England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

I wonder if Carsley is laying the Ground there for leaving Foden out entirely in November. Which would still be massive news as the likes of the BBC are still writing articles about how Foden, Bellingham and Palmer can all be fitted into together.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cjd5p348re1o

 

I’ve watched Saka intensely since he was 16.

I can quote you the first games for the under 17s I saw him and how I’ve watched him begin as a left sider under Arteta.

I’ve watched youth football since Neville, Campbell, Butt, Fowler and Scholes won the u18 Euros.

I’ve got an opinion I do apologise if you think it’s insane obviously you own the rights on Saka discussion.

 

So, you don’t want any talk of Saka moving position and you’re going to shut down people by calling their opinions insane and stupid and shit.

You don’t like Palmer and he’s nowhere near Saka.

So how come when Madueke played right wing for ten mins before he switched he looked a better right winger than Saka did in 60 mins? Recency bias perhaps?

 

Come on. He has just said that Foden needs to be persevered with. He deserves to sit on the bench for sure but still deserves a squad place. He isn't going to be dropped

 

At some point foden will click with England. He's worth persevering with

 

Carsley confirmed Bukayo Saka not a serious injury but just did not want to risk taking him to Finland. “Bukayo would have been close but it would have been unfair to take a risk with him. He’s a positive person and I expect him to be fine.”

 

The thing is with Foden imo, he should obviously be in the squad looking at the situation in a vacuum, but the reason I want him dropped is that there doesn't seem to be a proper acceptance of who he is as a player. He's not a player you build a team around and he's not a player that's going to run a game in midfield, he's basically a moments player. He's effectively a central attacker, second-striker type that can come up with goals and moments.

When we try to put him in midfield he just doesn't have the qualities to make it work. 80% of the time he gets the ball he just passes it straight back where it came from without scanning the pitch behind him. He has very little composure and his decision-making is not good for an elite player. You can see it in Man City games against the very top teams, where even if he scores, which is less often than against lesser sides, he struggles to properly impact the game over a sustained period and struggles to get on the ball often in dangerous areas.

Unless there's an acceptance of who he is, what he's good at and how and when he should be used, he's probably going to do more harm than good in this team imo.

I think also, you also have to look at the plain fact that Pep's Man City players generally do not perform for their national sides. It might be a coincidence, but equally, every player who plays under Pep talks about how strongly and how deeply Pep changes their view of football, and how much work they have to put in over a long period of time to be able to understand his system and its demands. You can, then, understand why that might make it hard to hit your best form outside of that environment.

 

Particularly for Midfielders and Forwards. Defenders seem to be less affected by becoming too Pep’d to perform outside the system,

 

Manchester United will listen to cut-price offers for England defender Harry Maguire, 31, in January. (Star), external

England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 19, remains in discussions over a new deal with Manchester United but no agreement has yet been reached. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Chelsea and England right-back Reece James, 24, is exploring through his representatives the possibility of joining Barcelona or Benfica. (Football Transfers), external

Sunderland are working on a short-term deal to re-sign former England international and academy graduate Jordan Henderson, 34, from Ajax in January. (Football Insider), external

Jesse Lingard has revealed that 'personal strife' led to him taking a break from football and that a left-field move to South Korea provided a much-needed reset. (Mail on Sunday)

 

Mainoo should let his contract run down. If the club is fixed in the mean time he can always sign a new deal then.

 

I’m really not convinced about this. Clearly a quality player when playing for Man City under a world class manager, but it seems another Lampard-Gerrard-Scholes situation. I suppose you could play Bellingham deeper alongside Rice to play Foden as a central attacking midfielder but then you’re playing our best player in a deeper role. I don’t think Foden on the left works at all.

At his peak (and probably even now at 33) his club team mate de Bruyne could walk into any team in the world and make them better. Foden just isn’t at that level and even as England fans we’ve got to accept that.

He’s potentially a great option off the bench though.

 

I don’t think they would let him. If it gets too close they would sell him.

 

Exactly. The Gerrard-Lampard stuff all over again. England are their own worst enemy. Palmer for crying out loud is the guy to get a shot.

 

They can't stop him.

 

To be fair Sterling was garbage for England for a long time whilst being favoured. He eventually did put and impressive few years together culminating in the 2020 Euro final run. He's now on the fringes of the squad despite still being in his peak years.

 

Lee Carsley is set to play Trent Alexander-Arnold at left-back against Finland this evening.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/qE0iEViJOP

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) October 13, 2024

 

As it stands if we were to finish second in the group we would face a two legged promotion play off against one of Poland, Belgium, Hungary or Serbia next March.
As it stands if we were to finish third we would face a play off to stay in League B against one of Slovakia, Kosovo, Bulgaria or Armenia.

 

yes Bernardo Silva is another example of this as he is feckless for Portugal. Pep builds a squad based on collective qualities that put his advanced players in a comfortable positions where they always have possession and an open pass and a numerical advantage in the attacking phase. this also means a John Stones or Lewis are under very little pressure building out the back for City.

It's hard to wrap ones head around because these Pep teams really are the sum of their parts so its not that a Kovacic or Rodri is carrying a Bernardo it's just the whole damn thing creates a massive advantage and comfortable situation for these players. Many of whom no nothing else as they've mostly been grandfathered into these Pep machines by this point.

Think back to a Pedro Davis Villa Alexis Abidal Keita or later Rakitic etc very good players that were often made to look world class in their positions playing in that Barca system where they always had the advantage. Does not mean they were not very very good players but they surely benefitted.

 

I wonder if Colwill has been dropped partly to avoid him getting a yellow and being ruled out of the next match in Athens.

I am not even sure Carsley (If still in charge) will recall Shaw if he is fit by the next matches. And I would be shocked if anyone else gets called up like Hall or Mitchell.

 

Pragmatism is still the way to go for most nations, England included. I understand why people want to be like Spain given their success and style, but they are a unique case that most international managers simply cannot emulate. Their philosophy is ingrained into their players from when they are kids all the way up to senior level, it’s a level of synergy and familiarity in playing style that no other nation has.

I think we also need to remember that for all of Spain’s superiority in footballing terms, the final still ended up being close. It took them 85 mins to get the decisive goal and even then England had chances after that to equalise. It’s like how in the 2014 final, Germany were much better than Argentina as a unit and way of playing, but if Higuain and Messi had converted their chances in the first half and at the start of the second respectively, we are telling a different story.

 

I think they're all extremely good players to begin with but Pep just turns a lot of them into his version of a player. You can find tonnes of quotes about players signing for Pep and saying they basically had to "relearn" how to play football. He literally changes who they are as players. Naturally, some are going to benefit more than others.

I think Stones is a great example of a player who has benefitted. Pep has improved him a lot and England have very much seen the benefits of that. CBs for Man City generally need to show a lot of personality. Rico Lewis, though, is someone you could easily see going in the opposite direction.

 

Why would Carsley not recall Shaw if match fit? Whats your logic to come to this conclusion.