England Euro 2024 Squad and Discussion

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Zen said:
Where is James Trafford going to be playing next year? As much as Pickford hasn't let England 'down'.... he's constantly lumping it, and at Everton, he's the only player playing Southgate-ish tactics at club level. Pep would move him off as quick as he did with Joe Hart if he took over tomorrow.

But Trafford's got no chance if he's casually hanging around in the Championship or Burnley conceding 8 goals a game.
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Aimlessly hoofs it as far as he can. Did the same in the last Euro's final. Can't try and play ball if half your back line doesn't want to know about it.

England badly need a keeper that is decent on the ball, Simon isn't a great keeper but his passing and distribution is miles above anythings Pickford could even dream of doing.
 
Oranges038 said:
Aimlessly hoofs it as far as he can. Did the same in the last Euro's final. Can't try and play ball if half your back line doesn't want to know about it.

England badly need a keeper that is decent on the ball, Simon isn't a greag keeper but his passing and distribution is miles above anythings Pickford could even dream of doing.
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Again, everytime he gave it to the back they gave it straight back to him. You can't play ball if the others don't want to either. It would help too if the player he directed the ball to, aka Kane tried to challenge for the ball instead of ducking all the time.

There's always far bigger problems than him for England but he always becomes one of the scapegoats despite always keeping England in a game or a tournament. It's weird.
 
Something never seemed right between Bellingham and Kane. Let's wildly speculate this was due to Bellingham's frustration at Kane being picked despite awful displays in matches and even worse showings in training.
 
What's the future for the striker position? In 2 years Kane might be truly done and Watkins/Toney are hardly world beaters themselves.
 
SilentWitness said:
Again, everytime he gave it to the back they gave it straight back to him. You can't play ball if the others don't want to either. It would help too if the player he directed the ball to, aka Kane tried to challenge for the ball instead of ducking all the time.

There's always far bigger problems than him for England but he always becomes one of the scapegoats despite always keeping England in a game or a tournament. It's weird.
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Meh, I don't recall him being a scapegoat, even now. I'm not even scapegoating him, if you read into that that, than sure. But unfortunately is he seemingly limited in supporting the build up from the back up, there's no issue in the goalie getting the ball back either, it's supposed to create a spare man from the back. Even if he his fully capable of being involved from the back, he's hardly getting a place to showcase it at Everton, but he doesn't overly look confident in wanting to receive the ball to me for England or even willing to move to be in a possession to take it regularly.

He's hardly De Gea levels of disaster either. But all these defenders today are playing with a goalie they are more than happy to let have the ball - Ederson/Ortega, Onana and Henderson. So it's no surprise they are all willing to bring the goalie in, natural instincts and all.
 
They were about to bring on Gallagher and Trippier before Spain scored. Glad the Spanish stopped that torment from occurring in a final.
 
I did say another final should be seen as a good thing for England. But let's be honest, the run should have ended against Slovakia. Just an incomprehensible amount of luck was involved getting to this final. Spain were the first genuinely good team England faced and the difference was evident.

Football won. Spain fully deserved.

You need to ditch Kane and Southgate.
 
I would say on the back of losing two finals, that neither hurt too much. For the simple reason that there was a big gulf between the sides. Can't say we were unlucky or anything.
 
Zen said:
Meh, I don't recall him being a scapegoat, even now. I'm not even scapegoating him, if you read into that that, than sure. But unfortunately is he seemingly limited in supporting the build up from the back up, there's no reason in the goalie getting the ball back either, it's supposed to create a spare man from the back. Even if he his fully capable of being involved from the back, he's hardly getting a place to showcase it at Everton, but he doesn't overly look confident in wanting to receive the ball to me for England or even willing to move to be in a possession to take it regularly.

He's hardly De Gea levels of disaster either. But all these defenders today are playing with a goalie they are more than happy to let have the ball - Ederson/Ortega, Onana and Henderson. So it's no surprise they are all willing to bring the goalie in, natural instincts and all.
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His distribution is fine, but the whole mentality of England and Southgate doesn't play in that way so it is what it is. If Southgate wanted him to play in a certain way then he would, but Southgate is fine with it. Same with many other players for England like Kane and Bellingham and Foden etc. None of them are as technically astute for England as they are for their club.
 
No way we were beating Germany, france, or spain in this tourney. Other side of the draw and we have are usual QF exit.

Can't wait for the 'FA pleades with Southgate to stay' stories to start popping off in the next few days.
 
Southgate bottled it. England could have won it, with a better manager
 
Kane should be phased out now, right?

Time for a different type of striker
 
SilentWitness said:
Again, everytime he gave it to the back they gave it straight back to him. You can't play ball if the others don't want to either. It would help too if the player he directed the ball to, aka Kane tried to challenge for the ball instead of ducking all the time.

