The Euro 2024 Thread

[sadoldgit]

6 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Not sure about this. We're at the end of Howard Wilkinson's strategy to reset English football. Job done. Now we need a new strategy that creates a clear identity for English football and delivers on that. This is far deeper than simply the manager isnt good enough.

We don't really have an identity other than making other teams play down to our level.

Surely we should play to the strengths of our players as witnessed by their performances in domestic football. Asking players to do something different to what they do week in week out and shoehorn them into some different national framework doesn’t seem to make much sense.

Players like Kane and Foden have been criticised for their performances but have not been used in the same way as by their respected clubs. You can argue that top quality players should be able to adapt to other systems, but you could also argue that, if you have quality players you should look to build your system around getting the best out of them.

[James]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

His ‘navigation’ mainly consisted of going 1-0 up against Serbia and then being sh*t for the remaining four hours of football. Don’t forget in 2018 he bizarrely managed to get a favourable draw by losing to Belgium and finishing second. To do that and then get Colombia, Sweden and Croatia was an astonishing turn of luck.

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.

[CB Fry]

There was one team that defeated Spain in their Euro 2024 campaign.

[S-Clarke]

10 minutes ago, James said:

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. 

He's undoubtably been our luckiest ever manager IMO. I think there was a tournament where he finished 2nd and still faced a favourable draw. It's undeniable really that he's been a bit jammy!

It's taken pens to beat a pretty average Switzerland side, and a last min goal to rescue a draw against Slovakia. This tournament has been an absolute bore-fest by us for 90% of it, the Dutch game was the best we'd played, but the rest of it has been an unforgettable load of rubbish and we were very, very fortunate to get as far as we did. Management didn't get us there.

[saintant]

Once again England have been strong, resilient and hard to beat. Unfortunately, this only gets you so far as we again found out tonight.  Spain were far more comfortable on the ball and able to build from the back quickly and efficiently. Their movement was clever and purposeful and led to chances. They always looked the more likely winners. We don't seem capable of producing a fluent team from the players at our disposal. Spain closed us down and pressed us intelligently leaving us neither time or space to get any momentum going so we were mainly reduced to long hopeful passes that rarely led to anything. I'm not sure what the answer is - we watch the excitement and pace of the Premier League and I guess we hope to see that from the national side but it's different because of the style and the foreign players in our sides. I'm expecting more of the same at the next World Cup - we just aren't technically good enough to compete with the best so will inevitably fall short. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, CB Fry said:

There was one team that defeated Spain in their Euro 2024 campaign.

I wish we were Scotland.

[Fan The Flames]

We topped our group and got better as the tournament went on, that's what you want in tournament football.

Good performance tonight, we contained Spain to few chances, one goal from their first real overload where we were vulnerable and another from a counter attack that we were inches away from stopping. Went a goal down and quietly went about our business to create an equaliser and we were close to beating the best side in the tournament.

Proud of the boys tonight, but I think it's time for Southgate to move aside. When we look back on his reign, we'll think the one he should have won was the Italy one, not tonight.

[Fan The Flames]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

He's undoubtably been our luckiest ever manager IMO. I think there was a tournament where he finished 2nd and still faced a favourable draw. It's undeniable really that he's been a bit jammy!

It's taken pens to beat a pretty average Switzerland side, and a last min goal to rescue a draw against Slovakia. This tournament has been an absolute bore-fest by us for 90% of it, the Dutch game was the best we'd played, but the rest of it has been an unforgettable load of rubbish and we were very, very fortunate to get as far as we did. Management didn't get us there.

It's nonsense to say  that about the late goal, a goal any time in the 90 is valid. A late goal is a difficult thing to pull off and deserves credit.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Sarisbury Saint said:

Your absolutely bang on with this.

I have seen it and still do. It seems development is less important than winning from a very early age.

It’s not just the coaches fault, it’s mainly the uneducated parents influence.

I see it all the time. My lad trains twice a week at a football school based on futsal and once a week with our local pro club which is league two club

the difference is frightening. The futsal club which was set up by Simon Clifford is all about ball mastery, touch, movement, skill development. Getting as many touches on the ball as they can every session. If the kid doesn’t get it they practise and get help until they can. As I mentioned some kids and parents moan and pull them out because it can be repetitive but that’s how you learn. 

at the pro club they do drills and either the kids gets it or they don’t they don’t get help, the ones that get selected for matches are the big kids who are fast and strong. The ones that struggle physically get ignored despite being technically a lot better. And they wonder why when they get to 15 and everyone has caught up their struggling to produce players ,the only offeeed one academy player a pro contract last summer for example 

[Suhari]

23 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I wish we were Scotland.

