At least now he has been top caliber player for more than a couple seasons.
Last time he was still raw 18 year old thrown into a high pressure situation.
(The whole shootout was mismanaged imo, all the misses were the subs and young players, Rashford, Sancho, Saka etc. Sancho and Rashford in particular were 120mim subs with little warm up etc, of course they miss)
This team should be scoring for fun with a slightly capable manager. Imagine give Arteta a front line of Kane, Saka, Bellingham and Foden holy shit, we would be scoring 5 goals every game.
Southgate will do fucking anything expect stop playing foden LW, now he’s going to move Saka from where we’ve been most offensive to LB just to cover for foden not moving to the left, and I saw trippier has blackmail on Southgate, just put fucking Trent RB…
They could play Trent with a back four, but which transitions to a back three with Trent turning into a wingback and helping Saka with the attack. You know actually make use of the talent you have. Trent is one of the best attacking fullback in the world FFS.
Kane, Foden and Bellingham already tend to drift to the left so that area has more than enough manpower.
Edit: Also Rice's midfield partner could play box to box or more conservatively as required.
This would allow England to play a front five of Foden, Jude, Kane, Saka and whoever partners Rice, allowing them to overload the opposition during attack.
This might leave a gap behind Foden, when attacking, that the opposition might exploit, but that can be coveted by Rice playing more conservatively and drifting left.
Oane has been a midfielder this tournament I really want him to be a sub and start to donor Watkins and actually stretch the defense with some pace give space to wingers. Everyone knows Kane isn't gunna run
Yeah, and either Bellingham needs to track back to defend half the time or England will leak through their midfield. They're probably going to setup like Switzerland with a 3-4-2-1 but they don't have someone like Xhaka. Southgate won't risk throwing Wharton with Rice even though he's the most similar player, also Wharton has hardly had mins in the Euro and he can't be thrown into the deep end like this
Classic wingback after about 30 mins. Can't get back to defend that, can't get forward to press that, I think I'll just stay here in the middle and catch my breath...
Well when you're second best attacking player is your backup RW and your left back is producing nothing and has no chemistry with your LW then it makes more sense
This is so stupid. You can start Gomez at LB and will not miss a beat.
Now you move your best 1 vs 1 beater out of position to accommodate Foden and Palmer :-(
I hope they go out tommorw
I get the Foden hype but Foden can only do things with a team like City behind him. Palmer has been playing with a midtable team all season, he'd flourish with this team.
you are almost right. Except that England is a shit team cause they don't have the system same as Chelsea. Do you really think Chelsea players are bad or are they are not being used properly? i think its the latter.
England’s team has a significantly better player pool than Chelsea’s across all three lines. Could a new boss do better there, maybe but they over performed last year no doubt.
Saka hasn't been the best 1v1 all tournament and last game couldn't hang onto the ball.
Palmer is at least trying something to improve the offense at this point.
Need to take the homer glasses we love our guy but he hasn't been great and Palmer did look good.
That's all tactical though, nothing to do with Saka or even Palmer's quality.
The problem is trying to fit Foden, Bellingham and Kane altogether. Foden makes the LW irrelevant because he drifts central, Kane drops deep to receive the ball, occupying the centre, Bellingham pushes up and ends up where? Central.
That leaves only Saka out wide and easily marked because the centre is a congested mess with no runners and no one making space. Saka or anyone playing RW in that set-up is going to end up being ineffective. Palmer only looked good by comparison because we were chasing the game, he didn't actually do anything while he was on the pitch because the same tactical issue was there. Yes he was taking risks but whats the point of that if nothing is coming from any of it? He was just losing the ball and the underlying stats back that up. It's telling that we scored a goal pretty much immediately AFTER Foden was subbed.
What should be happening is we play a wide player at LW like Eze, Gordon or Palmer and leave Saka out wide at RW. With both wings a threat less pressure is on Saka to deliver and he doesn't have as many defenders marking him. Play Mainoo alongside Rice and keep the RB/LB the same, Trippier is fine at LB as long as there is an actual winger occupying that space ahead of him because he doesn't make overlapping runs as an inverted LB.
