One of the biggest reasons for Englandâs better tournament performances is the standard of international competition is fairly low at the minute. Morocco and an old Croatian side making the world cup semis, a very ordinary Denmark making the Euro semis despite their best player having a heart attack, Italy starting a striker on loan to a club in Argentina last night are all examples of this.
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Not sure what youâre talking about. Yet again youâve moved away from your last point (capello) and gone elsewhere in a bizarre attempt to score internet points.
Sterling has been crucial for Southgate. Kanes job has been to be up top as a target man for when the team has been so far back. Itâs been sterlings job for 5 years to get up with him asap, feed off him and score. Sterling has scored countless crucial goals for england over the years. Breaking to deadlock. Kane is a great man to put a hattrick on panama in the group stages after another lad opens the scoring. Or obviously score a penalty, or he was.
Ive always rated sterling, think he scored loads of crucial goals for city and was surprised how often pep showed he didnt rate him. But Peps a cunt.
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Do England not suffer from the same malaise though? Stones, Maguire, Pickford, Phillips, Rice are all very average.
Agreed. It would take a superb manager to pull that rabble together.
Saka and Bellingham were the driving force at the recent WC. Kane hampered them.
Iâd say of most of the major nations that this current England team is one of the few that would give a game to their national side from a decade ago. The England team that lost to Italy in 2012 had Hart, Lescot, Ashley Young, Milner, Scott Parker and Danny Welbeck all starting. Andy Carroll came on after 60 minutes.
So youâre doubling down on Sterling being better than Kane?
Imagine trying to explain that this is a serious forum and then showing this thread to somebody 
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Donât think so. Very few egos involved. Kane is their best player and is a humble enough sort.
Agreed. Mike Hunt also maintains Firmino is shit⌠Absolutely mental
But England always underperformed in major tournaments. If they had a decent manager with a bit of stones they could have won the Euros. That loss in 2012 was their usual exit at the first knockout stage.
England have Saka and Kane. Bellingham added to their midfield but that wouldnât be hard. Outside of those 3 they are very very limited. Maguire and Shaw are hopeless.
Youâre making shit up here Mike. Again. I said Kane was a very good player. You said he was responsible for their improvement! I said Southgate was. He is.
At right back alone England can select between Walker, Alexander-Arnold, James, White and Trippier. Any one of them players would probably start for every other international side in Europe. They still have ordinary players, but the main reason for their improved tournament performances is the drop off in quality among the competition over the past decade.
This makes no sense.
1You denigrate a bunch of players telling us they are below international standard.
2 I say it must mean their manager is good if they are challenging for honours consistently.
3 You say No. Itâs all about Kane. Bizarre.
Right back is where they are now strong. Theyâre pretty threadbare everywhere else. Shaw, Stones and Maguire, Mings, Henderson, Phillips. Compare to say the options they had with Terry, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Scholes, Gerrard. Yes the overall standard has dropped elsewhere but arguably has with England too⌠@Juhniallio says, in no particular order that Shaw, Maguire, failed Middlesbrough managerSouthgate and Raheem Sterling are the reasons. Itâs a combination of things but I thought Kane against France made the whole thing click. Himself and Saka gave a very good French team bags of it. Wouldnât have watched much of Kane or England apart from latter stages of competitions prior but my appreciation of him soared after the French game. Most remember the missed penalty.
Its also a very united and happy camp.
Although the Ben White thing is a bit strange.
What big club did Danny Rose play for?
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The choice between Foden, Grealish and Rashford on the left is a decent one. Fellas like Matthew Upson and Jermain Defoe were regular starters for England 10-12 years ago, Glen Johnson as well - load of players at least as average as Stones and Rice if not worse than them. They are probably not a better side now than they were then, but nearly every other nation is worse. Thatâs why they are competitive in tournaments, itâs not because of Harry Kane.
Forgot about Foden whoâs class too but then he wasnât always a starter. The lack of ego is a big thing tooo and itâsmore luck than design from Southgate. Heâs lucky that most of his best players seem to buy into the team ethic. Rashford Kane and Saka seem sound skins and Henderson is known to be good with the youngsters at Liverpool. The likes of Gerrard, Lanpard and Beckham in the dressing room would never allow a good atmosphere. That was a damn good French team that could have won 2 in a row. That Croatian team had a magnificent midfield. Even the Italian team that won the Euros was their best since 2006. Over egging the demise of international football.
The French are a good side. Croatia are well past it, 6 games at the world cup and the only game they won was against Canada. Italy won the Euros but werenât good enough to qualify for the world cup. Spain and Germany are a shadow of their former selves, Netherlands and Belgium slipping backwards too. Brazil had Richarlison as their main striker, it will be at least April before he scores a league goal this season if he manages one at all.