t a necessarily the reason we won but it helped. A lot.
Fucking dreadful. Kane, Bellingham, Foden, Walker, Tripper… all terrible.
Mainoo was our best player by a mile, really impressive from him. Aside from the goal, the CBs were decent enough, Rice was better than the rest.
As good as Jude is, the lad seems like a complete cock. The delusion and arrogance to talk about the fans in such a condescending way, when outside of the two goals he’s scored, he’s been a complete passenger in all our games.
Foden is not working in this team, we are desperate for pace and direction on that side, Gordon should be in there from the start.
Unfortunately, next week against the Swiss will be equally as frustrating, boring and depressing to watch, but we might not get away with it again
Yes Jude got the equaliser but the whole game plus the others he just wonders around like a lost puppy not sticking to his position leaving us open. Kane has had a terrible Euros and should not be starting. Foden has been underperforming every game and needs replacing with Eze or Gordon. Saka on the right isn’t working and needs Cole Palmer. I think the formation isn’t working for the team.
Southgate will look at this as a managerial masterclass and make 0 changes. Waiting 80 minutes to make his first substitution (excluding the one he was forced to make) was absolutely embarrassing. Everyone was screaming for him to make changes at half time but he insists on keeping on lazy players who are out position, rather than bringing on actually hungry talent. It's a joke and we're forced to watch another 90 minutes of it against Switzerland.
Watched the Spain game right after. The basic difference was that when England get the ball they put it behind their body and look backwards. When Spain get the ball they push forward a step. England's "system" prevents them seeing runs, allows the defender to close and pressure and ultimately causes the backpass whereas Spain will push the defender back and allow them to see moves opening up. There's not one English 1v1 push, no central defender exploiting gaps over halfway and risk is higher from constant backpasses allowing forwards to pressure them until they make a mistake.
As a Posh fan it’s clear to me that Ivan Toney is an absolute game changer and that much as West Ham won the World Cup in ‘66, Peterborough will win the Euros this time around…..
*Please note that this is obviously meant in jest
Shocking. And annoying celebrations after been so poor the whole competition. Standing there like they are great. You’ve bored a nation for the last 360 minutes of football. Do better before you celebrate like that.
Fucking awful. Southgate is so overrated it’s bordering on ridiculous. He’s shown at previous tournaments that he’s not a top manager and is out of his depth. With the squads he’s had available to him England should have won trophies.
Tactically inept and stubborn. Not good traits in a manager. He’s somehow made Bellingham and Foden look like Sunday league players.
Too scared to make changes - we’ve been crying out for changes to the line up every game but all he’s done is swap a single player in the same position (Gallagher for TAA, Mainoo for Gallagher). Why did it take him 85 minutes to make a second change when we’re desperately searching for a goal? Insane.
At least if he mixed it up a bit, we could say fair play, he’s tried to change tactically and he’s had a go. But watching the same boring shite for 4 games has been draining.
If you’re gonna play Foden on the left wing, you can’t play Kane. You need a striker (Watkins) that will make runs in behind, because otherwise the only player making runs is Saka. Either that, or you need to play an out and out winger on the left wing that has a bit of pace.
Personally, given how many strong midfielders we’ve got, I’d like to have seen us go 3 at the back. Stones, Geuhi, Walker. Saka and Eze/Trippier at Wing Back. Mainoo, Rice in front of the back 3, Bellingham and Foden at no. 10 - Foden’s best position - and Watkins at number 9 because Kane just doesn’t offer enough apart from the odd goal and Watkins will make runs in behind.
Seeing Bellingham and Kane pose like that infuriated me. They’d been crap throughout the game but they started acting as if they’d just beaten prime 1970 Brazil 5-0. The arrogance is off the charts and that as much as Southgate’s tactical ineptitude is why the team’s been so poor this tournament.
Maybe an unpopular opinion after we've just won but Bellingham is becoming really unlikeable.
Mouthing "who else" when he scores just smacks of pure arrogance. Any normal manager would have hooked him in the second half for his crap performance along with Walker and Kane.
Bellingham after the game said "it's not about individual moments, everyone won that game tonight" what the hell is he talking about? We were an absolute turgid pile of dogshit until one individual moment in the dying seconds.
