JJ dislikes Gerrard and JJ loves Jude but Jude loves Gerrard and that's the love triangle I have in my head

As an Ireland fan, it pains me to admit that England have an unbelievable squad and are probably underperforming by not winning anything atm, versus in the past when the English media said they were "underperforming" but they actually just weren't good.

Personally I think that Southgate was a great manager for England to transition from the old guard to the new team in between 2016-2020. He did great job "retiring" a lot of these guys and introducing young, talented ones, who would not get a chance under different managers as early and would have to wait for their chance long time. On other side, he slided into this "comfort zone" with calling up players, who should not be called or should not be playing - clear example is Phillips, who has 800 minutes in past year and half. Another one Maguire, who for long time was not even played by United in starting lineup. Henderson in Saudis. Rashford in terrible form.... There will be probably more. I would say these players should be promised a chance next time, but not having 100% guaranteed call unless they perform for their club. For example Maguire is there now for a reason. But for previous year? I dont think so. Other thing is, that you need strong tactician on the bench to win tournaments. I think that is something, that England is lacking. Finally strong lineup all around, but missing that strong, tactical manager, who will simply move it to another level. I think England should consider bringing somebody, who failed in long campaigns, but is tactically sound. I dont see English one, so foreign...?

I still think of that France game in the WC when we were down 2-1 towards the end and we were getting set-piece opportunities. The Rashford free-kick at 90+8. Just for that scenario alone, it justifies having James Ward-Prowse in the squad to bring on for those last 15 minutes. He is a unique player that adds something no one else can match. Southgate needs to arm himself with players that can offer something different when plan A isn't working. How many times have we seen him score from that position - he is the best in the world at it, how can he not make the squad?

One other point about international football I want to stress is that the tournaments are all cup competitions. This influences playstyle to a deep extent and hence we see defensively solid teams who have good counterattack go far in the world cup/euro. Keeping possession is a good way to control the game, but so is scoring goals. If there was a league competition I think England would have a higher chance of winning, but with Foden/Saka and other fast wingers I think they're still top 3 contenders at euros.

Ironically the only England midfielder who is really good at receiving the ball at half turn is Stones. Still remember that performance against Inter.

Honestly, no, I think for the first time in our recent history (and at least for 35 years) we are not underrated. I think Southgate is only an average international manager, which will probably hold us back. I think the last thing we are missing is that top level motivator and tactician to take us over the line.

How can England be progressive enough, retain possession high up the field or counter press with Maguire in the backline who can’t play a high line. He’s a solid player if you want to play deep and counter - but surely to play him for England sells all our attacking talent short. Also Rice and TAA as a double pivot sounds dangerous - can either of them play on the turn? And surely any of the top European seeds would be hamstrung by “not being tested” in qualifying. I don’t think this is the issue. In conclusion, it’s like 10 Things I Hate About You: “Can you be just rated?” :)

Hard to be good under Southgate terror ball, man still picks Jordan Henderson in 2023😂😂

I think the Saka-Foden partnership on the wings can be a game changer for England because of how comfortable both of them are on both wings. Foden and Saka can play either position based on the opposition and their fullbacks and it creates new ways of attacking. Then with Jude in the middle who can be a perfect all rounder in the team, it just creates so many opportunities and the rest of the team has good enough passing and crossing to find these guys.

Think you’re absolutely spot on regarding how teams win international tournaments. Be defensively solid, make the most of set pieces, have moments of individual quality on the counter. I feel like GS has tried to harness this with England, luck in the draw might see us win something this summer. You could maybe argue that v France we were the better side and lost the game, the margins v the top teams are so small

It's amazing how many fans and commentators confuse having lots of very good attacking players with having a squad that should be winning tournaments. As JJ was alluding to, for all the competition we have for the AM/RW/LW spots we are incredibly reliant on Bellingham and Kane for goals and on Rice to protect the defence, and I would take the defences of France, Portugal or Holland over ours in a heartbeat.