More than Ipswich?

[warsash saint]

Player for player, England had a better team - the reason we did not win was down to Southgate....too worried about the oppo than to play to our strengths!!  Imagine these players being managed by a Klopp .. playing to our attacking strengths instead of a boring defensive mindset. This was out biggest chance to win a trophy which Gareth has completely wasted!!

[Saint_clark]

5 hours ago, warsash saint said:

Player for player, England had a better team - the reason we did not win was down to Southgate....too worried about the oppo than to play to our strengths!!  Imagine these players being managed by a Klopp .. playing to our attacking strengths instead of a boring defensive mindset. This was out biggest chance to win a trophy which Gareth has completely wasted!!

You clearly haven't actually gone through the team as it's not as clear cut as you're making out that England have a better team.

[Convict Colony]

Look the 1 surprising stat that no one mentioned, everyone has been banging on about lamine yamal being so young he was only 16 when this tournament started etc etc but i saw last night he's got a kid already 

Obvs not that young

[CB Fry]

5 hours ago, warsash saint said:

Player for player, England had a better team - the reason we did not win was down to Southgate....too worried about the oppo than to play to our strengths!!  Imagine these players being managed by a Klopp .. playing to our attacking strengths instead of a boring defensive mindset. This was out biggest chance to win a trophy which Gareth has completely wasted!!

I don't think that getting to the final is a chance "completely wasted".

Also you are overplaying the idea that we have a better team "player for player". Spain have just won seven straight games against bigger nations than we played. 

Getting bundled out early is good enough for Italy and Belgium, one of these years it will be us doing that again. Then you might see what "completely wasted" tournament is once again.

Edited July 15 by CB Fry

[AlexLaw76]

Morning after.

it was another shit show from Southgate: last nights game and the whole competition. I mean, if only we had Kalvin Phillips!!!

[gammon cheeks]

Spain were better than us ...no complaints really .

[Sheaf Saint]

42 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Morning after.

it was another shit show from Southgate

It really was. I just can't get my head round how he made the change to get us back in the game, then as soon as we scored we just retreated into our low block again and failed to put their defence under any kind of pressure, while inviting them onto us. Was only ever going to be one outcome from that, yet Southgate clearly couldn't see it. 

Time for him to move on now. We will never reach the next level with such an insipid manager playing safety first football. We need someone who will play to the strengths of the players available, instead of restricting them by playing them in an outdated system.

[santolijador]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

Look the 1 surprising stat that no one mentioned, everyone has been banging on about lamine yamal being so young he was only 16 when this tournament started etc etc but i saw last night he's got a kid already 

Obvs not that young

His little brother

[stknowle]

10 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

It really was. I just can't get my head round how he made the change to get us back in the game, then as soon as we scored we just retreated into our low block again and failed to put their defence under any kind of pressure.

It’s what he does and always will do. 

Watched highlights this a.m and Spain’s left sided attacker was constantly in acres of space all 2nd half. Nothing done to address it, so he presumably couldn’t see that either.

[John B]

12 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

It really was. I just can't get my head round how he made the change to get us back in the game, then as soon as we scored we just retreated into our low block again and failed to put their defence under any kind of pressure, while inviting them onto us. Was only ever going to be one outcome from that, yet Southgate clearly couldn't see it. 

Time for him to move on now. We will never reach the next level with such an insipid manager playing safety first football. We need someone who will play to the strengths of the players available, instead of restricting them by playing them in an outdated system.

I think you over estimate the quality of our players and underestimate the quality of Spain's players we had no one as good as their LB and LW

In the first few minutes we hardly had the ball and when we did have it we lost it.

