joey_big_nose

It does seem bizarre we can get this group while France, Netherlands and Austria all in a group. All our groups under Southgate have been so easy, followed by ending up on the weak side of the draw. Its an uncanny talent.

Southgate has a lot of short comings but he is incredibly jammy with the draw... Fourth tournament in a row with soft draws!

Gordon has done more in 5 mins than Bellingham all game... Has to start.

Its been a lot better passing wise since half time. Feels like we will get there.

Energy good, pressing good, running off the ball good, pushing up the pitch good. Unfortunately probably the worst passing performance in a long long time. Surely have to see Wharton or at least Mainoo second half? Kane and Bellingham have both been absolute passengers.

Yup, the whole team has been atrocious on the ball. Id actually say Bellingham has been the worst player on the pitch, absolutely hopeless. Id get Wharton on - exactly what we need here.

Well our pressing and pushing up the pitch has been way way better and that at least I guess is partly him.

With the ball we've been shocking but very good without the ball, at least we're getting the effort in.

He did improve our pressing etc... But why we needed him to come on and help with our pressing when every single player in the team is great at pressing for their clubs (with the exception of Kane) really escapes me. I generally cut a manager a lot of slack and try to be as fair as possible. Think Southgate has done well as the manager. But something really isn't right at the moment.

I'll be very disappointed if we go for Gallagher. But can definitely see it happening.

I think Scotland have been doing that for a while... McTominey, Gunn, Conway, Cooper in the current squad all English. The challenge is anyone really good (e.g. Gordon at the moment) who has a genuine chance at England will wait to get a call up even if theyre on the fringe of the team.

Its pretty amazing they never got out of the groups in the seventies and early eighties.... So many good players. Very confusing. I guess the Euros was a tiny competition then so very difficult, but they qualified for all the world cups but bombed out.

The gold standard to emulate is Croatia... Smaller population than Scotland but absolutely sensational record. Their league is considerably more tinpot than Scotlands. Totally dominated by Zagreb and Split, very little money, no immigration. They must be doing something right. Not sure what it is though. Also Scotland do have a major immigration problem. They're desperate for immigration for the aging economy but cant make it happen as 1) they don't control immigration as a devolved power so cant incentivise it 2) UK is a single internal market where Scotland is one of the poorest regions so immigrants gravitate to England. Will be interesting to see what happens in Ireland. Economy is booming loads of migrants. Reckon their team will get better and better over the coming years. Thats the trend anyway.

I would say we broadly tend to overrate our players. For example Gascoigne - great player but won very little in the game. Compare Gerrards trophy cabinet to say Zidanes... Same thing now really. We've got a lot of very good attacking players, but if push came to shove how many of them would get into a France or Spain XI? 2 or 3. We're a good team but not as good as France who are obviously the best squad. And about as good as four or five other teams. Statistically we have around a 10-15% chance of winning it I'd say. France maybe 20%. Yet the idea will propound on absolutely no evidence that we should win it... Madness.

Well we could bloody well do with Robertson at the moment!!!

To be fair to Clarke not sure what else he could do with the players available

I think that's a strange statement. We don't know how the player is, hope hes okay, but the game continued so people will comment on it.

Scotland screwed over by the penalty appeal. But beyond that hard to argue that Hungary were not the better team. Hit the post a few times, wasted good opportunities. Scotland have a few good players - McGinn, McTominey, Robertson - but beyond them so poor. Having nothing up front is such a big problem for them. One decent striker at same level as the other players I mentioned above would make a huge difference. Also - bet the Scots are loving big Al on the BBC telling them they are shit! Thought they'd at least get a Scot on to do that.

That the penalty claim did not even get a VAR check is absolutely ridiculous..... Totally mad

Hmmm..... I guess if we did go 352 and maybe put TAA in on the right it could work well against Slovenia... But then if we play a top team next time not very good for preparation. We just have this one game to get the pressing and passing patterns sorted. Changing the whole system does not seem a good idea to me. Not having a left footed full back is such a massive issue.

Not sure I agree with that... Could be them taking some accountability on themselves to support their manager, not undermine him.

Has Saka ever played left wing back? He's always been a forward I think. Its hard to imagine him playing a wing back role defensively. Also dont think Trippier has the legs anymore for wing back.

From the law society website.. maybe i misunderstood them. Sure their accounts will be more accurate. Still 228 is very small! https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/office/535493/watson-ramsbottom-limited

In the spirit of making changes I wonder if we might might give Wharton a go next game. Hes got a left foot, would balance a midfield three of Bellingham and Rice, does what we need in terms of looking after the ball and passing it forward and decent at pressing and winning the ball. Plus Guehi from Palace has has been our best player dispelling the idea you need players with Champions League experience... Would probably mean Foden would be dropped though, and Southgate would have to go for him ahead of Mainoo... But just got a feeling...

Best game we ever played under Southgate I think was beating the Spanish in Spain during the first nations league in 2021... Thought that was the birth of Harry Winks and Ross Barkley as a top international players... We were real quality. That didnt turn out... Winks slipped away without a trace.