I think if Unai Emery were England's manager we'd have a realistic shout at winning every tournament we entered. Southgate was the perfect man for building spirit and cohesion but is a couple of notches short of taking that final step.

Bellingham is *that good* that he made them 'appropriately rated' for the first time in my lifetime. Before that, there had always been better teams. I don't think they should beat France. And I don't think they'll outpass Spain, for eg. But with luck of the draw, they could win the Euros.

I've literally never heard an English person seriously suggest that they're actually going to win. Everyone usually says "yeah well get to the quarter or semis and lose to the Germans on penalties again". That's what EVERYONE says about England and that's what happens (its not always Germany). They're not overrated they are well rated. A very strong side, but there are lots of very strong sides.

'Why do they struggle in tournaments?' they don't? Semi, final, quarter is amazing for a team that went quarter, group stage, round of 16, at their previous three tournaments.

On paper, I think only France have a better squad than England in Europe and there's still not much between them. The problem seems to be that the qualifiers and friendlies are so low-stakes that Southgate often fields weaker teams just to give fringe players a chance to prove themselves and try out different systems, meaning their actual best XI rarely actually plays in these games. France, by contrast, started a close to full-strength team in an inconsequential game against Gibraltar the other day. It's not challenging opposition but it's still useful to get everyone used to playing with each other in roles they don't usually play in at club level.

England had the pivot player to sit in front of the back four in Phillips but he chose to sit on the bench for a year and a half and completely derail his career 😅

That baby was surprisingly eloquent today, hope he got his parent’s permission before appearing on KZfaq in a comical amount of shirts

Tournament football is quite tricky. It's not as straightforward as league football. You won't usually win a tournament with attacking football but rather defensive solidity and effective attacking transitions. The key is to find the balance between Declan Rice & Kalvin Phillips.

I refuse to believe the hissing noise was heating. It's either a gasleak (which would explain a lot) or it's Joe hissing like an angry feline in the corner.

The problem with England I personally think is the defense they are not consistent enough and the goal scoring department is a bit weak too. After harry kane you drop the level to callum wilson and tammy abraham.

Psychology is a big problem with the side, we need to believe in how good we are and there is no doubt in the squad quality. We need a little bit of luck too. Frankly we lost the last Euros on penalties the closest we've come since 66 (note to the Southgate hate mob) if it was for you lot we would still have big Sam in charge

Giving the heating a mic was a great move lol. Love the content as usual 🤙

Southgate has been England's best Manager this century and still gets massive criticism? I don't get it. Euros he lost on penalties, LITELARRY it can go either way on that. 2018 WC? Croatia were on fire! WC 2022? France almost won the whole thing! And France beating England is not a surprise, France is France! Being England Manager has to be the toughest job in Football. Draw against North Macedonia in a game that you have already qualified as number 1 and still get roasted. If I were Southgate, I'd have resigned a long time ago!

Reuben looks so happy to be there. Not even a pretend laugh for JJ's hotel story. Just 'ok. brill.'

JJ said "on a first name basis" about Trent and then proceeded to say Jude instead of Bellingham at every opportunity after 😂 😬

England, France, Portugal and Spain have great teams right now it'll be fun to see them at the Euro's. England's only issue is balance, should they find the right squad balance then they'll take it, but if they don't then the media and the fans should not eat them up, tough luck try again.

After the euphoria of 2018, 2020, and 2022 to an extent, Ive been an ardent Southgate fan. When people would say he needs to be sacked I would remind them that he's lead England the furthest into tournaments in decades and should be trusted. BUT, watching England since 2022 has changed my mind. We're slow, we're unimaginative, we cant make the best of our chances and seal the deal. We can only blame Southgate with players like Kane, Saka, Foden, Bellingham, Rice, Stones, Walker, and others at our disposal. There's never a good time to change managers, but I think if we stick with this one we'll "miss the boat" on this generation and it'll be another 20 years before we get close to any trophy.

