THE MESSAGE IS SIMPLE – JUST WIN PLEASE
So England kick off their World Cup campaign in Volgograd on June 18th – 7pm BST, and as I expected some of the same people who denounced England whilst they stumbled (but ultimately did the job) to qualification are now the biggest cheerleaders. Same old same old same old – praising before they have actually done anything after criticising them previously anyway, sometimes you cannot make these things up. And in my opinion they would also be the first to hammer them if they fail in Russia.
LUCKY, SENSIBLE AND REALISTC
Gareth ‘GS’ Southgate has publicly declared he wants his team to play with flair and to 
make sure the nation goes to work happy. A fine platitude but he knows fully well himself winning football matches is not that simple. Whilst I agree the messages being given off the pitch are positive, it will mean nothing if this World Cup is a failure. As I have said in previous blogs, Southgate only has the job because he is a company ‘Yes’ man and the people who appointed him have gone over and above to accommodate his tenure. Yes the manager has done very well with it and deserves huge credit, but he actually hasn’t done anything yet of a tangible nature and to be fair to him, he knows that himself.
JUST WIN
This upcoming Tunisa game is huge as there are still question marks over his 
ability to manage at this level. He will know that only a win will do against opposition that individually are no match, but as a team we will find out. This may be the making of him though as he has done superbly in creating a team spirit, that at least has all the players singing off the same hymn sheet, publicly anyway and that is half the battle. Keep winning and that is easy to keep a lid on, less so if results don’t go the right way.
PREDICTION
Tunisia wont be a walkover, they gave Spain a tough game just last week in a pre-tournament friendly, only losing to a late goal. However I think a small modicum of pressure will be taken of England with a close fought victory. It may take some time to break down a solid Tunisian side, but I can see a repeat of the time these teams met in the 1998 World Cup. England won 2-0 then and I see the same happening here. Just the start Southgate and his team want and let’s be honest need.
Let me know what you think
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