Not sure it is. We took 8 forwards to WC. I'd call up both, particularly as the US are pretty keen on Balogun. I don't expect Sterling to be called up, so his spot at least is free. Wilson perhaps not either.
I have to say..... I follow mbappe since he's 16 years old. And talent wise rashford (when on Form) is absolutely up with him..... He's even more complete. Also have to see that rashford plays in a quality wise better league than mbappe
Being one of the absolute elite is about sustaining your best level for most of the time. If Rashford continues to score around a goal a game for 1+ seasons then he will be talked about as one of the very best about. He probably won't though.
Interesting comments from Southgate regarding the tournament exit and the future. Seems one more tournament for him and that's his lot. It's particularly interesting he mentions the lack of belief from the players before the France game because i'd say that's been Southgate's biggest issue and the reason our win record against top 10 nations is so awful. Before that France game we played almost every top 10 ranked side with 5 at the back, 2 defensive midfielders. Far too concerned about stopping teams than believing we had what we takes to be equals. Naturally naively going out cramming all our attacking players into the side isn't going to end well but we've tended to overdo it the other direction. Against France I don't think he got much wrong, certainly not in starting line up, but going forward its going to take another evolution if we want a seat among the top teams. France pretty much never dominate games against decent standard sides so we shouldn't be so over the top they didn't do it against us either. Defensively we should probably start looking to phase out Walker and utilise right back as an attacking force (hopefully with a fit James), and Maguire also at this point can't really be starting if he's never playing at his club. In midfield someone to evolve us if crucial and the biggest issue (as usual), Henderson shouldn't be starting come the Euro's - he's really struggling this season and I don't see a 34 year old Henderson come the Euro's providing much. Unfortunately there's no obvious names for that right now so we're hoping for someone to emerge there. Gallagher is the obvious young Henderson clone, though with Chelsea's transfers I don't see him breaking beyond squad player for Chelsea.
It’s frustrating that Foden cannot be utilised as an 8 in our system. imagine a midfield 3 of Rice, Bellingham and Foden and a front 3 of Saka, Kane and Rashford!
Also trent. Fancy having a world class fullback and he only gets one sub appearance at the world cup. I believe Bellingham and rice should be our starting pair in midfield. With foden behind kane saka rashford. Thats good enough to go far in the euros
I think that's largely because he's just not *that* good. He's decent enough, but I haven't seen anything to indicate that he could ever be part of a world-class midfield, so it's hard to see that he's going to take us to another level. Not quite clear on what you think we need though. Isn't Bellingham already the guy to take on Henderson's role and perform it better? That seems his most natural position. I'd have thought the other midfield spots and/or the system were more up for debate right now.
Henderson offers energy, pressing. He did it better than anyone for us at the world cup. I'd still have a place for him against possession teams. The future is clearly rice and Bellingham though. They have a great understanding
I agree about gallagher but England's midfield options are so limited he's one of the few plausible alternatives to Henderson. He's not going to part of a world class midfield, but no one we have is either. Ideally we'd have a creative player in place but we don't have that player, and there's no sign a player in that mold is going to emerge in the next 18 months, so we have to try and make what we have work. Which really leaves us with 5 options: 1) Foden drops into midfield, the people's choice. But he very rarely is trusted there for club and when he is shows little sign of being a creative, or having influence on games. In almost any senior level game I've seen he just gets lost in midfield. 2) Mount returns to the midfield, but he's played there many times for england now and lacks influence on the game. 3) Phillips returns in a more conservative midfield, but it's increasingly difficult to imagine him getting decent game time at city. 4) Henderson keeps his place, but there's a decent chance Liverpool will start phasing him out next season based on his present performances. 5) Gallagher steps up from back up as a Henderson clone, but game time likely to be an issue. Realistically that is our options for a 3rd midfielder. It's not a pretty list and we're going to have to try to make it work somehow. We will be haunted by familiar issues come the euros I suspect, we can but hope someone emerges by the next world cup but even that timeframe seems optimistic.
Bellingham already at 19 is one of the IF not the best inform midfielder in the world...... The amount of games he carries Dortmund in his backpack is insane
He’s a brilliant, talented kid but he’s still a kid and he might be the best in the World one day but to say he’s the best in the World right now is pure hyperbole….