We have two top contenders for the Ballon d'or next year in Kane and Bellingham. Our squad isn't overrated, but to have any expectations of possible success with Southgate in charge is indeed overrating us.

Love the Castolo 9 PES reference in the background!

England have a great attack but are let down by a quite poor defence and a strong defence is what wins tournaments.

I'm surprised it didn't come up during the video when you talked about not facing strong opposition, but I think we've got the luck of the draw with regards to the two international friendlies in March; one against Brazil and the other against Belgium. Hopefully those two games will offer a relatively low-risk way to test the team and manager prior to the Euros.

this is the real golden generation, we’ve always had a few positions in the starting 11 that have let us down but now we’re literally set. The only not great positions in our team is our second centre back and the keeper, other than that we have a borderline world class player in all 9 other positions in the team. The problem is our manager isn’t top tier, there’s not many who are at international level but we have a lot of city and arsenal players in the 11 so why not play how they play at club level instead of playing a boring style

JJ same thing happened me on a stag do, I just slept in the hallway until daybreak.

The truth about England's rating is that it's relative to every other country. 4 is a good spot for them because, on England's best day, every team 5 and lower is half as good and they have the pieces to beat every team above them. If they win the euros next year and won the world cup back in 2022 or in 2026 no one would be surprised.

Love that Castolo shirt in the background.

i think southgate just needs to bring someone in to assist with tactics cuz hes good for the squad and gets them playing as a team its just not exceptional tactics which is the last thing missing from england

Why is saka always left out of the mentions on Englands best player? Literally always outperforms foden for England but they act like foden is the future when Sakas been better and is younger. Never mind he’s won England player of the year 2 years in a row

Can you please do a video on why no team can consistently keep clean sheets this year in the PL

Le Tissier and now Ward-Prowse, did the FA have something against Southampton players?

Glad that story at the end is immortalized on the internet

What does the last part got to do with the video and question?

Asking a question you already know the answer to is nasty work 🤣

Yes, in tournament football especially away from home.

JJ is running rings around this fella

I don't like that Southgate keeps picking his favourites that aren't performing and isn't picking players who are on form. I give him credit for giving me great memories of supporting England

England fans have said the exact same thing for like 40 years waffle

How many shirts is rueben wearing?

I agree with pretty much everything said here but if England are facing “easy” opposition in qualifying and group stages doesn’t that by definition mean that the team isn’t overrated but is just objectively good? You can only beat what’s in front of you? If England breeze past other teams that aren’t a challenge but only face the big boys (teams we wouldn’t necessarily be expected to easily beat - France, Argentina Brazil etc.) rarely, then that’s surely an argument that we are actually a very good side, rather than an impediment to our performing on the big stage?

They can win next year. The manager is not the best and the defense is not solid. But I think they have a chance in Germany with Bellingham and Kane.

Eze really needs to make the squad, huge game changer

where is JJ from?

I'm a 26 y/o brazillian, and this is definitly the best squad england has had during my lifetime, possibly the best squad in the world right now. In the past the english supporters overrated the the squads, but i don't think it's the case this time around.

In my recent memory winning international teams have been built around their best players and play to their strengths. Mbappe was given a pivot in Giroud and played counter attacking football. Messi given a free role for Argentina etc. Does this England team play to the strengths of our best players? It feels like we play to the strengths of players like Maguire with a deep line and focusing on set pieces

How are the comments not dominated by discussion around JJ's hotel story

This is some of the best tifo content in ages

As a Portuguese person i believe that i can provide the best insight into this question. England are a top 5 team. They are not favorites even though I prefer them being favorites as it puts more pressure than they already have. In terms of starting 11 they are very good. In terms of 23 man squad they are behind Portugal. If you compare both England and Portugal and you take off the english bias the teams are very close.

the hotel need to release footage of a drunk JJ wandering around the gym at 4am trying to escape

From an Australian perspective, I would say its clearly just a matter of when not if they win a tournament in the next 10 years. Haters just hate when it comes to England

