Probably glad he has some credit in the bank as it’s probably disappearing fast !! They will say it’s games at the end of a tough season but still very poor and not good for those trying to make an impression.
Yep. Deserve to be losing. Hungary have been far more hungry than England, who have shown no urgency or quality. Now singing “you don’t know what your doing”. It’s just like old times watching England tonight
Hilarious performance from England, but why are they being asked to play on June 14th when the next season starts in less than 8 weeks?
I’m watching England vs Hungary like I was watching Watford - an inevitability of losing. We’re really bad.... England cricket on the other hand, it shows what a difference a new manager and captain can make with a positive exciting attacking performance. Positive attacking exciting are words poor Gareth Southgate never uses or understands... Oh look, goal number 4 at home - just like Watford ...
The bloke is a professional virtue signaller, not a football manager. A yes man for the FA who they know won't ruffle any feathers and will do a good PR job. Shame he's absolutely woeful when it comes to the actual football bit.
Good crop of players. Very poor manager. We will get to quarters and maybe even semis just on talent alone before Southgate is outmatched tactically. If he stays on after that we will waste this generation of players.
Given a lesson in ruthless finishing by a team eager to give their all for the cause, the complete opposite to Young Hodgson's team of can't be arsed.
Doubt Howe would give up the salary he must be on, having only just taken the job. Potter, maybe. Anyway, it’s moot. Can’t see Southgate being fired this close to a WC.
The Saka replaced by Maguire substitution near the end was as pointless as it was highly amusing. That's 4 fixtures treated as testimonial/exhibition games with a "strong team". No wonder they have scored no outfield goals. Perhaps it's just the curse of Channel 4 who must be wondering if they've signed up an early turkey for Xmas.
You don't get a bigger red flag than this - a result that we've seen many a time and always spells the end for a manager. There is still time to do something about it - but we won't.
Down right embarrassing. Fair play Hungary you wanted it more and deserved it. Only saw the second half and I cant remember their keeper making a save.
Southgate is not up to it. Never has been. Nice chap. A politically safe bet for the FA to employ, but is not a winner. Tactically very poor.
Biggest issue from these games has to be a lack of goals from what is meant to be a very talented group of attackers . 1 goal in 4 games and that was a penalty. We know the defence can be ropey at times .
I don’t think he’s up to it but can’t see the FA being ruthless and even if I could it’s hard to see who the appropriate replacement would be. Most top managers would much prefer to manage a club so generally it is someone older (see Mancini or Deschamps). I think David Moyes, Pochettino, Steve Cooper and Brendan Rodgers would all be decent fits who might be interested but none are English. Graham Potter I reckon would rather hang around for a Big 6 job.
Who cares about a Mickey Mouse competition where we are forced to play a knackered disinterested (uninterested?) set of B team players who don’t want to be there ?
I’m not reading too much into it, quite frankly it’s farcical that after many players have played 60+ games this season, they then have to play a further four meaningless (I know the nations league is meant to be competitive but nobody actually gives a **** about it it) international games in the middle of bloody June, June! They just want to be in Dubai like the every other footballer. Pre-season is brutal, yet they’ve only got two weeks off before it starts. I know they ridiculously well paid but mentally none of these players wanted to be playing these stupid games once the season ended in May, it’s a complete joke and waste of everyone’s time, especially with a World Cup in just five months. That said Southgate has done a good job of creating a harmonious group unlike in years gone by, but he’s been incredibly fortunate with the draws he’s had and as soon as he’s faced a better manager he’s been completely out manoeuvred. You can clearly see everything he does comes from some FA coaching manual, rather than adapting to things in real time as they happen and as his opposite number adapts to the game and makes changes. The difficulty is international management is generally something you do once you’ve peaked in your club career and are on your way down. Potter and Howe would be mad to take the England job now when they have so much they can achieve domestically first, it would be career suicide at this stage, maybe in 20 years time for both of them. So we don’t really have any decent English managers that have peaked domestically, but that have also had a decent amount of success and are tactically astute enough to go toe to toe with the best international managers. We just haven’t been very good at producing successful English managers so we end up with Southgate who has achieved nothing in the domestic game but has read every coaching manual, or people like Allardyce, or dare I say it Hodgson. It’s a shame Brendan Rogers is from NI, as he’s probably just about perfect in the sense that he’s achieved a lot domestically and is very tactically astute, but has very likely peaked and has nowhere to go domestically now other than sideways or down.
