Nations League 2022

[The Year Of The Fox]

I honestly can’t see how people can slag Englands style of play yet praise Leicester’s

 

Leicester’s is so much worse/slower/boring. 

[RumbleFox]

1 hour ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

I honestly can’t see how people can slag Englands style of play yet praise Leicester’s

 

Leicester’s is so much worse/slower/boring. 

I’m not sure anyone does? 

[The Year Of The Fox]

16 minutes ago, RumbleFox said:

I’m not sure anyone does? 

My mates do 😂

[RumbleFox]

7 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

My mates do 😂

I don’t have any so maybe why I’ve never heard it. 

[Bert]

11 hours ago, SemperEadem said:

The instagram stories I have seen from tonight England end is a sea of arms folded. 

Is this a good or a bad thing for us not so up to date with fan culture?

[Dames]

Even the pundits are starting to cotton onto how defensive Southgate is now. There has been comments that wouldn’t have been dared to have been made a year ago. 
 

Someone on twitter summed it up perfectly for me. Southgate picks players based on what they can do off the ball rather than on it and it sums him up perfectly. 

[ClaphamFox]

34 minutes ago, Dames said:

Even the pundits are starting to cotton onto how defensive Southgate is now. There has been comments that wouldn’t have been dared to have been made a year ago. 
 

Someone on twitter summed it up perfectly for me. Southgate picks players based on what they can do off the ball rather than on it and it sums him up perfectly. 

There are two reasons why I think England won't win the World Cup. The first is that our defence simply isn't good enough. The second is that Southgate is a tactically conservative manager who sends out teams with the primary aim of not conceding.

 

He's also very slow to change things when they are not working, as shown in the WC semi-final against Croatia and the Euros final against Italy. His anxiety not to concede prevents him from making bold substitutions until he is forced to. Hence why he'll never be a top coach.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

39 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

He's also very slow to change things when they are not working, as shown in the WC semi-final against Croatia and the Euros final against Italy. His anxiety not to concede prevents him from making bold substitutions until he is forced to. Hence why he'll never be a top coach.

 

I think that's my biggest gripe with him. Seems a brilliant bloke and he's done a great job at bringing back that "club" atmosphere amongst the players at international level for the first time since arguably the 90s but there's a huge question mark over his influence to change games that are sliding away. 

[trabuch]

2 hours ago, ClaphamFox said:

There are two reasons why I think England won't win the World Cup. The first is that our defence simply isn't good enough. The second is that Southgate is a tactically conservative manager who sends out teams with the primary aim of not conceding.

 

He's also very slow to change things when they are not working, as shown in the WC semi-final against Croatia and the Euros final against Italy. His anxiety not to concede prevents him from making bold substitutions until he is forced to. Hence why he'll never be a top coach.

It always seems unwise to me to play the primary aim of not conceding game when your defence is dodgy. I suppose the idea is to help out a weak defence as much as possible with a defensive midfield. But it just seems to invite pressure, leading to an inevitable Maguire / Soyoncu style cock up and goal.

[RowlattsFox]

England and Leicester are very similar. If the situation suits can be devastating but a lot of the time it can be tough watch waiting for moments of magic or opposition mistakes. Both want to play a passing control way but have players in key positions unable to consistently play that way, struggle to keep the ball at times and lack a right winger. Also potentially held back by the managers. 

[The Year Of The Fox]

[The Year Of The Fox]

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/germany-england-police-arrests-fans-b1004793.html?fbclid=IwAR3yBt1_VpCAa16baJ8fpCYD-I8xMAGNsg2Zp79DetJ02U0BhhkGcL5jQ5U
 

 

This won’t really get reported much 

[Stinkenzo]

20 hours ago, foxfanazer said:

I'd love to know what Maddison actually thinks about his exclusion from the squad. I know he's probably pals with the majority of them but he must be seething watching the likes of Mount and Co playing game after game 

I don't think professional footballers, particularly those at the level of Mount/Maddison, are quite as bitter as you suggest. He probably has an inner belief/confidence that he can do better than him, but that is the same inner belief/confidence that players use when they move to bigger clubs, which they then get mocked for because it didn't go as planned (can easily think of one player off the top of my head that falls into this category...)

[Col city fan]

2 hours ago, Stinky said:

I don't think professional footballers, particularly those at the level of Mount/Maddison, are quite as bitter as you suggest. He probably has an inner belief/confidence that he can do better than him, but that is the same inner belief/confidence that players use when they move to bigger clubs, which they then get mocked for because it didn't go as planned (can easily think of one player off the top of my head that falls into this category...)

I doubt he’s very bothered at all. I’ve said before, many footballers see football as a job. Just a job. And the top pros get paid ridiculous sums of money for doing their job.

I suspect most of the England squad are secretly pissed off with having to play this nothing tournament at the end of a very long and tiring season. It’s probably the last thing they want to be doing. 
Maddison should be quite happy that he’s resting, enjoying himself and isn’t bound up in it at the moment. 

[Super_horns]

Didn’t realise the Ukraine and Scotland are in the same group.

 

Wales really did get a tough draw !

[StanSP]

Wales got a 92nd-minute equaliser then Netherlands still got a winning goal 

[Super_horns]

5 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Wales got a 92nd-minute equaliser then Netherlands still got a winning goal 

As they say  never more vulnerable than when you score .

