I love Gareth Southgate

He was always destined to manage England imho, just because of who he is and how he handles himself. I think many of our fans put too much personal blame on him for our relegation in 2009 and not enough on SG and others regarding the recruitment side of things which was cheap, shoddy and lightweight. England may well get knocked out in the next round tbf, but it was a brave footballing decision to win the group to stay based where we are and play at Wembley, it makes sense in every way, bar the strength of opposition. Lets hope it pays off. I am hoping for Portugal but expecting either France or Germany in reality.
 
He's a very good manager and a great human. The thuggish trolls of some football forums obviously hate him but that reflects on them rather than him. I can't imagine any previous manager of the national team having the nous or judgement to write that letter. And when you consider what he inherited, with the so-called 'golden generation' having failed to do.....well, anything really, he has built a team of young, honest players who play with pride and occasional flourishes of flair; but whatever happens, you know they are doing their very best for their manager, they give everything they can and that's good enough for me.
 
Southgate is a good bloke and he was an amazing player and captain for us. Clearly most of the players enjoy playing for him. The main issue I see people complaining about is that he worries more about the opposition than what his own team can do and rarely lets the hand break off. No issue with that against good teams but It’s an entertainment business he doesn’t need two defensive midfielders every game. If he was 60 odd year old he would be called a dinosaur for his often conservative approach. I’ve seen more excitement watching Burnley than some of his games.
 
What I really don't understand is how some fans want to see England fail. Some are so against Southgate they want to see the whole national team fail and do so spectacularly. I am pretty sure that it's an English trait and no other country in the world behaves that way.

Lambasted for picking sterling who can only run fast and is an awful footballer.

Leaving foden out last night.

Where was sancho?

We are out the next round.

I get that, as fans, we will moan and discuss selections and the team won't be too everyone's liking. What I don't get how polarised done are about the selections.

We have a young articulate English manager who is doing better than almost every manager that has gone before him. He had largely reignited the pride in the national football team. The players clearly respect him and want to play for him. It's a shame the England fans can't get behind him.
 
coluka said:
He was always destined to manage England imho, just because of who he is and how he handles himself. I think many of our fans put too much personal blame on him for our relegation in 2009 and not enough on SG and others regarding the recruitment side of things which was cheap, shoddy and lightweight. England may well get knocked out in the next round tbf, but it was a brave footballing decision to win the group to stay based where we are and play at Wembley, it makes sense in every way, bar the strength of opposition. Lets hope it pays off. I am hoping for Portugal but expecting either France or Germany in reality.
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Agree wholeheartedly that it was refreshing to just go for it and not shy away from any team like playing a game of chess in your group to determine the next knock out opponent .
A bit of the Cloughie team mentality where he was afraid of nobody and believed in his team choice and strategy .
If you’re going to win a tournament youre at some stage going to be up against it , hence whoever we get bring em on especially at Wembley .
 
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Laughing said:
What I really don't understand is how some fans want to see England fail. Some are so against Southgate they want to see the whole national team fail and do so spectacularly. I am pretty sure that it's an English trait and no other country in the world behaves that way.

Lambasted for picking sterling who can only run fast and is an awful footballer.

Leaving foden out last night.

Where was sancho?

We are out the next round.

I get that, as fans, we will moan and discuss selections and the team won't be too everyone's liking. What I don't get how polarised done are about the selections.

We have a young articulate English manager who is doing better than almost every manager that has gone before him. He had largely reignited the pride in the national football team. The players clearly respect him and want to play for him. It's a shame the England fans can't get behind him.
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When I look at the people who clearly hate him and want the team to fail, I'm with him.
 
He has had one complete tournament - we got to the World Cup semi-final, and lost in extra time.

He is now in his second tournament - and we are through the group, as winners, and without conceding a goal.

Since 1966, 17 Managers have taken charge of England - none of them have gone past a Semi-Final yet.

He might not be flamboyant, or gung-ho in his tactics - but he is doing absolutely fine. I thought the Croatia game was a perfect case in point. He picked two holding midfielders, and people tore into him about it. People tore into him about Sterling and Mings as well.

Sterling got the goal. Mings was excellent. One of those holding midfielders made the winning goal. And the reason we arguably won was because Modric couldnt get on the ball at all - we saw last night that Modric is NOT a spent force at all.

I rate Southgate.
 
Must admit I did think the reason we went down in 2009 was more the fact that Gibson didn't replace him in the January, when he was clearly out of ideas and out of his depth. It doesn't mean he could never go on to be a good manager or that he was a bad manager or a bad human being. But I still think he did a rubbish job as manager here, that view won't change, as its totally independent of his time with England.