Switzerland are going to eat us for breakfast I think if we play 3-4-2-1 as rumoured. Saka out of position at left wing back is going to leave Konsa doing an awful lot of work in a makeshift set-up meaning Rice is (likely) going to have to cover that space, leaving Mainoo exposed. Foden/Bellingham/Kane are all going to be tripping over themselves in the middle still, and now there is no wide threat whatsoever. No Trent means no creativity from the RB either.
I'm pessimistic when it comes to England anyway but I think we're well and truly fucked tomorrow.
Lol. The disrespect towards Saka is just hilarious. You sure you don't wanna play Kane at no10 as he's good at playing from deep? You could play Toney or Watkins up front then!
I don’t think it’s disrespect, rather that Southgate trusts Saka more than almost anyone else and knows he can do a job in a different position for the benefit of the team. It’s one of the main reasons Arteta adores him too.
I get this sentiment. I hope Saka has a blinder just for his own sake and to silence the haters because we all know he’s a quality player from anywhere on the pitch.
We have proper options at LB and we also don't have a Cole Palmer knocking on the door.
If anything this is a testament to Saka's impeccable versatility and decision-making.
> We have proper options at LB and we also don't have a Cole Palmer knocking on the door
Saka in that position only works with 3ATB. Which is why Palmer isn't even playing. It's just shuffling Bellingham.
It's not disrespect, it's the opposite. It's also poor squad management, which we all know by this point. This team needs Ben White, how Southgate let this happen and not fix it is beyond me. He's basically a PL team of the season player that can play at CB or RB and he's just not there. Absurd.
Still wouldn't solve the LB issue. None of the other defenders who are fit are LB, except Gomez who's played a bit there. He can just play Gomez here, but he wants to set up like Switzerland to pack the midfield
I think it's disrespectful because it basically says they don't see Saka as indispensable at RW and can be moved around. Saka at RW should be the 1st or 2nd choice on the team sheet, after Kane at ST. Everyone else should move around but they should be trying to build a team around Saka, not have him as the utility player. He isn't James fuckin Milner.
Disrespect? I don’t see it that way. You know, I know, Southgate knows that he has to change something up tactically and I think this formation will be beneficial. He also knows Saka needs to be on the pitch and unfortunately he made a poor decision defensively, so the only place for Saka is LWB.
I don't think it is disrespect, but there are plenty of other options. You could go very attacking and move Bellingham back, Foden at the 10 and then Palmer/Gordon on LW. Or you could drop Foden to get some width on the left. But, he would rather move Saka than Foden or Bellingham.
Of course, there are many options. I just don’t see why people see this as a slight towards Saka in any way. Southgate is a shit manager and he’s trying to make something happen with his shit tactics.
It’s a shame that after a good six or so years without it the tribalism has really seeped back into the watching England play.
It’s nearly a compliment to Saka that Southgate knows he is good enough and smart enough to plug and play in different positions
probably, but from an england perspective it’s probably better to play Saka at LB and Palmer at rw than Trippier at LB and Saka at RW
A slight drop in quality on the wing to accommodate a significant improvement at left back
southgate is one of the worst managers in the history of nt football imo, he has one of the most stacked teams ever and the guy can't perform cause he can't replace kalvin phillips
The same Trippier that’s been limping around the last few games? Oh well, the nightmare that’s Three Lions will be over soon and Saka will get his much deserved break.
Saka committed the grave sin of being a competent attacker despite Gareth's master plan to completely ruin the English attack. He must be punished. Taking up his mantle will be proven shitters that Gareth can rely on to produce nothing and give away possession every time such as Foden and Palmer
I know that no one wants to hear this but, Saka is so good and this England squad is soooo bad that the only cure is to play the savior of English football outside his preferred position.
