Maguire shouldn’t be going if he’s going to miss all the group stage games. Why not just bring a defender fit and proper there? 
England - Euro 2021 Discussion | FA chairman: Southgate to be offered new contract until Euro 2024
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I'd be pretty shocked if England won it in fairness.
Maguire shouldn’t be going if he’s going to miss all the group stage games. Why not just bring a defender fit and proper there?
ordinarily I’d agree, but as we’ve got 26 players it’s not a risk. Maguire could make a difference in the second half of the tournament, whereas an additional defender would be incredibly unlikely to play a single minute.
Would it be that shocking if we won it? We're the favourites with most bookies, partly because we historically perform well in major competitions on home soil, but also because we have our strongest squad in decades.
We won't get a better chance than this for some time.
Don't let us down lads, i'm expecting at least a semi final.
We've got no right being favourites with anyone. That France side is fantastic.
England being favourites basically means if you put a tenner on England to win, you're going to lose a tenner.
I'm hopeful, of course, but for me we're in that second pot of teams with the likes of Croatia, Sweden, Ukraine etc. I'd even say the likes of Holland and Portugal belong in the 2nd pot too, but always seem to have that knack of performing when it matters. England aren't near the likes of France, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Germany. Even if there's an argument we have similar talent, we don't have the right mentality. We don't have that bottle and determination that these other nations have, and we see it time and again. As soon as those players put on an England shirt they shrink and hide. It happens every 2 years, without fail.
We look pretty weak in central defence, Just don't rate Stones, Coady or Mings, more so if Maguire is not fit to play. Pickford is a disaster in goal. Hope he just goes more with attacking intent than relying on that weak defensive trio.
Rashford, Kane and Sancho to lead the line with Grealish, Mount in front of Rice would be my choice.
Rashford, Kane and Sancho to lead the line with Grealish, Mount in front of Rice would be my choice.
What the bookies say is irrelevant. We're favourites because a load of England fans have punted on their team to win it. It doesn't mean anything. Who are the favourites with the bookies in other countries?
The issues that we have here is that we've two key players missing at the moment in our weakest areas through Maguire and Henderson. Gomez is also missing is the third best centre back we have. We have a really inexperienced squad, I think only one team in the tournament has less caps. There are other nations with better XI's than us even when we're at full strength. We have some home advantage depending on how where we finish in the group but this is diluted because of limited numbers in stadiums (could be no one in there with the Indian variant looking ominous). It won't be anything like Euro 96 unfortunately.
Personally I think the England side of the next 3 - 4 tournaments will better placed to win something. There's still big gaps in quality in some areas but there are some interesting young players coming through in our weak positions.
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Absolutely love Rashford, but he shouldn't be anywhere near the starting 11 based on his form over the last few months. He's been awful. Front 4 should be Kane, Sancho, Foden and Graelish with Mount the next in line to come in.
we need decent centre backs and a decent keeper. I don’t see any of these coming through.
it’s bizarre it’s only 12 months until the World Cup. I don’t see those positions being addressed.
we don’t how we’re have any older players, so won’t lose anyone over the next couple of years.
True. I forgot how soon the next World Cup is! I'd be looking at 2024 and beyond. We need a player at the base of midfield who can control the game. I'd be looking at the likes of Skipp, Garner and Azeez in the next 1 - 4 seasons. Carney Chukwuemeka is one to watch too. He could be a top player, although more box to box. We'd be fine at CB if we could take Maguire, Stones and Gomez. Goalkeeper isn't quite as pressing in my opinion although an upgrade would be nice. I think it's the midfield and our young stars getting better and getting more experience that's the big thing.
How can you take Rashford out for form but not Grealish when he’s been unfit for ages. I absolutely love Grealish btw and would start him but I think Rashford has to start. What people also forgot is that while club form is important, international form is important too. Rashford has largely performed well for England even when playing poorly for Utd. Sancho on the other hand is yet to have a single stand out display for England.
Just because Grealish was in outstanding form before his injury. Absolutely outstanding. Speaking of England form, he was outstanding for England before injury too. I take your point he's been injured, but he's been back for a couple weeks now and has plenty minutes. I'd rather select someone in his situation than Rashford's. I also think he's good enough to be the stand out performer of the tournament.
12 months is a long time in football. Plenty of time for players to step up / break through.
Grealish was excellent against Austria only a few days ago.
I’d agree Rashford vs Sancho. Having done well previously vs form is difficult. One of them should play as otherwise we lack pace up front.
to an extent. More so with attaching players - I don’t claim to know every young player, but there seems to be a big dearth of CBs and keepers. To play in the WC next year, a young player would need to be starting in the PL week in week out starting in September.
our Gk situation looks really rather ropey.