As sort of dream team, if you will? If Frank has another season fighting relegation with Everton his domestic career is more or less over, so he would be a simple choice for the FA as our next manager. Don’t know if he would be much better than Southgate though. The problem with either him or Stevie G being England manager in the relatively near future is it would mean they have flopped domestically. We need someone who has achieved much more domestically first, but sadly we just haven’t produced many/any.
It was said partly in jest but - I do reckon those two and Rooney will be strong contenders as far as the FA is concerned.
We should never have played these four games. Who ever at UEFA thought this was a good idea a year after the Euro's and just 5 months ahead of a world cup, with most leagues starting early to accommodate the biggest tournament in the world, really needs to give their head a wobble. I heard a suggestion last night that Southgate should have played U23,21's - surely that would have been worse? we would have still lost and we would have had burnout of youngsters. At least he has tried to change the side around and rest players in each game, probably much to the detriment of the side. At the moment i think the only thing he needs to find is a more offensive central midfielder.
Certainly does seem to have been a case of 1 or 2 games too many. Be no excuses not to perform in the September games against top opposition and with World Cup places up for grabs. If we look flat and turgid then might be time to really worry.
Awful result but the fact I only knew we had played about 20 mins ago which probably sums up my feelings on England outside of major tournaments. Why on earth these games are happening when everybody's season is starting earlier is incredible
A very "Englandy" performance if there ever was one. We lost to a hard working side who dominated an clueless England while Southgate was scratching his head wondering why his "experiment" went so wrong. By the way, England haven't lost a home by such a large margin for a long time. One for the record books Gareth.
It's the age old problem of contractual obligations, tv deals etc meeting the reality of the lack of available dates. This year's WC being midway through the European season is the cause and I think 99% of the criticism should be aimed at FIFA. UEFA weren't going to give up the revenue from a 2 year cycle of the Nation's League just to see countries jam in a couple of friendlies in their place this month anyway.
1. I haven't watched any of the NL, but I imagine the players were half assing it, as they are playing international friendlies during the only rest they've had in ages, ahead of a world cup year. Nothing should be read from such matches. The only criticism for Southgate is picking any first team players, and not being a bit more experimental. 2. Southgate instead deserves criticism despite "success" in previous tournaments. We have a supremely talented team and play awful, nullifying football. If we don't score from a set piece or a bit of luck, we can't beat top teams. Southgate's record vs actually good teams is awful, but his main success is by being extremely lucky with tournament draws. The Euros was essentially a home competition, with the easiest set of fixtures to win the tournament in history and a hugely talented and mentally equipped set of players, and he still messed it up. A good man manager, but like your Solskjaer's/ Lampard's of the world extremely tactically limited and will be found out in the biggest matches. A manager to get you far in tournaments, without ever being able to win. Imagine other countries having younger players like Foden, Saka, TAA, James, Mount and Bellingham, and playing boring aimless football that makes them look inept...
Given our historical record against Germany, however they may have declined, "the easiest set of fixtures to win the tournament in history" really is pushing it. I'd say Iceland in 2016 was easier, for one. Otherwise I agree with 2.
History is unimportant. I'm sure Watford's record against Man Utd was probably worse than vs Man City a few years ago, but you'd much rather we played United right now due to the current personnel. The Germany team were probably the worst in living memory. Their only first round exit in the World Cup in 2018 since the second world war. Should have been relegated to the second division of the nations league, before a rule change. Then should have gone out in the first round of Euro 2020 bar two own goals and a last minute win against Hungary, and had dropped firmly out of the top 10 teams in the world in the FIFA rankings. Way too much credit is given to Southgate due to the previous reputation of Germany, when really it was the equivalent of beating a team like Switzerland or Denmark.