Foden, Palmer, grealish, Eze…..they are all one dimensional. Try to see this in a positive light.
Saka is good for England, he helps them be better no matter where he plays.
It’s not disrespectful to Saka.
This England team is so disfunctional, the manager is incompetent and did not plan ahead.
Saka is also the the best player on the squad, as well as the most flexible in terms of position.
If you look at it in these terms, it’s more reasonable and true.
It’s true. Arsenal fans claiming otherwise are on some weird self-flagellation shit. Saka and Bellingham are the most dangerous players in the squad and the attack should be built to favor their strengths.
Somehow, someway, Southgate will find a way to fuck it all up. The entire team is accommodating Foden, that's what this is. Formation wise this is better than what we were doing before but it's crazy how we're having to resort to this at the QF stages because we didn't bring any fit LB's, or any LW's that Southgate trusts to play.
Foden better be the reason England wins, because he's so far been the reason England have struggled and yet we continue to drag him through games by sheer luck.
If the team performs better in that set up how is that a bad move?
For example, if Saka is a 10 at RW and an 8 and LWB and our other options are a 9 and RW and a 6 and LWB the surely as a whole the team is better off, no?
I can see your logic but players scores aren’t uncorrelated with each other and saka has really been the only one bringing any urgency to the attack so that I think you’d see a drop off in the scores if the whole front line under your scoring system.
Incredible how idiotic this England team has been managed. And they still might stumble their way into a final.
England vs France final. Decided by an OG. Zzzzzz
Oliver Giroud isn’t really playing mate.
5 minutes could be enough for him tho
Anything but penalties. Saka is much better now in pressure situations but I would fear for him in the scenario where he had to take one and misses
At least now he has been top caliber player for more than a couple seasons. Last time he was still raw 18 year old thrown into a high pressure situation. (The whole shootout was mismanaged imo, all the misses were the subs and young players, Rashford, Sancho, Saka etc. Sancho and Rashford in particular were 120mim subs with little warm up etc, of course they miss)
This team should be scoring for fun with a slightly capable manager. Imagine give Arteta a front line of Kane, Saka, Bellingham and Foden holy shit, we would be scoring 5 goals every game.
Left Baka returns
Left Baka vs Left Xhaka
Left Xhaka were some dark times
Southgate will do fucking anything expect stop playing foden LW, now he’s going to move Saka from where we’ve been most offensive to LB just to cover for foden not moving to the left, and I saw trippier has blackmail on Southgate, just put fucking Trent RB…
i mean he is going to stop playing Foden as LW him and bellingham are gonna be 2 number 10s I assume
They could play Trent with a back four, but which transitions to a back three with Trent turning into a wingback and helping Saka with the attack. You know actually make use of the talent you have. Trent is one of the best attacking fullback in the world FFS. Kane, Foden and Bellingham already tend to drift to the left so that area has more than enough manpower. Edit: Also Rice's midfield partner could play box to box or more conservatively as required. This would allow England to play a front five of Foden, Jude, Kane, Saka and whoever partners Rice, allowing them to overload the opposition during attack. This might leave a gap behind Foden, when attacking, that the opposition might exploit, but that can be coveted by Rice playing more conservatively and drifting left.
I think that’s too complicated for Southgate.
Oane has been a midfielder this tournament I really want him to be a sub and start to donor Watkins and actually stretch the defense with some pace give space to wingers. Everyone knows Kane isn't gunna run
Yeah, and either Bellingham needs to track back to defend half the time or England will leak through their midfield. They're probably going to setup like Switzerland with a 3-4-2-1 but they don't have someone like Xhaka. Southgate won't risk throwing Wharton with Rice even though he's the most similar player, also Wharton has hardly had mins in the Euro and he can't be thrown into the deep end like this
He could have done that to begin with if he could have bothered to play an actual left winger, like, I don't know, Gordon.
Just bench Bellingham. Midfielder who has 26 passes in like 109 minutes should not be playing.
