Ruskingtony
Vital Squad Member
I believe earlier today Mr Excitement said he wanted England to be world no 1 by the Euro finals. Are everybody else really that bad?
North Macedonia v England: Score Predictions & Match Thread
- Thread starter Jules
- Start date
We are No.1 in the British isles, just.
hulloutpost
Vital Champions League
Which political party is he standing for next!
Warrington Imp
Vital 1st Team Regular
Good job we didn’t play the whole of Macedonia 
a totally clueless manager pass sideways and backwards is his mantra.
Maguire should be nowhere near the team and Grealish must be the most over rated player in football history.
a totally clueless manager pass sideways and backwards is his mantra.Maguire should be nowhere near the team and Grealish must be the most over rated player in football history.
Maguire is obviously the best player available.
England have qualified for yet another tournament, undefeated, top of the group, scoring loads of goals, conceding hardly any and will be a top seed when the draw is made.
No wonder people can't understand why Southgate, who knows nothing about international football keeps picking him.
When I watch England, Maguire is an excellent distributor of the ball from the back. Keeping possession and allowing our best players to have the best chance to prosper. You don't need to defend much, if you have got the ball.
He is human and will make the odd mistake but unless a significantly better defender is available, what he actually does is important to the way England play and I wouldn't be surprised to see him keep adding to the 62 times he as been an international, come the summer.
England have qualified for yet another tournament, undefeated, top of the group, scoring loads of goals, conceding hardly any and will be a top seed when the draw is made.
No wonder people can't understand why Southgate, who knows nothing about international football keeps picking him.
When I watch England, Maguire is an excellent distributor of the ball from the back. Keeping possession and allowing our best players to have the best chance to prosper. You don't need to defend much, if you have got the ball.
He is human and will make the odd mistake but unless a significantly better defender is available, what he actually does is important to the way England play and I wouldn't be surprised to see him keep adding to the 62 times he as been an international, come the summer.
clanfordimp
Vital 1st Team Regular
Chimp, I'm seriously beginning to wonder if you are a A I generated robot designed to put a positive spin on everything, even if there is absolutely no justification or one shred of evidence to justify what you say.
Maguire is in the England team because of Southgates stubborn loyalty towards certain players, the same as why people like Kelvin Phillips get in the squad or Jordon Henderson, they just shouldn't be anywhere near the team.
Maguire sums up what the England team has been the last couple of games, slow, loborious, lacking sharpness and urgency and not being able to raise their game against teams miles below them in the rankings.
Maguire is the past, his distribution is awful and he wasn't even an international standard player then and if he is our number one centre back then we could be in for a rude awakening in the summer with him at the heart of our defence.
Rasenimp
Vital Football Legend
This seems pretty dubious to make such an absolute statement - and I think (although it's been too late that the movement towards this has happened) it wouldn't shock me if Stones + Guehi ended up being the move for the tournament when the former is fully fit.
There is a genuine argument in my view that a defender as slow as Maguire in a team playing progressive football that'll want to squeeze up the pitch is not compatible. Yes people are human and make mistakes but it's hard not to argue the volume of Maguire errors (including in possession) is worrying when margins are so small in international football and one slip costs a goal. And in some ways it did - when Maguire lost Giroud at the Euros that was the goal that knocked us out in the end. Made a mistake v Italy in March, own goal v Scotland... a gaffe nearly every other game is not sustainable, even if his issues are sometimes overblown as he becomes a figure of fun.
But to say he's obviously the best player available when the likes of Guehi, Dunk, Tomori even maybe Ezri Konsa have been playing better football and regularly for a sustained period of time is pretty ridiculous. Guehi in particular is also really good on the ball so the possession argument doesn't really work. I'm not sure if Southgate thought HM was going to regain form so stuck with him but it's a genuine black mark IMO that he didn't get other partnerships set up earlier.
Good job we didn’t play the whole of Macedonia
Maguire should be nowhere near the team and Grealish must be the most over rated player in football history.