 

[Saint Gifford]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

I see it all the time. My lad trains twice a week at a football school based on futsal and once a week with our local pro club which is league two club

the difference is frightening. The futsal club which was set up by Simon Clifford is all about ball mastery, touch, movement, skill development. Getting as many touches on the ball as they can every session. If the kid doesn’t get it they practise and get help until they can. As I mentioned some kids and parents moan and pull them out because it can be repetitive but that’s how you learn. 

at the pro club they do drills and either the kids gets it or they don’t they don’t get help, the ones that get selected for matches are the big kids who are fast and strong. The ones that struggle physically get ignored despite being technically a lot better. And they wonder why when they get to 15 and everyone has caught up their struggling to produce players ,the only offeeed one academy player a pro contract last summer for example 

Academy football imo ruined my lads ability. That’s a league one club. 
 

Just concentrated in the big lads. All released after 2 year scholarship as a lot of his old team mates that he knows, have now started to turn up with his men’s team and others.

They are so far behind technically because as you say they have all been caught up.
 

Fortunately released before scholarship, went to play Futsal and grassroots and got back to the ability before he was picked up at 7 years old. 
 

Played step 5 and 6 since 16. Now Trialing at step 1 for next season. 

Gareth said it himself last night that we weren’t great on the ball. That says it all for me. The FA need to completely review their training manual, and why FA pulled all the funding for Futsal is just crazy. 
 

Changing the manager for another foreign superstar manager is a waste of time. It’s too late just inheriting the same players that have gone through imo a system that doesn’t really work. 

[John B]

6 minutes ago, stknowle said:

It’s what he does and always will do. 

Watched highlights this a.m and Spain’s left sided attacker was constantly in acres of space all 2nd half. Nothing done to address it, so he presumably couldn’t see that either.

So what should he have done about Neco Williams one of the top players of the tournament 

[egg]

Just now, John B said:

So what should he have done about Neco Williams one of the top players of the tournament 

Played a system that meant he had a man on him and cover in behind. He was unmarked for chunks of the game but Walker couldn't cover him and the space behind and in front of him. Mainoo and Saka between them weren't offering any real help. 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

Played a system that meant he had a man on him and cover in behind. He was unmarked for chunks of the game but Walker couldn't cover him and the space behind and in front of him. Mainoo and Saka between them weren't offering any real help. 

We had no cover at right back. That area was just a gaping hole most of the game.

[stknowle]

2 minutes ago, John B said:

So what should he have done about Neco Williams one of the top players of the tournament 

It wasn’t just Williams who I agree was excellent. It was the whole area of the pitch left wide open, eg for 2nd goal and Cucurella. 
 

[S-Clarke]

8 minutes ago, egg said:

Played a system that meant he had a man on him and cover in behind. He was unmarked for chunks of the game but Walker couldn't cover him and the space behind and in front of him. Mainoo and Saka between them weren't offering any real help. 

On the other hand, Spain had a plan for our players - for one, I noticed Saka had no space. Whenever he was on the ball he was doubled up on, normally Williams helping out there as well - Saka never had any real chance to take on a player and get past them as they did a good job marking him out of it.

Spain play good football, but their off the ball work was just as impressive. They pressed in packs, as groups - it was all choreographed. Whereas if we pressed it was a half arsed effort from Kane or Foden as a single press. Sometimes a couple pressed, but because it wasn't a concerted effort Spain would break the transition and be at us. Maybe we don't have the players to press like they did, but you could see the work Spain had done on us tactically to stop our threats, yet we just did the same things as we have done all tournament. 

Edited July 15 by S-Clarke

[benjii]

Quick post mortem thoughts.

- prob time for Southgate to go, but not sure who replaces him. 

- Kane can only be in the team if the team includes wingers running beyond him. Major cock up by Southgate....

- Picking two players that want to play the same position (Bellingham and Foden) was a mistake (compounding the previous point).

- going back to 4231 in the final was a mistake.

As ever, central midfield is a weakness in the squad. Rice is not good enough to play holding role at top international level. Need to get Wharton into the team alongside Mainoo and save Rice for a bit of energy later on.

- Palmer too good not to get into the team. Saka one of our best players. So you've got to choose Foden or Bellingham, IMO.

- we need to be much better drilled and more active off the ball.

Edited July 15 by benjii

[East Kent Saint]

I've managed to not get over excited when I watch England since we lost 3-2 to West Germany in 1970 having been 2-0 up , Bonetti standing in for an ill Banks got the 'blame' .

