England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Barkley hasn’t played that much for Chelsea has he , thus far

 

Maybe it’s a risk thing but would bringing on Winks for Rice at half time have been risky? It’s arguably more risky not to have a player like Winks to bring a calm head to proceedings. Surely, Southgate and Holland can see these things. I just wish they’d be proactive in making changes.

I’m still a massive fan of Southgate but his in game management and substitutions are strange at times.

 

Giving minutes to Ox and not Winks has to be the most bizarre decision.

 

One thing that is a bit of a concern is that Alexander-Arnold seemed to lose almost every 1v1 and struggled to stop any crosses as well. He barely looked like a defender at times. Need to find ways to get him into games more to offset those defensive weaknesses.

 

He's not a good defender, there's no two ways about it. The whole back line was guilty of being too slack. It definitely makes a case for an AWB or Walker back in there, someone who is good at the fundamentals of defending. Its seems something that is becoming rarer and rarer in England teams through the groups. When the 19s played Germany the other day the German defenders were really aggressive and dominant. It occurred to me then that we're kind of losing the defensive basics in a drive to be great on the ball.

I still think Chilwell has it all to prove as well.

 

Awful defensive display! Individual errors that shouldn't be happening at this level, still refreshing to see 'minnows' NOT bunkering for a draw from the off! Hats off to Kosovo, I can see why they beat the Czechs.

 

We'd have beaten Netherlands if Lingard wasn't adjudged to be offside by the width of a gnat's pube, and should have been out of sight against Croatia at half time.

This is the very top of international football, it's fine margins. Plus just changing one thing doesn't just give us a positive and the opposition a negative - they can elect to change their style and push players on because our midfield then may struggle with runners but be better on the ball etc.

Also when/why has Maddison been put on such a pedestal? Winks makes more sense than him

 

Speaking of Venables, he was just the same regarding subs: still remember the game against Spain in Euro 96, when he waited for like the 105th minute. It should be in the English DNA.

 

Stop making me laugh.

 

Agreed, both full backs were disappointing, especially Alexander-Arnold's usually deadly delivery, but neither I can remember a good cross from Chilwell too. Also both were suspect defensively, though this midfield didn't help them too.

 

France perhaps?

 

I think last nights game will have done us more favours than most of our recent qualifiers with the way Kosovo set up to play against us. They pressed high, kept going forwards and offered a real challenge to our backline - the fact that we could easily have scored 8 or 9 isn't that relevant whilst still being a positive thing.

Goalkeeper - Think this position is fairly set

Full backs - Personally still think Walker and Rose are ahead of Alexander-Arnold and Chilwell, although much closer at LB, Walker just a much better one v one defender than TAA, and we are still quite open at times with the front 3 and need this solidity. Plus Walker obviously gets up and down well enough.

Centre backs - Keane doesn't look up to the style of play required, and I personally think Maguire struggles with it too, although adds in both boxes. If everyone was fit and firing think Gomez and Stones is our best partnership, and I think that would help out whoever is playing in front of them too.

Centre midfield - Biggest question marks here for me.

Rice v Winks - Winks much better on the ball and think he may be what we require, but would be interesting to see how Rice looks with Stones and Gomez behind him, as opposed to Keane and Maguire who don't give him good quality balls, or take up positions and are comfortable enough receiving it from him. Rice obviously adds more defensively, but does the balance with Henderson work? I suspect it may be a bit limited too often.

Henderson - is going to start every game when fit, which takes you back to the previous point, and may give Winks a slight edge.

More advanced of the 3 - Barkley has done well there, Alli tends to struggle in this role a bit but still is capable of big moments and probably edges it for me. I do like Mount in there with his energy and ability to press and be a good ball player. I don't think the role will suit Maddison at all and that he needs to be looking at one of the wide forward roles and a slight change in shape.

Up front - can't really go wrong here, I'd probably go with Sancho over Rashford

A team
Pickford

Walker
Gomez
Stones
Rose

Winks
Henderson
Alli

Sancho
Kane
Sterling

B team
Pope? Not sure really

TAA
Keane
Maguire
Chilwell

Rice
Loftus Cheek
Barkley

Maddison
Rashford
Hudson-Odoi

 

Jesus some of you guys need to relax. I have complaints about he defending and midfield too, but my God you need settle down about Southgate.

 

Problem is that when his delivery is off all you can notice is how bad at defending he is, he's really easy to take on.

 

Which are both partly down to Southgate. I do feel for Southgate in terms of the defence and will cut him slack there as the options are not international tournament winning quality and our best prospect currently isn't getting regular games at club level. However, the midfield has seen an emergence of options since the world cup and there is easily scope there for Southgate to have experimented more to find a better balance as it currently isn't working. Furthermore, the midfield 3 we've seen over the last two games has already been shown to not work against top sides, see Netherlands game. Ok, I know Henderson didn't start in that game but he did against Croatia. Therefore, I think criticism of Southgate is very much warranted. This is the England manager's job one of the highest paid and highest pressure jobs in football, it comes with the territory.

 

Long term I think Greenwood will join the forward line.

 

Still Barkley over Alli for me, offers more on the ball and Alli doesn't have these big moments for England. I do think Maddison would be good in this more advanced midfield role though, and don't forget that he created more chances than anyone else in the PL last season. Finally, I still hope for a miracle for Foden, like a loan in january that could change everything.

 

I know Southgate has said that he finds it hard to find a spot for Maddison in this current system but why couldn’t he do the same job Barkley does? I thought that’s pretty much his role anyway, just behind Vardy and in front of two holding midfielders for Leicester?

 

Foden is the wildcard, but needs games - hopefully something happens in that regard but struggle to see it at the moment.

Barkley never quite puts it all together for me, and slows play downa bit much when he needs to be the one speeding it up on our attacks. He's done well enough for England but seems an obvious area to improve.

 

Personally I think there's a non football issue between Southgate and Maddison. This may sound far-fetched to begin with but when you look at it closer it's the only logical explanation. The excuse about Maddison not fitting into the system is just absolute rubbish as we've previously played with Alli and now Barkley, both attacking midfielders and number 10s. Hasn't he also talked up Foden in the past? Who is also a number 10. Furthermore, it's not as if Maddison is too old to adapt, he's only 22 and I'm sure could easily press more or do whatever else Southgate wants if asked.

 

To me, the omission of Maddison is less of an issue than that of Gomez or Winks. I get that Gomez hasn't played much football this season but he's some way ahead of Keane IMO.

 

Maddison is at the bottom range of distance covered per game for a midfielder. I think its possibly to do with that.

 

I think it is far too early to be barking up that tree, bearing in mind he has just called him up to the squad.

There are literally dozens of more logical explanations. Maddison has been playing in a role that England don't use for most of his senior career now, and whilst there isn't a massive difference between a 10 and an 8, it is harder for him to drop into that than it is for others to push up from an 8.

Also, his main asset is his creativity, he can be a bit of a luxury n that extent, bearing in mind we scored 9 goals across 2 games, and could have had 9 alone last night, did we need someone to come on and try to unpick a defence that was all over the place?

His time will come, and he'll get his chance

 

Pickford
TAA Gomez Maguire Chilwell
Rice Winks
Maddison
Sancho Kane Sterling

Would be my team for the next qualifiers. Although I can't see him starting Maddison for his debut, will most likely be off the bench.