England Discussion

I'm Scottish, so I'm objective when it comes to England.

People are belittling and mocking Southgate for choosing Henderson, Maguire and Phillips. It's not like he has a treasure trove of midfielders and defenders to choose from:

In the latest round of EPL matches. Of the top 10 teams, out of 24 central midfielders who started only 3 were English: James Ward-Prowse, Rice and Gallagher (and I wouldn't even call Gallagher a central midfielder.

With the same criteria, of 22 center backs, only 4 were English: White, Dunk, Webster, Colwill.

A few years ago Gareth Southgate said that he'll eventually be forced to call up players from the Championship. He's right. He, and his predecessor, will have no choice but to call up players from the second tier.

As a Scotland fan, I'm confident of beating this England team.

I remember after the previous match against England at Euro 2020. Gary Neville said that Gilmour, McGregor and McGinn played better than Phillips, Rice and Mount.

I can see Scotland's midfield dominating again.

England don't have a deep lying playmaker. Scotland have Gilmour and McGregor. Neither are glamorous players, but they're the metronome that teams need.
 
MasterDarcy said:
I'm Scottish, so I'm objective when it comes to England.

People are belittling and mocking Southgate for choosing Henderson, Maguire and Phillips. It's not like he has a treasure trove of midfielders and defenders to choose from:

In the latest round of EPL matches. Of the top 10 teams, out of 24 central midfielders who started only 3 were English: James Ward-Prowse, Rice and Gallagher (and I wouldn't even call Gallagher a central midfielder.

With the same criteria, of 22 center backs, only 4 were English: White, Dunk, Webster, Colwill.

A few years ago Gareth Southgate said that he'll eventually be forced to call up players from the Championship. He's right. He, and his predecessor, will have no choice but to call up players from the second tier.

As a Scotland fan, I'm confident of beating this England team.

I remember after the previous match against England at Euro 2020. Gary Neville said that Gilmour, McGregor and McGinn played better than Phillips, Rice and Mount.

I can see Scotland's midfield dominating again.

England don't have a deep lying playmaker. Scotland have Gilmour and McGregor. Neither are glamorous players, but they're the metronome that teams need.
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Agree.

We've got a feck ton of quality RBs and attacking mids/wingers but everywhere else is quite scarce, at least in terms of depth.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
If anything Southgate is partly to blame for giving Maguire a sense of security knowing no matter how little he plays for Utd he’ll still be one of the first names on the team sheet for England.
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Southgate should be sacked for picking a player who doesn't play, How he gets away with this is unreal. Might as well get Lampard back in midfield
 
glasgow 21 said:
Southgate should be sacked for picking a player who doesn't play, How he gets away with this is unreal. Might as well get Lampard back in midfield
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He gets away with it because whatever you think of him he's managed a team to the WC semi finals and the EURO final - that's more than most England managers have done
 
MasterDarcy said:
I'm Scottish, so I'm objective when it comes to England.

People are belittling and mocking Southgate for choosing Henderson, Maguire and Phillips. It's not like he has a treasure trove of midfielders and defenders to choose from:

In the latest round of EPL matches. Of the top 10 teams, out of 24 central midfielders who started only 3 were English: James Ward-Prowse, Rice and Gallagher (and I wouldn't even call Gallagher a central midfielder.

With the same criteria, of 22 center backs, only 4 were English: White, Dunk, Webster, Colwill.

A few years ago Gareth Southgate said that he'll eventually be forced to call up players from the Championship. He's right. He, and his predecessor, will have no choice but to call up players from the second tier.

As a Scotland fan, I'm confident of beating this England team.

I remember after the previous match against England at Euro 2020. Gary Neville said that Gilmour, McGregor and McGinn played better than Phillips, Rice and Mount.

I can see Scotland's midfield dominating again.

England don't have a deep lying playmaker. Scotland have Gilmour and McGregor. Neither are glamorous players, but they're the metronome that teams need.
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Where have you got this information from? Ezri Konsa started for Villa at CB. Also not sure why you've selected top 10 teams when there would be players playing for the other clubs who would be in contention. Picking players who have no match fitness just demonstrates a bad example for players trying to get into the squad. TAA now plays in midfield and JWP should have been picked ahead of Henderson.
 
