Dan

I think there is definitely an element of wanting somebody to blame, but I also cannot believe there aren't managers out there who can get more from this. I think our squad is very imbalanced, something which he has contributed towards. This Trent in midfield business is starting to remind me of Hodgson doing the same with Rooney in 2016 just as an excuse to have him on the pitch. We make too big a fuss in this country of who is left out rather than about having a balanced team, and Southgate's fallen right into it. End this silly experiment now and start playing some round pegs in round holes. Another issue I think we have is Pep tax. It's not just him but arguably Arteta too. I think so many of these players look out of their comfort zones playing for England. Beneficiaries of a system built to maximise their abilities in a very particular style. Look at Rice earlier - looked an absolute fish out of water a lot of that game because he hasn't got the same runs and options around him that he has at Arsenal. In England the top teams have become massively about players fitting a system while individual flair is dampened somewhat, and I think this is why a lot of them look a bit off when playing for England. Could be talking total rubbish here but just a theory. This just isn't a team winning the tournament. I know we've often started fairly slow under him, but this isn't slow - we look frankly on a par with Slovenia at best. This group has been a massive much of a muchness. Three draws from the four games and a very tight unconvincing 1-0 win for England being the difference. I don't think he can play the percentages through this time. I think the heavy criticism he's had from the pundits is quite telling. I think we all deep down know we're doing nothing this time around. That reaction in the studio post match today I've not seen over England since probably Iceland in 2016 - I think a lot of it is it hitting people that were convinced we'd win it that we aren't going to. This just feels different. Rubbish in the build up. Rubbish in the tournament. You go away after not watching for a while and you think England's talent can carry us, but we offer so little. I think it's nowhere near a given we beat Slovenia either.

England look fucking awful. This is comfortably the worst we've looked in a Southgate tournament. I've thought throughout we'll lose when we hit a big team but I actually think we might well be humbled in surprising fashion here. We're all over the place.

And what an absolutely diabolical decline that is. We finished in the top half of the Premier League all the way from 2018 to 2022. How we've gotten ourselves into this position is just incredible. I could just about stomach it if I saw the wrongs being righted, but this appointment and plenty of other things that have happened since just proves to me they're totally unserious. If I could bet on what league we'd be in in three years time I'd have pretty good money on the Championship. I expect relegation this year and for us to be in the Championship with a much diminished advantage. Entirely self-inflicted. And those responsible will still be in their jobs. I've never known a club so tolerant of underperformance. This owner is out of his depth.

Update: With Steve Cooper managing us. Nothing good can come from this.

The latest few days of the Leicester circus. Already absurd matchday prices substantially increased to a point where they're comparable to the top teams in the league, for a side who are very likely to go down anyway. Push a bullshit rumour that Potter is close to distract people from this. Turns out Cooper is very close to done. Cooper's on an absolute hiding to nothing here.

I think it's the main reason we aren't going to win the tournament. He's made on the face of it brave decisions, but I think we've been left quite imbalanced and that can be a real killer in tournaments - probably the thing that hurts the most big hitters historically. England v Serbia quite comfortably the worst game of the first round as well.

Never had a single game fall on my birthday in my life. The very first time I get it, they give me Forest away. Fuck.

Our imbalance is going to be the undoing I think. You're hinging so much on Shaw's fitness - do you want to play a natural left back or not? If so, then call up somebody like Mitchell to be deputy. To 'still' be shoehorning Trippier there is ridiculous. It has gone a bit naughties era for England where we have loads of talent yet so many in similar positions, but there are clear gaps in the side. Serbia won't punish you for it, Denmark probably won't, Slovenia probably won't (though I really enjoyed their performance and I weirdly think they might come 2nd) but I think anybody from the expected top 6 or so will.

It's just going to be the same old. Could've been from any other Southgate tournament. It'll be mostly about the draws we get and mainly if Bellingham really is as big a matchwinner as we need him to be - Champions League campaign makes me think he's not quite at that level just yet. Job done but that wasn't good at all. Absolute slog of a performance. I do think England have a bit of a balance issue for all the talent.

£10mil, but we aren't in a position to splash money. We're supposedly baulking at the compensation for Corberan. To me that is silly because the manager is so important and the money relative to what they'll drop on players is peanuts. But I completely get them prioritising Potter - I don't think Potter will come to us though.

I just can't believe we could baulk at £4mil for the manager we want (Corberan) yet cough up £15mil for Sean Longstaff. Only joking. Of course I can.

Bit of a non-story for me given it's pretty easy to work around but won't hurt. I've no idea how people play with fake badges and shit to be honest

Yeah it's a nonsense. Often from the same twats who moan I don't play them as well.

Group A - Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Scotland Group B - Italy, Spain, Croatia, Albania Group C - England, Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia Group D - France, Austria, Netherlands, Poland Group E - Ukraine, Belgium, Romania, Slovakia Group F - Portugal, Czech Republic, Turkey, Georgia Tournament winners - Germany Golden boot - Harry Kane

Turkey!

He seems like Germany's answer to Kieran McKenna. It's risky and it's interesting from them.

It's a terrible result. Embarrassing and can't be dressed up as anything other than that. Lets just hope it serves as a wake up call. I generally trust England under Southgate to navigate group stages. He's been largely flawless in them. It's beating anybody tricky that I never trust him with.

Dear oh dear.

Been thinking earlier how bullshit the game is that we can get penalised this heavily for simply spending money while others can basically get away with trying to decimate the league. Then we go and give Vestergaard three years and I just think yeah you plonkers deserve everything you get. Rudkin is genuinely awful. How is this bloke so untouchable, what has he got on this owner?

He's had a very good season but that's far too much.

Time to set some companies up then. Total fools if we don't. I can't get annoyed at Chelsea. It's the clowns at the Premier League again.

Potter won't take us. I think he sees his stock as higher than us while we're a risk. Really am pissed off at what this ownership and board have done to us. We're back in the league but comfortably odds on for relegation. Pathetic decline.

Clubs will be hit with literal points deductions for spending money (despite spending a fraction of some of the other clubs in the league) yet those same clubs got away totally free with trying to leave the league and bring the structure down. The game is broken. It's completely rigged. It's why I can't get angry with Man City fighting them even if they are guilty.