Had a habit of retaining thd ball but ending up drawing a foul about 20 yds further back from when he receives it.. So predictable that he will cut in on his right foot, can't go outside and cross with his left.
Well I only have the England manager to agree with me ....
He plays him time and again and we keep doing well.
There is always the opportunity to find someone better.
...but go and have a look at the quality and assurance of his passing against Italy (the last game that mattered) compared to Guehi came on in the last half hour.
Maguire was still passing forward and moving the play. Guehi was scared stiff of making a mistake and just turned a la TJ and found the keeper and we were under pressure.
Possession is 9/10th of the law in international football. If you end up doing lots of defending you will lose.
If we had a brilliant alternative fine but "or maybe even".... is the whole point....
selection is always about picking the best player you have...even if you might like someone better....
...because until there is...he is the best available.
Quite the contrary. AI is designed to pick up the rubbish people have already created and allow others to regurgitate as their own.
When I see it - I ask myself why highly intelligent and qualified people are doing something the layman in the pub thinks is mad.
Its usually because the intelligent, qualified person knows best.
Or at least that's the conclusion I come to.
UTI.
Rasenimp
Vital Football Legend
This is a ridiculous argument - which is essentially - if Southgate picks a player he must be the best available full stop and there's no point debating it- and then basing it on over the top reading of one game in which Maguire made a terrible mistake in possession to justify he's the best in possession. If he's making mistakes / can't hack it in games like Copenhagen, Scotland, North Macedonia (and getting away with the latter) it stands to reason there's a mistake in him when he's against France/Germany/Spain in an England team that tends to create little (and often has less of the ball) when we play Europe's elite still. He might be alright on the ball, but he is also ponderous, slow, not good in a high line, has a mistake in him in a team that can ill afford them, and has maintained a place out of sheer loyalty even when not playing for his club.
The argument that qualified people pick him so therefore they are right then falls down seeing as Erik Ten Hag jettisoned him to play a left back centre back for a while... before injuries he was basically their 5th choice centre back. So how would you reconcile an argument solely based on he gets picked so he's the best with him not being picked and an English left back playing ahead of him?
clanfordimp
Vital 1st Team Regular
Intelligence to me is that if you make mistakes, which everyone does, it's about how you learn and make those mistakes good.
Sometimes aswell you need to borrow other people's brains because yours isn't quite intelligent enough and doesn't know as much as it thinks it does.
In the case of Harry Maguire as the best centre back in England I just think yours and Mr Southgates brain needs a bit of reprogramming.
We all are wrong and we all make mistakes.
Absolutely.
I just ask myself questions?
My questions re Maguire are
Why is he playing?
How has he managed to get 60 caps if he is crap?
What has been the results while this crap player has been in the team?
Why would a man who has played 57 matches for England in just that position, not pick the best available player?
Is there anyone better?
...and my answer is until now he's been the best player available.
If he stops being so...Southgate will pick someone else...I am pretty confident of that.
Chesterimp
Vital Football Hero
Anyone would think from reading this thread England failed to qualify.
Have I been deceived by the evil media into thinking they won the group at a canter and last night's match was a dead rubber?
Have I been deceived by the evil media into thinking they won the group at a canter and last night's match was a dead rubber?
Pompeyimp2
Vital Squad Member
Indeed so but you have to admit, last night was a heap of sh1t?
There were times that three of them were playing tippy tappy out on the left wing and all of them were using only their right foot.
cdhIMP
Vital 1st Team Regular
Isn't about that though, of course we'd qualify for Euro 2024.
With the squad we have at our disposal, we should have won Euro 2020 or 2022 World Cup.
Southgate's tactics against top teams are extremely negative and akin to current tactics by the imps. Try to nick a goal then sit back.
We got to the final of Euro 2020 despite Southgate not because of Southgate.
clanfordimp
Vital 1st Team Regular
I think when he goes back to being 5th choice centre back at Man United which is where he was rated before they had the injuries they did and he's not playing then that will be Southgates test although I think he will be around for the Euros because Uniteds injuries will probably not have cleared up by then and Southgate will be gone after next summer anyway.
