Do you think this England team has better players or just better organised?

I've been a bit of a Southgate sceptic over the last few years on the basis I've thought this is the best balanced England squad we've had in decades.

In the Beckham / Gerrard / Lampard era we had top players, but no one with that bit of magic to create something or beat their man.

However, I will freely admit I was wrong about Southgate. Even earlier this tournament I questioned whether England were making forward strides under his management, but clearly I did him a disservice. Yes there has been some caution to our approach that at points hasn't been exciting to watch, but it's clear that he's got a plan and its an effective one.

Well done Gareth Southgate. To answer my own question, I think it's a bit of both, but Southgate deserves huge credit - plenty of teams have excellent players and it comes to nothing (Belgium over the last few years, France this tournament, etc).

Posted By: SimonOTBC on July 8th 2021 at 10:07:50

Message Thread

Do you think this England team has better players or just better organised? (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Jul 8, 10:07:50
- I think he's been lucky (Other Football) - Cardiff Canary, Jul 8, 11:00:06
- Everytime I read on twitter someone saying we're slow, we're boring (Other Football) - strap_on sally, Jul 8, 10:25:16
  - I wonder if it helps a bit also that the squad is picked from (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 8, 11:32:19
    - I think years ago the bigger clubs would gobble up the best English players (Other Football) - strap_on sally, Jul 8, 12:21:00
  - Great post (n/m) (Other Football) - norwaay, Jul 8, 11:26:32
  - Yes This 100% (Other Football) - Martin Peters, Jul 8, 10:50:04
  - yep absolutely (n/m) (Other Football) - shoddy, Jul 8, 10:37:28
  - I suspect (Other Football) - Winged Eel Creosote, Jul 8, 10:29:06
  - I think that's right and certainly something I didn't really get early on (n/m) (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Jul 8, 10:27:50
- I think the tournament management in particular has been superb (Other Football) - Mecagoenti, Jul 8, 10:23:23
  - Italy looked a bit cooked too which is encouraging (n/m) (Other Football) - SCC 28, Jul 8, 10:39:40
- Better culture (Other Football) - inutero, Jul 8, 10:15:41
- The organisation and I guess coaching is Farke-level good (n/m) (Other Football) - Yellalee, Jul 8, 10:09:09
  - Team spirit too (Other Football) - SCC 28, Jul 8, 10:16:36
    - Gerrard and Lampard two of the Prem greats (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 8, 10:23:29
      - it's all fine margins it really is (Other Football) - Tombs, Jul 8, 10:55:59
  - Benefitting from good coaches at club level (n/m) (Other Football) - paulg, Jul 8, 10:12:51
    - Is it the Guardiola factor? (Other Football) - Mecagoenti, Jul 8, 13:03:05
    - Indeed (Other Football) - Cardiff Canary, Jul 8, 11:02:34

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