Southgate on England defeat

England’s manager Gareth Southgate has stated that there is no magic wand to make England better and that the players will have to improve.


He said that the England national team is still behind the best teams in the world and that it will take time to change that.

He said that it was the first time that he was angry with players since taking charge of the national team. He said that the players know it and that they know that they have not been good enough. He believes that the players need to learn how to control the game better.

Gareth Southgate said that it was a disappointment for him to have lost the game, especially when playing against ten men.

He stated that this was a reality check for the team. He indicated that it is true that the England team has some exciting youngsters and that they have been quite successful so far when it comes to winning games against small sides but they will need to improve if they want to win games against the better teams. Read More

WENGER BACKS SOUTHGATE FOR THREE LIONS JOB

Arsenal long time coach Arsene Wenger has backed the current interim manager of the Three Lions, Gareth Southgate to get the job on a permanent basis.


Wenger was tipped as the top choice to replace former manager Roy Hodgson after he resigned following a dismal Euro 2016 showing. However, Wenger opted to avoid being considered, deciding to rather focus on his club management career. Wenger says that Southgate has the required experience to manage the team despite not being a ‘big name.’

“Yes, he is. The difficulty in England is that there’s always the demand for big names,” said Wenger when asked if Southgate was a great choice for England. Southgate is standing in for four games following Sam Allardyce’s exit. He is widely expected to become the manager on a permanent basis if England defeat Scotland in the World Cup qualifier next month. The Three Lions will be hoping to give their 2018 World Cup dream a boost with a victory when they play Scotland at Wembley.

Wenger brushed off speculations that he would ever take up the job despite the concerns if Southgate can truly manage the team. Under Southgate, England played a lacklustre match against Slovenia and only managed to thrash Malta 2-0. The next two games would be key if Southgate is to get the job on a permanent basis.
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Roy Hodgson is considering bringing back John Terry

Roy Hodgson has recently talked about the possibility of luring John Terry into the English national football team as the head manager wants to reinforce the defensive section of the national squad and he is viewing the already retired John Terry as a possible option.

“There are, in my opinion, no left-sided centre-backs who are English playing in the league who are at least at the level of the ones we are choosing and that’s a fact of life and there’s not much we can do about it’’

“The point that we haven’t got the left-sided one is quite right, but there is nothing I can do about that unless suddenly in the next five weeks some brilliant English left-sided centre-back appears on the scene and I don’t anticipate that. I had a long chat with John the other day; he’s a very nice guy. But because he retired so long ago, he retired four years ago. He doesn’t feature in my thinking too often.But I can’t deny that is a valid point.’’ England’s Roy Hodgson said. Read More

It was looking like a day to forget for striker Wayne Rooney

For 85 minutes against Slovenia, it was looking like a day to forget for striker Wayne Rooney after he had missed some crucial chances to put his team ahead. The England team were trailing two Slovenia and were in danger of dropping their first points in the group stages.

After a disappointing World Cup 2014, the team has been on an impeccable run of form that has seen them take up five wins out of five up until now. A sixth victory would put them in a commanding position going into the last few games.

Third placed Slovenia were also fighting for qualification and a positive result would have helped them close the gap on second placed Switzerland. As it is, Switzerland have been able to secure a commanding position after getting a win to take advantage of the dropped points for Slovenia. Two goals from Jack Wilshere had given England a 2-1 lead in the match. However, Pečnik’s goal with six minutes remaining looked to have given them a well-earned point. After missing two big chances before his moment in the 86th minute, Rooney may have been forgiven for not being confident. However, he converted his chance with aplomb to give England all three points from this difficult away match. Read More