Bit of a leap from this:-
"Firstly, l wanted to say thank you to Gareth Southgate. I will be honest. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the way this England team play. I still find personally the team move the ball too slowly and go backwards too often. I would like us to have more of a creative, quicker tempo in midfield like Spain showed in that semi final. However, people keep telling me football is a results business. My own personal belief is better performances will end up giving you more successful results in the long run.
Yet l can’t argue with Southgate though delivering results and ones l have never seen in my lifetime. A win in the knockout stages against Germany. A win in the semi final of a European / World Cup competition where l have only witnessed defeats against the Croatians and the Germans.
They are happy memories that l now have about this England team. I don’t have to look back and think of the disappointment of ‘90 ,’96 or 2018 because we finally got past that hurdle. We finally reached a final of a tournament!!
The pressure these guys must have played under with the weight of expectation, especially on Wednesday night would of been immense. Yet they delivered. So many managers we put faith in. So many players we have hyped up. I don’t care if people think this was a fortunate side of the draw. We came top of our group. Then we play Germany. The worst German side in years people said. Werner, Havertz and Rudiger all played a major part in Chelsea success in the Champions league. The year before you had Bayern Munich winning the champions league. That team destroyed Chelsea and Barcelona that year. Their team had Goretzka, Kimmich, Muller and Neuer. That’s 7 players in the last 12 months winning the pinnacle of club competition and all started against England.
Then can you imagine the Danish game. Mostly English crowd. A Danish team spurred on by the sad events that happened to Eriksen. A team that played for a cause bigger than football and galvanised that team. They took the lead. Imagine. Those English players could of froze. They could of remembered 2018 and how we let that slip by. The older fans were in Wembley probably remembering back to those other semi finals. All that weight of a nation. All those days of misery we had to suffer as England fans. The heartbreak. Yet the players dug deep and didn’t let it affect them. They found something that no other England team, except the ‘66 one, could find. They found a way to win. It may not of been pretty. Or exciting football. It was just damn stubbornness to win a game of football.
So proud of this England football team. To overcome hurdles other teams could never get past. So proud of them helping to put back a little happiness into this country after the past few years. Giving reasons for people to come together and share experiences of happiness. It’s what life should be about.
I dare say come Sunday evening, if we lose, there will be many who rejoice and take happiness from our nations misfortune. I find the world a sad place that come Sunday evening many will be ready with their social media platforms to revel in a nations sadness. That their only happiness they can currently find is within a bitterness of their soul because you just can’t be happy for other people.
If we do lose and people feel frustrated and gutted then it’s just mostly likely what the rest of the nation is feeling at that point. However, let’s have some perspective. England have been chronic under achievers. This is only England’s second final. English management, coaches and players are going into the unknown. This is Italy’s 10th final. Only Germany have achieved more. They have a wealth of experience from past players and coaches that l dare say is in the DNA of the current Italian team and something they can draw on.
I admire this Italian team. Love the way it’s been playing. Love the way they are a team unit. I think their manager Mancini is a class act. If it wasn’t England in this final l would be rooting for the Italians simply because l think they have played some of the best football in this tournament so far.
l just hope the occasion doesn’t get to this England team. That they just have fun and enjoy themselves. Just play for their families and their friends and lm sure they already made them proud. Everyone who is English is behind you and roaring you on".
l don’t think it is, and I will explain why.
l have always explained about good performances will turn into positive results.
This England team was built on working hard and being difficult to beat. I’m proud of the effort the players put in. I’m proud of Southgate for the way he conducts himself. Thats why l said thank you.
What you have quoted above is myself explaining why l was proud of the team. Why l thought it was unfair to say the German team was rubbish. That it was a meaningful to beat Denmark in a semi final especially when we had lost the previous ones in our history.
That’s was my perspective. That we had a good tournament whether we win or lost.
If you noticed l wasn’t calling for Southgate’s head in the latter post you feel l have leapt my view from. That post is a reflection of what England can do with Southgate in charge from this point on.
England simply didn’t keep the ball well enough. In 2018 against Croatia it was almost identical game to how we lost the momentum after a good start.
There is only two questions to ask. Are English players good enough to keep the ball better than they have showed under Southgate? If you believe the answer is yes then the question is why since 2018 have we not developed in keeping the ball better. If you think no, then Southgate did the best he can do with the squad of players he had.
Which ever though is your answer we are screwe’d. As Southgate tactics will hold back the current crop of English players with cautious, defensive tactics. Or the English players we are producing are still incapable of possession football years after we created St George’s park to develop much technically better English players.
For me l can separate the two things. I can appreciate we had a good tournament. I can appreciate the effort of the management, coaching staff and the players for giving us some pride as they wear the English shirt.
However, we aren’t going to win a WC under Southgate sitting 40 yards out from goal defending a 1-0 with 70 mins to go against opposition with players goof on the ball. Italy had a team unit that pressed. We just stood in a line behind the ball. A manager should learn from his experiences but unfortunately he managed the situation 3 years on in the same way. That isn’t a good sign. That doesn’t show he has tactically progressed against the better sides.
Against Germany it was how can we stop their threat. Denmark it was the same. Then Italy. We had a squad full of creative players and Southgate first thought was stopping a team. It wasn’t how can we hurt them with our players.
Mancini could see things were wrong. He made changes. Moved Cheisa and Insigne around. Took off their better players like Veratti when tiring. He changed their shape. It was all too reactive by Southgate when he did anything. Grealish with 20+ mins to go. Rashford and Sancho with mins to go.
The two posts are different because of my appreciation of what this team has done this summer. I wanted to put some context on the achievements made. l knew if England lost you would have the stupid minority with pathetic social media reaction. That’s why l said l hoped we would have some perspective and we wouldn’t see this. In other words be proud of our achievements and not succumb to vile hate messages.
The second post you highlighted though is a reflection of how far short we are still from winning a major tournament though in my opinion. We had virtually a home tournament. Hardly any travel. We will never have such a well presented opportunity. And we still came up short. They were a better team than us.
Unfortuately, if the penny hasn’t dropped in three years regarding the mistakes he made tactically against Croatia then that penny won’t drop eighteen months further on down the line.
We have some wonderful attacking talent. Yet our first thought is how can we stop them. Not how can we hurt them. You already lost the battle because your mindset is negative in my view.
Hope he proves me wrong though come Qatar.