He took the England job at a time when my frustration with the national setup was at an all-time high, I was almost disdainful towards them after the 2014 and 2016 fiascos, and it seemed a strange appointment. I don't think he overachieved with what was an easy draw in 2018 but he did well to avoid some of the banana skins where previous managers have come a cropper.

So far so good in this tournament, I don't expect England to win by any specific number of goals, or not to have the occasional 0-0 draw, I just expect whoever's in charge to get results by hook or by crook. He's doing that so far. I hope we do a proper Tony Pulis-style job on it on our way to a first Euro title!
 
I think it all boils down to a change in expectations. Expectations weren't particularly high at the last World Cup. If we'd topped the group without conceding a goal then, I can guarantee everyone would have been singing Southgate and the team's praises.

I think some are still unsure on Southgate's methods also. Although it's great that we haven't conceded yet, we've only scored 2 goals, and I get the feeling there's concern Southgate isn't allowing these young players to go out and truly express themselves, which would lead to us playing free-flowing football and scoring goals.

It's a tricky one, but ultimately it's about getting the balance right. We haven't been pleasing on the eye but we've gone about our job efficiently and topped the group. The knockout phase is when the competition truly comes alive in my opinion, and I hope coming up against better opposition will lead to more open games, meaning our creative players will be able to express themselves a bit more.
 
Here we have it again on this forum, anyone who offers up the tiniest bit of constructive criticism is a 'troll'.

Can't we have a discussion where we are allowed to talk a managers strengths and weaknesses? We don't always have to divide the discussion into 2 sides like Brexit.

And constructive criticism of his tactics doesn't have to taken as a personal attack on him.

2018 was great to watch, this year isn't that doesn't mean I hate him.
 
I like Southgate as England manager, I liked him as boro manager I remember us beating Liverpool 2-0 the season we went down with the likes of Matty Bates, Josh Walker & Marlon King. I didn't want us to get rid and was gutted when we did.
 
Uwefuchs said:
2018 was great to watch, this year isn't that doesn't mean I hate him.
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How different was it?

We laboured to a win over Tunisia with a last minute winner. We lost to Belgium, we conceded in all 3 group games.

We then beat Colombia on penalties, and didn't exactly play them off the park.

The only games you could say we played especially 'well' were Panama (hammered an inferior team) and Sweden (avoided a banana skin). I don't see a marked difference so far to be honest, but I'm happy with whatever we do as long as we stay in the competition.
 
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So anyone who doesn't kiss his @rse after three extremely uninspiring performances is a knuckle dragger? Interesting...

I don't want to see England fail, quite the opposite actually. I'm just of the opinion that while Southgate is in charge, we are not reaching any finals, let alone winning trophies. IMO a more positive and fearless manager could get more out of the exciting pool of attackers we're fortunate enough to have available to us.
 
Uwefuchs said:
Here we have it again on this forum, anyone who offers up the tiniest bit of constructive criticism is a 'troll'.

Can't we have a discussion where we are allowed to talk a managers strengths and weaknesses? We don't always have to divide the discussion into 2 sides like Brexit.

And constructive criticism of his tactics doesn't have to taken as a personal attack on him.

2018 was great to watch, this year isn't that doesn't mean I hate him.
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Who's called you a troll?
 
Scubahood said:
So anyone who doesn't kiss his @rse after three extremely uninspiring performances is a knuckle dragger? Interesting...

I don't want to see England fail, quite the opposite actually. I'm just of the opinion that while Southgate is in charge, we are not reaching any finals, let alone winning trophies. IMO a more positive and fearless manager could get more out of the exciting pool of attackers we're fortunate enough to have available to us.
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We're three games in.. unbeaten. We literally could not be in a better position.
 
Well the proof will be in the pudding, but i am sceptical. i am definitely on the side of he isn't or is yet to prove himself to be a great manager, if we can beat 1 or more footballing super powers in the knockout stages ie the likes of France or Germany or Portugal then i will feel different.

Nice bloke, very articulate but that to me doesn't mean you will be a managerial great no matter how good your letters are to the fans,The boro job was at difficult time for the club but He made plenty of bad mistakes. Perhaps international football fits him better, and hes learned from his past mistakes. However I dont think he will every be a huge managerial success at club level and i still think England are along way off from the standard of tournament winners or serious contenders.

"When I look at the people who clearly hate him and want the team to fail, I'm with him. "

Harry I think there are very few who people who hate him hes too bland and inoffensive to exact hatred, there is very little personal animosity compared to previous managers, some people are yet to be convinced for whatever reason in his managerial skill thats all. i would also argue there is a lot of positive bias towards him because of his off the field persona, which has nothing to do with football matters on the pitch.
 
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