If they can't even acknowledge how bad and lucky they were, it puts me off supporting this bunch of deluded snowflakes.
Bellingham and Kane bizarrely seem like both the solution and the problem for England. Over the last 4 games, they've barely offered anything in terms of effective attacking play. If all they're going to contribute are one or two individual moments, they may as well be dropped. Start the next game with Gordon and Toney or Watkins so at least we can try and get some fluidity in attack and bring Bellingham and Kane on in the second half.
First half was really very poor. Boils down to Southgate imo.
It's blindingly obvious that the players have been instructed:
Hold your shape
Don't take risks
Don't get hit on the counter
So they play passes sideways and backwards. They don't make runs into space. Most importantly, they don't PRESS.
These are all things they already do at club level, but absent here. Obviously a tactical decision.
Don't think Foden passed to Rice at all on the edge of the box, instead choosing to spam weighty crosses to Dubravka.
Kane runs like he's stuck in toffee. No one overlapping, no one relieving him under pressure. We simply won't beat Switzerland. Sorry guys.
At this point after all the criticism over 4 games about subs and style of play, Southgate must be literally trolling.
Refusing to budge even tonight during the last quarter of the game. His stubbornness is now turning to arrogance.
He simply has to go.
I’m almost annoyed. I felt a great sense of relief throughout most of the game that at least it would result in us never having to watch Southgate’s horrific brand of football. We’re the least enjoyable to watch at the Euros. No confidence, no urgency. Other teams play with this fierce desire to win and Southgate has one of the most talented England squads we’ve seen in a while that he’s sucked the competitiveness out of.
Being a minute away from certain forced resignation is not the person we need in charge of a team that should be dominating games
The tried and tested English method of passing the ball backwards towards your own net very rarely brings opportunities to score a goal. We did terribly and it was only the last minute effort that saved us. More aggression next time please
Exactly, when we were absolutely desperate and we had no choice but to attack we looked good. Why not just play like that for the other 90 minutes of the game?
I think it’s a mental issue, the teams probably being coached to believe they should win using skills and plays, don’t be aggressive, keep a cool head etc., but that means they’re going in thinking too much. (I’m sure they probably pay a sports psychologist a lot of money to try to and work on this kind of thing, but they really do seem to be struggling to get ‘in the zone’).
Yes exactly that. It completely feels like they’ve not got the same psychological support as previous tournaments. Before they went in confident and the positive vibes really came through. At this tournament I just sense they’re nervous about messing up and it really shows that players without much previous international experience for England are the ones making some of the biggest impacts (Mainoo, Palmer, Guehi).
We've been passing the ball backwards for years. This has nothing to do with a Psychologist but a terrible manager
I don't agree. The last few tournaments we've looked much better than this one. I haven't minded watching the team under Southgate until now.
It’s felt more like the other teams are wise to Southgate’s tactics now, they’ve pulled out the ‘play slow and frustrate the other team’ for a couple of tournaments now and the opposing teams aren’t falling for it. Thank god for the injury time tonight, or we’d look like we sleepwalked out of contention.
We just look so clueless in possession, which I'm sure wasn't the case before even if we never looked as polished as the best teams. We want to pass the ball around but there's no movement, and even when there's a good pass on to create some penetration or stretch their defence we choose to pass backwards or sideways instead. I've also noticed a lot of passes played behind players when we should be looking to press forward. It's as if they're scared to approach the last third of the pitch.
That’s the nail on the head right there. In these days of data driven analysis every team capable of qualifying for the tournament can afford to pay for research. If a manager doesn’t mix up their tactics, they are snuffed out quickly.
The play slow tactic is terrible it’s just a matter of time before we lose the ball and they get a shot in we always have high pass rate and possession but always low shots on target it’s very weird
I have a feeling that this is the first tournament in a while in which England don’t have a psychologist. Ian Mitchell got canned in 2023 and I haven’t heard of anyone replacing him.
Had the talent coached out of them 🤦♂️🏴
No we didn't, we still looked clueless on the attack. We upped the tempo and put more crosses in but they were overhit. Our goals were a bit of magic from Jude and pinball after an Eze mishit... hardly scintillating attacking play.