There's always far bigger problems than him for England but he always becomes one of the scapegoats despite always keeping England in a game or a tournament. It's weird.
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I'm not scapegoating him.

I have no problem with it going long or direct, it's just his aimless his hoofs to no one. I'm not even an England fan and it annoyed the feck out of me against Italy and it was the same again today. Even Watkins had a go at him for it. He sent so many right through to Simon, like he was just trying to boot it as far as he could. He's not always like that, it just seems he doesn't have the head for these big games.

I agree about players not looking for the ball, midfield didn't show for the ball either. But he's never going to look to play through the lines into midfield or pick anything more than the most obvious/easiest pass or just hoof it. Needs to be better on the ball or be replaced with someone who is.
 
Lay said:
Kane should be phased out now, right?

Time for a different type of striker
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I truly believe he was injured for most of the tournament.

I think we need a manager who if that happened again would drop the reputation and play someone fit and in form. Kane is still the best English striker, by quite a distance.
 
Lay said:
Kane should be phased out now, right?

Time for a different type of striker
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Not even phased out. It should be him done. He looks like a lot puppy on the pitch and like he in running in quick sand.
 
Sad to lose back to back finals but it’s a good young squad and they’ll by fresh opportunities with a new coach in the near future.

Plenty of young talent in that squad and plenty more coming through the age groups. It’s only a matter of time before they get over the line. Congrats Spain!
 
Foden, Bellingham, Mainoo, Palmer...it's a very good base. Regardless of his level I think Kane's presence defines too much of England's style. I missed Grealish
 
OverratedOpinion said:
I truly believe he was injured for most of the tournament.

I think we need a manager who if that happened again would drop the reputation and play someone fit and in form. Kane is still the best English striker, by quite a distance.
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I think he is too. But not sure if his style fits the team.
 
SilentWitness said:
Again, everytime he gave it to the back they gave it straight back to him. You can't play ball if the others don't want to either. It would help too if the player he directed the ball to, aka Kane tried to challenge for the ball instead of ducking all the time.

There's always far bigger problems than him for England but he always becomes one of the scapegoats despite always keeping England in a game or a tournament. It's weird.
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Agreed notice not one player played well on the half turn when receiving the ball with the exception of Bellingham (surprisingly) today.

Mainoo has been excellent this tournament but there was shades of the Mctomminay classic, drifting away into a marked zone to not receive the pass.

Rice can't play inviting pressure onto himself given his frame and you can't rely on Kobbie doing it alone because he'll get pressed out the game in a double pivot (6) midfield.

This was a situation where there were capable players but no real system to give them a foundation to build from.

We can talk about rotations, overlapping and pressing but the modern day game of football is won from the midfield. England played the entire tournament essentially bypassing this area, it shows Southgates limits as a manager that he cannot manufacture a system without having two naturally holding midfielders, something you'd expect to see as the norm during his time as a professional footballer in the 90's, but the games moved on.
 
TheReligion said:
Sad to lose back to back finals but it’s a good young squad and they’ll by fresh opportunities with a new coach in the near future.

Plenty of young talent in that squad and plenty more coming through the age groups. It’s only a matter of time before they get over the line. Congrats Spain!
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Well said.

I did see in another thread that GS was about to bring gallacher and tripper on before spain scored :D
 
Lay said:
I think he is too. But not sure if his style fits the team.
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I think we will have to see, I don't think there is a particular style of play for the team currently that is worth keeping. I think we have a lot of good players with a lot of self belief.

If we get a manager in who drills them to be a bit more dominant on the ball and create more chances then Kane might fit perfectly.

We will have to see but obviously far too soon to say Harry Kane is finished.
 
SilentWitness said:
His distribution is fine, but the whole mentality of England and Southgate doesn't play in that way so it is what it is. If Southgate wanted him to play in a certain way then he would, but Southgate is fine with it. Same with many other players for England like Kane and Bellingham and Foden etc. None of them are as technically astute for England as they are for their club.
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I already agree with the other players, and have done multiple times especially with Kane, if you gonna let him play like the way he did throughout the tournament - you don't play two 10's behind him, and you bring Rashford and Sterling given you have zero interest in using Bowen and Gordon.

Southgate is massively at fault for how England set up, but in terms of moving tactically... as I said, not only do all 4 of England's starting defenders today play with goalies who play like this on the Premiership level, so do the rest of the 11. Rio and the others touched upon, and this is absolutely not exclusive to Pickford, but 10 of todays starters were playing in a tactically approach almost the total opposite to how they played at club level for the most part last year, yes even Guehl, if you go with a certain tactical approach, you pick the players to suit that, not force players in a setup they aren't accustomed too.... but if most of your starters are playing one way, then surely you move towards them, and not so much the outlier, which unfortunately is heavily Pickford unless Everton massively shift tactically or he moves elsewhere - again, it's not scapegoating, unless you are Southgate :lol:

He should have taken Branthwaite, Henderson, Sterling and Rashford essentially if this was how he was going to setup almost entirely.
 