I mean here's a thought. Can we agree that English teams in the Premier League are good because of sound tactical setups? None of the top teams heavily rely on individual brilliance like teams used to in the past to win trophies. And so, all these top players shine BECAUSE they play in a heavy tactical setup and they are allowed to shine in that way. Now what happens when you put all these players who used these tactical setups to shine and step up into the limelight into a much more free flowing and expressive international setup because of the limitations of what you can achieve in training for international football? I'd argue that a lot of these players who seemed like they were "world class" are now a shadow of their former selves not because of southgate's tactics, but because they simply aren't made for international football. In that ideal starting XI, how many of them can you list who are HEAVILY relied on by their clubs and play is literally centered around them leading their clubs to victory? Kane? Even Kane doesn't do that anymore in Bayern and while he did do it in Spurs, Spurs never got anywhere. Bellingham? Not really. He's set up by Ancelotti to play in advance positions to take advantage of his eye for goal, but often in games, he doesn't actually contribute too much outside of being in good positions to score the winner. Obviously it's great for a player to do that, but he's not a playmaker or someone who can break defenses by himself. Then you look at a squad like France. They are built like an international team because of their heavy reliance on Plan A Griezmann and Plan B Mbappe. They are the ones to lead the team forward. If you look at their club positions, Atleti also heavily relies on Griezmann's individual brilliance to carry them forward and PSG once solely relied on their front three of Mbappe, Messi, Neymar to make everything happen in the game. This was what defined a great player in the traditional sense, players who the team can rely on on a regular and consistent basis and in times of need. Someone like a Grealish for Villa before he joined City and became another pawn for Pep. England doesn't have that kind of player and I'd argue that if you want to continue being a top team and a powerful force like France is, you need at least one of those players. The exception to the rule seems to be Spain, but if you look at Spain when they were dominant, they were able to play club football precisely the Spanish core was the Barcelona core. You're never going to have that in England because the players are all relatively spread out and more and more foreign players are entering the Premier League and taking up spots of previously English players in top teams. And when you look at Spain, who they're relying on again in the next 5-10 years, and what clubs they're likely playing for again, I'd argue that they are going to have a better chance than England to win anything serious if England doesn't win a trophy soon. La Liga domination by the two Spanish giants is good for Spain. Premier League "diversity" is not for England. So yes, England is overrated if people act like they need to be winning everything and that they would "smash Argentina and Brazil if they didn't get knocked out by France". Massively overrated. Also, England should be looking to rely on Kane and Bellingham a lot more as they are on foreign soil and they won't be given preferential treatment heaps of prasie just because they are English

If Bellingham and Kane weren't in the team, any premier league team in the top 8 (atm) would eat them for breakfast.

As an England fan (sadly), I think this video is pretty spot on about how international football works - we are probably reliant on luck and Bellingham/Kane being amazing PS; Reuben was close but Portugal did beat one team in Euro 2016 in 90 mins (Wales)

'Overrated' is a pretty meaningless word, I see it as a soundbite for those whose opinions on England are not particularly deep. Are England good? I'd say so. I don't think they're the best team, France are certainly better, Argentina probably better, the likes of Brazil, Portugal, Spain etc around the same level at the moment.

Trent is too good not to have in the squad and Henderson shouldn’t be in the squad at all so that makes sense. Plus helps with possession and counter attack whilst Trippier, Stones and Rice can cover him defensively.

England are playing Brazil and Belgium next March in friendlies they need to put out their best 11 and play open football to show good they can be against top teams.

People keep saying Southgate is bad but who are you going to appoint? The best managers are in club football

Yep, we are. What hardly anybody does is ask themselves an honest question: how many England players are likely to be a catalyst in leading their team to a trophy? Bellingham could be on that level but it's still one guy who'd have to carry the load and stay injury free all the time.

The only thing that I got from this video is to always remember the hotel keycard.

