Little to add but my agreement to those analyses of the matches and England's performance last night.
There's the possibility he's pacing the team after a long season when in a tournament like this to keep the players fresh for the knockout rounds. But are we really to believe that is what Gareth Southgate is doing or the disjointed performances in every match so far were part of a cunningly wrought plan to fox the other teams into underestimating England? Seems a tad unlikely to say the least. The simplest explanation is what I said earlier here and that he has a group of good and even great players but still has little idea what combination actually works as a team.
I think Portugal look a pretty good bet to go far in this competition because they have that right team and squad mix of old and new players. I'd have fancied Croatia for much the same reason, as well as the Spurs connection of Modric and Peresic, but that's not to be now.
There's the possibility he's pacing the team after a long season when in a tournament like this to keep the players fresh for the knockout rounds. But are we really to believe that is what Gareth Southgate is doing or the disjointed performances in every match so far were part of a cunningly wrought plan to fox the other teams into underestimating England? Seems a tad unlikely to say the least. The simplest explanation is what I said earlier here and that he has a group of good and even great players but still has little idea what combination actually works as a team.
I think Portugal look a pretty good bet to go far in this competition because they have that right team and squad mix of old and new players. I'd have fancied Croatia for much the same reason, as well as the Spurs connection of Modric and Peresic, but that's not to be now.
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