Italy v England

[philpvfc]

36 minutes ago, WV said:

He keeps proving them wrong and they can’t handle it. 

Proven who wrong?

[Rory]

Has he gone yet? 

[Warren]

4 hours ago, MelbourneValiant said:

For me he is a non achiever, A negative boring manager who will never do anything. The most recent Vale manager to do this to me was Askey, some pulled their face when I said that seals their relegation. But at least he some promotions under his belt. Southgate is a weapon of the highest order.  Anybody that has ever watched 10 England games under Southgate would be qualified to do a better job.

I implore people to watch the Euro 96 semi final highlights v Germany.that is football. Maybe I am just done with international duffness?

 

Kane got us the result last night. Best defender in the England team!

[WV]

2 hours ago, philpvfc said:

Proven who wrong?

The guys that say he is useless yet he has done far better than any England manager for over 50 years. No other England manager had managed a competitive victory in Italy but some fans would rather us get hammered so he gets sacked. 

[philpvfc]

1 minute ago, WV said:

The guys that say he is useless yet he has done far better than any England manager for over 50 years. No other England manager had managed a competitive victory in Italy but some fans would rather us get hammered so he gets sacked. 

I don’t think he has proven anyone wrong. Wow, we win in Italy against an average Italian team who failed to qualify for the last World Cup. Yes, it was a very good win and we played well but that doesn’t suddenly make Southgate a great manager, I think those who want him gone are those who are sick of him bottling it when we get in to good positions. He isn’t a <ovf censored> manager at all and what he has done for England in the fact of getting them to gel together, keeping the press on side and making us competitive is unquestionable but he lacks the guts and tactical knowledge to take England to the next level and win a tournament. 
If we ever win a major tournament under Southgate then you can come on here and say he has proven his doubters wrong. 

[Seamus O'Wye]

Last night reminded me very much of a typical Vale performance.... leading at half time; forget about attacking, let's just hang on to what we've got... which we just about managed to do.        The amount of time wasting by England, which the commentator even mentioned in the first half, reminded of Accrington. Not something I like to see, though it seems to be a permanent feature of the modern game.

[valefan16]

I thought first half we were excellent, proper high pressing, attacking performance, exactly what we should do with the attacking players at our disposal. 2-0 was probably flattering to Italy considering the dominance and the missed chances we had, especially Grealish.

Second half we reverted to Southgate's negative tactics and invited problems rather than keep going for the kill, considering their defence couldn't handle our pace it was frustrating to see, did like the fact we timewasted and did everything an Italian side tends to do to see out a result though, we played them at their own game there.

Felt Italy looked a poor shadow of Azzurri sides past, so much so they are looking to South American players with an Italian gran, there is no Pirlo, Inzaghi, Chellini or that ilk.

Euro 2024 is a great chance for us, Belgium have seen their Golden generation pass, Spain and Germany are not at the levels they tend to be at so the only real one you would worry about is France, imagine we would be second favourites to win it so its up to Southgate to finally deliver that last step.

That said regardless of the type of Italian side it is, to go to Napoli, probably the most feared stadium to play in and get a result, especially when we were down to 10 men and had to grind it out was very positive, the nature of the group with top 2 going through means that we are probably already as good as through with that result. You expect 12 points from Malta and North Macedonia, already have three against Italy so win on Sunday against Ukraine and its likely as good as done for the top 2 even if we lost to Ukraine A or Italy H.