The ‘only option’ England have to replace Gareth Southgate as manager is not Frank Lampard but Eddie Howe. The FA have a brilliant ‘future succession plan’.
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Sweet FA
Just read this article about the FA wanting to keep England’s most consistent manager of all time, a man who has created a platform and infrastructure that could bring us a trophy at any point in the next 10 years.
On top of that the FA are focusing on a future succession plan that involves replacing the only Englishman capable of successfully managing England right now (Southgate) with the only Englishman capable of managing England successfully at some point in the future (Eddie Howe).
What happened to all those clueless buffoons who knew nothing about football who used to run the FA? Did they all die or something? This is a quality of decision making at the FA that I havent experienced in my lifetime.
Southgate until he’s ready to leave AND Howe is available/ready is the best option and the only option.
And to think Lineker was backing Lampard to manage England last week! A man who played Ngolo kante out of position and was a catastrophic disaster at Everton and Chelsea twice.
It’s the most difficult job in the country. The ‘impossible job’. Finding someone who can do it well is like finding a needle in a haystack. When you find that man you need to hold on to him as tightly and as long as possible.
Ben
Starting Kane
Kane is going to start, here’s why that’s fair enough:
Being an attacker in a big game is harder. This is too often overlooked. We talk about finals being cagey, which is true. But it is also true that the energy in a big game/ final suits defenders. They are all super pumped up and switched on. This is great for making a block and tracking a run. It’s less great for taking a subtle touch or making a clever pass. That’s why (not actually checked) big name attackers often struggle in bigger games. The dice are weighted in the defenders’ favour. The longer the game goes though, the more that energy wanes. Perfect for Watkins. But it also means we should give Kane a break if he’s struggling – what he’s doing is harder than normal.
The problem has never been Kane starting. The problem has been him being kept on when he is clearly dead just so he can take a penalty. Southgate has finally got over that. Southgate now knows he’s got lots of good penalty takers and it is not worth essentially giving up on attacking for the last 45 minutes just so Kane can take a pen.
Sarina Wiegman had the same thing with White/ Russo. Russo would come on and make an impact. People would call for her to start. Weigman ignored them. Russo continued coming on and making an impact. The point was that over the 90/120 minutes – England had an effective forward line. Russo benefited from the extra space and her speed/ movement was that much more effective. Watkins/ Toney will get the same benefit. Kane will take the hit.
So come Sunday, let’s spend 70 minutes cheering relentlessly for Kane, and then start screaming ‘TAKE HIM OFF’.
Come on England!!!
Jonathan (AFC)
On the run
Can we move on from this ridiculous notion that England have been blessed with easy draws? There are no such thing at international level. One Mailboxer referred to Spain beating Croatia, Italy, Germany and France this tournament. Other than Germany – those teams have been rubbish this tournament, Switzerland and Netherlands are way better than them.
The detractors made this same cope in previous tournaments, and when we beat the likes of Croatia and Germany, suddenly it doesn’t count because they weren’t good that year.
England have never had an easy run, because no such thing exists. Simple as that.
– R
Keep it tight for 75 and then ‘steal’ it
My son was born in Spain and is growing up there but I’ve managed to coax him into being an England supporter . That’s a good start .
Against, what many people see as a far superior footballing side , and fear a mauling, there are some positives for me . The overarching one is that Spain will give England more space to play in than any other team in this tournament. That alone gives me hope of avoiding a drab , over cautious final .
If I presume that Luis will set his team up to play almost the same way as against the Duetch ( 1-1 at 90 minutes) and that Gareth’ll copy the tactics used for the Dutch with , hopefully a few surprises late on , then balls out to the wing and how they are dealt with is the first part of this chess game .
Cucurella will be uncomfortable against Saka for sure , just as Shaw and Jude will be against the just turned seventeen year old , 17 !! . ( Don’t overplay him a la Fati / Gabri – in fact better to drop him completely for the final 😉).
Of course , to have any chance , everyone in a white shirt will have to be 9/10 and 10/10 on the night – Walker versus Williams for example.
The biggest surprise for me in this Spain team is the boy Fabian , x Sevilla, but…. the now functioning Mainoo – Rice – Foden – Kane – Jude can , at least give as good as they get , though it’d definitely be handy if Rodri has a bad day .
If the game is still tied past 75 minutes then that is where the better strength of England’s bench could ‘nick it’ . Pedri is out , so sad , and I haven’t forgiven Toni Kroos. Olmo ( Elm ) is an able replacement, but one for one I’d wager that England have :- a better keeper in internationals at least , then Stones & Guehi are superior to Le Normand and LaPorte aren’t they ? Foden and Jude , on their day , are better than Fabian and Olmo , just, although Pedri , in my opinion is the best of that lot . Finally, all Spaniards would agree that Harry Kane is better than Alvaro Morata .
But our subs , namely Palmer , Toney , Gordon , Trent and now Ollie are where England could ‘steal’ an underdog victory.
