People who have England as one of the favourites for the tournament.... you realise Southgate is still the manager?
England Euro 2024 Squad and Discussion
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I can see England failing to get out of their group. Terrible squad selection by clueless Southgate.
Urgh yet more about not taking Grealish, look he tried his best to make a case for himself on Monday. He failed so it's time to get behind the ones brought in rather than keep saying what if
The idea that Grealish or any one player would help the primary issues of this team is laughable.
Most of these players play a completely different style at club level. If John Stones is going to be asked to run down counters and cover large gaps he won’t survive the tournament fit, much less play well. That isn’t what he does.
It’s like Douthgate said “I can play attractive football! You just move more of the little player dots farther forward!”
Foden plays poorly in an England shirt because how a team plays and what you ask a player to do matters.
For me, just the idea that Palmer and Saka are considered to be in contention for the same spot means the team doesn’t have a clear idea of how they are supposed to play. They do completely different things; and that’s just the first example that comes to mind.
Most of these players play a completely different style at club level. If John Stones is going to be asked to run down counters and cover large gaps he won’t survive the tournament fit, much less play well. That isn’t what he does.
It’s like Douthgate said “I can play attractive football! You just move more of the little player dots farther forward!”
Foden plays poorly in an England shirt because how a team plays and what you ask a player to do matters.
For me, just the idea that Palmer and Saka are considered to be in contention for the same spot means the team doesn’t have a clear idea of how they are supposed to play. They do completely different things; and that’s just the first example that comes to mind.
Agree. I think the wheels are going to come completely off!
Yeah he actually played pretty well on Monday making the choice even more baffling
It’s precisely because the team doesn’t have a fecking plan - as you say - that Grealish would be valuable. He holds the ball up, wins free kicks, rarely misses a pass etc. It’s going to be much more useful than having Gordon ferreting about into nowhere.
Likewise, because of the faults you mentioned with stones would be a good idea to have pacey, pretty good on the ball cover in Braithwaite, not Dunk who is all the negatives you said about Stones x 5.
Palmer and Kane very linked up well in the game, could be a key combo for the tournament.
You can probably see some clues as to the first XI by the shirt numbers that have come out. To me, if the case then it highlights the weakness of Southgate. Trent is not a midfielder. We may get away with it against poor opposition, but will be exposed in a proper midfield battle.
Secondly, there’s no way Phil Foden should be in the team. He’s never had a good game in an England shirt, and if he is to play, then have some balls and simply don’t play Bellingham. Because the two of them are competing for the same role, it doesn’t matter that they have both had good seasons. He needs to decide which one of them will be his starting 10, and the other will simply need to be on the bench. And that player should be Bellingham, on the basis that Foden has built up no body of work for England at all.
Secondly, there’s no way Phil Foden should be in the team. He’s never had a good game in an England shirt, and if he is to play, then have some balls and simply don’t play Bellingham. Because the two of them are competing for the same role, it doesn’t matter that they have both had good seasons. He needs to decide which one of them will be his starting 10, and the other will simply need to be on the bench. And that player should be Bellingham, on the basis that Foden has built up no body of work for England at all.
That is an excellent point as to what Grealish would bring the team if they are trying g to scrape by without a plan.
I would prefer the having a plan part, but that’s a fair assessment.
I genuinely believe that for England to get everything out of this generation, Bellingham needs to play deeper. We know he CAN play deeper. Like Rice at the base in the type of 433 where the fullbacks can invert (and a lot of these players are familiar with) , and you would have Bellingham, Mainoo … even Palmer in the mix for the two that come farther forward.
When you say ‘needs’, do you mean England needs or Foden needs? Because nobody has had an impact like Bellingham has had as a 10 for England since England have been playing with a #10, unless you count Rooney as a 10. If so, then he’s by far England’s best 10 and affects the game there. Based on his performances these last two years, England absolutely needs him as a 10.
His position should be untouchable, as you want as many top players performing in their natural position as possible. Bellingham CAN play deeper as you pointed out, perhaps if England had another 10 whose performances were making him undroppable. But I don’t think that’s the case, the only player who has done that would be Bellingham himself. I only see Jude starting deeper to accommodate Foden, which I don’t see as justified by Foden’s England form, and there are more natural options to play as an 8 like Mainoo.
I actually think Bellingham is best suited higher anyway. I don’t think his game is tidy enough to be at the very heart of play, his strength is more destructive and you want him closer to goal to cause havoc.
Trent is the only guy who can "invert" into CM next to Rice. Trust Walker at CB in positional defence, ask the wide forwards to drop into midfield or defence(Graelish would have been useful for this), drop Walker outright - probably england's best defender?
England are ~2010-2016 Argentina - lots of great attacking players, a world class DM, and subpar overall options across the defence and midfield...give or take a Messi
It's a great team that could win the euros, it's also not a team that should win, even if they had Guardiola they'd still ultimately depend on somebody - Bellingham, realistically - to have a monster tournament to win
France remains better overall, less depth but the quality is far better distributed across the starting XI(and they have Mbappé)
Bellingham is an attacking midfielder. He already was at Dortmund, who gave him license to roam and push forward and generally gave up a lot of chances and goals as a result. He also was never a great passer from deep and his ball progression mostly came off his dribbling, which is situational and again works better for an attacking midfielder
You have one of the best squads in the world. Sadly you have an incompetent and outdated foul for a manager.
Grealish would have been amazing in seeing out crucial knockout games - his strength alone buys him a ticket in the squad. Baffling. What a shame...this could have been England's tournament.
England squad looks worse without Maguire, Grealish and Rashford... Never thought i'd say that.
I do think this will be GS last England tournament.
I feel Potter and De Zerbi are up there as potential candidates to replace him.
