saintvaliant

Having crawled up the majority of the M1 on Friday afternoon I can confirm there is very little “smart” about that motorway.

Thought we were average at best yesterday but still could have had a couple more with misses from Wilson, Proctor and Worrall. Plus points were minutes forward the likes of Johnson and Cass, thought Proctor looked useful enough up too and Wilson’s movement was excellent and that goal will hopefully do him some good. Impossible to read from pre season so onto the real stuff next weekend.

I like the look of that if Walker sits and allows Conlon and Pett to get forward. Worrall has the engine to play right wing back although would concern me a little defensively.

Another good effort in my book. Much prefer the minimalist approach than last years shocker of a home kit.

Pett?

Southgate’s current win % of just under 64% is 2nd to only Capello in England managers since WW2 and only Sir Alf Ramsey has achieved more in a major tournament by winning the World Cup. I’m not sure what else is relevant to the debate as to the fitness of the guy to be England manager.

Hmm. Let’s look at our last 4 major tournaments: 2014 World Cup - Hodgson - knocked out at the group stage 2016 Euros - Hodgson - knocked out in R16 by the mighty Iceland 2018 World Cup - Southgate - knocked out in the semi final by Croatia after extra time 2020 Euros - Southgate - runners up after losing in the lottery of a penalty shootout against an Italian side that had also beaten Belgium (world no 1) and Spain (world no 6) en route to the final I know whose record I prefer.

Agree fully. Italy were 7th in the most recent world rankings and are surely about to rise further after this tournament having beaten the sides in 1st, 4th and 6th in doing so. Folk seem to see their lack of a “star” name as equalling a poor side. Couldn’t be further from the truth in this particular Italy side and where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Some right nonsense being spouted about Southgate as well. For a supposedly “third rate” manager, doing arguably the toughest job in football, he’s got the 2nd best win record of any England manager since the WW2, only surpassed by Capello and has achieved more in tournament football than any manager other than Sir Alf Ramsey. Both aspects of the above highlight the thing I find most frustrating with folk and England. We massively over-hype ourselves at the first glimpse of success and we massively over-react to any perception of failure irrespective of whether it is failure or not (neither the WC or Euros represent failure in IMO). We were a couple of penalty kicks away from a first European Championship and a first major trophy in 55 years, with the 2nd youngest squad in the competition. I get the craving for success. You can damn sure guarantee that Southgate and the squad get it too. But a little perspective wouldn’t go amiss from some of our so called national team “supporters”.

Proud of the team both on and off the pitch. Disgusted but sadly not surprised by some of the yobs who “follow” us and those who have racially abused three young lads for merely missing a penalty. For me the most consistently impressive side across the tournament has won it but we took them all the way to the lottery of a penalty shootout. Credit to Italy and Mancini, got their tournament spot on and I personally thought they were better than us on the night. Deserved winners. Those giving Southgate and any of the players grief need to give their head a wobble. Derided in 2016 after the Iceland defeat we’ve just reached a World Cup semi final (first in 28 years) and Euros final (first ever) in back to back tournaments with an incredibly young squad of talented players.

Amazing night and deservedly got the result in the end. Pen was soft but equally they were lucky to not concede one for the foul on Kane. Hats off to Kaspar Schmeichel, man of the match by a distance IMO with 3 or 4 great saves. A little bit of history made but the boys will need to dig deep one more time on Sunday against an Italy side that have probably been as impressive as any in the tournament.

That was absolutely immense.

Mullin has just had the season of his life. He will be looking to make that pay - quite literally - and is being linked with Championship sides. No chance he will be heading our way.

I’m sure Rudgie used to talk about aiming for 20 clean sheets or more and it is noteworthy that the winners of the PL, Championship, L1 and L2 last year all had either the best goals against in their leagues or were in the top 3 sides in the division. In L2 two of the three highest scoring sides didn’t even make the playoffs (and Oldham managed to finish 18th!) For me, that makes the recruitment of a quality centre half and keeper more pressing than up front (particularly with Rodders and Wilson already there and the potential of goals from Conlon, Worrall, Taylor etc).