James

Glad to see we are giving a young player time before writing him off…

For sure but otherwise a very encouraging performance.

There are some seriously depressing posts on here. It’s disappointing to lose 0-1 for sure, especially given the circumstances, but most on here were predicting a drumming. if we don’t replace Macca we will go down, today doesn’t change that and hopefully RM can see it and we will push for a replacement. Overall I think we looked very very decent for large parts of the game today. A couple of additions to end the window and I think we will be just fine.

McCarthy is guff, we all know it. This club has a serious blind spot when it comes to keepers.

That’s Ross Stewart starting up top then I assume 🤣

Good stuff, clearly was never going to play here.

Not sure why it requires a super computer to say that the playoff winners are favourites for relegation….surely the playoff winners are odds on for the drop literally every season.

He would be a very decent signing. Is that reported anywhere or just a guess/suggestion?

I wonder why they put that out there shortly before pocketing £10m from us 🤣

I thought the whole idea behind not rushing him back from his hamstring injury (which I think happened after the Hudds game in November) was so that he could have a full pre season it’s surely seen as a disaster that he hasn’t had a minute? It’s hard to see how he can go from no minutes in a non-competitive to being in a PL match day squad… Getting Dean Ashton vibes here - ankle injury and just never made it back.

If Stewart really isn't fit for the start of pre-season then we can't assume he will play a meaningful part next season. I get that there has just been a post-season break but, if he really was approaching fitness at the end of last season, you'd have thought he'd have kept the momentum up over the summer to be able to play a full part in pre-season. 2 new strikers required this summer.

Yes, but that “navigation” is a step further than previous England managers have achieved. I suggest those that discount Southgate’s achievements whilst giving other managers a pass for losing to higher quality opposition take a look at who we could have played if prior group stages had been managed properly. Once you’ve done that, Southgate’s luck might not look so astonishing.

The difference is Southgate has navigated the group stages well and has gotten us better draws. You can’t give Capello a pass for losing to Germany when the reason we faced them was because we finished second. Southgate has managed to help us avoid that and deserves credit, it’s not all luck. As for the “super” Portugal team, not sure I agree. They were about as good as the Netherlands team we saw off in the semi.

I think the last sentence is a little harsh. In the past we’ve had so called super managers in charge with teams arguably as talented if not more talented than the current crop. Southgate has mastered the basics of tournament football, he’s topped groups and beaten teams we should beat. In the past, we couldn’t beat Algeria. Let’s give credit where credit is due - a shame he hasn’t quite gotten us there but we’ve been very close twice. I won’t be under estimating the job it takes to do that when the next man comes in. Careful what we wish for is all I’ll say.

Southgate will take a lot of stick but there were some really poor individual performances. Walker, in particular, was wayward for both goals, Rice terrible, Foden terrible, Kane on one leg. You can criticise the manager for being too cautious and for not having the stones to drop the names but he’s not on the pitch with players underperforming like that.

Brilliant ball through midfield to set up the cross too.

If it’s £15m for Delap or £25m for Broja then it has to be Broja.

This has been an absolute joke. Well done Gareth, you’ve done yourself out of the next job.

Imagine someone having the balls to say out loud what we can all see. Maybe Southgate should spend less time dismissing it and more time actually listening.

Don’t have any faith in Southgate to change this. How he has watched the first 3 games and served up shite like this with no changes is ridiculous. It’s actually impressive that he’s made a team this talented look this bad.

Yep. His ego is doing us no favours here.

Another one that is arrogant as fuck as well. Thinks he’s better than he is.

This is trash. Walker needs to be subbed.

Looks miles off.

Tripper is a horrendous left back. But error to not take another if Shaw wasn’t going to play…