Red in STL said:
He gets away with it because whatever you think of him he's managed a team to the WC semi finals and the EURO final - that's more than most England managers have done
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I'm sure this has been done to death but he had the most easiest of routes in both tournaments and as soon as he faced any decent opposition, we lost. His in game management in both of those tournaments was abysmal. Ironically, we played better against France as a whole but again his in game management was dreadful there as well. He has taken the team as far as he can and should have left after the last tournament.
 
Southgate is falling into the same routine as every other England manager. He’s fitting the team to his own managerial cycle rather investing in a way that will help England mid to long term.
 
Gallagher… though it may pain me to admit this… seems to have embraced being a central midfielder. He led our team in balls defended, turnovers of possession, tackles made … with Caicedo’s and Enzo in the lineup. He still plays the odd really dumb pass now and then … but he’s been downright GOOD in every game this year. He looks like a different player, really up for it, fit, almost relishing contact … and probably because he knows he’s fitter and stronger than whoever he’s going against. I don’t know if you check for PEDs over there … but my man looks … different this year.

They’re a couple I’d drop from the forward line for Sterling if “current form” is really the barometer.

On midfield:

Bellingham…………Rice…………Gallagher….

Wouldn’t look shabby on current form.

If you are giving spots away for nostalgia (looking at you Wilson, Hendo, Maguire, etc)

Then why not give Mount a shout and help him pull through his current transition? He’s part of your future at least. Is he really hurt?I thought it was a knock.
 
Red in STL said:
He gets away with it because whatever you think of him he's managed a team to the WC semi finals and the EURO final - that's more than most England managers have done
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In addition, whilst his tactical nouse is a bit suspect, he’s generally been proved right in his player judgement. Remember everyone wondering why he didn’t play Sancho - not so much of a surprise now we’ve seen him play for United. He’s always got Maguire functioning well in his structure in the big tournaments and it’s understandable he is prepared to stand by him.

The BBC article on the issue is quite amusing. They suggest that he shouldn’t be picking Maguire but don’t even try and suggest who else should be picked, presumably because they couldn’t even think of a relatively sensible option who isn’t either in the squad or injured. It’s very difficult to argue that Maguire isn’t in the top 5 available CBs for England currently.
 
TheGame said:
Where have you got this information from? Ezri Konsa started for Villa at CB. Also not sure why you've selected top 10 teams when there would be players playing for the other clubs who would be in contention. Picking players who have no match fitness just demonstrates a bad example for players trying to get into the squad. TAA now plays in midfield and JWP should have been picked ahead of Henderson.
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I got the information from research.

I missed one player? Don't. I. Look. Foolish.

Let's be honest. If Southgate called up multiple players from Bournemouth, Fulham, Luton, etc, he would be torn apart even more than usual.

The pool available to Gareth Southgate isn't very deep. Do you remember the England XI from 1990 or 96 or 98?

They would tear this England team apart.

Phillips is in serious contention of starting and yet he's got more trophies at City starts. That underlines the difficulties facing Southgate.
 
I haven’t checked the others yet, that was just from the top of my head. There is also Adam Webster from Brighton so probably from checking thoroughly again, there will be others. Fulham are a decent team and aside from perhaps Luton, I don’t see an issue with picking players from the other teams. Phillips and Maguire are starters because Southgate prefers them, that’s all. The point is he could pick other players but chooses not to.
 
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Doracle said:
In addition, whilst his tactical nouse is a bit suspect, he’s generally been proved right in his player judgement. Remember everyone wondering why he didn’t play Sancho - not so much of a surprise now we’ve seen him play for United. He’s always got Maguire functioning well in his structure in the big tournaments and it’s understandable he is prepared to stand by him.

The BBC article on the issue is quite amusing. They suggest that he shouldn’t be picking Maguire but don’t even try and suggest who else should be picked, presumably because they couldn’t even think of a relatively sensible option who isn’t either in the squad or injured. It’s very difficult to argue that Maguire isn’t in the top 5 available CBs for England currently.
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A bit suspect? :lol: , it’s dreadful, that Italian team were there for the taking but he kept the attacking players ok the bench. You make one selective point about Sancho. He has failed to utilise the attacking talent which England have. I have no confidence in him going forward and think he should have resigned after the France game. People think because he’s had a couple of easy runs in tournaments, it’s fine. Another manager would have beaten Italy and actually won the tournament. In the last tournament he under used Rashford. Tactically he just isn’t good enough.

When Stones is fit, Maguire should not be considered at all if he isn’t playing. I don’t see the point in picking players who have 0 match fitness. Right now you could make a case that Tomori, Dunk, Webster, Guehi and Colwill or Konsa should have been picked. I think you only need 4 cbs so no idea why Southgate picks more than that.
 