Arguably with Southgate not selecting Sterling because he doesn't know who to leave out - England are overrated, due to the fact it signalling the England boss not ambitiously wanting to improve the team with 3 defenders at the back or a more robust attack that can interchange centrally not just up front (centrally - which would still be great). In the last Euros English pundits were saying that England fans had a golden age of footballers to come, and they are certainly not overrated.

France are by far the best European team right now, England are more akin to Portugal who also have a lop sided squad loaded with talent but always seem to struggle in tournaments against quality opposition

The rise of Bellingham will be what England have missed all these years to win trophies. They will definitely win no doubts sooner or later.

100% overrated. No world class keeper, no world class left back, maybe 1 world class CB (not Stones, he’s a very good footballer not very good defender).

Sterling back in form should defo be in the mix! Why he’s not had a mention is ridiculous(In my humble opinion)

“The EV: Expected Vibes” 🤣🤣

Rakitic wasn't a part of the Croatia '22 team. At least I don't think. He was huge in '18 but the midfield 3 was Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic in Qatar. Majer being the 4th man getting minutes in the midfield.

mmh, expected a bit more elaborated work in this video :D felt more like a pub talk

IMO England lack two things that are needed for winning an international tournament 1) a creative midfielder that can dictate tempo (e.g. Modric, Griezmann, Iniesta, Pirlo, etc etc) and 2) mentality to win penalty shoot-outs.

Trent isnt the one in midfield on the evidence so far. Unless hes playing there for liverpool, i wouldnt throw him in there for England

I think England have underperformed from a mental perspective for the longest time. They are actually getting better at it, but fundamentally they always seem to shrink on the big occasions. They always have the quality, it's mentality that seems to let them down. The thing that could change that over the next few years is Mr Bellingham. I think that he really has the mentality and the leadership to impact the rest of the team, he seems the one genuine big personality that England have been missing. They always have the most professional, hard working teams but Bellingham has that plus that confidence and mentality. That's at least how it looks to me.

With the grouping at the Euros, we are likely to meet France before the final.

JJ doing his best DJ Wayne Carr impression

I'm pretty sure that hissing noise was a sanke.

JJ covers album drop when

Mr. Bean situation happening with JJ over there

"They don't get tested outside of hig tournaments" - neither do Spain, France, or Germany, yet it doesn't seem to bother them as much ...

you should talk abt Turkiye under Montela showing menacing attack without big names.

This was the most awkward first date I’ve ever seen.

Audio??

A tournament is as much about individuals and teams but mainly about squad depth as well. That's where England is also among the top nations.

England lack squad cohesion - Germany, France and Spain have a lot of players who play for one or two teams. They can follow the style of that one team and most players will have practiced it

Portugal got through to the final having won one game in 90 and that was against Wales.

What about spain and germany dominating and winning throughout tornaments in the past.

why not play Stones in midfield?

Yes, and have been for decades. This current squad has one or two world class players, several very good ones, then the rest are just decent for international levels. There are however currently not a out and put world class national team out there. So England are compatible with a lot of countries. They are in a bunch of about 8-10 teams who are at least as good as England, some slightly better.

I keep laughing at how JJ sounds like, he is trolling the whole time when he is agreeing with Ruben and Ruben doesn’t know to take it seriously or not.

Since 2018 I don't think they are overrated. It's just their extreme unluckiness and bottle job in a big tournament that loses them the favor. I think they are like Manchester City did in UCL competition before 2022/2023 winning season. Which always bottling in the knockout stages, even when facing "the might Lyon" or Chelsea with Mason Mount as their key player in the UCL final. Hot take: with current squad, if National Team trophy use 38 match day format like league football, I think England would at least win 1 trophy in last 6 years. But they are doomed with current knockout stages format of National Team tournament and I don't think they will win anytime soon (unless they finally broken the jinx like Man City did in UCL last season).

Gallagher is absolutelly class, he can cover for Jude while he's doing his thing

No but they are going to struggle to win a trophy picking certain players like mistake prone Maguire.

Pickford Reece - Stones - Colwill - Shaw Cole - Rice - Jude Saka - Kane - Rashford/Phil