England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

Lewis Hall vs Barcelona

Kept Lamine quiet all game 💎 https://t.co/OkHjTZL4tv

— 🎬N (@Nino12x) March 10, 2026

Lewis Hall really did have a quality game last night. Hard to imagine that he won’t be in the upcoming squad next week.

 

No one is denying that Ashley Cole wasn't a supreme defender. That Golden Generation team however was notorioudly lopsided, due to a lack of natural attacking threat down the left - and for me, a big part of that was Cole's impotency going forwards.

As we saw with Kieran Trippier at the last Euros. If you have a full back who doesn't provide overlaps, get crosses in or support the attack in any significant way, then you really do have your wings clipped as a team.

 

What I like about him is he's not 10/10 any aspect on the pitch but he's an 8 or 9 all over the park. Mendes is probably the best left-back in the world right now but I've seen mendes get torn to shreds when he's up against any winger of quality. I've yet to see that happen to hall

 

Chelsea do not want to sell striker Liam Delap this summer despite the 23-year-old Englishman scoring just one Premier League goal in an injury-hit season. (Mirror), external

Barcelona are lining up alternatives to Marcus Rashford should they they be unable to agree a deal to make the 28-year-old England forward's loan move from Manchester United a permanent one. (Marca - in Spanish)

 

Lewis Hall on Saturday: loses almost every sprint and duel to a fringe player like Savinho, plays so poorly that he’s shifted to the right flank. Lewis Hall on Tuesday: puts in a masterclass against one of the best teams in the world, completely pockets the 'best player in the world,' dominates the flank, and delivers world-class passes. Like I said before, he must be in the squad. He’s a complete defender, can play as an inverted full-back, and his dribbling, technique, and passing are top-tier. It will be incredibly tough at Camp Nou, of course, but if Newcastle play with that same intensity, they have a huge chance to go through.

 

I'd add o'reilly into that

 

I don't think hall lost the battle against savinho tbh. He had him pocketed most of the game. I know savinho got an assist and a goal but only one of those was hall's fault.

 

Steve Nicol said on espn that elanga is a more effective player than Gordon. What a bellend. The host put him straight. Called him out. Told him to shut his mouth

 

Its not just hall's excellent 1 on 1 game that makes him stand out. It's his ability to play in tight spaces. The amount of times he picked the ball up and went around Barcelona players was superb. His passing ability was out of this world and he delivered 3 or 4 excellent crosses. I can't see him being at Newcastle next season. He reminds me of Philip lahm

 

You're right that England did have major issues down that left side during Sven's (almost) entire reign as England manager

But Ashley Cole wasn't really the issue, it was England. Arsenal never had any complaints about their left side when Cole was their left back during the same period - and he was a pillar in that Arsenal team and widely considered (at the time) to be the best LB in the world.

England were still playing very rigid, trying to force too many of the likes of Lampard/Gerrard/Scholes into a flat 442 that had no natural left winger.

I think there was a record breaking number of players to be deployed in one position (Left Wing for England under Sven); Barmby, Mcmanaman, Gerrard, Scholes, A.Thompson, Bridge, Heskey, Hargreaves, Sinclair, K.Dyer, J.Cole, Downing,

There's probably others I'm forgetting like Gareth Barry, Danny Murphy and Darren Anderton etc

 

Defensively, Hall is still very raw and his defensive traits still show signs of being quite average tbh

 

Don't agree. Having watched him numerous times. He's one of the best one on one fullbacks in the league. He very rarely gets beaten because his positional play is so good. Always makes crucial tackles and blocks

 

Yes going forward he looks amazing. Its the other way i'm not 100% hes ready yet.

 

I can't remember what game but I was like you looked amazing the first half. But the second half he was getting done going the other way. But he's still very young.

 

Man City? People say savinho tore him apart but other than the goal, Hall had him covered

 

The Team for ENGLAND V URUGUAY

-----------------------------------Pickford

James-----------------Stones-------------Geuhi---------------Shaw/Hall


---------------------Anderson-----------------------------Rice


-------------------------------------Rogers


----------Saka----------------------Kane------------------Gordon/Rashord

Any thoughts?

 

I think this is pretty much what it'll be. I'd personally pick and stick with Guehi and Konsa for the starting partnership. Whenever they've played as a pair for England I've been impressed, they seem to have a pretty natural relationship.

I wouldn't have Shaw in the squad personally either. Hall would be my starter there.

Would probably start Gordon and have Rashford coming off the bench.

I think this is a tad harsh. I definitely have question marks about how he manages the space behind him but his 1v1 defending is good. He's very obviously making rapid progress in his defensive ability though.

 

I think at the very least Shaw should be in the squad because all the other Left back options are so young.

 

Hall and O'Reilly on the other hand are the ones playing Champions League football. They might only be 20/21, but their performances at this elite level give them the edge for me.

 

I'd take all three.O'Reilly covers midfield as well and Shaw covers Left sided CB.

 

Shaw's performances this season are quite overrated. He's not close to his best that we saw at Euro 2020.

 

^^ this

entire highlight reel linked above was 90% him going forward

defensively, still has a few gaps to close (which is OK given his age!)

 

He's had to modify his game to compensate for the fact that he just can't stretch himself to the limit anymore. And if Luke Shaw isn't confident enough in his own fitness to be able to get up and down the flank, and make those overlapping runs, then we have to leave him out of the squad for me.

Especially if we've (hopefully) got a fit and firing Tino Livramento available, to provide extra cover at both right-back and left-back.

 

That is a really average Leverkusen side. They've lost a lot of their better players. If arsenal don't go through comfortably in this tie, something is wrong

 

Quansah starts for Liverpool.

Rice, Saka and Eze start for Arsenal. Ranson, White, Lewis-Skelly, Salmon, Dowman and Madueke are on the bench.