England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

According to the English media/pundits our qualifying group for the World Cup was a stroll in the park hammering Serbia along the way who are apparently not very good since we beat them ( that’s the usual default setting in England for when we beat decent teams, English mentality is if we win the other team must have been poor ) so it would be interesting to see if Serbia put up a good fight in your group and then all of a sudden they will be viewed as decent again and just bad when we played them.

 

Give it another few weeks and he will then be saying we have the best attack in the World and we’re gonna win it

 

My view is England can physically win the World Cup and nobody is overwhelmingly better. It's going to be a grueling tournament for everybody and that favors teams like England who have tons of depth. Only team that you avoid if you had to is Spain IMO

 

Just stating facts. The heat will be against us. We might have a better squad than say Argentina or Brazil but they're more acclimatised to the heat. I'd make us 5th favourites behind France Spain Argentina Brazil

 

I'll never think that. France have the best attacking talent

 

Personally I think our attacking talent is slightly overrated. If I change my mind you can give me a year's ban

 

Tbf to me I've always said it's unlikely we'll win the world cup. I've said we have a chance mind

 

I got smashed on here a while ago for being too deluded by the likes of Regis etc. Now I'm being more pragmatic

 

Intresting Tuchel says it’s better for his players to be playing at club level in systems that are more similar to what he uses.

What players might that line of thinking negatively affect?

 

Lewis-Potter started for Brentford. Henderson was used from the bench. Donovan was unused.
Rice, Madueke and Eze started for Arsenal. Saka was used from the bench. White and Lewis-Skelly were unused.

Lewis-Potter and Madueke scored.

 

damned if you do, damned if you don't. applaud The FA for locking in a world class manager who demonstrates a high degree of football IQ and human EQ. i'm sure it's been a struggle at times to transition from club to international, but Tuchel has has shown up admirably across the board. we all deserve seeing what more he can do, especially on home soil.

 

Maybe they should do that Swiss thing from the CL/EL in the NL with more different confrontations as a result.

 

Manchester United are increasingly confident England defender Harry Maguire, 32, will extend his Old Trafford contract beyond the end of this season. (Teamtalk)

Raheem Sterling's belief that he needed time away from the Premier League has seen him join Dutch club Feyenoord on a deal until the end of the season, despite talks with crisis club Tottenham Hotspur - Daily Mail

 

Disagree on Argentina. They were the worst WC winners in my lifetime since I started watching properly in 2002. Only won because FIFA wanted Messi to and awarded them loads of dodgy decisions. And I say that as someone who likes Messi and much prefers him to Ronaldo.

I would love for us to be officiated the way Argentina were in the last WC, it certainly wouldn’t be sixty years of hurt if that was the case.

 

I'm not saying Argentina are better. They're not but they will be more conducive to the heat

 

The key dates of our #NationsLeague campaign! 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/YU8kUIyMVS

— England (@England) February 13, 2026

 

Spain at home first just like in 2018

 

Croatia away behind closed doors.

 

Spot on.

 

If we play Argentina, then use their emotion against them.

Wind up Romero and Martinez and try and get one of them sent off.

 

Ok the other hand, it can work against us as they are so good at the dark arts.

I think the WC is wide open, I give us a chance but it will be a tough watch, I'm not expecting great football. I'd fancy us to beat any team, Spain look to be the best and they'll be the hardest

 

The heat IMO is overblown or maybe it's because I'm American and used to it. These are world class athletes who aren't going to melt in the heat.

 

I think it's the disparity in conditions between stadiums that is the real difference maker.

Having only 3 days recovery from playing in potentially 35 degrees, 75% humidity is a significant disadvantage if your opponent is coming off playing in a air conditioned or lower temperature stadium.

A similar thing happened in Manaus on world cup 2014 where pretty much all the teams who played there lost their following game.

 

I remember 2002 when we played Brazil. They had 10 men and they still controlled the game. The heat is a huge factor between most European teams and teams from warmer continents