I feel Potter and De Zerbi are up there as potential candidates to replace him.
For some reason I think the current England is going to win this tournament. When GS took Stone out and had Trent as RB, they are close to being the no.1 team in the world. What they miss is Bellingham instead of Foden, perhaps Wharton instead of Rice. They are a new team, need time to practice passing and understanding of each other run, hopefully in the next 7 days of training it will happen. If GS is brave and wise enough he should drop Rice and play Wharton-Mainoo combo.
Really lifts morale of Bowen, Gordon and Eze to think they have been totally written off already
And Henderson
Shaw looks pretty lean in this training picture.............. maybe fit for Sunday?
Shaw looks pretty lean in this training picture.............. maybe fit for Sunday?
He’s just joined team training, not even sure if he was involved for the whole session or just rondos and stuff. I’d say it’s irresponsible to play him this early. So yeah he’ll probably play
He’s just joined team training, not even sure if he was involved for the whole session or just rondos and stuff. I’d say it’s irresponsible to play him this early. So yeah he’ll probably play
Won't see him until at least Denmark game
You would think so, yeah I agree.
Why would he drop Rice? Seems like a ridiculous thing to do. Even drop him for two players who (this is just a guess but i dont think it will be that far off) played less Premier League games together than Rice has played this season.
Just seen Shaw training with the England squad in Germany, on the news.
So starting line up for Sunday. I think he'll go with ..
Pickford
Walker Stones Dunk Trippier
Rice Gallagher
Bellingham
Saka Kane Foden
I'd like to see this team though.
Pickford
Walker Stones Guehi Trippier (Shaw later in the tournament when he's deemed match fit)
Rice
Bellingham Foden
Saka Kane Gordon
Probably be a bit too open in midfield, and he can stick Gallagher, Mainoo or Wharton in there for solidity if things look dicey but I'd like to at least start the tournament on the attack. It's a relatively weak group.
Pickford
Walker Stones Dunk Trippier
Rice Gallagher
Bellingham
Saka Kane Foden
I'd like to see this team though.
Pickford
Walker Stones Guehi Trippier (Shaw later in the tournament when he's deemed match fit)
Rice
Bellingham Foden
Saka Kane Gordon
Probably be a bit too open in midfield, and he can stick Gallagher, Mainoo or Wharton in there for solidity if things look dicey but I'd like to at least start the tournament on the attack. It's a relatively weak group.
Reports that he is going with Trent in midfield.
Wild the amount of ex players who have seen Bellingham have a great season for Madrid as a 10 - combined with Foden rarely playing as a 10 for Pep - and wanting to shoehorn both of them in. Especially considering it's Southgate who is going to be naturally more defensive.
Trent makes sense from the perspective that it's international football, he won't get pressed as much, and he'll have more time to play switches and Hollywood balls where he is good. Mainoo is the best balance for the biggest games IMO, but I'd rather he is just a sub cause I don't see England doing too much.
Trent makes sense from the perspective that it's international football, he won't get pressed as much, and he'll have more time to play switches and Hollywood balls where he is good. Mainoo is the best balance for the biggest games IMO, but I'd rather he is just a sub cause I don't see England doing too much.
I hope not. Would rather he just go with Gallagher, Mainoo or Wharton if he's going to put Foden wide for an extra midfielder.
He (Trent) showed against Bosnia he's not good enough in midfield. His best performance came when he was shifted to RB. It's also bizarre you'd do that when you have two quality talents in Mainoo and Wharton who are ready to play and better midfielders.
It would be a classic Southgate move and I can 100% see it happening. TAA, not been in form all year, not really a midfielder, yeah lets chuck him in as CM as I'm too scared to play younger, specialised CMs.
If it does happen I can already feel my anger building as Southgate tries to sabotage us right from the start !
Yeah, but they're both so young and inexperienced that I get the call to have them be subs. I'm sure it'll change depending on the group stage. Trent has his uses (set pieces, hollywood passes) and that might be enough in the group games, but if it doesn't go well I'm sure they'll switch. Gallagher for me is the one where it's just the wrong choice all around, don't rate the guy and he doesn't provide anything over Mainoo or Wharton.
It just comes down to why I think Southgate isn't a great manager. He doesn't do what the best coaches need to do. Trent should only play as a RB with a workhorse midfield (like Rice, Gallagher and Bellingham) or as a RWB in a 5 at the back.
I can see him starting, England winning a game, Gareth thinking he's a genius and then Trent getting horribly exposed against a big side.
Gallagher isn’t even the same profile of player Mainoo and Wharton are so the comparison makes no sense. He’s off the ball work is, to me, several tiers above both of those guys. They’re better technical players though, and they work better as the deepest lying midfielder whereas Gallagher works better as the tackling, energy bunny pressing machine further forward.
Wharton is pretty good in terms of tackling and combativeness but agree that Gallagher is a better athlete. He's arguably in the top 3 for England in that aspect.
Yeah even Mainoo is fine in that department. I wasn’t denigrating their quality off the ball, just that that’s where Gallagher thrives.
When’s the England squad coming out with this year’s song?
That isn't the conclusion I would have drawn from the Bosnia game. England had 70% of the ball, Bosnia were penned in, so the role of the CMs was to make the cute passes forward to create space. Trent did that a few times when he was in midfield, playing sharp balls between the lines into Palmer in particular. If England's group stage games are going to follow a similar pattern, they'll need a creative type in there to do the same sort of thing.
That's basically the key facet of Wharton's game. I personally felt that Trent was much better when shifted out to RB so he can do his hollywood schtick.
It's absolutely coming home this year, the hype should be immense, everyone should really, REALLY get their hopes up this year
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