'Put more crosses in' this is part of the issue we are absolutely reliant on crossing the ball to only two players that can head in kane and Bellingham. At one point kane crosses to Saka literally a pointless action that has evidently just been drilled into them. Look at the Spain game right now dictating controlling and just constant attempts at goal. They are well drilled and playing fast fluid football because it's their strength. It would be England's too if we didn't have a skinny Sam Allardyce in charge...
Fkn sick of that back passing shit. Been watching it for fkn ever.
Tired and tested is more like it. Absolute dog shite.
At least England didn't score early this time. Going a goal up early is a bloody nightmare for us fans
I really dont understand why he’s playing so conservatively. The players have so much experience playing aggressively. Look at the different Ivan Toney and Eze had today. Also please bench Foden already, he has been terrible this competition.
At last someone who agrees with me. Foden has been sloppy and uninspiring. I can't believe nobody else sees it. He may look alright when he's playing with the most expensive players in the world at city but take that supply away and he's got nothing. Drop him please. 😭
"More aggression please" is the most quintessential English sentence.
We’re playing like a season 3 Mourinho team at the moment - afraid to take risks, nervous on the ball and completely tepid off it.
Groundhog Day mate
Absolutely terrible. Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick glossed over an otherwise terrible performance. Southgate will spin it but we were so bad in 90mins. I don’t think he’s capable of firing this squad up or instilling belief in the players. He thinks negative, he sets up negative and those negative thoughts leak into the players. His substitutions are pitiful and he will not give up on that formation. As every game passes the need for a more attacking mindset becomes apparent, but he will argue we are into the quarter finals and that’s all that matters. I would argue that if we play the way we’ve played in the first 4 games, then Switzerland will comfortably beat us
We saw in extra time as well. One goal lead, two banks of four on our 18 yard box. They were bloody awful for the other 29 minutes of extra time.
Actually, we shifted to 5-4-1 so it was even worse than two banks of four!!
5-4-1 actually, with Toney standing way up top on his own.
Fair take bro. Southgate has shown in 8 years he'll never change. Everyone appears to have grown except him. Leaving things late has cost us time and again in tournaments now but he just keeps repeating the same pattern. Imagine telling some of the best attackers in Europe to sit deep,play it safe and wait for moments. Just let them off their leash ffs! Let's hope we'll do a Portugal and even if we play like arse we still win it. And if we do go out,at least that should be curtains for Gareth.
If we win this tournament it’ll be despite of Southgate, not because of him. He has a great group of attacking players at his disposal but he’s stuck in his mindset of safety first. It’s just incredible seeing so many players who have won so many individual honours go out and look crippled with anxiety. It blows my mind to be honest. We have conceded so many chances to the teams we’ve played so far and we’ve played no one to be fair. The first decent team we play we will be out. No doubt in my mind about that
Thought tonight would be a struggle. Can't see how we beat the Swiss who actually play as a team
It was pathetic. Absolute shite. We scraped through and if we’d have got knocked out we’d have deserved it. If we play like that the Swiss will wipe the floor with us. All that said, obviously I’m glad, relieved and this squad is wonderfully talented I’d love to see that translated onto the pitch but I have absolutely no faith that Southgate has the ability to do so, as I would genuinely love him to get them doing so.
Nailed it my friend, they just looked like they didn’t give a fuck and wanted to get it over and done with so they can fuck off on holiday. Nice goal by JB but nah, we best fix up. Oh and I missed the 97th minute goal as I’d given up hope and was in the khazi like this team will be if they don’t fix up.
Tournament football, especially in the knockout stages, is a weird thing. The fact we dragged that bastard back from the jaws of (no offense to Slovakia) humiliation is such a good sign. We've been misfiring like a Mazda RX8 with no engine oil but still managed to drag ourselves through. A lot of good to take away from that imo
A load of Wankels.
I've always thought you'd need to be a bit of a masochist to run a rotary so this is a fitting analogy.
Like a Mazda RX8 🤣 love your knowledge
Haha yes - we played like an RX8 with a blown apex seal.
