Michael Cox

The 2024 version of The Mixer is out now. The most comprehensive account of the Premier League’s on-pitch development over its first 32 years. Amazon link ⬇️ amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/000870…

stop it!

"Keely could you just tell the readers what your job is, and then - in the same sentence - where you live relative to any football stadiums? No, it won't make you look daft!"

This trend of using made-up first-person quotes (explaining the whole interview in one sentence - "I worked on the farm with my dad and now I've notched 14 goals in League One") as a headline is just completely unreasonable. It's simply not how it works. x.com/SamJDalling/st…

In general the standard of content/debate is miles better. It does make you realise how much club coverage is completely unhinged these days - you end up thinking it’s normal by May. Anyway, see you in four weeks where we can rank which refs are the most biased against your club.

#FootballTwitter is less useful as the seasons go by, but broadly reverts to its glory days at World Cups. Like John Stones. Shoutout to the likes of @ahoworth97 @JohnnyDuerden @Tim_Vickery @MezahiMaher for top coverage of various regions & @ademir2z for his historical knowledge.

@bwfc_elliot (Actually to correct myself the Henderson thing was obv 2018, but the whole team showed the same pattern v Italy in 2021) nytimes.com/athletic/27024…

@Zonal_Marking I think it would've been something like 40% possession against Italy if we didn't score early Italy getting back into the game basically just came from a strong spell they had for 10-15 minutes around the 65th minute

Tuchel is right about England's DNA. If anything things are worse in that respect than five years ago, due to English football's huge shift towards intensity & set-pieces. Controlling a PL game has become impossible, so don't expect control from England.⬇️ nytimes.com/athletic/74662…

@RlphWigs He didn't "leave them all at home". He's shown great faith in Rogers, Anderson, took a big chance on Stones. At one point (start of second half v Norway) he played an Anderson-Rogers-Eze midfield trio. Is this definitely a manager who doesn't like technically capable players?

@Zonal_Marking But we do have technically capable players, he left them all at home because he thought he could run over teams with pure athleticism. If he wants more control he’ll have to now reintegrate the technical players he’s alienated with his stupid selections.

@bwfc_elliot Whether it's "controversial" or the right approach is neither here nor there. Ultimately it is what England did, and famously Henderson kept on giving the ball away wastefully. It's largely what England did in 2018. It's what England did last week. So it is quite a clear pattern.

@Zonal_Marking It's to do with the quality of the opponent, and the timing of the goal Given we'd conceded zero open play goals all tournament it wasn't controversial to think we could defend them for 90 minutes. And we did (for 120 minutes), apart from one loose ball on a set piece

@LiamTharmeCoach That happened when Denmark were (a) visibly exhausted (b) not a particularly good side, just had an easy route to the semis, (c) away from home, (d) down to 10 men. The comparable situation is the final against Italy, when England did the same thing they did against Argentina.

I remind you that England in the Euro21 SF v Denmark kept the ball for 3 mins without losing it. Rogers, Rice and Anderson cost £300m+ combined. People don’t pay that purely for ball-winning quality

Seen various analyses and critiques on this now so here’s my two cents 1) It’s learned helplessness to keep saying this 2) it’s never been less true. Academy coaching since EPPP has prioritised tech quality (see Foden, Palmer, Rogers) 3) He took technicians off

@bwfc_elliot The latter true, don't agree with the first bit. England's possession share at Euro 2020 was 50, 60, 56, 46, 52, 58 in the first 6 games. Against Italy it was 34. If you think there was no change, you are misremembering things. It was extremely similar to Argentina.

@Zonal_Marking We played defensively for the whole tournament. There was no change And we could afford to sit back on a lead because we had a very good defence. This tournament England had the worst defence it's had for decades

@RlphWigs Well no, that would be a weird thing to mention unprompted before a loss. But in getting an attacking midfielder running off a striker, two quick wingers, essentially two No8s in midfield he was incorporating the better elements of what is roughly England's DNA.

@Zonal_Marking He had the hydration break to address that and he compounded the issue. Nobody would be digging him out if he hadn’t reinforced the players fear. He never mentioned lack control of control or DNA prior to being eliminated in humiliating fashion. Blokes a chancer.

@bwfc_elliot It was very similar to the pattern against Croatia 2018 when England were the better side, deservedly 1-0 up, then just dropped deeper and deeper. To a certain extent v Italy 2021 (although obv the goal came too early to judge the better side). It's the same thing.

@Zonal_Marking Not in recent years. Too many people are mistaking our defensive style of football under Southgate for Tuchel's parking the bus as soon as we take the lead

@David28717353 I just don't think this is how things work. He didn't click a 'don't keep possession' button

@Zonal_Marking He had 2 years and a 7 week training camp to I still more control if that’s what he desired and he also could have selected someone like Adam Wharton. The DNA excuse is nonsense, these players would have followed instructions to keep the ball had they been given.

@bwfc_elliot Despite the fact this is what England basically always do?

@Zonal_Marking There's nothing in the English DNA that makes us park the bus against a crap team. That was 100% his doing. He has a history of it, it's the Tuchel DNA

@RlphWigs but the players largely dropped back against the manager's wishes - he was screaming for them to play higher.

@Zonal_Marking Excuses for a coach who has proven to be a busted flush. You can’t control games when you have 10 players camped on your own 18 yard line. He employed cowardly tactics and was rightfully punished by a bang average Argentina side.

@samhuxleybfc You can, but he was asked why England dropped deep / didn't have more possession at 1-0 up. He said it wasn't the plan. He was asked why the players did it. He said well maybe it's in their DNA. (more or less). I think this is basically all true.

@Zonal_Marking You can control a game without having the ball! We shit the bed against Argentina.

@sry_no_username Do think he's useful. Must admit I completely forgot about him in relation to this England squad.

@Zonal_Marking I always find it odd that curtis jones never seems to be in the conversation for the england squad. surely their best option for midfield control?

@TerryTibbs95 The control was ceded before any change of system.

@Zonal_Marking You can't control a game in a 532 formation when your get out options are knackered and your wing/full backs are being overloaded. It's not about DNA or control, it was just a tactical howler.

@10thMan2021 I agree in that I think the decision to call up Chalobah when a right-back got injured was pretty incomprehensible. Unless others just made themselves unavailable at that point, so late in the day.

@Zonal_Marking Don’t underestimate the message sent out with Tuchel’s squad selection. 6 first choice centre backs and 5 others who have started at CB for their clubs. 8 of whom featured against Argentina (out of 13 outfield players) in the first 95 minutes. Tuchel has to accept some blame here

@Phillhay_es I don't think Arsenal pioneered it at all! I think they're just the posterboys for it as they won the league.

@Zonal_Marking True, but the PL has gone that way via Arsenal pioneering it. And the reason....to wrestle control from City who played in "control via possession" way. Arsenal decided they couldn't beat City on possession, so shifted the battle ground and it worked. Why can't England?

@Herbert_FCB I really like Wharton but I'm stunned people think he should be in the England side at the moment. He gives the ball away a lot and is quite poor positionally. That's entirely reasonable for a 22-year-old but I don't quite see it at the moment.

@Zonal_Marking Its very obvious England have no Controlling Midfielders other than Wharton who i think should be in any England Midfield 3 - ( Anderson - Wharton - Cole Palmer ) i don't consider Bellingham a Midfielder

@1Tc87 I'll be honest, I actually forgot about him when writing this.

@Zonal_Marking No mention of Curtis jones as a midfielder confident on taking the ball in all areas and situations and keeping possession?