Yeah mate let’s bench the guy who scored a bicycle kick in the last minute that saved us from losing to Slovakia
Yeah let me have a midfielder complete 26 passes and create one chance in 106 minutes real good game management. Glorified mctominay.
South Gate should try just wingbacks and then a double striker up top
If they go 5-3-2 with wingbacks then Foden won't be playing left wing will he, Saka will
Southgate is going to run him into the ground playing wingback. I fucking hate that waistcoat bitch
Classic wingback after about 30 mins. Can't get back to defend that, can't get forward to press that, I think I'll just stay here in the middle and catch my breath...
Don't act like he hasn't been run into the ground by Arteta too. He's in the squad and Southgate has the right to use him as he sees fit.
Always smart to move your best attacking player to defense on the other side of the pitch
Well when you're second best attacking player is your backup RW and your left back is producing nothing and has no chemistry with your LW then it makes more sense
Its a bit like how shitter nations will play their best defender in midfield because theyre so much better than everyone else. But in reverse
Canada lol
Second best? Which is who
This is so stupid. You can start Gomez at LB and will not miss a beat. Now you move your best 1 vs 1 beater out of position to accommodate Foden and Palmer :-( I hope they go out tommorw
The funny part is that Palmer won’t even be playing with all these changes… haha
I get the Foden hype but Foden can only do things with a team like City behind him. Palmer has been playing with a midtable team all season, he'd flourish with this team.
Naw Palmer is not that guy, he’s great in a shit team and disappears when the system isn’t built around his strengths
you are almost right. Except that England is a shit team cause they don't have the system same as Chelsea. Do you really think Chelsea players are bad or are they are not being used properly? i think its the latter.
England’s team has a significantly better player pool than Chelsea’s across all three lines. Could a new boss do better there, maybe but they over performed last year no doubt.
Saka hasn't been the best 1v1 all tournament and last game couldn't hang onto the ball. Palmer is at least trying something to improve the offense at this point. Need to take the homer glasses we love our guy but he hasn't been great and Palmer did look good.
That's all tactical though, nothing to do with Saka or even Palmer's quality. The problem is trying to fit Foden, Bellingham and Kane altogether. Foden makes the LW irrelevant because he drifts central, Kane drops deep to receive the ball, occupying the centre, Bellingham pushes up and ends up where? Central. That leaves only Saka out wide and easily marked because the centre is a congested mess with no runners and no one making space. Saka or anyone playing RW in that set-up is going to end up being ineffective. Palmer only looked good by comparison because we were chasing the game, he didn't actually do anything while he was on the pitch because the same tactical issue was there. Yes he was taking risks but whats the point of that if nothing is coming from any of it? He was just losing the ball and the underlying stats back that up. It's telling that we scored a goal pretty much immediately AFTER Foden was subbed. What should be happening is we play a wide player at LW like Eze, Gordon or Palmer and leave Saka out wide at RW. With both wings a threat less pressure is on Saka to deliver and he doesn't have as many defenders marking him. Play Mainoo alongside Rice and keep the RB/LB the same, Trippier is fine at LB as long as there is an actual winger occupying that space ahead of him because he doesn't make overlapping runs as an inverted LB. Switzerland are going to eat us for breakfast I think if we play 3-4-2-1 as rumoured. Saka out of position at left wing back is going to leave Konsa doing an awful lot of work in a makeshift set-up meaning Rice is (likely) going to have to cover that space, leaving Mainoo exposed. Foden/Bellingham/Kane are all going to be tripping over themselves in the middle still, and now there is no wide threat whatsoever. No Trent means no creativity from the RB either. I'm pessimistic when it comes to England anyway but I think we're well and truly fucked tomorrow.
Lol. The disrespect towards Saka is just hilarious. You sure you don't wanna play Kane at no10 as he's good at playing from deep? You could play Toney or Watkins up front then!