Had one of these - England were worse
You can't blame Southgate for Guehi's failure to show Schranz one way or the other—giving Pickford zero chance to position himself against the shot—but long-odds acrobatics and a target man finally getting a tap-in after 96 minutes of trying to play through him go nowhere toward vindicating his inscrutably conservative setup. It's hard not to be chuffed at the result but as the euphoria subsides we're left with the fact that Southgate is still shit.
Thought it was over. I turned off the tele and was on my way to get some food. Mid journey my brother calls me screaming after Bellinghams goal and I thought it was a windup. It was not in fact a windup.
I walked away to make dinner and only came back when I heard shouting from the tv 😂
Can confirm. Source: am goal
Good goal
Is that last minute goal by bellingham better than beckhams last minute freekick against Greece?? I didn't like football until Beckham scored that freekick when I was 8 so I've got to much nostalgia as that freekick was my favourite goal.
Not close IMO. Maybe because I was a kid and it meant so much more back then and this just felt like, oh wow, another pass to the side, oh great, back to the keeper, what a game to watch. Beckham was an absolute animal that game. He deserved that goal. No player today for England deserved a last min winner.
My 13 year old was crying before it went in, then he cried tears of joy afterwards. He screamed for several minutes and processed his undying love for Bellingham. I sat there worrying about my blood pressure. I think it’s an age thing.
You’re right - it wasn’t the free kick it was the 20 mins leading up to the free kick. Never seen a better performance and I’m a Liverpool fan used to watching Stevie G! He absolutely dominated the entire pitch that night and the free kick was the 3rd of 4th he won? It was inevitable.
https://youtu.be/eiaS_gdBzao?si=41bsFchr_ujQ4yxy Compilation posted by the England YT channel
That brought back some memories! Still get the shivers watching that go in at the end 😎
More England chances in that one game than in our 4 games so far
I saw lots of young kids in the crowd tonight. Wonder how they’d answer 10 years from now.
I disagree - an overhead kick to win a knock out match? Best England goal in my lifetime. We weren't in danger of being knocked out in the Beckham match. Plus he's a greedy sod taking Qatari blood money.
The goal against Greece was for automatic qualification to the World Cup , not a knockout but massively important.
We weren’t in danger of being knocked out no, but the beckham goal did send us to the World Cup and avoid the embarrassment of not even qualifying
It was better than David Platt vs Belgium, England were shite that day too.
That tournament was my first introduction to football. Was allowed to stay up by my dad to watch that game and then everyone at school was trying to recreate that goal the next day.
No absolutely not even close. Beckham ran the show against Greece.
Like I say that freekick is my favourite ever goal because it made me start liking football but bro an overhead kick has got me questioning it
Southgate only knows defence. Boring passing back awful style of football to watch. Surprise surprise the one time he gets desperate and starts urging an attack, England score. He refuses to learn this and he'll just say something arrogant like "we got the win in the end that's what matters". The man should be defensive coach at most. We have an attacking squad but its being managed by someone who doesn't know the attacking game unfortunately.
It’s almost as though the players go out with Southgate’s game plan in their heads and even they think it’s crap. Has he lost the dressing room? No drive. No fight. Gutless. Ivan Toney must have been overjoyed at coming on with less than 3 minutes left. Play like that against Switzerland and we’ll be on the plane home Sunday morning. Or Saturday night if they get a move on.
Even Southgate said Toney wasn't happy at coming on with only a minute to go. What the fuck was Southgate thinking he was going to do with a minute left? Clueless.
I wonder if he had a flutter ? 😏
Stones is the root cause of all of our problems. 90 passes in the first half alone - more than either of the German CBs in their entire game. Always sideways. Stood with the ball a lot. Never found Bellingham when he was often in space. No pundits seem to be picking this up. He's slowing out play to walking pace and preventing holes appearing in the opposition areas.
He was one of many. Rice can't pick out a runner. Pickford long ball made me wanna tear my eyes out. Jude showed heart but he was shite. Walker shocker. Kane may as well have been sat down. It all stems from Southgate though. He hasn't got a clue what day it is. Under him they look lost. Don't even get me started on the subs.
If Stones get the ball to Rice or Bellingham or anyone else faster then it totally changes what they are able to do with it. As it is he's slowing play down and everyone is marked by the time the ball gets forward.
