You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast. Love football, learn English.
How does the English fan feel about Euro 2024 so far?
Should Gareth Southgate stop experimenting with players' positions?
Which players in the England squad would make a balanced team?
And how are the words like literally, arguably and obviously used?
Hello everyone. I'm Zdenek Lukas and you're listening to the Footglitch Podcast.
Hopefully your favourite English learning podcast about football.
And this is the second time we are discussing England in the Euros on this podcast.
And today I'm joined by Martin from the Rock and Roll English Podcast. Hi Martin.
Hi Zdenek. Thanks for having me. I love doing these. Any chance I have to talk about football, I'm happy.
Fantastic. And we are always glad to have you here as well.
So we are speaking about England. So in your opening game, why are you laughing?
It's just, yeah.
It could be worse.
Yeah, no, it's not. It's just like, I feel like I've seen this so many times in the past.
And I kind of thought with Southgate, we had kind of passed this era of just trying to get the best players in,
not really having balance to the team and just like, just such bad performances.
I've seen England lose obviously loads of times in my life, but when you go in for it and you're at least,
it's just that, just I was watching the match, I was watching it with a friend and it was just like, it's just so boring.
Hang on, hang on, hang on. Let's slow down. So which match? So just to remind everyone, there have been two matches already.
So in your opening game, you managed to beat Serbia by one goal, one nil, three points.
Then in your second game, which we are recording today on Friday, your second game was yesterday.
It was against Denmark. I watched that game. It was one all, one one. And so four points.
It's a playoff secured. Shouldn't you be happier?
No, not 100% secured. It's very likely, but because we could be one of the best third place teams.
But yeah, it's just like I said, I've seen this before when England just don't get going and then they end up going out and they haven't even put in one decent performance.
So I hope I'm wrong because this is the thing that it's still early days and teams that often I see in tournaments that maybe start the tournament well, often don't continue that.
And we often see teams not starting well and going on maybe even to win.
If you look at Argentina, they lost to Saudi Arabia in the World Cup. I remember in 2010, Spain lost to Switzerland, I think, in the World Cup when they won the World Cup.
Now, I'm not saying we're going to win it. I'm just saying there's still time to turn it around, which I hope will be the case.
The thing I don't like is that we seem to be experimenting with things like Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Southgate himself said about the Trent experiment and you think like we're in a tournament now, like the time for experiments.
Might be a bit too late for that.
Absolutely.
And that was probably the wrong trend to experiment with Trent.
In the midfield, right? So where should he be? Should he be on the as a right back? Should he play right back?
It seems quite logical for me. That's where he plays every week for Liverpool and he's played there every week for like, what, six, seven years now, seven probably.
I've only ever seen him play right back for Liverpool.
I've never seen him play. I know he kind of drifts into midfield now in the last sort of 12, 18 months, but he literally never plays there.
So, I mean, going to my basic footballing career, I remember once, so I would always play in midfield and I had to play in defence once.
And it was just for me, it was just like the whole pitch just looks weird. I'm not used to being in this part of the pitch.
So I'm sure that's what he's thinking. Like he's getting the ball with his back to goal on the half turn.
He's probably just thinking this is, this is weird.
And not his, not his natural position.
No, I mean, it might become later in his career because I think he has got the capabilities to play that role, but he needs to learn that position.
You can't expect him now just to just like having never played there, come in and do a brilliant job.
But to be honest, I think he can be made a bit of a scapegoat because everyone's been rubbish.
Like Declan Rice was rubbish yesterday and he plays there every week for Arsenal.
That's true. He's always one of the best wherever he plays. So this is unusual for him.
Going back to Trent, it's really strange, right?
It is strange, but I don't know if I'm just like picking on him because it's an easy thing to say because he doesn't normally play there.
Because like I said, everyone really, I mean Harry Kane, he got taken off yesterday, Declan Rice, like everyone hasn't been playing well.
So it is easier to say, oh, he's not playing well because that's not his natural position.
So there could be some of that.
I was going to say that maybe Southgate wants to play Trent in the middle of the park because perhaps he wants some creativity from the players and he has it.
He has it. So he's looking for it anywhere he can find it.
Right. So that would be my justification for playing him there.
But let's be honest, after those two games, I think we can all see that it's not working.
The only question is, can Southgate see it?
Well, I think yes, because he's taken him off in both games.
So why would you take if you're watching the match thinking he's playing really well, there's no way you would take him off.
