Phileas Fogg

Looked fantastic. Imagine the uproar if/when Southgate benches him for Jordan Henderson!

Really like Toney. Seems more at home than Watkins. He’d be my second choice forward behind Kane.

Just listened to most of that - just terrible. He genuinely sounds like an audio of the default press conference options on Football Manager.

I know you watch a lot of England live so you probably know better than me - but I disagree with the ‘peaked’ point. I think now, in Bellingham, we’ve got that ‘x factor’ player you need. That will make a difference. We haven’t had that since Rooney imo - obviously the likes of Kane, Gerrard, Lampard etc are fantastic players - but there’s something about the likes of Bellingham and Rooney. I think Bellingham will likely go on to become England’s accepted ‘best ever player’ and having a midfielder who’s that good is so rare. In this upcoming tournament I think the only other side with one of those players is France with Mbappe. I just worry that Southgate’s management ability doesn’t match that of the squad - from the clips I see of him, like a certain Mr Manning, i’d find him very hard to get fired up for. He might be different behind closed doors, but i’ve always had this weird impression that subconsciously he’s more comfortable as a gallant loser than winner. You can imagine it - we narrowly lose in a semi with a typical Southgate performance - Gary Lineker signs off with a wry quip and it cuts to some salubrious montage (set to Bittersweet Symphony) featuring Bellingham clapping fans, Saka sitting in the centre circle crying or something. I lost a lot of respect for him about the Henderson situation (and the Qatar tournament too). He, no doubt influenced by the FA, seems very happy to lap up all the praise for being ‘right on’ (I can’t bring myself to say ‘woke’ - far too GB News).. but when it really matters he doesn’t act on it. You can’t have it both ways - what Henderson did was hypocritical and Southgate shouldn’t have wimped out of saying so. Likewise, you can’t virtuously gesture about equality and other causes but completely ignore Qatar’s stance on those issues.

I think we've got a stronger first 11 and potentially squad than most of those - actually beating them is a different question. I don't rate Southgate's game management or style of play, and under his leadership I feel the mentality of the team is weak. I think there's a culture in lots of the international teams above of being effective in tournament football - the Italy final being a great example. They managed the game really well, using their guile and experience. That's where we seem to struggle - for example I could see us struggling in a tournament context against an awkward South American side who know how to manage a game (historically someone like Uruguay). Out of those France and Argentina are obviously very strong. I wasn't that impressed with Brazil but obviously you'd never bet against them. Belgium are on a downward curve, but lots of experience in that side. I'd fancy us against Netherlands and Portugal. Spain and Italy have weaker squads than usual, but awkward teams to beat and know how to manage tournaments. Germany seem to be going under the radar a little, much better side than the one we beat. I would love to see how we'd get on in a tournament with a manager who understands how to manage those knockout games whilst letting our better players express themselves. I think my dream appointment would be Klopp if we had the pick of anyone.

I'd even suggest the Famleigh would beat us at the moment

That’s good. It’s obvious that Walker and almost definitely Maguire will be in the squad, so makes sense to try Lewis. He’s got great potential so would rather have him in the squad ahead of lots of the filler players Southgate insists on calling up. I see the Trafford the Burnley keeper has been bought in too, who they signed from Man City. Being at Burnley will skew it a bit, but he’s supposed to be very good isn’t he?

In his defence - and i’m not a Southgate fan - he was clearly trying out a few squad players. Brazil - and this is a weak Brazil side - bought on the best players they could. We started Gallagher and bought on Lewis Dunk. I can see what he was trying to do - but he’d do better to actively try and win these high profile games than use it to tinker.

What I would like to see England do is, aside from the first 11 plus usual subs - don't use the rest of the squad for mediocre filler players, instead adopt a more "special teams" approach to squad selection like an NFL team. What I mean by that is having people like James Ward-Prowse in the squad purely for dead ball situations. Like we used to do with McCombe / Flint in days gone by, have a particularly tall defender like Dan Burn, in the squad - perhaps to use more as an aerial attacking threat rather than as a defender (although his versatility might be useful). Have a couple of penalty specialists in the squad (Toney being one) and a goalkeeper who's particularly strong in that dept in the squad, even if statistically he's not as good all round as say Ramsdale. If you get the core 18 or so players who'll rotate in and out for starting places/extended sub appearances - surely it would make more sense to choose specialists (even if inferior in other areas) within the squad - especially given the tendency of international tournaments to go to extra time/pens. I think we'd stand a better chance of winning that way than just filling the squad up with 6/10 prem squad players. - the flaw with my own argument here is that it makes a strong case for including Jordan Henderson, given his experience, which I'd be vehemently against.

Oh that's it now - that is Manning's "Little Lee". Great shout.

There wasn’t any need to do this - although it’s got people talking and will probably boost sales. I don’t like it though, seems very unnecessary.

I don’t really know why we bother playing people like him or Lewis Dunk. They’re never going to be good enough so why bother? I appreciate we rotated the squad a bit today, but some players are clearly not international class.

Don’t worry though, on twitter they’ll have a snazzy video of the team getting off the coach with a royalty free “Drill” instrumental - which is an indisputable upgrade.

Chelski?! is it 2004?

I’m sold already - at least he’s interesting.. go get him BT!

That’s the impression I got too. He came across as actually more forgiving than the general mood music amongst the fans. Perhaps as he’s (presumably) not a fan - it’s easier for him to be objective.

In all seriousness i’m not sure - I imagine what he’s really saying is he wants players to work to a game plan regardless of external factors.

Basically, it’s clear you have a very basic understanding of the game - which is fine. Just makes it all the more amusing when you mansplain to people. I respect it (in a way) even if it’s not that funny.

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very well, I think differently.

I think an interesting barometer to judge Manning by is Joe Edwards at Millwall. Similar sized clubs with similar expectations, both appointed within a day of each other.. Manning slightly better win % but inflated by FA Cup games. Very similar in age, both allegedly highly thought of.. just that Millwall cut their losses ASAP.

It’s all relative though - Arsenal are expected to achieve those things. We aren’t - thus, in my view, it would be more satisfying to support a club like ours with everything to achieve than support a club where - given the invincibles season - that’s probably as good as it’ll ever be. Saying that though, generally winning must be fun. Regardless of 2016, I imagine supporting Leicester this season is fun.

I’m not so sure - I feel like the club culture at Arsenal has been infiltrated by the reactionary YouTuber generation which has cheapened it. Highbury was a proper stadium, but the Emirates (like the Etihad) epitomises a soulless bowl. Personally i’d find it very boring to support them. This season being an outlier.

I’m only saying those clubs because I imagine the novelty of European away days has probably worn off for Arsenal/Spurs fans - ok, Everton admittedly is a bit different.. but you get my point. Clubs that can always predict where or whereabouts they’ll be in the table and what they’ll achieve.