World Cup 2022

[Darrenbot]

1 minute ago, Gav said:

This site has an obsession with changing managers, be it at club level or national level, it rarely works as we have born witness to over many years.

Southgate has moulded the current crop into an exceptional side, one of the best in the world currently in my opinion and he should be allowed to carry on the good work he's doing. That said, we are lacking in defence, thats isn't the managers fault, the Premiership is missing top quality English defenders especially in the middle, but we have to live with that. 

I know many England fans through work and on a personal level, hardly any think the managers time is up, which speaks volumes for me.

The people including me saying 2 years ago that mowbray should have gone were right,he did nothing to prove they were wrong in wanting him gone,maybe they're once again right with Southgate

[roversfan99]

A tight game, fine margins, the usual cliches unfortunately. But again we just came up short when facing one of the big guns after seeing off inferior nations, as has been the way.

[Gav]

14 minutes ago, Darrenbot said:

The people including me saying 2 years ago that mowbray should have gone were right,he did nothing to prove they were wrong in wanting him gone,maybe they're once again right with Southgate

I think we should caveat the above with the same Brfcs posters wanted Mowbray out in Oct of the promotion season, which frankly was embarrassing, but this is an England thread.

Do you want Southgate sacked?

[K-Hod]

Southgate has done a lot right since he’s been manager and he’s made the national team likeable again.

But, it’s another familiar story of us coming out on the wrong side of the fine margins, again. If Southgate were to leave the England job, I doubt he’s get a PL job and for me, that speaks volumes.

[speeeeeeedie]

16 hours ago, rigger said:

Fuck England, we have just lost 1-4 to the nobbers, let that sink in.

Rovers have a chance to rectify that defeat next weekend. England have to wait 4 years. 

I know plenty on here disagree with my views on England v. Rovers but England's defeat stung. Rovers losing is unfortunately a common event which doesn't bother me. 

Kane missed a late penalty, it was tough to watch. Not too long ago George Hirst missed a late penalty, I barely batted an eyelid.

[DE.]

I'd be surprised if Southgate goes anywhere. He'll know he's got a pretty nice spot as England manager, and as far as the FA are concerned he's the perfect person for the role. Inoffensive, great for PR, never causes any bother and might even get us to a semi or a final if we can avoid the big nations most of the way through. 

[chaddyrovers]

19 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

A tight game, fine margins, the usual cliches unfortunately. But again we just came up short when facing one of the big guns after seeing off inferior nations, as has been the way.

The fact of the game it was by fine margins why we lost. Simple as. 

12 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Southgate has done a lot right since he’s been manager and he’s made the national team likeable again.

But, it’s another familiar story of us coming out on the wrong side of the fine margins, again. If Southgate were to leave the England job, I doubt he’s get a PL job and for me, that speaks volumes.

why does it even matter if Southgate would get PL job? maybe he doesn't want to manage at club level. 

[chaddyrovers]

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

I'd be surprised if Southgate goes anywhere. He'll know he's got a pretty nice spot as England manager, and as far as the FA are concerned he's the perfect person for the role. Inoffensive, great for PR, never causes any bother and might even get us to a semi or a final if we can avoid the big nations most of the way through. 

It's been reported that the FA want Southgate and haven't planned for him leaving. 

[Mashed Potatoes]

14 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Southgate has done a lot right since he’s been manager and he’s made the national team likeable again.

But, it’s another familiar story of us coming out on the wrong side of the fine margins, again. If Southgate were to leave the England job, I doubt he’s get a PL job and for me, that speaks volumes.

I think he would get a PL job, but not one of the big six clubs.

He has been the most successful England manager since Ramsey and a massive improvement on some of those who went before him - so those who want him gone need to think very carefully about who would succeed him.

[RevidgeBlue]

53 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Why does it matter if Southgate would get a top Premier League job? 

I also don't think Southgate has wasted this talented crop of players like previous managers including Sven, Capello, Hodgson and McClaren did. He is our most successful England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey and he should continue another 4 years and leave after the World cup 2026 in USA, Canada and Mexico.  

