A better coach with that squad would win the tournament.
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it seamed like englan didnât really like holding possession? anyone staying up for copa America final?
Heâs been awful for about 8 months now. Every goal city conceded was seemingly him being out of position or letting the forward get goalside, time for him to go back to his families and retire.
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Spain the best side in the tournament by a mile. Tuning in for all the English reaction which always delivers.
Vaaamooooos!
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A message to Southgate et al
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The old lady next door to me was taken off by the undertakers just before kick-off. If ever there was a signâŠ
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She must have seen Southgate was starting with Kane again & thought âF#ck this!â
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Forgot what a remarkable bumchin Keegan has
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Iâm sure a lot of people are slagging off Southgate and yes Kane etc etc but I think that does the Spanish a massive disservice. They had to overcome all 5 of biggest European football powers to win it and how often does that happen? My guess is the Nico (and Iñaki) Williams story will eventually become a biopic. Given what his family endured to get to Spain, literally walking across the Sahara and cheating death, it is a pretty amazing story.
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Personally I think it was so clear that the Spanish were the superior team that Iâm not massively bothered today that England lost. You just have to say well done to Spain and wonder how and when we will finally see an England team which is able to dominate possession and sustain pressure in the way Spain did after we equalised.
I know xG can be a divisive metric but the xG for England during the tournament was less than a goal per game. We just didnât create good chances. Getting to extra time and penalties was about our only chance last night. The Declan Rice header was the chance to do that and it went straight at the keeper. Sometimes you need to accept youâve been comprehensively outplayed.
Iâm sure the inquest into Southgate and Kane will be more brutal than the one for Trumpâs secret service team!
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These arenât mutually exclusive things by any means. England played poorly for the majority of the tournament and Spain, as you wrote, did what they did.
Southgate will take an unreasonable amount of the blame as he tends to do. And no, he isnât free from it but he also isnât the only one to point the finger at. He literally canât kick the round thing into the rectangular thing. He canât play next to Declan Rice. England have plenty of players who can and should have.
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The system takes some share of the blame but also questions about fitness (midfield in particular looked spent at the 80mins point) and form (Kane, Rice, Walker all had average to poor tournaments I thought). Spain missed at least two pretty easy chances in the second half and if it had gone to extra time, I reckon theyâd have had a couple more. Best team won.
I think the fitness issue affected France & Germany and poss more of the top teams too. The leagues are so competitive, seasons are long and the players hardly had any break at all. Perhaps thats where their youth gave the Spanish team an advantage.
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England ended up with a lower xG than Croatia who played less than half the games we did and went out in the group stage.
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Itâs a massive issue, endless competitions both national and club ones, lucrative club tours around the globe, expanded CL. Players at the highest level just donât stop, throw in a mid-season World Cup aswell. I think the whole tournament suffered, theyâre running on empty. The governing bodies seem happy to take the money with very little regard for the welfare of the players or quality of the âproductâ that fans are watching (I hate it too, apologies for using the term 
). A re-jigged, extended World Club Cup next year. As usual the only thing they care about is the bottom line, if viewing figures, ad revenue drops because of the poor fare on offer then they may act. Donât hold your breath.
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Yep the overall quality was poor, good as Spain were there was no real competition from the traditional Euro big guns, Germany, Italy & France all under par.
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Cheers Gareth for all the hard work you have put in. The team was a mess when you picked up the mantle. Youâve left a legacy you should be proud of. In my opinion heâs made the correct decision.
Whoâs next folks ?
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Sam Allardyce?