Dan

Very meh. I'd not mind a loan but just seems like a not insignificant fee for a very ordinary player.

Totally plausible theory. When I say this about him, he's obviously good, I just don't think he's quite as good as made out.

I've found a way around it. DM me if you need it.

Same here. Strange how it can work out.

This tournament just gone was something else. I think it was quite comfortably his worst tournament and yet we made the final.

Personally think Euro 2024 was a tournament too many anyway so I'm glad it's happening. He's been the best England manager of my lifetime for sure and I'll say that despite any criticism I have of him. I cannot help but think we ought to have cashed in one trophy in that period though.

Played Brazil and Belgium in March. Won neither of course.

It sort of goes without saying but coaching a cohesive system is such a cheat code. Spain had this where they've managed to get the maximum from their parts, have been able to effectively rotate without that big a drop off in form. They were able to change everybody against Albania due to having the group sewn up by winning their opening two games - a luxury England would've had if we'd beaten Denmark. Everything Southgate's done has been to cover for the lack of cohesive system he had in place. I mean he started the tournament with Trent in midfield and after two games of garbage changed it to Gallagher! Before finally settling on Mainoo. Spain's rotation has kept their team fresh and seen players who in many instances people would pick ours over theirs, substantially outperform ours. Players like Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo substantially outperforming Rice and Foden. Williams and Yamal both far better than Bellingham and Saka were. Some of their players really did announce themselves this tournament. I didn't realise how good Yamal, Williams and Olmo especially actually were. I've loved watching Spain and I'm glad it's them rather than someone like France. They're a lovely rounded team. They play both possession and direct football effectively. Southgate was blagging this from day one of this tournament.

Howe isn't perfect but I think he's quite comfortably the best we have to offer in England. His teams are genuinely exciting to watch as well. He plays with a lot of speed. His teams have fallen off in the long run but he's definitely overperformed relative to what he's had in terms of resource and squad - which I know sounds daft to say as a Newcastle manager, but he did very well to get them to finish that high in 2023.

Howe is definitely the best English manager.

Stat pad is fair when you're frequently found wanting in the big games. Kane didn't have a single good performance all tournament. But as usual we just plodded on and pretended everything was OK with him. For all his obvious brilliance over his career it's a fair accusation of Ronaldo for Portugal as well.

He obviously will be as well. He doesn't deserve this sort of indulgence. Name his biggest goal for England that wasn't a penalty (and I'm not letting anyone say Denmark here either!)

I'd rather they were English but our lack of decent coaches is a problem and has been for years. Potter is the obvious candidate and yet I could see him going a similar way. I don't think we'd become the team people were hoping for. But then I think we'd probably be a bit more cohesive if anything else. The lack of viable alternative mixed with the fluke final run is going to see us blow 2026 on Southgate as well.

It's one thing to do it for Ronaldo but Kane? A player who has literally never won a trophy.

Fine wine. It's no accident. He just isn't that good.

Croatia aren't being held up as a shining example to follow here.

You can't really play that card without a trophy. England failed.

There needs to be a quite honest addressing of this point now. This isn't some fluke. He's a quality player, he's a very good goalscorer, but I don't think his lack of trophy is some black magic fluke. Six finals, not a single shot on target, no goals, no wins. This isn't happening by accident. I hear every excuse made for him but maybe he's just not quite the talisman we think. We have better players than Kane in this team. It shouldn't be about playing him at all costs. It felt the penny dropped somewhat with the Watkins Netherlands goal (Leicester head on but I can't ignore the thought that Vardy could've produced very similar if given the chance). However it was just the usual Kane final performance. A total passenger. I'd have him in England squads but I don't think his place as a starter should be secure. Toney & Watkins had better tournaments despite a fraction of the minutes.

Would've been a travesty if we'd won the whole thing. Nothing performance in what's been nothing more than the illusion of a good tournament. Bailed out almost entirely by luck and individual quality. As ever, the day we hit genuine quality, we're found wanting. Time to start acting like a top team if we want the top honours.

We try and be ugly winners and only manage the ugly part.

We were crap all tournament and it would've been a travesty if we'd gone all the way. It's time to look elsewhere, but I bet we don't.

Explain this please, I'm quite intrigued.

Looks like acca freeze is going for another season I can't believe it!

Not a chance I'd trade personally but entirely subjective isn't it.

I'd have gone for him over Okoli personally.