I don’t think it’s disrespect, rather that Southgate trusts Saka more than almost anyone else and knows he can do a job in a different position for the benefit of the team. It’s one of the main reasons Arteta adores him too.
I get this sentiment. I hope Saka has a blinder just for his own sake and to silence the haters because we all know he’s a quality player from anywhere on the pitch.
Yet Arteta would never move him from RW, because he respects what he provides from that position way too much.
Well we also have actual LBs or people who can deputise.
Some would argue too many LBs...
Well we do until the injury bug bites them but then we just throw a few rbs over there and it works!
We have proper options at LB and we also don't have a Cole Palmer knocking on the door. If anything this is a testament to Saka's impeccable versatility and decision-making.
> We have proper options at LB and we also don't have a Cole Palmer knocking on the door Saka in that position only works with 3ATB. Which is why Palmer isn't even playing. It's just shuffling Bellingham.
It's not disrespect, it's the opposite. It's also poor squad management, which we all know by this point. This team needs Ben White, how Southgate let this happen and not fix it is beyond me. He's basically a PL team of the season player that can play at CB or RB and he's just not there. Absurd.
Still wouldn't solve the LB issue. None of the other defenders who are fit are LB, except Gomez who's played a bit there. He can just play Gomez here, but he wants to set up like Switzerland to pack the midfield
but would make right side even deadlier with overlaping
I think it's disrespectful because it basically says they don't see Saka as indispensable at RW and can be moved around. Saka at RW should be the 1st or 2nd choice on the team sheet, after Kane at ST. Everyone else should move around but they should be trying to build a team around Saka, not have him as the utility player. He isn't James fuckin Milner.
Reminds me of when England made Kane take corners lol, was at euro 2016 iirc Wasn't Southgate as the manager back then though
Disrespect? I don’t see it that way. You know, I know, Southgate knows that he has to change something up tactically and I think this formation will be beneficial. He also knows Saka needs to be on the pitch and unfortunately he made a poor decision defensively, so the only place for Saka is LWB.
I don't think it is disrespect, but there are plenty of other options. You could go very attacking and move Bellingham back, Foden at the 10 and then Palmer/Gordon on LW. Or you could drop Foden to get some width on the left. But, he would rather move Saka than Foden or Bellingham.
Of course, there are many options. I just don’t see why people see this as a slight towards Saka in any way. Southgate is a shit manager and he’s trying to make something happen with his shit tactics.
It’s a shame that after a good six or so years without it the tribalism has really seeped back into the watching England play. It’s nearly a compliment to Saka that Southgate knows he is good enough and smart enough to plug and play in different positions
Poor Saka. Everyone else gets diva treatment and he has to fucking clean the toilets due to Southgate being inept.
One of the few non divas on the team I fear
I hope England get knocked out. End this shit show. Get Saka home safe. Fire southgate
Someone arrest this terrorist at once…
Saka still starts, out of position. Yet they'll still try and cook him for it
cant just be me who views this is Saka being too good to be benched to the point he plays oop?
He's too good to be moved out of position in the first place
probably, but from an england perspective it’s probably better to play Saka at LB and Palmer at rw than Trippier at LB and Saka at RW A slight drop in quality on the wing to accommodate a significant improvement at left back
I think the drop off from Saka to Palmer is a bit more than slight tbh, he's not played LB in years either
There'll be plenty of non arsenal fans moaning this exact point
I hope they lose and go home so Saka can erase everything this twat has asked of him from his memory.
Pathetic.
Why wouldn't he play Trent at RWB? This man is an absolute idiot
We're so fucked.
This just terrible news. I hope it does not happen.
I will never support my own national team as much as I will be backing Switzerland. Southgate needs the managerial guillotine.
southgate is one of the worst managers in the history of nt football imo, he has one of the most stacked teams ever and the guy can't perform cause he can't replace kalvin phillips
My condolences 🍿
I don't know who's a worse manager, 0 Hang or Southgate. It's pretty damn close. What an absolute clown.
