Fantastic goal and assist from Rashford. Needs to work on his finishing but if he can sort it out like Sterling did then he'll become some player. I actually feel his mentality is both his best friend and worst enemy at times, sometimes he tries to pull off too much, but when the audacious things he tries do come off it's spectacular. I also feel he's the type of player that never hides and always wants to try and influence the game even if he's not quite at it.
Disappointed in the selection of Delph and non inclusion of Foden and Grealish. Walker also unlucky to be out - I like Trippier but Walker is better. I don’t see why we need Rice, Delph, Henderson and Winks for the deep role, although Southgate likes to play someone who can’t pass in that role so I think he sees Winks as one of the other midfielders unfortunately. Glad that Keane is out but it does bring into question his insistence of starting him. Rice has been equally bad but I’m betting he will start ahead of Winks. Delph is playing in a team that is doing awfully right now. Can we really not promote Foden and Grealish for these two essentially dead runner training games? We have basically qualified already.. Foden is getting minutes now - does anybody here seriously think we wouldn’t be better with him in our midfield? He is unbelievably stubborn. I will be really pissed off if he starts a shit team with Rice and Henderson in midfield.
I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that Delph is only here for this particular break to cover the suspensions of Henderson and Rose in case any of Chilwell, Winks, Rice etc get injured. Other than that, there is no justification for him to be in the squad moving forward and god forbid he is part of Southgate's euro plans. If he absolutely must have a versatile player that can play in multiple defensive positions, then I'd rather have Dier back and that's saying something. At least he still has time relatively on his side.
He played Winks in the deep role (with Henderson on the right) three weeks ago. Short memories in this place.
Ok but why do we need Henderson Rice and Delph? None of them are great passers or particularly good with the ball, Henderson is probably the best out of them. It’s like Southgate just hasn’t learned.. we will be chasing shadows against a big team yet again if we reach the KOnstages next year at essentially a home tournament because he won’t play a proper midfield
Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but Southgate's words on the midfield selection worried me a tad yesterday. He talked about how he liked the fact Barkley was scoring for Chelsea, which isn't true. He said "Maddison is probably in that sort of area of the pitch" , he also spoke about how he liked the Ox because "he has that athleticism and speed that's different to all of those others" . I just worry that these statements reinforce our view on here that Southgate wants players who are all about end product or physicality/athleticism in midfield rather than more technical, David Silva/Iniesta type midfielders that keep the ball and that the midfield actually needs. Not saying Maddison, Foden, Grealish etc are up to the level of those two players as they are obviously not but they are in a similar mould or at least can be moulded to play in that way.
I don't see a problem with Henderson being in the squad. He's a Champions League winning captain. He doesn't play as a holding midfielder for Liverpool or England (except the disastrous experiment against the Czech Republic) and while I personally wouldn't start him, he's handy to have around when you have a right side of Sancho and TAA that don't really defend.
Problem is that he can only be used with technical players around him and I'm not sure Southgate has got it yet. Hopefully he learned from the Spain, Croatia and Bulgaria games.
Yeah I have no issue with Henderson, as long as he's not paired with Rice. Winks should be the first name on the teamsheet in my opinion, not because he's amazing but he's crucial to us having any form of control in the midfield.
It looks like Barkley will pull out of the England squad. Southgate should use it as an excuse to call up Grealish especially with doubts over Mount and Sancho. https://www.skysports.com/amp/footb...-being-ruled-out-of-chelsea-vs-crystal-palace
Was so obvious that he was injured to start with so silly decision to call him up. Yeah hopefully Grealish gets the nod now.
I don’t get why he would be risked in the first place to take up a Squad place to be honest. Hasn’t played for a month so was a long shot to be fit anyway and it’s not like we haven’t got other good players to call up like Grealish providing that Southgate hasn’t completely convinced himself that he’s now solely a winger.
I fear that our Gareth may have a problem with Jack being a little too fancy, what with his 1920s film star hair and little shorts and socks to show off his admittedly impressively muscular thighs and calves. He doesn't fit the good boy English 'DNA' we are looking for.
Can't see Foden getting in as Southgate didn't even mention him yesterday as an option for the squad in midfield yet. Providing he practices what he preaches then it should be Grealish to replace Barkley as he said the likes of Alli and Lingard simply aren't doing enough atm to warrant the call up. Tbh I don't see how he calls up anyone but Grealish now that the Ox has been recalled as he has ruled those two out. The only option would be Foden but see above. In which case the only other option would be another deeper/more defensive midfielder but I can't see that either as we already have 4 in the squad and there's no way Dier can justify selection atm.
I don’t get how Grealish’s versatility is seen as precluding him from a squad place whereas with Mount it’s a positive.
I don't think Delph or Barkley have made the club squads for this weekend. Any other injury doubts aside from Mount and Sancho?
The Delph selection is just daft.. and I’m not knocking the Henderson selection - I don’t mind Henderson in a midfield 3 with creative players, but just like Henderson-Dier didn’t work, neither will Henderson-Rice. I am worried because Southgate’s opinions and selections in midfield are truly baffling. If he wants us to play fast possession based football and he goes on about centre backs who can play with the ball, why does he play a midfield who cannot pass? I’d be happy with any of the following midfields out of the current squad: Henderson-Winks-Barkley -Henderson-Winks-Maddison/Foden/Grealish Ox-Winks-Maddison/Barkley/Grealish/Foden Ideally Foden and Grealish would be in the squad. Foden is already one of our best midfielders on the ball.
I know it happens the other way around but has there ever been a time where a player doesn't play for his club the fixture before an international but still joins up and plays for England (aside from major tournaments)?
Problem with that is A) sadly, you always feel as though his next injury problem is only ever just around the corner, in which case it's very hard/difficult to make a case to build a midfield around him B) if he's gonna be played in the Barkley/Mount spot then does he really warrant instantly being a starter again given the other candidates for that position including the aforementioned two and the likes of Maddison etc have produced and delivered far more over a sustained period over the last 12 months for either club or country. I know he has been magnificent since his return but it would be so fickle and hypocritical of Southgate to throw the Ox in over a few good weeks of form whilst he is claiming that "Maddison still needs to fight for his spot" despite having been impressive for 12 months.
I’m still not over the CB thing. He played Keane five times in competitive games. Admittedly it’s at the least partly because Gomez isn’t playing. To then completely drop Keane and keep Gomez in the squad even when his situation hasn’t changed? It’s laughable. You can’t go from a consistent starter in preparation for a tournament to then be completely dumped. This is one of Southgate’s biggest flaws and why he would have no chance as a club manager. He seems to need to see something numerous times before he can even conceive about making a change. The flaws in the three at the back situation, the Rice/Henderson experiment etc. I have zero confidence in this guy to be able to tactically tweak a game to help win it.