Pexbo said:
Southgate is falling into the same routine as every other England manager. He’s fitting the team to his own managerial cycle rather investing in a way that will help England mid to long term.
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I think it's just weak international management to be honest. He's picked two players that haven't started for their respective clubs for a season and still don't and picked a player that's made him a sitting duck in press conferences - all for little benefit to our performance and out of some strange sense of loyalty.
 
How is Watkins not in the England squad? 15 goals last season, Nketiah has 15 in 5 seasons! This smacks of that "I'm picking players because they play for (insert top club here)."

The only reason why Sterling isn't in the squad is because he declared himself unavailable for the last two selections due to feeling as if his own form didn't warrant a call-up. Odd amount of honesty by Raheem. Result? Southgate took it personally and omitted him despite starting excellently.
 
Has Southgate ever played

Pickford

Walker
Stones
Tomori
Shaw

Rice
Bellingham
Foden

Saka
Kane
Rashford

That's a phenomenal team, that can beat any NT on the planet.
 
Phillips gets picked for being the ONLY natural top level 6 in the entire selection pool outside Rice.


Nketiah's record at international level through the ranks, plus is recent form at an Arsenal is the reason he gets past a Watkins

Maguire is surviving now thanks to being the only experienced available.

The only mystery is how Henderson keeps being picked over James Warde Prowse.....
 
There's plenty of English talent, it's just Southgate doesn't like to take risks. He'd rather go with experienced players that know how he works and has been semi reliable in the past rather than picking players based on merit and form.
 
I think long term, Southgate or his successor, should be looking for that deeper lying playmaker. Southgate stated that Angel Gomes wasn't an option for him because he doesn't play as a lone 6. However, one of him or Kobbie Mainoo would slot in nicely alongside Rice and behind Bellingham as England's Frenkie De Jong.
 
RedSky said:
There's plenty of English talent, it's just Southgate doesn't like to take risks. He'd rather go with experienced players that know how he works and has been semi reliable in the past rather than picking players based on merit and form.
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Bellingham, Saka, Rice were all young experienced players when they first played for England, so was Derle Alli and there's others so your observation doesn't match reality
 
Red in STL said:
Bellingham, Saka, Rice were all young experienced players when they first played for England, so was Derle Alli and there's others so your observation doesn't match reality
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Incorrect as those were safe options that he had to play due to the media pressure. I'd say the only player he's picked that was a little risky has been Philips as he wasn't at a big club when he was picked.
 
RedSky said:
Incorrect as those were safe options that he had to play due to the media pressure. I'd say the only player he's picked that was a little risky has been Philips as he wasn't at a big club when he was picked.
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Neh Saka was unpopular, people wanted Sancho et al.
 
Prefers to play Henderson when he could play Maddison in CM and free up a spot for Rashford or Foden.
England will never win a title with Southgate.
 
This is why Maguire refused to leave, knows his place in the England team isn't in doubt even being the 5th option here
 
This whole tried and trusted is just smoke and mirrors for I am not able to be flexible tactically with no plan b so I just keep choosing the same players and is why I and the team constantly come out as the loser against top sides and managers
 
RedSky said:
There's plenty of English talent, it's just Southgate doesn't like to take risks. He'd rather go with experienced players that know how he works and has been semi reliable in the past rather than picking players based on merit and form.
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Merit is not club form, it's form in training overseen by Southgate and performances for the national team.
 
adexkola said:
Merit is not club form, it's form in training overseen by Southgate and performances for the national team.
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I’m not sure that’s necessarily true, and it’s not like Henderson and Maguire are consistently the top performers for England anyway. If they’re a non-factor at club level they have no business being in the England squad.
 
Him being crap would be enough of a reason to get rid of him but he's an arrogant twat too. Thoroughly unlikeable.
 
What's the bare minimum he has to do next summer to have his contract extended? QF? SF?
 
Samid said:
What's the bare minimum he has to do next summer to have his contract extended? QF? SF?
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Something like that. He hasnt got to win anything of course, a good run is enough to keep him safe. The other nations can be happy.
 
Being Welsh, its fair to admit that Southgate as a manager is one level above Page so well done on that appointment.

Saying that .. Page's level is non league.
 
I think Southgate is a sociopath, he's doing this shite on purpose at this point. Henderson starting, and going the distance. Kin'ell.
 
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