The Road To The Desert: World Cup 2022 Qualification

[Deutsch Wolf]

 

[Tredman]

Taking the England discussion here - I've read a few articles such as this:

'Southgate's experiment fails as England falter'

England end the night in the history books for the wrong reasons as Gareth Southgate's Nations League experiment fails against Hungary.

www.bbc.co.uk

About Southgate's experimentation - I wouldn't mind so much if he *had* tried something new, or experimented with formation or tactics. Yesterday (and the other 3 games) looked like much of his other England teams but more disorganised. There was no attempt to try anything new and, other than Gallagher & Guehi, no real attempt to try different players. It all looked very tired and end of the line to me.

 

[YoungWolf]

I think it looked tired because the players looked exhausted. If I was him I’d have probably rotated more tbh. Saka looked like he desperately needs a break for example. Maguire I wouldn’t have even picked in the squad just to try and give him as much time as possible because I think a lot of his issues stem from rushing back from injury for the euros last year.

 

[Tredman]

The same affects everyone though, and I would assume England have enough player monitoring to know who is on the edge of burnout. The question would be - why pick them then?

 

[YoungWolf]

I would argue a lot of these players have played a lot more games than the ones they came up against (with maybe exception of Germany). Be interesting to know for sure though.

But don’t get me wrong - Southgate hasn’t managed this very well it just hasn’t made me think he is suddenly a terrible England manager. We are only a few months from singing atomic kitten anyway

 

[Tredman]

to be fair I've always thought he's a pretty poor manager so its not changed my mind either

we've got lucky with the draw in 2 tournaments, any other semi-competent manager could have achieved the same.

 

[YoungWolf]

Tbf I was very much against his appointment so he definitely shifted mine! I was at his first game against Malta which was a terrible game (particular low light was Rooney getting outpaced by a part timer)

I don’t really like the luck of the draw argument. We managed to lose to Iceland in one tournament. I don’t think previous managers (I know the bar isn’t high but it is what it is) would have beaten topped the group and beaten Germany last year or beaten Colombia on penalties in the tournament before. His preparation for tournaments and games has been so much more methodical than previous managers which really surprised me. His in game management has probably cost us against Croatia and Italy as most probably agree.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yeah, "anyone could have done that" isn't a very strong argument.

I think he's coming to the end of the road, he's never addressed the overwhelming reliance on Kane for goals and like most managers, picks some players when it goes against all logic. He's comfortably been the most successful England manager in my time though and he has unequivocally not had the best squad I've ever seen in terms of pure talent.

 

[Lupo]

He is bang average with a track record of relegating Middlesbrough before the England job. I was there last night and would have thought the team in red were the pampered multimillionaire Premier League players not the ones in white. Was very odd seeing Molineux full of fans from other clubs, I was sat next to some Londoners. Southgate's substitutions were shit - misfiring Sterling coming on for the poor Jarrod Bowen at half time, bring Mount on for Gallagher 10 minutes into the second had was a nothing substitution when the game was crying out for Grealish then the crazy introduction of his lovechild Maguire after Stones sending off. The boos at full time eclipsed any I have heard at Molineux when Wolves have been playing.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Ugh, it was only a friendly but my god that was awful. Southgate doing Southgate things. There's no doubt he has done well with the team and he has and its clearly worked in getting a national team into an actual national team.

The problem is there are also the same failings which have not improved and have ultimately cost us. I also don't enjoy the football we play.

4 down and bring on a centre half, I mean wtf?

I don't watch many other teams so Gallagher was a new one for me, but he looked similar to Phillips in the centre and apart from hoping Bowen could beat his man (he couldnt) we lacked anything creative.

The only defence I can think off is that this is a totally unnecessary round of games and we should all be enjoying a World Cup right about now.

 

[Tony Towner]

I didn't watch the game, but if Phillips and Gallagher looked similar then there was something seriously wrong

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

4 down and bring on a centre half, I mean wtf?

Was 3-0 (then Slabhead was at fault for the 4th, the lumbering oaf).

I think he just didn't want us to lose all shape when Stones got sent off (one of the worst red card decisions I've ever seen incidentally, not that it mattered). But clearly - the obvious easy PR win at that point is give Coady 10 minutes at Molineux. No, bring on someone who's been wildly out of form for a year and who is widely disliked. That's a manager losing the train of rational thought.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

24 years today since we beat Tunisia 2-0 at France 98.

---------------------Seaman-------------------

--------Campbell------Adams----Southgate------

Anderton---Ince----Batty-----Scholes------Le Saux

----------------Shearer-----Sheringham-------------

Even had the luxury of leaving Beckham and Owen out (we shouldn't have done of course, but Glenn's gonna Glenn).

Which of the 2022 crop other than Kane get in that team? One of the RWBs although neither James nor Alexander-Arnold have produced anything like their club form in an England shirt. Rice instead of Batty? Don't think there's much outside that.

 

[Tony Towner]

The Luke Shaw from last Summer would get in ahead of Le Saux. He's so up and down though

 

[machin05]

The Luke Shaw from last Summer would get in ahead of Le Saux. He's so up and down though

That's good for a wing back tho, no?

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Surely we've got someone better than Anderton.

Good team that though

 

[Donegal Wolf]

8 days between premier league games and England and Wales first games in world cup, including travelling, zero time for squad preparation.
Presume that is the same for most teams, certainly the European ones, can see some strange results in this world cup.

 

[Kenny]

Squads will be allowed to have 26 players for the World Cup.

 

[Tony Towner]

Coady can pack his pom poms

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Ecuador are meant to be playing Qatar in the opener. But it might yet be Chile.

Chile are adamant that one of Ecuador's players who played against them twice in the CONMEBOL group is Colombian and not qualified at all for Ecuador. Because of how the results fell (Ecuador took 4 points out of the games vs Chile), only they can benefit from those results being given as automatic walkovers if he wasn't eligible, and they would have gone through directly.

The complaint has been dismissed by FIFA once but it's going to appeal next week, and Ecuador's evidence to prove that everything is above board seems to be more than a bit lacking.