Did anyone really, honestly expect any unenforced changes? Gareth has become everything he wasn't when he first started the job, now picking players on reputation and status rather than how well they're playing. We'll see how it works out for him. 

Hopefully carries on his form from Club Brugge where he was binned after just 3 months for being terrible.

Happy with the appointment as I don't think he's a good manager, but as Parker himself has shown, along with the likes of Russell Martin and Daniel Farke, you don't have to be an especially good manager to get a parachute club out of the division, such is the financial/squad quality gap these days. 

2 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

How was that Spanish handball any different to some of the ones that have resulted in penalties being given/goals disallowed?

I don’t think it should have been given but the inconsistency is baffling. 

Something something silhouette. I don't really get it. 

What's old Johnny P up to then? Seems like an easy gig. 

Knew as soon as it went to pens Portugal would win. 

I know it's Portugal, but at the same time... not sure I could deal with watching another Slovenia game. They try hard but have had no offensive quality in this tournament. The penalties summed them up as an attacking force. 

Portugal very, very lucky that Slovenia's attacking options are abysmal. 

Ronaldo's head's gone here. Jeez. 

2 minutes ago, Blow-in said:

Irish commentator's have said Ronaldo has scored one of his last 157 free kicks. Surely that can't be right?

 

If it is it's a poor return.

Think the Beeb said it was 57 rather than 157, but they made the same comment so assume it is true, whatever the number. 

9 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

In the first half I'd agree, most of Portugal's attack is coming down the right at the moment. That said, I'd be dragging Ronaldo off so that the attack can have some balance.

Let's be honest, the only one who takes Ronaldo off is Ronaldo. Martinez is just a cheerleader on the sidelines. 

18 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

well i did`nt know the terminally useless roberto martinez was portugal boss,that guy must do some serious a**e  licking to keep getting big jobs

A textbook case of falling upwards. Remarkable really. 

53 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

On these points though, OP was posting a stat about all England managers in that period combined, not just any England manager. So it doesn't really matter how long any of them stayed in situ. Slight exception for the argument that continuity breeds success.

True, but it still makes it look more impressive than it is to say 1967 - 2016 when it's arguably not really comparable until 2000, or 1996 at a push. 

33 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Great stat on bbc five live - Southgate has now won more knockout games than all England managers 1967 to 2016 put together (!!).

Some signficiant caveats there, particularly when it comes to both the WC and the Euros being continuously expanded to include increasingly weaker teams which make it easier to qualify, easier to get out of the group and easier to win earlier knockout games. 

In terms of tournament statistics, it would be difficult to compare Southgate with any manager pre-2000 simply because of how much the tournaments have changed structurally. The 1992 Euros had 8 teams, now there's 24. 

Also have to factor in that many England managers post-Robson didn't have the amount of tournaments Southate has had. Venables had one, Euro 96. Hoddle had one, World Cup 98. 

I think you could argue quite sensibly that the only managers Southgate can be directly compared to on most metrics are Sven and Roy. 

Georgia gave it a go, but the gulf in class was too much in the end. If Georgia has scored on one of their counters when it was 1-0 or 1-1 it could have made things very interesting, but it wasn't to be and ultimately Spain deserved to go through as they were by far the better team. Georgia can be proud of their efforts regardless, a brilliant first tournament for them. 

Spain / Germany in the quarters will take out one of the two best teams in the tournament in the last eight. 

4 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Win like this against a quality side in the final and I'll be over the moon. But the way we have floundered against meh sides tells me we won't be reaching the final despite a very generous draw.

I think we're both in agreement there. I don't think the Swiss will be too concerned. I imagine they'll consider this their best chance so far to reach a semi final. 

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I feel sorry for Guehi, somebody ( Foden ? ) sold him short with an awful pass and he had to take one for the team. Now he misses the next game. I wasn’t impressed by the ref he was letting things go in the second half that he’d been booking players for in the first 10 minutes.

Ref seemed to be trying to establish his authority early on with unnecessary yellows, but as you say, it made him look inconsistent when he didn't give cards for fouls that were clearly worse later on and actually deserving of a yellow. 

Just now, bluebruce said:

Whilst this is absolutely true, the way we have performed against bang average teams every single time provides little confidence we will be able to overcome good sides, let alone the best sides.

Not sure I agree that it's true tbh. Aren't international tournaments supposed to be fun? Aren't you supposed to have pride in watching your team? Aren't you supposed to look forward to watching your country play? 

I dread every England match. Not because I'm anxious, but because we're so boring. Grinding out wins all the way to the final doesn't sound like a good time to me. I'm not sure winning the tournament will mean that much if every match was total shit. Or maybe it would, idk. Doesn't feel like it right now though. 

1 minute ago, matt83 said:

I find this group of England players and manager very dislikable. They’re a bunch of arrogant cry babies none more so than Bellingham. He views perfectly justifiable criticism as direct attack. A far more humble approach would be to acknowledge the team and him personally were shite for 94 mins. But no just this deflect and dismiss attitude. Walker was similarly arrogant in his post match comments Slovenia. Southgate is just delusional. 

They all come across as delusional, honestly. Don't agree with anything being thrown at Southgate, but has deserved the jeering for some of his ridiculous comments. He's been on another planet in this tournament. The players I'm less critical of as I appreciate they'll be defending each other and the manager. Standard us against the world stuff. 

That arrogant 'you were saying?' reaction from Jude after he scored, though... yeah, pretty silly when he's spent the majority of the tournament playing the way he has. Well done on a very lucky last gasp equaliser against Slovakia, having spent another 90+ minutes boring everyone, English or otherwise, to tears. You sure showed us! 

Meanwhile I watch Georgia and wonder how they are showing more pace, trickery, guile and effort than any of our players have at any point in the tournament. 

26 minutes ago, damo100 said:

Post of the day.

Was very much true at the time it was posted tbf. Still is arguably. Bellingham's goal was superb but the only useful thing he did all game. Kane's was just a fortunate poacher's header which was only possible because of a miskick which led to a flick on. 

Both need to step up two or three gears against the Swiss. 

Southgate is a lucky, lucky bloke. The Swiss will dispose of us comfortably if lessons aren't learnt from tonight. Foden and Trippier need to be dropped. Palmer at the very least needs to start. Massive question marks over Kane/Bellingham playing together despite their goals tonight. 

Can't say I feel too sorry for Slovakia. They had a glorious chance to go two up and wasted it. They had a huge chance to progress tonight and I think they'll have some major regrets. 

We limp on. Southgate has crippled this team, and we can only drag ourselves so far. Switzerland will be our first real challenge, and there needs to be a radical shift in pretty much everything for us to get any further. 

Unbelievable. 

Tbf Slovakia blew a gift wrapped chance to go two up. Only had to hit the target, but missed. Can't do that at international level. 

Oh great, another 30 minutes of this. 

Just now, benhben said:

This is crazy. So many options and he's made one sub by 80 mins. It's mental. That was due to injury as well

Evidently trying not to disrupt our anti-momentum.

Bellingham and Kane must go down as two of our worst attackers in any tournament. Bellingham useful for 45 minutes and Kane for that ten seconds when he tapped in against Denmark. 

Have we still not had a shot on target? BBC saying 0...