Last night England put up a good fight but lost to a better attacking , technically good team . We might have faired better if Southgate had the strength to drop out of form captain Kane and used the subs earlier . As it was England players showed some good skills and nearly got a second goal , Bellingham's lay off for Palmers goal was excellent .The defending was mostly good but I'm not sure Shaw was the best idea too slow and backward passing .

 

[Convict Colony]

39 minutes ago, santolijador said:

His little brother

thank god, I thought he'd been cougar'ed already

[whelk]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

I see it all the time. My lad trains twice a week at a football school based on futsal and once a week with our local pro club which is league two club

the difference is frightening. The futsal club which was set up by Simon Clifford is all about ball mastery, touch, movement, skill development. Getting as many touches on the ball as they can every session. If the kid doesn’t get it they practise and get help until they can. As I mentioned some kids and parents moan and pull them out because it can be repetitive but that’s how you learn. 

at the pro club they do drills and either the kids gets it or they don’t they don’t get help, the ones that get selected for matches are the big kids who are fast and strong. The ones that struggle physically get ignored despite being technically a lot better. And they wonder why when they get to 15 and everyone has caught up their struggling to produce players ,the only offeeed one academy player a pro contract last summer for example 

You talk as if we have a technically limited squad. We don’t. These players can compete with the best in Europe as shown in PL, CL etc. What we lack is team coherence not players who cannot control a ball. It baffles Europe how we haven’t won anything for 60 years as they can see it isn’t because we have poor players.

[Convict Colony]

best team won, its been extremely painful watching eng this tournament relying on big moments from players rather than having a plan on how we play.  If spain had lost it would of been an injustice as eng got lucky every game and had an easy draw to the final and still struggled.  

Hopefully we now get a manager who can implement a playing style that the players play week in and week out in the premier league as we have the players to win big competitions just need to exploit that.

Fortunately for the us we already play like spain so i see us winning the premier league this year.

[S-Clarke]

30 minutes ago, Saint Gifford said:

Academy football imo ruined my lads ability. That’s a league one club. 
 

Just concentrated in the big lads. All released after 2 year scholarship as a lot of his old team mates that he knows, have now started to turn up with his men’s team and others.

They are so far behind technically because as you say they have all been caught up.
 

Fortunately released before scholarship, went to play Futsal and grassroots and got back to the ability before he was picked up at 7 years old. 
 

Played step 5 and 6 since 16. Now Trialing at step 1 for next season. 

Gareth said it himself last night that we weren’t great on the ball. That says it all for me. The FA need to completely review their training manual, and why FA pulled all the funding for Futsal is just crazy. 
 

Changing the manager for another foreign superstar manager is a waste of time. It’s too late just inheriting the same players that have gone through imo a system that doesn’t really work. 

It's sad to read this really, I do think there is still quite a large element of dinosaur/Allardyce/mike Bassett level coaching in this country. We had fans last season shouting at us to ''GET IN THE BOX'', that seems to still linger in grass roots coaching as well. Honestly, football moved on 20 years ago from that.

There are players who do seem to escape that coaching - Foden, Saka, Bellingham, Palmer are seriously technical without being 'massive' - but quite a few of those have had the Pep influence through their young days. Pep has actually done a lot of good for English football and the coaching of our younger players. I do still think there is too much of a focus on old school England 4-4-2 ''get in the box'' style from British coaching.

We had a problem previously where we weren't producing the right players, but I think we are now in some area's. We just need the coaching to embrace it as like you say, really good technical players are going to fall through the gaps if the coaching doesn't improve.

[egg]

31 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

We had no cover at right back. That area was just a gaping hole most of the game.

Walker was covering a huge area without any help. Williams movement was brilliant so walker either had to go with his man or leave him to someone else, but nobody else picked him up. I can't recall when it was, but at some point walker followed him into left side central midfield before realising he was a tad out of position and scampered back. 

We'd have been much better staying with a back 3 imo. 

[AlexLaw76]

55 minutes ago, John B said:

I think you over estimate the quality of our players and underestimate the quality of Spain's players we had no one as good as their LB and LW

 

 

As for over estimating our players. We are at the start of an era where the English players available have won the lot at the younger international age groups.  

We have the best player in Spain, England and top scorer in Germany.  These are the 3 major leagues in the world, yet they are mashed together is such a way that they fail to deliver.

