‘Perfect player’ has exposed Gareth Southgate as a coach already…
We have more on England before we turn back towards the Premier League as Lee Carsley’s England is examined.
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The more things change with England…
Actually watched the England game on Tuesday night, because what is life without a bit of masochism, and actually noticed a genuine difference between Gareth Southgate’s team from the Euros and Lee Carsley’s team.
Under Southgate, England performances were hallmarked by midfielders and defenders dribbling across the field because the forwards were standing still instead of making runs. Carsley’s approach sees the forward players making runs but being ignored by static midfielders and defenders.
I was pleased to see the previous approach of dribbling the ball into a crowd while getting too close to a teammate to be able to pass effectively to them, only being willing to shoot from very specific places on the field, and losing the ball in promising positions, in the manner of a 12-year-old playing FC 24 (not based on a real example), still carries on. Some traditions are worth preserving.
All in all, England were good in parts, not so good in others, with nothing that stands out as needing urgently fixing. It was a game that took place, and then it was over.
Ed Quoththeraven
MORE ON ENGLAND FROM F365:
👉 The famous F365 England ladder ventures uncertainly into the 2026 World Cup unknown with Carsley
👉 Rogers replacing Kane? Predicting six England U21 stars to be in Carsley’s 2026 World Cup squad
👉 Southgate’s England errors exposed by Gordon, Grealish as Carsley clamour gathers momentum
Trent has shown up Southgate as a coach
Watched England v Finland and saw most of the Irish game. I think what these two games has shown is how poor a coach Southgate is. Putting Trent in midfield and all the so called experts who were also advocating it, shows how much they know about setting up a team.
He is an incredible passer of the ball but he needs space and playing full back and joining in when he sees an opportunity or simply his passing or crossing from full back enables him to do that. Yes he is probably not great defensively but he’s not as bad as some people make out.
England will dominate most games and see a lot of the ball, Trent is the perfect player to have in that scenario to open teams ups and even against teams like Spain etc you can play an extra no. 6 to cover him.
Ken, Cork, Ireland
Let’s not get all wobbly yet
When you read the letters, comments and texts into the MBM on game day, its no wonder many would consider the England Manager’s (Head Coach?) job a poisoned chalice. In Southgate’s case, well paid, though. So not going to get out the violins or anything.
But blimey. You play the players people hammered Southgate about in the Euros and get hammered for playing the players people were clamouring for a la James NFFC.
In one of the MBM, several texts were hammering Trent for missing a pass and suggesting he was terrible. The ‘host’ then came back with the fact he had (at that point) the second most passes in the game with 87% accuracy – that went up later. Including the most incisive forward passes for the team. You can’t win there, either.
You could write something more nuanced or balanced but it always seems to end up with extreme positions. Carsley’s clearly sh*te because he picked the best players available and played them in their preferred positions, and they played well. We all know it was Ireland and Finland. We all know Bellingham, Foden, and Palmer weren’t available.
Shouldn’t that whet your appetite for what could be an even better performance? It seems all the rage today to…rage. Find the worst possible scenario at all times. Besides, whether it was positioning, the overall setup, injuries or just off form, neither Bellingham nor Foden were that great at the Euros. And Bellingham’s big “who am I” hardly endeared him to the public.
When England played ‘lesser’ teams before, Southgate generally set up as he wanted in Tournaments – presumably so he could, in his mind, handle those tougher fixtures. So if Carsley is doing the same, playing the way he wants England to play – no matter who they come up against – it’s not a bad thing they get these easier, early games to bed in a new style and system that takes better advantage of the quality attacking players available. Let’s wait and see how this pans out before going all wobbly now.
Finally, on anthems. I don’t know why large numbers of people sing them. Most of the European ones are about wars and battles and blood shed and how wonderful their king/queen is (who made them king anyway? In this day and age, they are severely outdated.
Paul McDevitt
…A particularly mad mailbox illustrating how you really can’t ever please England fans.
In the summer, huge numbers of fans and pundits alike were outspoken in the belief that Trent should play right back, with Walker struggling and England lacking creativity; and that Gordon would give us the width, pace in behind and direct running we were missing.
Naturally then, you’d think that Lee Carsley putting both of them in – twice – was probably the right call, for footballing reasons.
Not if you’re James NFFC. Adamant that putting a direct-running winger and a creative fullback into a side lacking direct running, width and creativity could not possibly be a football decision he instead suggests that Carsley has simply:
“followed the clamour of the Summer and criticism of Southgate and dropped Gordon and TAA into the team based on this.”
Yep, I’m sure that’s it. There’s absolutely no way he could just have picked the best team he felt he had available and those two very good players were in it. He’s bowing to media pressure already, the coward!
Alan, PNE, Lancashire
Redknapp for England?
I actually think Carsley has done a very good job thus far. But it’s clear he doesn’t like all of the utter b*llocks associated with managing England.
So I have a solution. Why not appoint Harry Redknapp?
Harry can handle the singing of the national anthem, saying what a ‘triffic’ job Kane did up front and telling everyone why football is definitely coming home, while you can leave all the important stuff – coaching, drills, tactics etc – to Carsley?
What’s not to like?
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
MORE ON ENGLAND FROM F365:
👉 The famous F365 England ladder ventures uncertainly into the 2026 World Cup unknown with Carsley
👉 Rogers replacing Kane? Predicting six England U21 stars to be in Carsley’s 2026 World Cup squad
👉 Southgate’s England errors exposed by Gordon, Grealish as Carsley clamour gathers momentum
Correction on Kane
Ben: “Kane is still the #9 who doesn’t score goals in semis or finals.”
Kane scored a goal against Denmark in the Euro 2020 semi-final and scored a goal against the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-finals.
Dan, London
On the Barclaysmen
You missed the best thing about Morten Gamst Pedersen. He’s still playing. Or was until the end of the last season. Just doodling around in the lower leagues of Norway, having fun. Presumably scaring the bejesus out of accountants who have to stand in the wall to try and stop one of his rockets.
My personal Barclaysman is Alan Smith. A striker who couldn’t score goals. An attacking midfielder and winger who couldn’t dribble or create. A defensive midfielder with no positional discipline that was rubbish at tackling. He was brilliant. Even though he ended up playing for the wrong team, I loved him to bits. Also, suffered a broken leg from another left-footed Norwegian’s free-kick.
Andrew M, Streatham