England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

John Cross' assessments. Hinshelwood must have been briefed out as well as Spence losing favour.

Interesting he has it as Eze or Rashford?

The 50 names in the frame for England's World Cup squad as Thomas Tuchel faces big calls | @johncrossmirrorhttps://t.co/MNAWPLH5od pic.twitter.com/HBEE43vndi

— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) November 17, 2025

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/england-thomas-tuchel-world-cup-36261849

Goalkeepers (5)
Jordan Pickford (Nailed on)
Dean Henderson (No2)
Nick Pope (50-50)
James Trafford (50-50)
Aaron Ramsdale (long shot)


Right-back (6)
Reece James (First choice right back)
Jarell Quansah (big chance)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (long shot)
Kyle Walker (outsider)
Rico Lewis (fading)
Ben White (long shot)


Left-back (6)
Nico O’Reilly (In pole position)
Jack Hinshelwood (one to watch)
Tino Livramento (50-50)
Lewis Hall (outside chance)
Myles Lewis-Skelly (lost place)
Djed Spence (losing ground)
Luke Shaw (long shot)

Centre-back (8)
Ezri Konsa (Nailed on)
Marc Guehi (Nailed on)
John Stones (Nailed on)
Dan Burn (Nailed on)
Trevoh Chalobah (outside shot)
Levi Colwill (running out of time)
Harry Maguire (fading)
Jarrad Branthwaite (running out of time)


Midfielders (9)
Elliot Anderson (Nailed on)
Declan Rice (Nailed on)
Adam Wharton (50-50)
Jordan Henderson (good shot)
Curtis Jones (lost ground)
Alex Scott (long shot)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (fading)
Morgan Gibbs-White (fading)
Conor Gallagher (outside chance)
Kobbie Mainoo (forgotten man)



Right forwards (3)
Bukayo Saka (Nailed on)
Noni Madueke (60-40)
Jarrod Bowen (40-60)


No 10 role (4)
Jude Bellingham (Nailed on)
Morgan Rogers (Nailed on)
Phil Foden (Big chance)
Cole Palmer (Should be worried)

Left forward (3)
Anthony Gordon (In pole position)
Marcus Rashford (60-40)
Eberechi Eze (40-60)

Centre forward (6)
Harry Kane (Nailed on)
Danny Welbeck (outside chance)
Ollie Watkins (fading)
Dominic Solanke (long shot)
Ivan Toney (Unlikely)

 

So if James gets injured Tuchel will start Quansah at right back. I am not entirely sure that would work out well in a big match.

Will Hinshelwood even play left back at Brighton when he gets back from injury.

 

The thing that gets me with the print medias ongoing smear campaign against Bellingham, is even if you uncritically believed absolutely everything they print about him.....the absolute worst picture they've portrayed of him is a sometimes stroppy persona, who's moaning at other players can be irritating, and keeps to himself off the pitch.

I mean, thats it? That's worthy of all the media? The absolute worst accusation amounts to him being someone who can be somewhat challenging personality but none of what they accuse him of is remotely befitting being dropped, banished from the squad. It's like a different world going on.

God forbid England had the multitude of other world class players with an ego that manifests far more than anything we've even seen from Bellingham, who by all accounts is also a model professional off the pitch.

 

I'd rather have a player like Bellingham who cares than someone like carragher who saw England as an inconvenience

 

I hate to keep responding to nonsense from British journalists like this but does John Cross believe that Livramento and Spence are only under consideration to go as left-backs? They're both right-backs by trade and they're more likely to go above every name on that RB list bar Reece James.

 

He is not the only one who said that. Most of the similar articles today have Spence and Livramento only in the left back category with right back being James, Quansah, Trent etc.

 

Garragher's full of shit. He was England's most capped U21 player before James Milner and came out of retirement the minute he was asked. He says he didn't care about England because it looks good for the Liverpool fans. If he was as good as gerrard he'd have a 100 caps and be first man at training.

 

My squad for World Cup (partially based on what I think Tuchel will do and also my own opinions):


GK: Pickford, Henderson, Pope – all playing regularly, Trafford may get in if he gets regular playing time somewhere in January and performs, Ramsdale definitely misses out.


CB: Stones, Konsa, Guehi + one more (probably Quansah) – Stones, Konsa and Guehi are nailed on, if Colwill was fit I’d take him but he isn’t, Branthwaite maybe, I don’t want to see Burn go and I think we’ve moved on from Maguire. Although I think Tuchel may take Burn as the 4th CB.


RB: James, Livramento – I am a big Trent fan but he needs to play and perform, he isn’t currently, James is nailed on so it’s between Trent and Livramento for the other position.


LB: O’Reilly, Spence – if Lewis Skelly gets more game time at club level I’d possibly take him over Spence, I also really like Hall, but at this moment in time O’Reilly and Spence would go.