Well, kind of what us ‘naysayers’ were expecting. Just how fecking bad was Pickford’s distribution tonight though? Not seen the ball for ten minutes, no problemo, here’s Pickford to boot it long to roughly where traffic cone Kane is/Spain’s CBs so they can have it for another ten minutes! Logic. Surely Gareth will go now? Please god.
 
InspiRED said:
Well, kind of what us ‘naysayers’ were expecting. Just how fecking bad was Pickford’s distribution tonight though? Not seen the ball for ten minutes, no problemo, here’s Pickford to boot it long to roughly where traffic cone Kane is/Spain’s CBs so they can have it for another ten minutes! Logic. Surely Gareth will go now? Please god.
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Yeah. It was obvious what was going to happen each time. Bizarre from England and back to the stone age with that style
 
Does Maguire walk back into the England 11 after guehi performance in the tournament
 
Guehi was good. Surely a big move is on the horizon?

Stones looked shaky from the start but still was okay. Most of the starting eleven is fine. Just need to figure out a style that can be quickly incorporated in tournaments.
 
None of the players that started the games seemed to play with any confidence or belief, maybe Saka aside if you're citing someone who started all the games. The rest looked nervous, quivering wrecks, who played well with themselves with the majority being under par.

Big expectation of a manger is to motivate and put players at ease. England played the entire tournament as if the extent of Southgate's team talks was to go around individually and panic the players into believing they might have left the gas on.
 
Lay said:
Guehi was good. Surely a big move is on the horizon?
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Absolutely, not the most cultured on the ball but does a good job and totally reliable defensively. The sort to take the lead as well, didn't care about reputation was front foot and shouting at players with bigger names.

He is the player this Euros for England that I come away really liking the most.
 
DixieDean said:
I would say on the back of losing two finals, that neither hurt too much. For the simple reason that there was a big gulf between the sides. Can't say we were unlucky or anything.
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That could be because you don’t actually like football though.
Surprised you watched the game tbh.
 
Why hasn't Livramento been capped for the senior squad? He's probably the best prospect England have at righback next no?

Kane, Trippier, Walker need to be shifted on, the battle today was lost on the flanks as myself and many others could've predicted. Yamal, Nico, Cucurella all got the better of England's fullbacks
 
Walker and Trippier should be done with the NT.

Kane should stay but his days as a nailed on starter are over.

Guehi was a great revelation this tournament.

Shame we didn’t get to see any of Wharton this tournament. England really needs someone that can play with the ball, control the tempo
 
VorZakone said:
What's the future for the striker position? In 2 years Kane might be truly done and Watkins/Toney are hardly world beaters themselves.
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Watkins should get a proper run in the World Cup qualification imo. He will be playing in CL next season and I'd back him to score 3-4 in that. Solanke probably will also get a call up early next season as he was finally looking a decent scorer for Bournemouth.
 
Lee565 said:
Does Maguire walk back into the England 11 after guehi performance in the tournament
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Funny thing with Maguire is England are miles more dangerous at set plays with him lurking around the back post.

England threat from corners this tournament was completely non-existant until the 90th minute of the final when Rice got the free header in. Would've been a very England thing to finally score from a set play in the 90th minute of the final and keep the suspense going for another half hour.

Ultimately Branthwaite is shaping up to be Maguire's replacement for probably club and country so need to look to the long term there.

Next manager will probably reach out to Ben White again given Walker and Trippier will probably retire after this so suddenly RB doesn't quite look as stacked if Reece James gets more injuries.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Absolutely, not the most cultured on the ball but does a good job and totally reliable defensively. The sort to take the lead as well, didn't care about reputation was front foot and shouting at players with bigger names.

He is the player this Euros for England that I come away really liking the most.
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He was o.k. Reasonable on one v ones but I always thought there was an error lurking and he was dragged out of position a few times e.g the goal conceded to Slovakia when he just went with Stones for a header and gave them the space to score.

Maybe club bias but I thought Konsa was superb coming in v the Swiss and he should be a legitimate option for RCB going forward now.
 
FootballHQ said:
He was o.k. Reasonable on one v ones but I always thought there was an error lurking and he was dragged out of position a few times e.g the goal conceded to Slovakia when he just went with Stones for a header and gave them the space to score.

Maybe club bias but I thought Konsa was superb coming in v the Swiss and he should be a legitimate option for RCB going forward now.
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Being completely literal I thought Konsa did well but looked less assured and proactive. I like Konsa a lot but rate Guehi higher.
 
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