[st albans fox]

Was thinking about southgates grealish comments earlier - have we actually moved on from the eighties with the hoddle debacle or the seventies with Stan Bowles, Rodney marsh and Frankie ? 
 

would Southgate bench messi or ronaldo if they were English ? 

Of course you can’t have too many players you have to ‘carry’ these days but I assume the fascination with defensive minded non defenders is because the defenders he does have are shite ! 

 

 

 

[Leicesterpool]

We may moan about England, but I'd rather be going into a major tournament with this squad than Germany's, There in transition of course, but far from the strong Germany side that lifted the world cup in 2014. Joachim Low did a great job for Germany but no doubt over stayed his welcome. Should have left after the 2018 world cup.

[purpleronnie]

14 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/germany-england-police-arrests-fans-b1004793.html?fbclid=IwAR3yBt1_VpCAa16baJ8fpCYD-I8xMAGNsg2Zp79DetJ02U0BhhkGcL5jQ5U
 

 

This won’t really get reported much 

Given that there was barely any trouble I think people are too quick to bash England fans rather than praise the vast majority.  We like every nation who travel in the numbers we do will always have a few morons, the few idiots grabbing the headlines instead of the majority who were well behaved just like our fans always are.

[KrefelderFox666]

7 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

We may moan about England, but I'd rather be going into a major tournament with this squad than Germany's, There in transition of course, but far from the strong Germany side that lifted the world cup in 2014. Joachim Low did a great job for Germany but no doubt over stayed his welcome. Should have left after the 2018 world cup.

As a German representative I agree. England have the far superior player pool. Since Low left, we have the superior manager though. Flick is fantastic and exactly what we needed. However, the lack of player development is currently a concern and I cannot see us realistically challenge the very top for a decade or so.

 

Right now, Brazil, England or Netherlands are the teams to beat at the World Cup. The rest are outsiders (e.g. Spain, Argentina, Belgium etc.). England have a fairly nice route again so can get far enough before being really challenged. The other difference is the fact that the World Cup is in November/December. English teams always seem to flag a bit at the end of the season (due to the PL schedule) but mid-season they should be at their best and it might make the difference at this tournament. I would be shocked if England don't win a trophy or two in the next decade.

[KrefelderFox666]

2 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

Given that there was barely any trouble I think people are too quick to bash England fans rather than praise the vast majority.  We like every nation who travel in the numbers we do will always have a few morons, the few idiots grabbing the headlines instead of the majority who were well behaved just like our fans always are.

That's the issue when the spotlight is on. Even one person out of line will be a big deal. As you say, there will always be the few uneducated morons but the majority are well behaved. Same with the pitch invasions, the majority were happily enjoying the moment but unfortunately one or two behaved like idiots and put the spotlight on pitch invasions as a whole. As Lampard said, he has no problem with it and it should be allowed to naturally happen, as long as everyone behaves and respects other people.

[grobyfox1990]

15 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/germany-england-police-arrests-fans-b1004793.html?fbclid=IwAR3yBt1_VpCAa16baJ8fpCYD-I8xMAGNsg2Zp79DetJ02U0BhhkGcL5jQ5U
 

 

This won’t really get reported much 

Ok so you do like football fans, but hate Liverpool fans? Your completely divergent views on the similar issues within a matter of less than two weeks have thrown me totally off kilter, but I think I’m being naive - you like England fans but hate Liverpool fans? Hence the obvious divergence. 
 

in that case I apologise, I responded to some of your comments re champions league assuming (wrongly) you were one of those who enjoyed bashing all football fans without the facts 

[The Year Of The Fox]

31 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Ok so you do like football fans, but hate Liverpool fans? Your completely divergent views on the similar issues within a matter of less than two weeks have thrown me totally off kilter, but I think I’m being naive - you like England fans but hate Liverpool fans? Hence the obvious divergence. 
 

in that case I apologise, I responded to some of your comments re champions league assuming (wrongly) you were one of those who enjoyed bashing all football fans without the facts 

As I said the other week, I’ve done probably 20 England away trips over the last 14 years, the entire CL away season plus half our aways in EL/ECL this season. 
 

Of course I hate Liverpool fans as a whole. The way they portray themselves and the things my mate said happened are at odds with one another. It was also a stark contrast to what gets widely reported. If what had happened in Paris been an England game, we all know how it would’ve been reported. 
 

I was very aware a couple of weeks ago that it was likely to be 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other. I said at the time that it’s like watching 2 people you can’t stand in a punch up and not caring who wins.

 

Ive witnessed first hand the treatment of French police (it was 6 years to the day we drove down to Marseille) And I’ve also witnessed how this was originally reported back home by our press. But I also know Liverpool fans are not the saints they want people to believe 

 

My issue was with yourself dismissing what my mate saw, (who knows my hatred for the Scouse, who knows I need no ammunition whatsoever) because you didn’t see it with your own eyes. 
 

It’s a joke that the wide press haven’t reported all the ‘blag’ tickets but have been very quick to publicise the Liverpool fans plight the other week. It’s a joke that you seemingly can’t mention Liverpool didn’t have any ticketless fans at Hillsborough and link the two events and find the common denominator 

Edited 9 June 2022 by The Year Of The Fox

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 hour ago, purpleronnie said:

Given that there was barely any trouble I think people are too quick to bash England fans rather than praise the vast majority.  We like every nation who travel in the numbers we do will always have a few morons, the few idiots grabbing the headlines instead of the majority who were well behaved just like our fans always are.

Exactly