England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Saka isn't a left back, he can do a job there but Chilwell is far better.

I just don't see why people hype up Winks completely average imo

 

Show me some examples where I’ve done that .. I’ve criticised Sterling for his poor final ball and I mentioned that I didn’t regard him as world class due to how often he pulls/scuffs his shots .
I also recall saying that much preferred Robert Lewandowski over Harry Kane ..

Seems pretty tame to me

 

Sterling is definitely world class and Harry_Kane is a better all round striker than lewondovski

 

Show me some examples of your first allegation re other forums ... and I don’t ‘bash’ all the players .. there are a few I simply don’t rate as good enough for England ... Dier and Rice maybe Walker included

 

Well that’s all down to opinions and why we are all here ... I wouldn’t dream of throwing insults or calling you a troll for holding YOUR views and I certainly wouldn’t try to drive you away .

 

That's about the only hope. Southgate is clearly at least impressed with Grealish now and we know he loves Rashford and Sterling so you'd hope he is thinking that this system can't fit them all in. Sterling is best on the left and Grealish has made himself undroppable now, so that's about the only hope I will hold out for but I'm not at l confident

 

Sterling had his best games for England off the right, its Rashford who will lose his place to Grealish

 

For me I would start foden and Bellingham on Wednesday in midfield. Sancho and grealish out wide. I think grealish needs the game to keep his momentum. If not have saka on the left with chilwell at leftback if he's fit

 

Dropping like flies. Maybe a call up for maddison

 

I would be surprised if Grealish starts again on Wednesday as that will mean he’s started three in a row when thought and care needs to be considered for player welfare due to players dropping like flies. Not sure what our options are at present though but I would imagine all players that didn’t start against Belgium will play.

 

I would have thought some emergency call ups should be happening. Anyone got any update on our number of fit players left in the squad?

 

We may have dominated possession, but remember in Euro 2016 how we did that in every match, but rarely created any good chances besides the Russia game. This is what happens in the 5-2-3, especially when we have two defensive-minded midfielders like Henderson and Rice that destroy's the balance and ultimately forces a lack of creativity when teams park the bus.

One reason why the 3-4-3 worked in 2018 was the fact England had three midfielders: Lingard (RCM), Henderson (CDM), and Dele (LCM). Sterling IMO was an under-appreciated No. 10 who was superb in holding the ball and so would Kane. That let us have decent balance and be threatening going forward. The 4-3-3 frees up most of our players and lets Rashford, Sancho, Sterling, Kane, Mount, Grealish, Foden, Winks, and even Henderson play to their strengths. Also especially Alexander-Arnold with his crossing ability.

I was listening to the Football Weekly podcast, which btw has gone downhill in less than a year. One writer/analyst argued England should stay with the 5-2-3 because, (I'm paraphrasing) "you're more likely to win tournaments that way then play attacking football" like England did in the qualifiers. That's one of the stupidest takes I've heard in quite awhile. Another one of his arguments was by playing 4-3-3 England is more likely to concede against the bigger teams. No s*** Sherlock! I have a feeling that's what Southgate is thinking.

The 5-2-3 has proven to hinder our players and make them uncomfortable. Case in point: Since England have implemented it against Iceland we've scored nine goals, conceded four, and gotten red carded three times in seven matches. On the contrary, since we utilized the 4-3-3 in our first Nations League game against Spain in September of 2018, England scored 48 goals, conceded 14, and no red cards in 16 matches. I really believe the players loved that formation and are probably quietly pissed off with Southgate because the 4-3-3 plays our strengths, which is attacking football. Why can't Harry Kane or Jordan Henderson have a word with Gareth and talk him into trying the 4-3-3 out again?

We've literally gone backwards with this formation and have played our worst football since Euro 2016. Southgate must revert to the 4-3-3 and if he does I'll forgive him.

 

If England goes with the 5-2-3 against Iceland I won't watch and hope we lose. It'll be a predictable 1-0 win or even a 0-0 draw most likely.

 

Yes I’d like all those to start on Wednesday with Jack given a complete free role similar to how he played the last 30 minutes yesterday

 

Might see someone from the Under 21s or similar but not from outside

 

Do yourself a favor and don't listen to those people.

 

That’s entirely possible tbh

 

Yeah that’s what I was thinking but they have just had three players withdraw today so not sure what numbers they have left.

 

I agree, I hope we lose to Iceland if he lines up 5-2-3 as the shouts will start to get louder and it might knock some sense into him. There are already quite a lot of loud voices starting to oppose his tactics and if we lost again or don't score they'll get loud.

I agree that its baffling that pundits don't see the issue with this, mainly on the BBC. I don't see how you can prefer our performances this year compared to last year

 

I have high expectations for England now because of the talent we have. If we played with a 4-3-3, we would've gotten a result against Belgium and IMO beaten Denmark twice... You know the same pundits who say the 5-2-3 is a good idea now will then say how England should've been more adventurous when we lose in the Round of 16 or maybe even the group stage.

 

I’d hope he and Barnes would tell him to feck off if he didn’t think they were good enough for the initial 29 man squad he named

 

If he's willing to utilise RBs there then he shouldn't be holding playing as a DM against White.

 

Brighton play a back 3 a lot and White plays on the right of it also