For all the positives that England can take from their performance against Russia in their opening Euro 2016 game there remains the worrying issue that their sophisticated modern defenders remain vulnerable to the most basic of attacking ploys -- a long punt into the box.
Southgate's formation and tactics have been hailed as progressive and modern, there is also something traditionally English about the team's strengths.
When England fans sang about '30 years of hurt' at Euro '96 they had high hopes of ending the pain with a first trophy since the 1966 World Cup but 20 years on from that agonising near miss there is precious little optimism in the air.
It was not so much the maths, though Liverpool's nine-point advantage over defending champions City, with one point less over Leicester City and Chelsea, is a significant gap, especially as Juergen Klopp's side have lost one league game in 18 months.
Guardiola said City had plenty of options, with Gabriel Jesus the only main striker fit and ready but Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling are able to slot into the role.
As 2022 readies to bid adieu, Sukanya Verma raises a toast to the 10 high points of the year.
A summary of all the Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday
The FIFA World Cup at Russia saw a variety of celebrations -- from the weird to some fancy dance moves -- Rediff.com has got it all covered here...
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hopes his players return injury-free from the international break this month for a hectic run of fixtures that could define the Premier League champions' season.
Strikers Marcus Rashford and Daniel Sturridge made Roy Hodgson's final 23-man England squad for Euro 2016 on Tuesday but winger Andros Townsend and midfielders Danny Drinkwater and Fabian Delph were left out. England are taking five forwards to the 24-team tournament in France, which starts on June 10, with Sturridge selected despite doubts over a calf problem. The injury had forced the Liverpool striker to miss England's last two friendly matches, including Friday's win over Australia in Sunderland. The 18-year-old Rashford, who signed a new long-term deal with Manchester United on Monday, became the youngest player to score on his England debut in the 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light. He scored that goal 138 seconds into what was only his 19th professional match, marking him out as one of the brightest emerging prospects and winning plaudits from Hodgson.
When Vijay Mallya plants a kiss on anyone's cheek it makes for a story and picture, more so when the Virat Kohli is the one at the 'receiving end'. Also, when Michael Schumacher's son, Mick, makes his motor sport debut the picture becomes worth a thousand words. Here again, Rediff.com has these and a lot more exciting events from the week gone by snapped right here.
Manchester City marched into the quarter-finals of the Champions League
Manchester City are top on goal difference, with Chelsea second and Liverpool dropping to third, two points ahead of Arsenal, who routed Fulham 5-1.
'Keep Calm And Carry On' could be Claudio Ranieri's motto for the second half of the season after Leicester City earned a 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday to put the heat back on Premier League leaders Arsenal.
A clash between supposedly the two most expensive lineups in history overseen by two of the most decorated coaches will end the phoney war and ignite the Premier League season for real when Manchester United host Manchester City on Saturday.
Talking points from this weekend's Premier League action as top two Manchester City and Liverpool both won with City remaining a point clear with two games remaining.
England and Russia are the big beasts of Group B and, though each would love a winning start when they meet on Saturday, the fear of losing could well become all-pervading and lead to a cagey encounter. With games against Wales and Slovakia to come, and the potential for three teams to qualify with two guaranteed, a point at the Velodrome might look a very useful result in a couple of weeks. England, on the back of winning all 10 qualifiers, not to mention a rare victory in Germany in a friendly, start favourites and will expect to make the running in front of a 60,000 crowd that will be predominantly behind them.
Five talking points from the Premier League weekend:
England, appearing in their first semi-final since 1990, had looked on course for their first final since 1966 as they led through Kieran Trippier's fifth-minute free kick and totally dominated the opening half.
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Real Madrid moved into the semi-finals of the Champions League after their makeshift defence held on for 0-0 second-leg draw with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday to complete a 3-1 aggregate win.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Manchester City reached the League Cup final, shattering second-tier Bristol City's hopes of a remarkable upset, as the Premier League leaders survived a late fightback to win 3-2 on Tuesday and clinch the tie 5-3 on aggregate.
Kane takes to world stage as England edge past Tunisia
However, experienced goalkeeper Joe Hart and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere were both omitted from a squad announced on Wednesday via a social media video featuring young recreational players from around the country shouting out the names.
Chelsea ticked off three more points in their Premier League title quest with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday but Tottenham Hotspur's Houdini-like 3-1 win at Swansea means the race is far from over.
Monaco swept into the Champions League quarter-finals and left Manchester City to pick up the pieces of another failed European campaign after a 3-1 victory on Wednesday sent them through on away goals.
Belgium beat England 2-0 in the World Cup third-place play-off on Saturday to secure their best ever finish at a World Cup and send Gareth Southgate's side home with a second straight loss.
The result against the tiny Scandinavian country, who had clearly been hugely undervalued, was a humiliation for a proud football nation that appeared to have badly lost its way.
The Army made no attempt to ascertain the identity of the civilians returning from work on a pick-up truck before shooting them in Nagaland's Mon district on Saturday, a joint report by the state's Director General of Police T John Longkumer and Commissioner Rovilatuo Mor has said.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Leicester beat Southampton to open seven-point gap at the top.
Images from Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Three protesters were killed on Sunday at Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu after police fired at stone-pelting dalit agitators following reports that their leader had been detained, the security agency said.
The 89th Annual Academy Awards will go down in history for this.
China will carry out major scientific research to enhance its biosecurity science and technological capacity against future infectious diseases, state-run Global Times quoted Xiang as saying.
The dynasty will only be built on European success, though, and after the quarter-final exit to Liverpool, Manchester City's owners, who want a gilded continental powerhouse to match United's global lustre, will demand it and back those demands with huge funding.
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