England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Maddison only real has a chance if England decide to shift formation again. In the 3-4-3 there's not really an opening unless there are injuries. Sancho, Rashford, Sterling, Grealish, Foden is pretty closed case you'd think for the wide roles. That'd leave room for 2 strikers, 4 central midfield options (Mount among them, who also has been used out wide by England), and 9 people to cover the 5 defensive roles.

I'd say barring injury the following are on the plane should England stick with 3-4-3:

Pickford, Pope
Walker, Maguire, Stones
Rice, Henderson, Mount
Foden, Sancho, Rashford, Sterling, Grealish
Kane, DCL

Which effectively leaves:

1 from Henderson, McCarthy, Johnstone
2 from Chilwell, Shaw, Saka
2 from Alexander-Arnold, Trippier, James
2 from Mings, Dier, Coady, Keane, maybe White/Konsa/Tomori jostling for position
1 from Phillips, Winks, Ward-Prowse

Then the likes of Maddison, Ings, Abraham, Barnes relying on an injuries elsewhere.

 

Jamie O'Hara was only TalkShite talking about how Southgate needs to ask Vardy back, I mean he should in that Vardy is clearly better than everyone bar Kane but the reason Vardy quit still remains, Southgate hasn't got a clue how to use him and doesn't have the balls to sub Kane when playing badly, making him captain made it even worse

 

DCL is England's best direct back up for Kane. Others might bring other things to the table but he's the best like for like replacement in what Kane offers outside the box. Which has been integral to England's best performances in the last couple of years.

 

DCL is a penalty box poacher, don't think he offers all that much outside the box, all the talk about him has been about his one touch finishing

 

Vardy would probably say he wasn't competing for a place as he didn't have a genuine chance to play, it takes a strong manager to have the balls to drop/take off his captain and Southgate is weak we will never truly know how good the other strikers, Vardy included could be for England as they will never get a fair chance

 

Hell of a choice. Real strength in depth

 

Vardy has retired. Time to move on. The closest comparison to vardy for me is ings.

 

I'm counting Walker as one of the five, rather than a full back.

Think it will be something like Walker, Maguire, Stones, Dier, Mings, with James, Alexander-Arnold, Trippier and Chilwell as full backs. I don't see Southgate going with just Walker and three genuine CBs while intending to play a back 3 - you're a suspension or injury away from having no cover.

 

The one position where I think there is a genuine opening for someone to force their way in is central midfield. Assuming Rice, Henderson and Mount are going to be in the squad, then the fourth place look wide open.
Winks, Philips, Ward-Prowse have been invovled, but I don't think anyone's in possession of the place.

 

To leave out Saka as a wing back option just so Trippier can be there as cover for more options and play left wing back to unbalance our team just seems balmy because we have looked awful everytime Trippier has played on that left hand side but you just know Southgate would do it

 

As long as lingard doesn't get back in

 

True, but if we go out playing the defensive set up and players we have been recently it will be twice as bad.

Also I wonder if Southgate will stick to his rigid 'that's where he plays' excuse now that Henderson is playing CB? He has dropped off a lot this season too so I don't think he should be an automatic starter

 

I’m not sure on that... Southgate seemed delighted with Saka’s performances and attitude.

 

Agree on this. Even before moving back, he was way off his levels from last season. I wonder if he just had the season of his life playing in a team that was functioning almost perfectly, and has now just regressed to his normal level.

A 4-3-3 with Mount/Rice/Foden is the future.

 

He certainly overplayed him last time and it costed us place in finals imo. My other worry with Kane is that he will keep dropping deep, taking the ball in positions where players with better close control, like Grealish or Foden should be having it.

 

It's a major tournament, the endgame, why would we need to weaken the squad to "build for the future"?

 

and leaving no one operating as the striker

 

if you are building for the future constantly then you can never be called a failure

 

When played centrally I think Foden takes too many instinctive and wrong decisions and still does not understand role well. Class act on the right already though.

 

I don't think he's ready for that position now, but over the next couple of years he should develop into it.