FFS, cucurella was a joke last season, their main CB plays in Saudi and Rodri went off at HT. their manager was just light years ahead of Southgate (as most are)
 

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, John B said:

I think you over estimate the quality of our players and underestimate the quality of Spain's players we had no one as good as their LB and LW

In the first few minutes we hardly had the ball and when we did have it we lost it.

 

I think in a way you are overestimating the Spanish players here. They have good players, but they aren't hitting the same heights as ours domestically.

Cucurella surprised me this tournament, as he has been nothing but a comedy figure for Chelsea. The best player in Spain this year wasn't even a Spanish player, it was Bellingham.

[gio1saints]

54 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

On the other hand, Spain had a plan for our players - for one, I noticed Saka had no space. Whenever he was on the ball he was doubled up on, normally Williams helping out there as well - Saka never had any real chance to take on a player and get past them as they did a good job marking him out of it.

Spain play good football, but their off the ball work was just as impressive. They pressed in packs, as groups - it was all choreographed. Whereas if we pressed it was a half arsed effort from Kane or Foden as a single press. Sometimes a couple pressed, but because it wasn't a concerted effort Spain would break the transition and be at us. Maybe we don't have the players to press like they did, but you could see the work Spain had done on us tactically to stop our threats, yet we just did the same things as we have done all tournament. 

Much overlooked aspect of Spains performances in this tournament was their press when out of possession. 
 

Spain have some excellent players - but so did most of the top teams - but none of them played as ferociously and as high up to regain possession as Spain, so often. And that was a key aspect of them winning the ball back and winning every game. *

I hope our press can be as effective as theirs this season. All the EPL teams will be practising press activation. Those that do it best will have better results than the others - even with apparently inferior players. Hoping our team spirit and relatively ego free squad will stand us in good stead there. 

* ps and neither was it that Spain’s players were fitter than everyone else’s players. Yes, Spains  players were technically competent and mentally alert when out of possession but It was the coaching and the team mentality that meant this was an automatic response not something that needed to be shouted at them from the sidelines. Big difference. 

 

 

Edited July 15 by gio1saints

[RedArmy]

If you start and finish a tournament with a manager that doesn’t know his best team that’s what you get. 
 

 

[AlexLaw76]

Just wait till the “they play too many games” cries start.

oh, how long before it comes out that Kane was injured all tournament - he has form for this 

[david in sweden]

were outclassed by Spain for much of the game, but tackled and defended well ........all things considered.

Last minute corner with 3 chances to score ; first header parried by the  goalie, second shot cleared off the line 

and third attempt from Rice (in the six yard box )..went over the bar . 

Sorry he doesn't impress me . How much did he cost?.... 100 plus million .!!!

Hope Arsenal are pleased with him, but he'll never become " a Gerrard or Lampard " for England.

[Sheaf Saint]

25 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

Much overlooked aspect of Spains performances in this tournament was their press when out of possession. 
 

Spain have some excellent players - but so did most of the top teams - but none of them played as ferociously and as high up to regain possession as Spain, so often. And that was a key aspect of them winning the ball back and winning every game. *

I hope our press can be as effective as theirs this season. All the EPL teams will be practising press activation. Those that do it best will have better results than the others - even with apparently inferior players. Hoping our team spirit and relatively ego free squad will stand us in good stead there. 

* ps and neither was it that Spain’s players were fitter than everyone else’s players. Yes, Spains  players were technically competent and mentally alert when out of possession but It was the coaching and the team mentality that meant this was an automatic response not something that needed to be shouted at them from the sidelines. Big difference. 

 

 

Agreed. The Spanish press was so much more effective than ours. We struggled to get out of our own half for large parts of the game because they pressed us as a team. Our press, on the other hand, was completely ineffective because it consisted of Foden and Bellingham making half-arsed individual attempts to close down their defenders and Kane jogging about completely ineffectually. It was so poor they were able to pass their way out of it and into attack with ease. 

For all his goalscoring records, I really hope we never have to see Kane playing for England again, because he's just a spent force at international level, and it reflects very badly on Southgate that he couldn't see that in this tournament.

[S-Clarke]

21 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Just wait till the “they play too many games” cries start.

There's no basis for those claims anymore. They were made null and void the moment Spurs and Newcastle jetted off for a series of friendlies in Australia the week after the season ended.