CM: Rice, Anderson, Wharton, Jones – these would be my four, Scott or Gomes or Morton could also go over Jones, Conor Gallagher as well who seems to be forgotten about, unfortunately I think Tuchel may take Henderson which would be really disappointing.


AM: Bellingham, Rogers, Foden, Palmer, Eze – a lot of number 10s but I think Bellingham and Rogers are nailed on, Foden and Palmer are too good to leave at home, and Eze looks a really interesting option to change a game, I hope none of these miss out.


LW: Rashford, Gordon – both have pace to get in behind Kane which I think is needed, Gordon’s form needs to improve though, I’m a big Grealish fan but I don’t see him going unless there is an injury to one of these two.


RW: Saka, Madueke/Bowen – Saka obviously goes, then it is one of Madueke or Bowen, Bowen is better at club level but Madueke has performed better for England, therefore I’d take Madueke probably but I’m not sure which way Tuchel will go as he seems to like Bowen.


ST: Kane + one more – Welbeck for me is too old despite his good form, but probably the most in form option currently, Watkins needs to start scoring at club level, Tuchel doesn’t seem to rate Toney, Solanke is always injured, and Delap may have been a one season wonder. Tough choice here, I suspect it be Watkins if he starts scoring again which he usually does, otherwise probably Welbeck or Toney. I don’t like the idea of no backup striker and Rashford or Foden play there, I don’t think that will work.

 

I'd take colwill if he's fit in time

 

Back to boring club football. Honestly couldn't give a shit about the club game. It's boring as eff. We have to wait another 4 months for some proper football now

 

I would too as he's easily the best option but would be the biggest risk if he's only just back from long term injury.

 

Looks like the Spanish Press write similar articles about Lamine Yamal as our press do about Jude Bellingham. Some journalist has responded to his fellow journalists by saying the laws should change to allow him to switch to Morocco to avoid the abuse.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail’s back-page today is headlined - ‘Leave Jude at Home’. Wonder if they will admit they wrong if come June or July Jude has a defining part in a match and/or the tournament.

 

Nottingham Forest will not consider selling England midfielder Elliot Anderson in the forthcoming transfer window and value the 23-year-old in excess of £100m amid strong interest from Manchester United and his former club Newcastle. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Manchester United will not strengthen their midfield in January and will hold out until next summer when they follow up on interest in Brighton'sCameroon international Carlos Baleba and Crystal Palace's England international Adam Wharton, both 21, as well as Stuttgart's 24-year-old Germany international Angelo Stiller. (ESPN)

Former Brentford striker Ivan Toney is set to remain with Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli despite interest in the 29-year-old Englishman from Tottenham, Everton and West Ham. (Football Insider), external

Atletico Madrid and England midfielder Conor Gallagher has ruled out leaving the La Liga club in the near future and said he is "very happy" in the Spanish capital amid links with Manchester United. (AS - in Spanish)

Thomas Tuchel says he will consider travelling to Real Madrid to talk to Trent Alexander-Arnold about his England prospects - Daily Mail

 

It’s just a marketing ploy at this point, well that’s the only reason I can think off as I don’t actually think they believe it but more likely they know it’s caused a storm and they are being talked about and probably getting clicks online! Negatively caused more headlines than positive reporting sadly and I think that’s where we are at these days and especially with rags like the Daily Heil!

 

While the article might be a bit of publicity stunt their haven’t published the back page online but and have hidden it. I couldn’t find a tweet showing it - I only saw it as my parents buy it every day.

 

Jonjo Shelvey on why he left the UK and won't be returning any time soon 🇬🇧❌:

🗣️ "I don't want my children growing up in England any more. I'd never wear a watch in London. You can't have your phone out.

I see people getting arrested for tweeting and, then, all of the flags… pic.twitter.com/9wbisJaGmZ

— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) November 12, 2025

Remember when the Americans used to claim to not care about England/Britain and mocked it for being a one sided relationship? Literally all of their big media voices, whether it’s established print media, broadcasters, social media platforms and/or big social media influencers, can’t shut up about us these days.

Poor, desperate ESPN now having to scrape the barrel to post about a no mark ex player talking about London in order to get engagement this time. Focus on the millions of issues your own corrupt, fascist state has before looking across the pond.

 

This is the @ESPNUK twitter handle, the vast majority of people following that account will not be Americans, and its likely run/administered by some working for ESPN in the UK.

 

Smoke and Mirrors. Its to distract Americans from whats going on in the US. There are more murders in chicago than the whole of the UK..

 

Shelvey's always been a knob.

 

I'm surprised he's still playing football. I would have thought there was more money in the voldemort look alike business.

 

It might be run from America now a days since ESPN no longer has any channels in the UK. (They 80% owned by Disney but I don’t think they would share social media staff with them)
The TNT channels are now played out from America with speculation their social media team is as well.

 

Couldn't give a shit about the 'uk' England forever

 

Its not run from America, ESPN has an office in the UK that runs the espn.co.uk website and various social channel. The TV channel is a completely different entity, a google search would give you that information.