But if he's not playing well, then you think, oh, I need to make a change.
I'm going to take him off. So I think he can.
That's not a good indication. I don't even think he's arrived.
He's got to like 60 minutes in both games.
I think like 53 minutes he got taken off yesterday and in the Serbia game, a similar time of the game, I don't know specifically.
So I would say it's he thinks it's not working as well.
You sound a bit miserable, Martin, but from a pragmatic point of view, he got it done.
Boris Johnson had got the Brexit done in the same way Gareth Southgate got the job done. Four points. It's not too bad.
Yeah, it's not. It's definitely not too bad.
And yeah, but when the level of performance is so bad, you just kind of think, how are we going to beat like Spain or France or whoever?
Because I mean, like looking at it on like paper, we should be expected to beat these teams.
So if you think about it, I'm not sure if it was official, but like arguably the best player in Germany last year, Harry Kane, best player in Spain, to Bellingham.
Phil Foden actually one player of the year in England.
So that's like three of the best players from the best leagues.
They all play for England. So I think we're right to like at least expect something.
But it's just not it's just not working. Part of me thinks.
So I read from the World Cup squad, 13 of the 26, only 13 have survived.
So that's a big overhaul of the team. And I don't know if like the dynamics are there.
I always got the impression before that the whole group were really together. And this is I mean, this is just complete sort of my sort of what I see.
But I don't know if this is true at all. But just get that feeling of people like Grealish and Madison, they're like big characters.
They were left out.
That's what I mean. So yeah, OK. Not playing.
They didn't really play much anyway in the World Cup, but just being around day to day like they actually are good people.
And I don't know if that's sort of OK. Well, I have two point two points.
So first of all, too many stars. Yeah. So they have good big roles in their clubs.
So you've got Saka Bellingham, Foden. These are prominent players in their clubs.
But if you have too many players like that, even Harry Kane, of course, Declan Rice, too many players like that in one team.
Does it could it mean that basically you cannot give the same role to those players and they are used to a different sort of standard?
And then because if you are used to being the best and suddenly the nature of the team is that you have to be part of that team and it's just one of the 11 players on the pitch.
Yeah. So could it be one of the issues? And the second one is so you mentioned these all these excellent players being best in the top leagues.
They play so many games these days. This is something that has been talked about a lot. Right.
There are more and more games because of the everyone wants more revenue from the from the TV rights and the tickets sold.
So is that a problem as well? But I mean, so starting with your second point, if that is a problem, that's a problem for everyone.
Like you can't you can't blame like just like I don't know, like the Spain, like whoever France that their players play lots of games as well.
So like some of the players I mentioned, like Harry Kane and Bellingham, they don't even play in England.
So I find that difficult. But so going back to your first point, though, that is a very good point.
And if I think of what this so far, this tournament reminds me of, it's kind of like the golden generation era where we had the same problem, where we had Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Skolz, Territ.
We had all of these top, top, top players that were like best. Like that generation, if I think if I had to name an all time Premiership 11, lots of those players would get in and they were all playing for England at the same time.
But yeah, they just didn't play together, didn't work as a team.
Because like you said, you're like Steven Gerrard was the main man at Liverpool.
And then when it was like for England, he's not the main man anymore. And it just never worked.
So that that that is a worry as well that I thought exactly that this like like I said, this thing I've seen so many times with England, but I thought it stopped after Southgate.
But now, like I said, I hope I hope I'm wrong and things can turn around because there is still time.
But that it reminds me of that, like that 2006 kind of time.
And that's not good.
But I just I just hope we click. So you mentioned as well about he wants Trent in central midfield for some creativity.
Now, I haven't seen him play very much, but they've got Adam Warton. I think his name is the Crystal Palace player.
And they call him I can't remember where he's from, but something Peele. So like the London Peele or something like that.
And he really can pick out a pass and he plays central midfield every week.
I mean, the thing is, he's only just picked him. I don't know if he's played for England yet.
So it's a big ask for someone that plays for Crystal Palace to come into a tournament.
But it might be if he's picked him. So he must think he's ready.
So if picking play him that he could be the solution.
I don't know. I would like to see a sort of midfield of Rice Bellingham in a kind of number eight position box to box and Foden as a number 10.
That's how I would like to see. And I think Bellingham is better as a number eight box to box because he's not so creative.
When he gets on the ball, he's not like one to find a cute pass like Foden.
He is more power, strength, and I think he is best as a number eight.