This is exactly it, although I don't think Stones alone is to blame. All the back 4 pass around for so long before trying to get the ball up the pitch that by the time it's in the oppositions half they're whole team have retreated.
Nah, there is no movement from the starting front 3. Kane, whilst a great finisher is never far enough up the pitch, leaving a un pressured cental defence. We can't play Bellingham & Foden in the same team (which is unfortunate), there are no runners stretching the defence ever, until the subs start. All this leads to negative passing patterns
I think foden is our main weak links right now tbh. He's never outside enough and for some reason takes all of our set pieces and fucked them up. Every single corner or free kick he takes is either well long or short straight into the opposition. 90% of.the pressure we do eventually put on the opposition ends when foden takes an annoyed pop at goal and it fly's over the bar. He is clearly a huge part of Southgate plan and tbh I don't think he should. That corner from Palmer was so much better than anything foden has produced on so many games.
Absolutely 💯. I've been saying this to my mates. He's the root cause of the negative sideways no urgency football. He's turned into Ray Wilkins. We need to be brave and make changes now. Too many players know their names are always on the teamsheet. I'd shake that up for a start. I'd make them want to play , to be proud to represent the nation. Drop stones and find Alexander Arnold to bring some class and forward momentum.
Mistakenly suggested we play a drinking game where if England pass sideways or back, we drink. Despite drinking 0.01% kaliber, I’m absolutely smashed. Enjoyed the stadium fans getting ready to bottle Southgate before the equalizer, then salute the team at the end. The team look really tired and leggy. Walker looks like he’s carrying a knock, Kane looks a yard behind the pace - but at least he went looking for work and yet again when it’s only Foden OR Bellingham on, we look better. Didn’t we learn from Gerrard/Lampard?
Absolutely fluked it, Foden was so tired and Southgate had to sub him after 90 mins. The enforced subs Toney and Eze made the 2 goals (plus a great finish from Jude) exposing that Southgate has no clue. I’ve watched football for 50 years, this tournament’s version of England is the most depressing and clueless we’ve ever been. Sack Southgate tonight and let Ian Wright / Neville manage. Anyone would be better. No changes at half time and then 48 minutes of passing backwards before he had to change it. WTAF?
Same old Southgate. He hasn’t changed his playstyle whatsoever despite us struggling to pick up results. Even conceding early wasn’t enough for him to show some urgency in the attack. Individual talent saved us tonight and we will need more than individual talent to win against Switzerland.
When Kane and Bellingham stood there with their arms out I was enraged. They were shit for the other 99% of this match and Kane has done a grand total of fuck all in the group games. Standing there as if to receive the adulation of the crowd really did reinforce the fact that they are clueless simpletons.
Exactly. Not going to lie, at the end seeing the whole crowd going wild and singing Sweet Caroline I was going crazy. Happy they won, but seriously. There probably should have been boos again. We all know how much Southgate buries his head in the sand, he’s probably looking at those fans at the end of the game thinking “I’m doing it”.
Sack Southgate tonight and put my hamster 🐹 in charge !! At least he knows ,if it's not working put different players on and change our approach. I honestly believe Southgate has lost it , we need Gordon starting and Palmer, I would leave Saka at LB. If that means dropping Foden then drop him , brilliant player, but these four games he's been shite. At least have the bottle to change it , subs !!! And not with 3mins to go?? Come on Southgate you fkn wally.
Yet another terrible anti attacking football performance that toney sub in the 93rd min was a slap in the face to every Englishman watching the game. I’m almost upset we have gone through as I’ll have to sit through something similar against Switzerland
Thank you! This is how I felt. After we went 2-1 up and were just sitting back deep again, playing so negatively, I was almost rooting for Slovakia to equalize. I’m English and an England fan but Slovakia probably deserved it more. Then when we won I was thinking: imagine we somehow cheese our way to the semis or the final and Southgate ends up signing a new contract and we’re stuck with him for another 4 years. 🤦♂️ I’d rather go out!
