England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Seek help.

 

Ok

 

Joking aside I do wonder if southgate reads these or any other forums

 

I doubt it very much. He won't feel that he has anything worthwhile to learn from football forums.

 

Suppose so but I know some footballers read forums

 

You obviously know more about Foden than some of us ... does he tackle ??

He’s obviously got good technique plus he’s fast and mobile but he seems to ‘dance’ around the physical side of things ... that won’t work as a central midfielder will it ?

 

he works very hard and has a massive engine, definitely can play 8

 

I think he is suited to the 8 in a 4-3-3 and has impressed in that position before.

 

Does he like a tackle , can he take a heavy challenge??

He’ll have to if he wants to play centre midfield , surely ?

 

Abraham was excellent for Chelsea. CHO quiet. Absolute horror show from Pickford against Barnsley. He needs replacing for England before he does us some damage.

 

Talk of Angus Gunn on loan to Leeds. Apparently Bielsa has wanted him for a while. That would be a great move I think if they can make it happen. One of the few keepers we have who can actually play with their feet.

 

Gunn was one the very worst keepers in the league last year when it came to the basics, only Kepa let more goals than expected in than him. Worryingly Pickford was the third worst keeper by that metric. If it's an Ederson who is pretty average at most aspects of goalkeeping except with the ball at his feet (which he's brilliant at) then it can work but I think shot stopping is still the most important aspect of goalkeeping. Gunn needs to really improve massively in that regard to be in contention for England.

 

Foden City’s key man tonight. Great pass for Delap’s goal and got the winner.

 

Jones with two goals

 

When you have foden Jones maddison grealish madueke coming through people can't say we arent producing technical 'midfielders'. Just hope these guys keep progressing because our options are going to be limitless

 

Don't forget Bellingham as well

 

England's problem is producing people who play actually in midfield though, we have plenty of attacking players but actual number 8s are much fewer and further between. Then deep lying midfielders even rarer. Most our defensive midfielders nowadays are converted centre backs.

I mean from your list, Madueke is largely up front or out wide, most Foden's minutes are out wide, Maddison is often out left or a number 10 for Leicester, Grealish much as people want it not to be true predominantly plays as a left winger for Villa....

Some of the underage groups do at least seem to be improving in midfield, but it remains to be seen if these are sustained into first team careers and if they're kept their by their clubs. Or if as happened with players like RLC, Barkley and Ox a good chunk of their formative years were spent being indulged as attacking players and they perhaps never became as rounded as they should have become.

 

Curtis Jones could be that deep lying player. Hes great in possession. Can take the ball off defence and play it forwards

 

Phillips and winks are the only 2 ready

such a shame Wilshere got injured all the time as he could’ve been great there

 

Yeah, such a shame as he should be in his prime now at 28 and being that midfielder that we are lacking but sadly injuries have just killed his career

 

Who

 

Wilshere

 

I know this might sound silly but is it too early for curtis jones to get a call up. Hes shown time and time again he can handle first team football. 5 goals in 16 appearances shows he's up to it. He could be the midfielder we've been missing. Its not a case of another shiny toy its if ur good enough u are old enough.

 

He's 7 months younger than Foden with 16 games played for Liverpool (many as sub), and people were complaining that Foden hadn't played enough for City (despite having 70 games under his belt). Let's see him have a run of games first.

 

Maybe, or maybe not, because he plays much more an attacking role for his club. I think we should wait for the likes of Doyle, Garner, Skipp or Bird making it besides Bellingham, at the moment they are who look like the best shouts.