Gareth Southgate

That's a different argument though. International football is generally dull, due to a lack of preparation time and the fact many matches are purely attack v defense.

If England are boring to watch, tell me which international sides play the swashbuckling football you crave?
The only international side I could say were ever regularly swashbuckling were the Brazil team of the 70s and 80s that went 24 years without winning a world cup, and only did it when they finally realised how vital Dunga and Mauro Silva were in CDM, they get the attack-defence balance right, In other words they, they learned to be pragmatic, not try and simply outscore other teams 5-4. The fullbacks bombed on regularly, but those two held a double pivot in front of an average defence......but like what England have been doing under southgate.

They won that tournament by winning games by 1 goal mostly, Cameroon 3-0 was the only easy win. they beat netherlands 3-2, but other than that the other 3 knockout stages were 1-0, 1-0 and 0-0 (pens). No brazilians complained though, they had a world cup.
 
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It's the Pep Guardiola syndrome.

Possession football can be very boring to watch but it's also extremely effective.
I don't particularly enjoy watching England or City.

The worse the opposition, the more boring it generally is as they pack 11 men into their own defensive third and say "come and break us down".
 
Spain, 2010 world cup winners, what were their results:

Groups:
Spain 0-1 Switzerland
Spain 2-0 Honduras
Spain 2-1 Chile
Knockouts:
Spain 1-0 Portugal
Spain 1-0 Paraguay
Spain 1-0 Germany
Spain 1-0 Netherlands

Did anyone complain about boring negative football? No, not really, but I do remember everyone in this country complaining that we didn't have the technique to control possession like Spain do, why don't we have those technical players, what's wrong with our academies and coaches relying on speed and strength instead of technical ability. It was all over the papers and the TV coverage at the time. Would anyone seriously hate England winning a tournament like that? Not that we will, because we are far, far more attacking than that Spain side
 
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For the 40 years or so that I've been following football, England have always been criticised for playing boring football, and that they should crush minnow with greater ease.

Most football fans in England don't support the biggest clubs, by which I mean the top 6 usual suspects. I think the tendency is to assume once those big names are on our team (i.e. England) we should imperiously swat any lesser team aside without fuss. Well, that's not what big clubs do week in, week out, so why would we expect international sides to do that? Below are some of Manchester City's league results from this season. They have the best players and the best manager, yet still don't always destroy lesser opposition in the way we would expect.


Sheffield Utd 1-2 Man City
Wolves 2-1 Man City
Man City 2-1 Brighton
Luton 1-2 Man City
Man City 2-2 Crystal Palace
Man City 1-0 Brentford
Bournemouth 0-1 Man City

No one swashbuckles to easy victories all the time despite a gulf in resources in their favour

Being a dominant team, even with vast material advantages, does not mean stella football and flamboyant victory every week, and failure to achieve that does not mean you're not a very good team or a very good manager.
 
For the 40 years or so that I've been following football, England have always been criticised for playing boring football, and that they should crush minnow with greater ease.

Most football fans in England don't support the biggest clubs, by which I mean the top 6 usual suspects. I think the tendency is to assume once those big names are on our team (i.e. England) we should imperiously swat any lesser team aside without fuss. Well, that's not what big clubs do week in, week out, so why would we expect international sides to do that? Below are some of Manchester City's league results from this season. They have the best players and the best manager, yet still don't always destroy lesser opposition in the way we would expect.


Sheffield Utd 1-2 Man City
Wolves 2-1 Man City
Man City 2-1 Brighton
Luton 1-2 Man City
Man City 2-2 Crystal Palace
Man City 1-0 Brentford
Bournemouth 0-1 Man City

No one swashbuckles to easy victories all the time despite a gulf in resources in their favour

Being a dominant team, even with vast material advantages, does not mean stella football and flamboyant victory every week, and failure to achieve that does not mean you're not a very good team or a very good manager.
But there again....a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (y)
 
Morocco
That's a different argument though. International football is generally dull, due to a lack of preparation time and the fact many matches are purely attack v defense.

If England are boring to watch, tell me which international sides play the swashbuckling football you crave?
 
Remind me again where I said results? I said the brand of football, the way they/we play

What about their brand of football do you like?

It can't be their attacking prowess as they're low scoring.

You've just said them because they won a few matches against the odds at the World Cup.

Results that you'd be slagging off as boring if it had been England involved.
 
Dear me. Where to start with this.

With Southgate one thing England have without doubt developed is the ability to comfortably beat the teams they should. Gone are the days of huffing and puffing against Iceland, Slovenia, Algeria (all in tournaments of recent memory.

At the last World Cup England dispatched Wales and Senegal 3-0 with ease. Playing football that was modern with controlled possession and chances created.

I seriously wonder about some England fans.
Not to mention beating Germany in a competitive knock out game 2-0. I never thought I’d see the day in my lifetime.

Of course the counter argument is always that it was a poor German side. Can’t win! They were poor because we made them be!
 
But the type of football sends me to sleep, the players we have at our disposal we should be steam rolling teams who are far inferior to us,

Remind me again where I said results? I said the brand of football, the way they/we play

You've inferred results. If you meant we should be steamrolling our opponents 1-1 or 1-0, I apologise, but I'd also think you were gibbering.
 
I see Thomas Tuchel took off his two best attacking players with 5 minutes plus stoppage time to go last night, before his side lost trying to defend a lead. And some people say Tuchel is a more attack minded manager than Southgate.
 
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