Also Mourinho shouldn't be anywhere near the England manager job. 

I think it's fairly relevant to discuss whether the England manager is an elite level manager chaddy.

For me Southgate is just another FA blazer albeit the modern touchy feely PC version for the current age. I think the majority of us would have looked at our World  Cup wallcharts prior to the tournament and predicted we would top an extremely weak group, win the last 16 game against either Ecuador or Senegal, then go out against France. And that's exactly what happened.

I've just heard a stat that Southgate has played 24 games against teams in the top 10 in the Fifa rankings and won only 4 of them. When push comes to shove he just hasn't got it, he could stay in the job until he was 80 and we still wouldn't win anything under him.

[RevidgeBlue]

19 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Rovers have a chance to rectify that defeat next weekend. England have to wait 4 years. 

I know plenty on here disagree with my views on England v. Rovers but England's defeat stung. Rovers losing is unfortunately a common event which doesn't bother me. 

Kane missed a late penalty, it was tough to watch. Not too long ago George Hirst missed a late penalty, I barely batted an eyelid.

For me it's the other way round.

England losing is just "meh - shit happens".

Rovers: Well it's like Bill Shankly's quip "Football isn't a matter of life and death ' - it's much more important than that".

[Mashed Potatoes]

4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

For me it's the other way round.

England losing is just "meh - shit happens".

Rovers: Well it's like Bill Shankly's quip "Football isn't a matter of life and death ' - it's much more important than that".

Shankly's quip should have been put to bed after what happened at Hillsborough and the Heysel.

[chaddyrovers]

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I think it's fairly relevant to discuss whether the England manager is an elite level manager chaddy.

For me Southgate is just another FA blazer albeit the modern touchy feely PC version for the current age. I think the majority of us would have looked at our World  Cup wallcharts prior to the tournament and predicted we would top an extremely weak group, win the last 16 game against either Ecuador or Senegal, then go out against France. And that's exactly what happened.

I've just heard a stat that Southgate has played 24 games against teams in the top 10 in the Fifa rankings and won only 4 of them. When push comes to shove he just hasn't got it, he could stay in the job until he was 80 and we still wouldn't win anything under him.

Capello was an elite club manager but awful with England. I think international football is very different to club management. 

Southgate has been England most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey days. Sir Bobby Robson was another good international manager who got us close in 1990. But since Terry Venables got us to semi final with a good team. 

I would keep Southgate on to after the next world cup in 2026 then appoint Howe or Potter has his replacement depending on the next 4 years. They might be other possible options in 4 years time. Who knows

[RevidgeBlue]

⅝

1 hour ago, Sparks Rover said:

...the guy is a politician in charge of excellent footballers.

Exactly this.

The FA needed someone to pour oil on troubled waters after the Allardyce debacle and that's exactly what they got with Southgate. He never says anything controversial,  appears to be good at keeping the players happy in a tournament situation and appears to have created an environment whereby players now enjoy playing for England as opposed to it being a chore.

That said we have a squad of very talented young players playing in if not the best certainly the most competitive League in the world and are ranked 5th in the World so we SHOULD be reaching the latter stages of tournaments as a minimum expectation. What we need is someone who can make the difference and get us to overachieve slightly by winning something as opposed to consistently coming up short against decent opposition.

[speeeeeeedie]

28 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

For me it's the other way round.

England losing is just "meh - shit happens".

Rovers: Well it's like Bill Shankly's quip "Football isn't a matter of life and death ' - it's much more important than that".

Rovers will play 46 league games this season. At current pace they'll lose 23 of them. I believe that you do feel more for Rovers, but that's a lot of defeat to absorb. 

Anyway, back to England. I think that Southgate will stay. Most of this team will be around for the foreseeable future. They like him. He likes them.

I do think that some changes will be made behind the scenes. His substitutions are a bit odd at times, and he needs to advance his tactical nous.

[Gav]

57 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

why does it even matter if Southgate would get PL job? maybe he doesn't want to manage at club level. 

I’ve read this a few times on here now, it doesn’t matter a jot, a poor argument in my opinion. 