[AlexLaw76]

[saintant]

7 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

were outclassed by Spain for much of the game, but tackled and defended well ........all things considered.

Last minute corner with 3 chances to score ; first header parried by the  goalie, second shot cleared off the line 

and third attempt from Rice (in the six yard box )..went over the bar . 

Sorry he doesn't impress me . How much did he cost?.... 100 plus million .!!!

Hope Arsenal are pleased with him, but he'll never become " a Gerrard or Lampard " for England.

For the second header (I think by Guehi) his shirt was clearly being pulled by a Spanish defender. For me it was a possible penalty shout and VAR should have looked at it. I get that a lot of shirt pulling in the box goes unpunished but this happened when Guehi was attempting a header on goal.

[Sheaf Saint]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

And yet, on paper, we had probably the best collection of attacking players in our squad out of anyone in the tournament.

Shocking mismanagement.

[whelk]

Just heard a damning stat. Kane has had just one touch in opposition box across both Euro finals

[tdmickey3]

27 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Just wait till the “they play too many games” cries start.

oh, how long before it comes out that Kane was injured all tournament - he has form for this 

Here it is

Gareth Southgate: England couldn't get Harry Kane up to top level at Euro 2024 and 'no hiding' issues | Football News | Sky Sports

[malcolm waldron]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

On the other hand, Spain had a plan for our players - for one, I noticed Saka had no space. Whenever he was on the ball he was doubled up on, normally Williams helping out there as well - Saka never had any real chance to take on a player and get past them as they did a good job marking him out of it.

Spain play good football, but their off the ball work was just as impressive. They pressed in packs, as groups - it was all choreographed. Whereas if we pressed it was a half arsed effort from Kane or Foden as a single press. Sometimes a couple pressed, but because it wasn't a concerted effort Spain would break the transition and be at us. Maybe we don't have the players to press like they did, but you could see the work Spain had done on us tactically to stop our threats, yet we just did the same things as we have done all tournament. 

Agree with much of the above, bar the Kane comment.  I didn't see any pressing from him at all just some slow motion shuffling around - and it was only when Watkins came on that some pressure on the keeper and their CBs was applied, and that only lasted for a short spell.  

[Sunglasses Ron]

The thing I was really gutted about was the lack of meaningful output from Phil Foden.

The guy's a world beater at Man City, and an absolute joy to watch, but he barely flickered in Germany.

So disappointed for him as I really thought this was going to be his tournament.

[S-Clarke]

16 minutes ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

The thing I was really gutted about was the lack of meaningful output from Phil Foden.

The guy's a world beater at Man City, and an absolute joy to watch, but he barely flickered in Germany.

So disappointed for him as I really thought this was going to be his tournament.

Casualty of the way we approached games really. In history we've always complained about how technical Spain/Brazil players etc are in comparison with our players, but Foden is in the style of a Spanish or Brazilian player. The way we play does not cater for players in the style of Foden, your sloggers and workhorses will do well in this side (which is why Kalvin Phillips looked decent, Trippier in the past etc), but pure technical players will be lost and you'll never see the best from them - apart from the chance of 'moments'.

I saw quite a few occasions in all 7 games of Foden coming so deep to collect the ball from the CB's, that's not where you want him. He was having to come to find the ball as we had no concerted system to get the ball to our technical players in space. It was so painful to watch the most technical attackers in the world have their attacking stats through the floor. That's not the players fault.

Edited July 15 by S-Clarke

[Sunglasses Ron]

9 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Casualty of the way we approached games really. In history we've always complained about how technical Spain/Brazil players etc are in comparison with our players, but Foden is in the style of a Spanish or Brazilian player. The way we play does not cater for players in the style of Foden, your sloggers and workhorses will do well in this side (which is why Kalvin Phillips looked decent, Trippier in the past etc), but pure technical players will be lost and you'll never see the best from them - apart from the chance of 'moments'.

I saw quite a few occasions in all 7 games of Foden coming so deep to collect the ball from the CB's, that's not where you want him. He was having to come to find the ball as we had no concerted system to get the ball to our technical players in space. It was so painful to watch the most technical attackers in the world have their attacking stats through the floor. That's not the players fault.

Totally agree, and absolutely not his fault at all.  I expect he'll be more devastated than anyone about things.

Until we nail this critical aspect we will always be doomed to fail.