True, but you're just looking for players to have good seasons. So Henderson could easily cement himself as #1 if he plays well enough to hold onto the spot at Utd. Similarly the likes of Gomes, Tomori, White etc could have big seasons.
This time last year I wouldn't have said Luke Shaw was our stick on starter at left back for England, but here we are.
Our frontline of Kane, Sterling, Foden, Rashford is as good as any nation in the competition, the midfield area is quite strong too, but the drop-off in the defensive area is a worry admittedly. Pickford is hardly the object of reliability in the net, additionally losing Maguire and TAA to fitness issues, so we're definitely vulnerable to conceding at any point. Another concern is we're almost certainly going to meet one of France, Spain or German in QF's.
That said, if the midfielders and attackers play to their best ability, we have a chance. Home soil will be a big advantage with or without a full stadium too.
As above, its not about personnel. England gunna England.
As I say for what it’s worth I would still play Grealish because he has top quality. I maintain though that Rashford offers some unique attributes to this England side not found elsewhere, namely pace and moment in behind.
Which is why I think he's a better option from the bench. As we've seen for United, Rashford needs to play from the left to be effective. Foden and Grealish are both better than him so it makes sense they start over there. Then you're left with trying to shoehorn Rashford into the side, but both Sancho and Sterling are better than him from the right, albeit Sterling's form is probably as bad as Rashford's.
Yeah IF we weren't short of a player in midfield then would be all for White/Godfrey coming in to the squad instead, however feel we could really do with JWP/Jesse providing us with something different to what we already have in that area. Having said that our two big injury concerns are at CB and holding mid so maybe the sensible approach is to go with White who can cover both of those positions effectively.
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Yeah we haven't had that player who can control the tempo of the game from midfield since the days of Scholes/Carrick which is scary and far too long for a country of our standing, like you say it was a real blow that Gomez wasn't available for this tournament as would have probably meant no Coady/Mings
Yeah, I was hoping we could avoid the usual bottle job with home advantage - assuming we can swing that of course.
But I get ya.
Don't do it to yourself. We know how this story will go. England will get knocked out by the first good side they meet in the Knockout rounds. As said above, it's been decades of this pattern.
I think he's right to take Maguire. I don't see how he can't, that's the problem. He is the stand out central defender among a sea of mediocrity. I think he's pretty key to any idea of playing a 4 as well, so in terms of flexibility in the bigger games he is vital.Maguire shouldn’t be going if he’s going to miss all the group stage games. Why not just bring a defender fit and proper there?
I think Henderson is more questionable as I don't think he's a key player in the side.
Would you bring in JWP/Jesse for Henderson just out of interest as getting a real sense it could be White for TAA due to the concern over injuries to players at CB/DM
I don't think I would take Lingard, there are so many options for his best role in those central attacking areas.
There is a real lack of quality and depth at CB and CM and even the starters are only passable, they still look well short of what I'd consider to be the favourites for the competition. I guess it would be JWP by default but shouldn't really get a kick.JWP is well below Bellingham, Phillips, Rice and probably even Mount for a CM role.
It's going to be a back 3 really, isn't it. I think you've got Coady, Mings and Stones as the more traditional options then I would not be surprised to see Walker or Shaw on one side as well. There are probably enough options there but I think White would be most useful to fill in.
So after all that would you bring in JWP/White for TAA or are you even thinking maybe Godfrey instead
I'd probably go for White, if pushed. Not excited about it but just to cover those positions and I believe Brighton have often played with similar setups so it makes some sense to have him. If we're being honest if we have to play these lads we're in trouble.
We need Phillips and Rice to stay fit throughout, hopefully get Maguire fit and then things look reasonable.
Yes, forgot Foden existed.
Tomori has had a big half season at least, id have start him ahead of mings and coady already. Playing at a higher level already and better form
If Maguire won’t be fit until later in the tournament he should replace TAA with Godfrey or White. I’d obviously favour Godfrey and his pace is favourable too.
Just had a look at the free wallchart in the paper today and if we come second in our group then would face second place in the Spain group which is likely to be Poland or Sweden I would say
Squad numbers suggest its rashford, kane and sterling.
That fits the managers' insistance on those who 'don't let him down' too.
Yeh whoever comes first in our group is at a disadvantage in the next round. You could argue it would be beneficial coming 3rd rather than 1st.
It's what we did in the last World Cup.
I wouldn't put it past Southgate to rest his entire first XI in the final group game if qualification is already assured.
England's backline doesn't seem good enough to go all the way. What the feck is Mings doing as a starter anyway?
Which defence (apart from France) is great?