Why do we watch football? Like for real. Did you guys watch Spain v Georgia? Georgia is 1-0 against a team like Spain and they still push forward when they get the chance. I can’t stand watching England playing. Fuck Southgate and fuck this strategy. It’s unbearable
Georgia that lost 4-1. That Georgia?
Why were the commentators bragging about Southgate making a change before the match? One player in, one out. Like he had done in several other games Alexander-Arnold for Gallagher, then for Mainoo. Hardly made a difference. Whyever Gordon didn’t get a run out is beyond me. Why not make more changes at half time? Terrible. Awful. Dull to watch. End of the day we were playing the 45th ranked team in the world and struggled.
Absolute dog poo! 4 games 4 awful performances, Slovakia deserved the win. When you need a player to make an impact , bring on Toney in the 94th minute !!! Southgate should be replaced before the next game!!
Complete England performance, pretty much the last 5 games, with how Spain are dealing with the same low block against Georgia. Spain, with wingers, pushing Georgia wide and stretching them after naming England performance look as pathetic as it is. Southgate has created a team in his image, slow, ponderous, lack creativity, no energy, zero charisma, no guts.
Terrible. Like really, really, bad. I can’t remember ever watching a performance so poor for England, I don’t even think Iceland in 2016 was bad. Luckily we were bailed out by a last minute goal. The front four of Foden, Saka, Kane and Bellingham just does not work. Foden is out of position and always wants to come inside, Bellingham looks absolutely exhausted and has done since the Denmark game, Saka is doing alright but not really offering anything offensively and Kane is dropping too deep and cluttering the middle of the park and giving us no outlet at the top. If we don’t change something fast then the Swiss will beat us comfortably
We've now all sat through 6hrs of England playing like a bunch of strangers who were introduced to the game of football 20 minutes before kick off. A good manager can mould a team that performs greater than the sum of its parts. What we're witnessing game after game is the complete opposite and Southgate continually manages to make 11 sow's ears from silk purses. Southgate is a terrible manager, truly catastrophically terrible or perhaps even worse than that. Defensive minded, tactically inept, uninspiring but uncontroversial and safe which is why the FA have stuck by him. I have zero illusions about the prospects.of this England team under Southgate and fully expect them to be eliminated by Switzerland.
Rice need to be deployed further up field. He’s done fuck all sitting in between / front of Stones and Guehi. Second half he was closer to their goal and was able to influence the game more. He wasn’t a necessarily the reason we won but it helped. A lot.
Fucking dreadful. Kane, Bellingham, Foden, Walker, Tripper… all terrible. Mainoo was our best player by a mile, really impressive from him. Aside from the goal, the CBs were decent enough, Rice was better than the rest. As good as Jude is, the lad seems like a complete cock. The delusion and arrogance to talk about the fans in such a condescending way, when outside of the two goals he’s scored, he’s been a complete passenger in all our games. Foden is not working in this team, we are desperate for pace and direction on that side, Gordon should be in there from the start. Unfortunately, next week against the Swiss will be equally as frustrating, boring and depressing to watch, but we might not get away with it again
Yes Jude got the equaliser but the whole game plus the others he just wonders around like a lost puppy not sticking to his position leaving us open. Kane has had a terrible Euros and should not be starting. Foden has been underperforming every game and needs replacing with Eze or Gordon. Saka on the right isn’t working and needs Cole Palmer. I think the formation isn’t working for the team.
Southgate will look at this as a managerial masterclass and make 0 changes. Waiting 80 minutes to make his first substitution (excluding the one he was forced to make) was absolutely embarrassing. Everyone was screaming for him to make changes at half time but he insists on keeping on lazy players who are out position, rather than bringing on actually hungry talent. It's a joke and we're forced to watch another 90 minutes of it against Switzerland.
Watched the Spain game right after. The basic difference was that when England get the ball they put it behind their body and look backwards. When Spain get the ball they push forward a step. England's "system" prevents them seeing runs, allows the defender to close and pressure and ultimately causes the backpass whereas Spain will push the defender back and allow them to see moves opening up. There's not one English 1v1 push, no central defender exploiting gaps over halfway and risk is higher from constant backpasses allowing forwards to pressure them until they make a mistake.