Sorry, this is my daughter that's just coming.
Your daughter is also not happy about the way England play. That's for sure.
I just want to see a team with balance. And I just think with Foden on the left, it's just not.
To be honest, I know he had a terrible season. But for me, especially when he plays for England, Rashford is perfect because we have Kane who likes to come drop and come deep.
But you need people running past him. And Saka, who didn't have a great game last night. No one did.
But he was our best player. Well, him and Bellingham in the first game.
They're just more direct. Rashford is one of those winger slash striker.
He's not like Foden who keeps dropping in to get the ball.
Obviously, Rashford's not being picked. Even Anthony Gordon, who plays for Newcastle, just people that are more direct and are going to run past the striker.
And then it will be balanced. And obviously, the other big problem we have is we haven't got a left back. Trippier is playing there. It's not his natural position.
I think he's doing an OK job, but it's just you haven't got that balance. It's that left hand side.
So you've got a right back playing left back. And then you've got Foden playing. He's not a winger. That's not his game. He's constantly coming inside.
So a lot of players playing out of position. The balance isn't right.
We say square pegs in round holes. That's what it feels like. Yeah, I've heard that phrase.
Yeah. And that's what it feels like. We've got a right back playing central midfield.
We've got a right back playing left back. And then we've got like a sort of a number 10 playing left wing.
It seems like a nightmare, to be honest. And on paper, these players, all your players, they make so much money and they are like worth so much money in total, like incomparable to any other teams really in the tournament.
I think it could it also be like you're not you might not like this sort of point, but could it also be that the Premier League is a bit overrated?
I'm saying this. I love the Premier League. I watch it. I watch it week in, week out. But could it be that as well?
Because we all learn to love it. Not just you, the English, but everyone in the world and in Europe.
And then it creates so much pressure on you, on your players. It just gets to everyone in the end.
Well, don't you think so? I have heard. So OK, the pressure thing is, I think, another argument. And yeah, I think that's a valid argument, like too much pressure and like negativity.
But going back to the argument of like, basically, is the Premier League overrated? And maybe are these players overrated?
The reason I would argue against that is because like two of our best players don't play in England and they have been like the best players in their league. Harry Kane.
I know they didn't win the league, but how many goals have you scored? I've got no idea. Like 40, something like that.
And Bellingham, who was like Real Madrid's best player, and they won the La Liga and the Champions League.
Like they literally they've been like the talisman of those teams. So and well, Foden has been the best player at Manchester City this year.
And they won the Premier League again and they were very unlucky in the Champions League against Real Madrid.
So I don't know, I find that argument difficult to maybe believe because I don't think I believe it myself.
I'm just playing the... Yeah, it's a valid argument to make. But yeah, I don't really believe that one.
I think what you mentioned about the pressure is a big thing.
I mean, I think it is the same in other countries, I'm not so sure. But the way that we just sort of like to moan about...
You haven't won for a long time as well. Yeah, exactly. And the pressure gets bigger and bigger every time.
It's kind of hanging over you.
And so this Southgate team, so when its first tournament 2018, I think that was the tournament where everyone in England had zero expectations.
We were coming on the back of losing against Iceland in 2016.
I remember that too. And so when Southgate got the job, there wasn't even a press conference to announce him.
It was just like in the paper, Southgate is the new England manager and everyone was just so not engaged.
Just like, oh, who cares? Just totally giving up. Went into the 2018 World Cup, zero expectation.
Got to the semi-final and then it was like, oh, wow. And then so that was like the start of this team that we're seeing now.
And then you got to the final of the last year.
Yes, to the final. But that was kind of home advantage. We played all of our games except one at home.
So got to the final. And then in the World Cup, I think we were actually team of the tournament until we got knocked out.
We beat Iran 6-2, which unbelievable. We drew 0-0 with America, which everyone could have an off game.
We beat Wales 3-0. We played Senegal. We destroyed them 3-0. And we kind of went toe to toe with the French and were like there.
And then Harry Kane missed the penalty. But so it's that which has created all this expectation now.
And because the previous tournaments and the last three tournaments have gone relatively well.
So three tournaments gone well. We've got all of these top class players. So now the expectation is there.
So when they went in 2018, it was like I don't think they had that pressure. And it was just like people pleased to see England.
That's true. And we have to be honest, like there's so many good teams in the Euros as well.
Anyone can win it. Almost anyone can win it. And the gap is getting smaller and smaller between the good and bad teams as well.