Every England manager has failed miserably since Alf Ramsey in 66, Southgate has a record many of those managers would be proud of.

He stays and wins the Euros for me, I may even dust off the passport myself.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Gav

[Mattyblue]

1 hour ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Rovers have a chance to rectify that defeat next weekend. England have to wait 4 years. 

I know plenty on here disagree with my views on England v. Rovers but England's defeat stung. Rovers losing is unfortunately a common event which doesn't bother me. 

Kane missed a late penalty, it was tough to watch. Not too long ago George Hirst missed a late penalty, I barely batted an eyelid.

Not really a fair comparison. Of course in isolation Kane missing a penalty in the closing stages of a World Cup quarter final is a bigger event than a Rovers player missing one in an early season game of which there are 45 more to rectify it.

What people on here are trying to say is generally if you are the kind of football fan that follows your club avidly week in week out. Go to Ewood every other week, go away etc, then you are obviously more invested, and will feel the highs and lows much more with your club than feeling particularly upset if after a bi-annual check-in with the England team on TV they happen to get knocked out. Most club fans won’t give England a second thought now until June 2024.

[RevidgeBlue]

50 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Shankly's quip should have been put to bed after what happened at Hillsborough and the Heysel.

I find that a very strange and extremely tenuous comparison to make but it is your prerogative I suppose in your role as the site's resident contrarian as someone else correctly identified.

[Mashed Potatoes]

11 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I find that a very strange and extremely tenuous comparison to make but it is your prerogative I suppose in your role as the site's resident contrarian as someone else correctly identified.

Nothing contrarian about regarding the deaths of large numbers of people who have gone to watch a football match as a terrible tragedy - and then that remark made by a man who was manager of the club who played in both of the relevant matches seems to cheapen the loss of life ( as I believe Shankly himself would have acknowledged had he been alive).

[Sparks Rover]

9 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Nothing contrarian about regarding the deaths of large numbers of people who have gone to watch a football match as a terrible tragedy - and then that remark made by a man who was manager of the club who played in both of the relevant matches seems to cheapen the loss of life ( as I believe Shankly himself would have acknowledged had he been alive).

Had he said it after the Hillsborough then maybe you'd have an argument.

[Mattyblue]

Most fans don’t take it literally, Masher. Just a neat turn of phrase from a great football orator about the passion we have for the game.

’The most important of the non important things’ is one I like.

[Mashed Potatoes]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Most fans don’t take it literally, Masher. Just a neat turn of phrase from a great football orator about the passion we have for the game.

’The most important of the non important things’ is one I like.

The Liverpool connection is what makes me uneasy about it.

[RevidgeBlue]

10 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Most fans don’t take it literally, Masher. Just a neat turn of phrase from a great football orator about the passion we have for the game.

’The most important of the non important things’ is one I like.

The latter quote is very good. Was it Arsene Wenger?

Shankly also came out with another cracker which I can't recall exactly but it was something along the lines of his wife complaining that he'd rather watch Everton than take her out to which he retorted that he'd rather watch Tranmere or Tranmere reserves.

No doubt MP will manage to find something in that that offends him as well.

[Silas]

2 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Kane missed a late penalty, it was tough to watch. Not too long ago George Hirst missed a late penalty, I barely batted an eyelid.

Totally different levels of jeapody on each pen though. Not just club v Country debate. 

If I'm remembering right Hirst's was to rescue a last min draw. Nice for confidence to avoid defeat, but in the grand scheme of things, during a 46 game season, 1pt = meh.

Kane's penalty was potentially a gateway to lifting the World Cup. I truly believe that. The momentum was all with us, would even have fancied us with a shout at ET and penalties. Then Morocco in the semi. It was all there for the taking. Gutting. 

[Mattyblue]

4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

The latter quote is very good. Was it Arsene Wenger?

Shankly also came out with another cracker which I can't recall exactly but it was something along the lines of his wife complaining that he'd rather watch Everton than take her out to which he retorted that he'd rather watch Tranmere or Tranmere reserves.

No doubt MP will manage to find something in that that offends him as well.

Aririgo Sacchi