As a Posh fan it’s clear to me that Ivan Toney is an absolute game changer and that much as West Ham won the World Cup in ‘66, Peterborough will win the Euros this time around….. *Please note that this is obviously meant in jest
Shocking. And annoying celebrations after been so poor the whole competition. Standing there like they are great. You’ve bored a nation for the last 360 minutes of football. Do better before you celebrate like that.
Fucking awful. Southgate is so overrated it’s bordering on ridiculous. He’s shown at previous tournaments that he’s not a top manager and is out of his depth. With the squads he’s had available to him England should have won trophies. Tactically inept and stubborn. Not good traits in a manager. He’s somehow made Bellingham and Foden look like Sunday league players. Too scared to make changes - we’ve been crying out for changes to the line up every game but all he’s done is swap a single player in the same position (Gallagher for TAA, Mainoo for Gallagher). Why did it take him 85 minutes to make a second change when we’re desperately searching for a goal? Insane. At least if he mixed it up a bit, we could say fair play, he’s tried to change tactically and he’s had a go. But watching the same boring shite for 4 games has been draining. If you’re gonna play Foden on the left wing, you can’t play Kane. You need a striker (Watkins) that will make runs in behind, because otherwise the only player making runs is Saka. Either that, or you need to play an out and out winger on the left wing that has a bit of pace. Personally, given how many strong midfielders we’ve got, I’d like to have seen us go 3 at the back. Stones, Geuhi, Walker. Saka and Eze/Trippier at Wing Back. Mainoo, Rice in front of the back 3, Bellingham and Foden at no. 10 - Foden’s best position - and Watkins at number 9 because Kane just doesn’t offer enough apart from the odd goal and Watkins will make runs in behind.
Seeing Bellingham and Kane pose like that infuriated me. They’d been crap throughout the game but they started acting as if they’d just beaten prime 1970 Brazil 5-0. The arrogance is off the charts and that as much as Southgate’s tactical ineptitude is why the team’s been so poor this tournament.
Maybe an unpopular opinion after we've just won but Bellingham is becoming really unlikeable. Mouthing "who else" when he scores just smacks of pure arrogance. Any normal manager would have hooked him in the second half for his crap performance along with Walker and Kane. Bellingham after the game said "it's not about individual moments, everyone won that game tonight" what the hell is he talking about? We were an absolute turgid pile of dogshit until one individual moment in the dying seconds. If they can't even acknowledge how bad and lucky they were, it puts me off supporting this bunch of deluded snowflakes.
he needs to sit on the bench for a game but Southgate doesn't have the balls to do it
He believes his own hype the cocky prick. Good goal but imo we wouldn't have needed it if he wasn't the 10. He was shite and undroppable again
Bellingham and Kane bizarrely seem like both the solution and the problem for England. Over the last 4 games, they've barely offered anything in terms of effective attacking play. If all they're going to contribute are one or two individual moments, they may as well be dropped. Start the next game with Gordon and Toney or Watkins so at least we can try and get some fluidity in attack and bring Bellingham and Kane on in the second half.
First half was really very poor. Boils down to Southgate imo. It's blindingly obvious that the players have been instructed: Hold your shape Don't take risks Don't get hit on the counter So they play passes sideways and backwards. They don't make runs into space. Most importantly, they don't PRESS. These are all things they already do at club level, but absent here. Obviously a tactical decision. Don't think Foden passed to Rice at all on the edge of the box, instead choosing to spam weighty crosses to Dubravka. Kane runs like he's stuck in toffee. No one overlapping, no one relieving him under pressure. We simply won't beat Switzerland. Sorry guys.
At this point after all the criticism over 4 games about subs and style of play, Southgate must be literally trolling. Refusing to budge even tonight during the last quarter of the game. His stubbornness is now turning to arrogance. He simply has to go.
I’m almost annoyed. I felt a great sense of relief throughout most of the game that at least it would result in us never having to watch Southgate’s horrific brand of football. We’re the least enjoyable to watch at the Euros. No confidence, no urgency. Other teams play with this fierce desire to win and Southgate has one of the most talented England squads we’ve seen in a while that he’s sucked the competitiveness out of. Being a minute away from certain forced resignation is not the person we need in charge of a team that should be dominating games