Yeah, I agree.
I also wanted to ask about your goalkeeper. I know you only conceded one goal. So like that's not the problem here.
I actually thought your defense looked quite solid. Yeah. But to be honest, the keeper, let me ask you about the keeper.
So he seems a bit mad. Yeah, he's always been like that, though.
To be honest, yeah, with Pickford. So he's been the number one since like 2018 World Cup now, like tournaments wise.
And I must admit, I've never been a big fan of him. But like when I see him, I don't watch Everton every week, but you see him in play in the Premier League.
But he's never really let England down. And like if you've got a goalkeeper that basically doesn't make mistakes.
I can't really remember any goals. I think like, what was he doing there?
Like, for example, my team Manchester United, like every other week, the goalkeeper is doing something.
It doesn't matter who is in the goal. Whether it's Onana or...
Onana I really am not a fan of. Even in the FA Cup final, he let that goal slip. And you're just like, what are you doing now?
Because the game was going well, like Manchester City weren't really getting anywhere. And then just let that one in.
You think, I've never seen Pickford do that. Not once for England. So yeah, he's got this annoying goalkeeper thing of if someone has a shot and he saves it.
He'll go down to the ground.
Well, the first thing is he goes on the floor and then gets up and then starts shouting at his defenders.
And you think, look, you're there to save. This is your job. Like you can't expect to not face a shot in the whole match.
But he's just got, I mean, Peter Schmeichel, I mean, they're nowhere near in terms of like quality. Peter Schmeichel had that.
I don't know, maybe it's just a goalkeeper. Everyone says goalkeepers are mad.
Speaking of Peter Schmeichel, I saw a meme yesterday where Peter Schmeichel was interviewing his son.
Did you see that?
Yeah, that was really nice. I actually listened to a podcast recently when he was talking about his son.
It was a Father's Day podcast and there was Peter Schmeichel, Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher.
All of their sons have played or play professional football.
That was really interesting actually to think about. You don't really think about that as a family thing.
Like Peter Schmeichel said his son was playing for Leeds and he was getting so much abuse because his dad played for Manchester United.
You don't really think about these things. So you briefly touched upon the England defence.
So I was really worried about that because I think, well, on paper, that's our weakest part of the team on paper.
But that's actually been the best part of the team in reality.
That's true.
The Crystal Palace player, is it Gahey?
Gahey, Gahey, something like that.
He's doing really well, right?
He's been amazing, yeah.
Again, sort of what I said about that Adam Warton, I was worried thinking he only plays for Crystal Palace.
I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but he hasn't played in the Champions League and he hasn't dealt with that pressure.
But he seems brilliant.
I actually heard him talk as well during an interview and he just seems like he's really well spoken and seems just a really nice sort of level headed guy.
I would say he's been our best player until now, except that first half where Bellingham absolutely ran the show.
And also the first match, that was Bellingham's game as well.
But Bellingham really though, he faded in the second half though.
True, but I'm not just talking about the goal, just the way he went past people.
It just seemed like he was by far the best player of the game.
The first half of that game, it was like men against boys.
There were times when he was just walking past me and just sort of pushing people off.
And that is why I want to see him play number eight, because I want to see him run the game.
Because as a number ten, he hasn't got that creativity, I don't think.
So you're basically advising more experiments to Southgate.
I don't really see it as that much an experiment.
I see that as Bellingham's natural position to play number eight.
I know he has played more advanced in the number ten for Real Madrid, but I think his natural position, his best position is number eight.
To get into box to box because he's powerful, he can do everything.
He can defend, he can tackle, he can shoot, he can do everything.
So make him run the game, not just sort of like coming into the box late.
Well, you have got one more game to do that now that you have pretty much more or less qualified.
I don't think we will jinx it if we say it here.
Four points.
I do not want to say anything.
I think some teams will even qualify with three points.
That is my prediction.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of this thing.
I would never say before, oh, we've qualified now until it's done.
I'm not saying that.
And also, I'm in a different position.
I'm not an English fan.
I cheer for you, but as my number three or four.
Actually, Slovakia as well.
Right.
OK.
So I think more like number three, number four.
Oh, right.
And so number four, who would be their number three?
So I thought I would also cheer for Ukraine.
But they're not really pulling out any trees.
They're not at the races.
So it looks like I might have to stick with England.
Well, they got batted by Romania, which I think maybe was probably the best performance I think I've seen.
The Romania game.