It is true that Rodri is peerless, but Rice may become the next best at club level at least . Lamine Yamal , according to my boy, is not yet as good as Foden , albeit Shaw will be his marker possibly with Bellingham helping out .
To finish, England players and their manager have a little more experience. Are Carvajal and Nacho back ?
Having said all that , Spain are the best starting XI in this tournament , I’m nearly certain they’ll be worthy champions. And get revenge for last summer’s Spain nil , England 1 final . – Gordon and Palmer were great in that . Could Gordon be the surprise in Berlin ?
Whatever happens ,we’ll need 15 good men , it’s going to be unforgettable .
Peter. ( not sitting comfortably) Andalucia .
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Watkins can be our Eder
Good afternoon all,
I watched the game in an absolutely sweltering Budapest the other night and there was a great mix of English and Dutch all watching on the big screen with a large helping of Hungarians and assorted others.
Surprisingly there was quite a bit of support for the England team from the locals too. Maybe it’s a Szoboszlai thing?
The interesting thing about the game is that 99% of the English people in the crowd were very calm (I’ll get to the 1% later) and all seemed aware that England actually looked like they had the tools to win the game. The young Dutch lads next to us undoubtedly lost their sh#t at the great Simons goal but were by and large very subdued during the game and all seemed of the opinion that England would win, which surpsingly did happen.
Overally it was weird to be watching a Euro semi-final and to not be overly worried about the result and just assuming that we’d actually win. It reminded me a bit of the Chelsea Champions league win a few years back. Despite not playing the nicest football, they looked in control and I actually had that feeling about this Engalnd team…………weird.
As for the pen, as soon as I saw the replay of the shot, I said to my Scots colleague that this would be a penalty as the guy had his studs showing. He knows nothing about football but agreed that Dumfries didn’t seem to be particularly going for the ball and was attempting to put Kane off. For the life of me, I can’t see how it isn’t a pen. I’m not saying this becuase I’m English but you go launching into a tackel in the box, don’t win the ball, make a connection with your studs on the opposing player and hurt the other player, of course it’s a penalty.
I’d expect it to be the same decision if it was an English defender doing the same.
As for Sunday, I’m not usually the most optimistic England fan but something in me thinks they might just bore their way into a win. Watkins is giving me Eder vibes at the moment. As somebody pointed out in this morning’s mailbox, Lamal and Williams tend to get a bit tired. If we can just keep them quiet up until 70 mins, then who knows what happens once Cole and Oli come on. Maybe Southgate mixes it up and wild cards Toney into the mix and we go route one!
Whoever you’re supporting, enjoy the game
Lee (CFC), Hornsey
ps. The English couple watching the game on the big screen were awful. You guys are the reason we have such a shit reputation. Extremely noisy, rude as anything to the locals and just a general embarrasment. We had 7 different nationalities at our table watching the game and all cheering England on (the Scot wasn’t obviously) but from the 70th minute onwards, all anybody was tuned into was these two and the din they were making.
Albatrosses
I, like many England fans, have been discussing the potential line up for the final (I will never get tired of writing final, we’re in a FINAL! I’ve spent over 30 years hoping for this and Gareth has got us to 2!). It got me thinking about the phrase ‘an albatross around our necks’ and how we, as a nation, repeatedly create these situations and make them bigger and more ornery than they need to be.
Let’s look at this through the lens of Harry Kane. I believe there are strong arguments to both keep him in the side vs not.
Case for remaining: He has played all tournament, and we must assume the team has trained to have Harry up top. Regardless of whether he’s a big lumbering oxen or not, they have been drilled to support him. He isn’t an impact sub. Imagine it’s 0-0 in a cagey encounter with a high press, bringing ON Harry won’t change that, we’d end up with a less mobile attack. Taking him off however in the 70th minute enables us to actually switch things up and bring on pace.
Case for dropping: Holy sh*t he has stunk up the team. Regardless of his goals, which I believe both Toney and Ollie would have gotten anyway, he has been one of the weakest players in the tournament, a passenger. This is not to bismirch him or all the goals he’s got for his nation, he is a world class player. But like another world class player at this tournament, I think time has just sadly caught up with him, along with all the injuries. And in response to Bladey Mick, I must be watching a different tournament because the amount of times I’ve seen Saka put the ball into the box only to see Harry Kane missing would take up the fingers on both my hands.
Gareth is doomed with his decision either way. He drops Harry and we lose, everyone gives him a kicking for dropping our top goal scorer. He doesn’t drop Harry and we lose, and everyone tells him how stupid he is for not dropping him. He drops Harry and we win, everyone says we won because of pressure on Gareth to drop Harry. He doesn’t drop Harry and we win, he’s vindicated and Harry probably plays up top at the World Cup and we have to endure Gareth’s miseryball for another few years.
John Matrix AFC (Honestly the speed to privilege of the mailbox is insane. England have STUNK my entire football watching life until now, appreciate it guys, because it will go!)
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