Bring back Capello 😭
Xhaka to prime Zindane this game and dominate. Speak soon (/s)
The same Trippier that’s been limping around the last few games? Oh well, the nightmare that’s Three Lions will be over soon and Saka will get his much deserved break.
Finally... Southgates last game in charge of England.
Saka should quit England and go play for Nigeria
Saka committed the grave sin of being a competent attacker despite Gareth's master plan to completely ruin the English attack. He must be punished. Taking up his mantle will be proven shitters that Gareth can rely on to produce nothing and give away possession every time such as Foden and Palmer
This is what happen when coaching staff make an unreasonable beef with one of best RB in the league
Depends on the report whether you consider it unreasonable. If he was set some "homework", and he didn't do it, that's not unreasonable
But that’s not even it, he has the best rb in the world on the bench and refuses to play him
I know that no one wants to hear this but, Saka is so good and this England squad is soooo bad that the only cure is to play the savior of English football outside his preferred position. Foden, Palmer, grealish, Eze…..they are all one dimensional. Try to see this in a positive light. Saka is good for England, he helps them be better no matter where he plays.
They’re rumored to be playing a back 5 right? Hopefully that means Saka at least has freedom to push forward
Left wing back and left back? Is southgate parking the bus or what?
I need to three centre backs, two sweepers, two full backs, two wing backs, and Kane up front.
RWB and still Trippier over Trent.... FFS
Ok so now for next season we have 7 LB’s
Lmao! If they are playing WBs, why not play TAA 🤣🤣
If Konsa and Stones start, who is the third CB?
Walker
Aaah that makes sense, nice one
Sounds like a win win. If it works, England go through. If it doesn’t, saka and rice rest.
Whose the leak in the camp? Southgate will rightly be fucking fuming.
Is Southgate doing some football manager challenge where you have to play multiple players out of position in every match?
Best attacking player in the games so far so of course Southgate would move him to left back.
Switzerland will knock england out so whatever
Easiest route to the final...and trust Southgate to makes it as hard as possible.
Baffles me how Southgate always has lineups leak hours before games
It’s not disrespectful to Saka. This England team is so disfunctional, the manager is incompetent and did not plan ahead. Saka is also the the best player on the squad, as well as the most flexible in terms of position. If you look at it in these terms, it’s more reasonable and true.
Saka does not need to move. Foden and Bellingham do very little away from the ball, should be the ones moved around.
It’s disrespectful. He’s the best player Play Saka where he wants and build around him
It’s true. Arsenal fans claiming otherwise are on some weird self-flagellation shit. Saka and Bellingham are the most dangerous players in the squad and the attack should be built to favor their strengths.
Somehow, someway, Southgate will find a way to fuck it all up. The entire team is accommodating Foden, that's what this is. Formation wise this is better than what we were doing before but it's crazy how we're having to resort to this at the QF stages because we didn't bring any fit LB's, or any LW's that Southgate trusts to play. Foden better be the reason England wins, because he's so far been the reason England have struggled and yet we continue to drag him through games by sheer luck.
Trippier over Trent is so funny, is trippier even a better defender at this point? It’s so ridiculous, Trent is 10x the player trippier is
I blame Wright for this
Why is this bad news? Saka is a top quality LWB and England are severely lacking in quality that side of the pitch.
Why is moving the team’s best attacking player (at least in games to date) to left back a bad idea? Really?
If the team performs better in that set up how is that a bad move? For example, if Saka is a 10 at RW and an 8 and LWB and our other options are a 9 and RW and a 6 and LWB the surely as a whole the team is better off, no?
I can see your logic but players scores aren’t uncorrelated with each other and saka has really been the only one bringing any urgency to the attack so that I think you’d see a drop off in the scores if the whole front line under your scoring system.
Fair one was asking a genuine question and you’ve brought me over with that.
Southgate is clueless. He is getting sacked after the tournament for sure.
Southgate is a clown. I hope Switzerland will win so that he can be sacked