England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

We'll see, if he isn't in the squad there's a problem. Southgate's argument that he competes with Sancho / Rashford etc. is a bit suspect. Also said something like "he played well against Brighton but they were playing with 10 men", bizarre thing to say.

 

Building a team around someone is just a baseless comment with no substance, you don’t build a team around anyone. It worked with Messi at Barcelona but I’m not too sure if it ever works anywhere else, besides he had world class once in a generation players such as xavi and iniesta around him. We tried with Rooney and shifted Gerrard to the left and that was a disaster in 2010.

Alli is so bad in possession and once again spurs play badly with little attacking threat when winks isn’t playing. Lol they are getting what they deserve for sacking poch to be fair

 

Even Messi at Barca is now starting not to work. This is nothing against Messi, he is an absolute magician, however Barca's most successful years with him came when Guardiola was there and the system was just as important as the players. Nowadays, Barca are still a great team, but are too built around Messi and have been outplayed when it's mattered in the champions league against teams with superior systems and balance to them like Liverpool, Juventus and although they bottled it in the end, even PSG when they outplayed them and were on course to go through until that crazy final 10 minutes.

 

As for Spurs, I completely agree, they have appointed a neanderthal relic who has no ambition or desire to build teams that play the right way or work with technical, creative players. The problem is they are probably stuck with him now as his contract will be huge and there's no way Levy will pay him off. So in the long run, the likes of Winks, Skipp etc should get themselves out of there.

I also agree about Alli. He can be great at contributing with goals in the final third, but international football demands far more from players who operate in central midfield. Dictating play, always being open to receive the ball and then playing the killer pass are far more important traits and Alli is not that type of player, whether he's in form or not.

 

Besides his numbers are not better than Maddison or Grealish this year, so there's no excuse to favour him anymore. Also sees less of the ball, has a worse pass completion % and yet creates less chances.

 

Good article on the bbc football website about who the next generation of talent will be. Greenwood, sancho, foden, trent are on the list and erm....deli ali.

 

Saka looking good as a faux lb

 

Amazed Alli was there over Rashford.

 

Whilst our attacking options and depth are on a scale and level we've arguably never had before, it is depressing how far we've fallen defensively. Thought Maguire was abysmal yesterday and has been pretty ordinary most of the season for United. Sadly, he'd arguably be nowhere near even the squad during the golden generation with the likes of Terry, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carragher and even the likes of King when he was fit. Shaw was also atrocious yesterday and definitely isn't the answer long term to competing with Chilwell for that spot. At the moment, Gomez looks our only good centre back.

 

White and Harwood-Bellis will be in the mix soon though.

 

White looks very promising, but even if everything was to go perfectly with Harwood Bellis, it's going to be years before he's at his best. Realistically, he probably won't be at his peak until the 2026 world cup.

 

Surely TAA pips kimmich because of his assists.

 

Kimmich can defend 1v1 though.

 

I think the thing is that the way their teams utilise them bring out different strengths. The fullbacks are basically the primary playmakers in Klopp's system so TAA is given lots of freedom to get forward and to an extent, abandon defensive duties. Usually either the CB on his side or Henderson will cover him. I think Kimmich at the moment is the better defender whilst Trent is the more exuberant in possession.

 

Bissaka is a better defender than kimmich

 

Messi’s final years with us have been ruined by the idiot Valverde .. he’s basically a yes man for the useless board .

 

Kimmich is better overall though.

 

Heaton out for the season now, wonder if this opens a slot for Henderson.

 

I like Henderson from what I've seen but wasn't he a bit suspect at the euro 21 ?

 

No, he was generally solid plus this season he’s been our best performing keeper. If Heaton is injured then it makes sense to go with Henderson.

 

He didn't have a good U21 Euros but it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Does have a bit of an excitable streak to him but he's not shown it much this year. Does play in a much better organised side than he'll probably ever play for England though.

 

Bad injury for Kane, although I'm not too worried for the euros at this point, might even be a blessing in disguise if the injury is properly handled

 

Just what we need . The one player we cant afford to lose

 

Definitely, it could be a nice rest for him. Only problem is Spurs have a habit of rushing him back (he probably pressures them to).

 

Personally, I think Chilwell is probably the player we can't afford to lose just by virtue of that being the area where there is the biggest drop off in quality if he doesn't play imo. In goal, Pickford may be reliable for England but he's not exactly world class compared with what other teams have there. At the heart of defence, I really like Gomez, but he's not been a mainstay in the side up to now so whilst I feel he's our best defender, his extended absence means we don't really know what the difference is between us with him and not with him. Right back we are stacked, central midfield we also have plenty of options and I feel even without Kane we still have firepower to burn with Rashford, Sancho and Sterling in addition to Abraham and even Greenwood as a wildcard though ideally you don't want to be putting that pressure on him just yet.