England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Surely by that logic though you'd never play anyone decent or fancied in the run up to a tournament ever. There's always a possibility of meeting any and every big boy side if you have aspirations to go all the way in a tournament.

However, if not those three then maybe Belgium. Also, I'd still say it's better preparation to play Spain or the Netherlands again than Denmark. You can never be tested too much imo and I feel we'd still learn more from playing either of those two again than a side like Denmark where let's be honest, we should come through relatively unscathed as long as we turn up and do a professional job.

 

I'd like to play the Welsh, to wipe that smugness off them. Their youngsters aren't a patch on ours, they talk like they're some big European superpower

 

A Roverman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walked into a bar...

 

Know anyone can have a bad game, but I've had it now with Rice after that performance. He's genuinely infuriating when in possession, so many occasions when he has space to turn, drive forward, pick out a forward pass etc and he just picks the easy option every time. More worryingly though, is the defensive mistakes. I could accept him being a limited footballer if he was immaculate defensively in that role, but he isn't. He didn't track Martinelli for the first Arsenal goal and has been at fault for goals in an England shirt before including examples at corners etc. I'd honestly much rather take Dier as whilst he may not be amazing on the ball either, he at least has tournament experience in addition to experience at the top level and I also feel he's better defensively. Southgate is unlikely to drop Rice from the squad altogether now at this stage but if it was up to me I'd have Henderson, Winks and Dier as the defensive midfield options. If people deem Henderson not a defensive midfield option then make that Delph, Dier and Winks.

 

I’d go Henderson , Winks and Delph for midfield/ holding role .. leaving space for Grealish , Maddison and Mount for midfield / creativity / the hole

 

Rice should be playing cb not dm

 

I never saw the hype with Rice. He is just a bang average cdm with no goals or assists and no great technical ability

 

Guess we’d all looked at Dier and thought omfg

 

agree with the idea of dropping Wilson since they're some better options upfront than him, he's not even better than Solanke, nor Abraham.. i still would love to re-call Vardy to the team.

 

With the system we play, Wilson would just be a wasted pick imo. We have Kane and Abraham ahead of him, plus we have Rashford who will probably be picked as a wide attacking player but can cover a striker position also, hell even Sterling can cover as a false nine if desperate, so just don’t see the point of picking Wilson as well when we only play one out and out striker. Better off picking another midfield player like Grealish who can cover wide left also if needed.

 

Re the Dele Alli debate, and how he fits into a 4-3-3...

It's what we're playing at Spurs, and it's getting the best out of him. A lot of pundits and graphics have Spurs playing a 4-2-3-1 with Dele as the No.10, but it's slightly disingenuous to say we're playing a double pivot in front of the back 4, we're not. There is a single player deep as a defensive shield (Dier OR Winks), and another midfielder to his right (Winks, Sissoko or Ndombele), with Dele playing an advanced left sided midfield role - as an example, when he played the ball to Son from on his backside against West Ham, it was not a coincidence that he did that from the left touchline.

The right sided midfielder has a more disciplined, high energy role; having a player of this type provides a right-sided defensive shield able to drop in and cover, which is why Aurier has featured heavily as an attacking player. Contrast this with Dele's role - he has a license to get forward and get in close contact with Son (wide left), Kane (CF) and occasionally beyond them (e.g. a 4yd tap in in the Champions League vs Olympiakos). It's also why the left back role is more suited to Jan Vertonghen or Ben Davies than it is Danny Rose or Ryan Sessegnon because adding that forward license loses the defensive stability from that side of midfield.

Now think about Henderson's role on the right of a 3 for England (or indeed for Liverpool, with Wijnaldum on the left of Fabinho far more likely to be found up with the front 3 in and around the box). The vacant "left of the midfield 3" role is perfect for any of Dele, Maddison, Grealish, Mount, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Barkley, Lingard, because it combines the attributes needed for a more traditional centre-midfielder and a pure No.10.

 

Thought Gomez did well when he came on and has been slowly getting better over the last month. He really does just need a run of games which is why it's so frustrating. When he is in top form, it's not even a debate for me as to whether it should be him or Stones alongside Maguire.

 

Hard to keep Sancho at Dortmund much longer another goal and assist today. His firm lately has been phenomenal

 

Odoi has been so disappointing since his injury. Keeps giving the ball away

 

He needs some game time I think, yeah he has looked a bit disappointing but he’ll come good. He is a top talent and has potential to be like Sancho.

 

Yeah, he definitely needs a run of games to try and get his form back but on current form, I find it hard to justify his selection in the next Squad over other options like Harvey Barnes for example who is just in much better form. Luckily for CHO he has quite a lot of time to get his mojo back since the next fixture isn’t until March.

 

In fairness to CHO, lots of the Chelsea fans seemed to mainly be complaining about him trying to do too much. However, I can understand him wanting to take people on, take risks, try and make things happen in order to impress given his situation. Obviously it didn't suit Chelsea and was the wrong thing to do in the context of the game, but I can understand and support him wanting to impress, he just needs to learn when to keep it simple and when to take risks. However, I'm only going on what I've heard from Chelsea fans, I didn't watch it.

 

On the other hand Sancho was good again. Seems to have picked up again

 

Just in time for the January window

 

agree with you.. but also if you need him, he's gonna be fit for the 4-3-3 and play next to Kane and Sterling...for example as a backup for Rashford

 

No prob mate

 

Foden taking his opportunity ??

No .. totally ineffective

 

He has been by very far the best player on the pitch, impressive

 

Maybe he’s picked up .. it is a nothing game plus the other team are sitting back ..

 

point is he was miles better than any other city player. Besides he would be better if the other team didn't sit back