saintant

My impression is that Southgate doesn't trust Foden and thinks he is a bit of a luxury who might sometimes give the ball away. Doesn't quite fit with his dour ambition which always seems to come across as wanting clean sheets above all else - as exemplified when he was so angry that we conceded two against Iran despite the fact that we scored six. He's a fairly joyless coach who will always opt for safety first so is unlikely ever to win either of the two big prizes in his remit.

Gary Neville talking a lot of sense.

He was pleased with the way we built from the back! What game was this idiot watching. We built nothing from the back and looked nervous on the ball leading to hoof ball. There was too much side to side between the two centre backs right from the first minute and that set the tone.

Harry avoiding the obvious - You're fooling nobody Kane.

Southgate will be over the moon with a clean sheet

Clueless from start to finish thanks to Southgate not being very bright.

How can you tell he's any good? We gave him nothing to do.

When Maguire is your best player you know you've been crap.

Southgate is mystifying.

The formation is wrong not the players. Bring on subs without changing the formation and it'll be more of the same. Southgate clueless.

Drop the 433 and go 442

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Shouldn't Southgate be clever enough to deal with USA tactics and change the way we are playing? It's what good coaches do. He's watched and done nothing. They are pressing so we need more in midfield so there is an outball for the defence - do that and they won't be so eager to press but at the moment they are unopposed.

One word, shocking!

Being outplayed all over the pitch at the moment. Southgate sits on his hands.

Aso couldn't tell where the wonder kid Bellingham is playing.

Need to drop a forward into the midfield. Can't Southgate see?

England reverting to type. Absolutely no link between defence and midfield so it's all slow slow then hoof!

Has he ever disagreed with a referee's decision?

Thought referees were being encouraged to let these minimal contacts go yet he gets a penalty for that. Very soft. Great, Ghana have just equalised - now go and win it against these cheats.

No pen. Absolute dive from the cheat and not even reviewed by VAR.

If we try to shackle them there will be only one result because eventually France will break us down and score. We will not hold them out by playing a negative game. How many times do we have to see that tactic fail before we realise it doesn't work? It's what cost us the Euro final when we went into our shell after scoring despite Italy fielding two geriatric centre backs.

Looks to be a clinical finisher and it would be nice to revive the Gabbiadini chant with Ohhh Gabi Barbosa.

If we play France the outcome will depend on how brave Southgate is. If he reverts to his normal timid self and sets out to try to defend and contain them we will undoubtedly lose in a dour game. However, if he is brave enough to shake off the fear and take the game to them we will have a good chance. I suspect he'll succumb to the fear and we'll lose narrowly.

I imagine it'll be Monday 28th as that'll be two weeks since the break began.