After a win in Prague, Joachim Löw and his players strongly criticised supporters’ offensive actions. Why won’t Gareth Southgate and co speak out when England fans behave badly?That was some performance from Joachim Löw, the Germany national manager, after the jarring evidence during the international break that there are still a few troglodytes among his team’s support who seem hell-bent on providing living proof of Einstein’s theory that there is no limit to human stupidity.Löw had just seen his team win 2-1 against the Czech Republic in Prague, maintaining an immaculate record in their World Cup qualifying group, but when he arrived for his press conference, face like thunder, the questions about his team’s performance had to wait. “I am...
The songs of some England fans at the Germany game were boneheadedly inappropriate but the general vibe was not aggressive, with many youthful fans like a slightly tougher version of the InbetweenersThere was a funny outtake from the Guardian’s Football Weekly at the last World Cup, a part of the show that was deemed too disturbing for broadcast. It was recorded the night before England played Italy in Manaus when, along with the Guardian’s then chief sports news reporter, I got a cab into town with some travelling England fans. Not long into a dark winding journey it became clear these weren’t everyday fans, but a small group of what appeared to be ageing “faces”, grizzly old semi-retired hoolie types,...
The Tottenham Hotspur forward showed fine movement and cute attacking play, but just lacked a goal to mark him out as the game’s most valuable performerOn a still, at times rather slow-burn night in Dortmund England did enough to win, ended up losing, but still looked in patches like a team feeling away at the edges of its new shape, exploring with interest some new post‑Rooney attacking gears.By the end they had also received a lesson in how to win, in the importance of cold hard edge in between the grace notes. Lukas Podolski hadn’t really done much by the 69th minute of this match. He touched the ball 30 times in all, chugged about eagerly, perhaps looked a little...
Gareth Southgate’s world is brave and bright; Jake Livermore and Michael Keane show promise in Dortmund, and Wayne who?“We have to think differently and work differently. I’m trying to open their eyes to what we believe is possible.” So said the manager on taking charge for the first time as the permanent incumbent and so he proceeded to oversee a bright and original-feeling England performance. This featured fluid movement, a high press when possible, and a defiance that even after Germany scored on 69 minutes allowed them to keep on playing in this fashion. Too much can be made of fresh dawns when it comes to Three Lions football, of course. But what Gareth Southgate has over his predecessor, Roy...
Without Wayne Rooney the manager can concentrate on creating a side that recaptures the imagination with a strong team ethic and a game planHere we go again. Time to fire up the sirens, unfurl the St George Cross flag and rattle off once more on the charabanc of doomed hope and certain despair. The Gareth Southgate England era has at least been notable for its ability to cut straight to the point. This is already the first England reign to begin rather than simply end with an ashen-faced apology, Southgate spending those first few weeks looking sad and saying sorry for all that stuff with Big Sam, Iceland and pretty much everything else for the last 50 years or so.Six...