And there's always this prize team that could be there, I think.
And as of now, they are losing to Slovakia as well.
Typical.
It might change, but they're not looking very good at the moment.
Romania losing.
No, no, no. I'm talking about Ukraine.
Sorry.
Right. Sorry.
You're playing Belgium tomorrow, aren't they?
Yeah, maybe tonight.
I don't know.
Oh, is it tonight?
OK.
Actually tomorrow.
Yeah.
So I'm just saying I was going to support Ukraine because of the war situation.
I really wish them.
I think everyone does.
Well, older people that have common sense, I will say.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
I think everyone's second team is Ukraine for what's happening.
Because that's the great thing about sport.
Certainly, when a country does well, it just gives everyone such a lift.
So in my time, any time England have got to semi-final, there's just such a great feeling.
And everyone's together, and it's brilliant.
So if anyone deserves it, it's certainly Ukraine.
Yeah, it's not looking good, sure.
It's not looking good at all, actually, right now.
And they are yet to play arguably the biggest team of that group, which is Belgium.
So I don't know what's going to happen.
You lost the first match, though.
Belgium reminds me a bit of us, really.
Got lots of good players, but never really click as a team.
Their golden generation seems to have gone a bit now.
I think it's past its best.
But when they had that golden generation, it was kind of like our golden generation.
We had all these wonderful players who just never really played that well as a team.
And I'm kind of worried this is the new one that we're seeing.
Because these players, although in fairness to Southgate, he showed some courage.
I was going to say a different word there.
By taking off Kane, Saka, and Foden.
He took all three of them off.
At the same time.
Yeah. And I was very surprised by that.
But I thought fair play, because they weren't doing anything.
And you need to give them a kick up the backside.
You can't just think, I'm just going to play rubbish in my place in the team, like Harry Kane.
You can't just play rubbish every game and expect to play.
At one point, they say, look, you need to pull your socks up and do something.
Because if you don't, you're off.
So I was pleased to see that.
Anyway, Martin, we have got to go.
I can see you really.
It's getting out of hand a little bit.
I'm joking.
Yeah, of course.
We want to hear a true English fan on the podcast.
And it's great.
But I want to keep these podcasts a bit shorter, because I also have to explain some stuff, like some vocabulary at the end.
I'll try to keep it short.
I hope we'll record another one towards the end of the tournament where things have changed and England are looking like a proper team.
It can be one of the two things.
It can either be that or you're going to come to rent here.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
OK, well, thanks a lot for having me on Zenit and yeah, talk to you.
And obviously, good luck to the Czech Republic as well.
You're very welcome.
And if anyone is interested, Martin has a fantastic podcast called the Rock and Roll English podcast.
I think I've got my Rock and Roll English top.
I have.
There you go.
Get some advertising in there.
OK, nice one.
Nice one.
Cheers, Martin.
See you.
Bye bye.
Welcome back.
In this part of the show, I'm going to be the English teacher I am and explain to you some vocabulary.
And I promise I will make it short and sweet because we don't have so much time today.
What are the words?
Obviously, literally, arguably, what do they mean?
How are they used?
So I'm going to give you an example.
Martin said he literally never plays there.
He was talking about Trent Alexander Arnold and he was saying basically that Trent normally plays as a right back, not a center midfielder.
And if you say that someone literally never plays there, you're basically emphasizing the fact that the player doesn't play there.
Basically, this word literally means exactly as described, but it's a way to emphasize your point.
Yeah.
OK.
And then Martin said arguably the best player in Germany, Harry Kane.
So arguably means probably.
And then there's another word, obviously, which means clearly or everyone can see that.
Now, these three words are adverbs.
They end with L, Y, as you can see all of them, and they are put at the beginning of the point that someone makes.
So usually at the beginning of a sentence or clause.
And they are opinion adverbs.
So by using the word obviously, you're kind of giving it more certainty, right, to your utterance, to what you're saying.
With the word literally, you're basically saying that it's exactly as described.
Again, you're kind of emphasizing it.
And with the word arguably, you're sort of making it a little bit weaker, what you're saying, by saying probably.
You don't want to sound too strong.
So all these three words, you would use them at the beginning of sentences.
There are more words like that in the English language, which help you kind of adjust what you are saying one way or another, making it weaker, stronger, likely, less likely, stuff like that.
All right, guys, that's it.
Thank you very much for listening to this episode of the Footgrish Podcast.
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Thanks again and have a good day.
Bye bye.