Ngumoha is a kid. He spent the first half against Villa running into traffic. Only to shoot the ball against the post and suddenly he is a wildcard. Defensively he isn't amazing either. Which incidentally describes Rashford to a T. If you are going to throw on a player in the last 20-30 mins to make something happen out of nothing that is Rashford. He shouldn't start games.
No he didn't. He was their only threatening player. He stood out above every other Liverpool attacker. Nobody is basing anything off that moment alone. He's had multiple good performances this season which is why he's now starting to become a regular starter for Liverpool. I'd argue he's strongly impressed every time he's been on the pitch this season. Liverpool clearly regard him as a valuable option so why couldn't England? This is true, which is partly why he shouldn't be given a big role. Depends on the situation. They have very different skillsets and Rashford isn't appropriate for every scenario. England have one reliable 1v1 threat out wide and that's Saka, who may or not be a shell of himself depending on his fitness. There's nobody else to substitute those qualities and there certainly isn't a LW option with those qualities. I'd take Rashford too but Ngumoha's skillset is the most unique of the LW options. Our LW pool is really average for a "top" team so I see no harm in using the 26th spot to give to an extremely promising youngster in the team's weakest area.
They're not in the grand scheme of things but in terms of the level you expect from a top team they are. I don't think either player would start for most of the World Cup contenders. Gordon is a weird one because there's a lot about his game I really like but I don't think he has a clearly defined best role/position that suits his qualities. I think you could argue he's more comfortable centrally than he is on the wing.
Other than Williams with Spain, doue with France, vinicius Jr with Brazil, I can't see them not starting for 90 percent of the other teams. A potential bayern Munich player and a potential Barcelona player. I don't think Argentina, Portugal Germany Netherlands have anyone better really
I personally very much doubt they'd start for Germany. I'd assume both Wirtz and Musiala would start if both fit like they did at the Euros and they're not displacing either of them. Even then Gnabry is better than both Rashford and Gordon imo (though he's injured for the WC now). I don't think either would start over Neto for Portugal either. They play Bernardo on the right wing so they need a proper 1v1 player on the left. A lot of it comes back to neither Gordon or Rashford having great wing play fundamentals. We really struggle in this department. The Dutch don't play with wingers so I could see Gordon starting up top for them but dunno about Rashford. Neither player would start for Belgium though. Rashford is only a depth option at Barcelona so him being at the club isn't necessarily indicative of him being a world beater. Roony Bardghji is a depth option at Barca and he didn't even make Sweden's squad. Rashford also won't be a Barca player beyond this season so he was only ever a stop gap option for them.
-------------------Pickford Livramento---Stones--Guehi------Shaw ---------------Anderson--Rice Saka/Foden-----Bellingham------Rashford/Eze --------------------Kane Unfortunately, I dont think James is gong to be able to play a tournament at RB without getting injured.
I agree with your general point, although Rashford has scored/assisted 28 goals this season so he's definitely put up impressive numbers (second highest of any English player behind Kane) alongside being an important player for Barcelona, seems rather unfair to put him in the same category as Bardghji! If they don't sign him it'll be a measure of his age and salary combination making him a higher risk signing rather than his performance.
Well if Rashford and Gordon aren’t better than Neto then we do have problems on that left hand side, just find him massively disappointing most times I’ve seen him this season. I actually think I would prefer Gordon to be honest.
Neto is pretty average tbh. Never does anything special. I think rashford and Gordon would start over him if they were Portuguese
Clearly we have different opinions of threatening. The other Liverpool attackers being poor doesn't change the fact he kept running into traffic.That's not threatening.
I don't know, if we are talking left-wing, then sure, but I think Gordon would be in contention for the right-wing spot for us. He has played there a bit too, hasn't he? Same with Rashford, not his preferred position, but he has played some right-wing football. On that wing, his main competition would be Benfica's Lukebakio, Milan's Saelemaekers, Atalanta's Charles De Ketelaere and Strasbourg's Moreira. The latter also being a left-winger who is often times played on the right. So I think if either of those guys were Belgian, they would not necessarily start every game but they would be in contention for some starts, on the right-wing.
Gordon is quite significantly less effective on the right for me. You either have to be a 1v1 specialist or a shoot first winger to make it work on the wing that correlates with your strong foot imo and Gordon is neither. I'm not that convinced Gordon's best role is anywhere out wide. Rashford in theory could make it work though. My only memory of him playing on the right was in 2022 in the 6-2 win over Iran. He scored a goal off the bench but the game was already won and Iran were pummeled by the time he came on. Probably need to see more of it.
There doesn’t seem to be much information on who is in the provisional squad. The brief reports are likely to be guesses or assumptions. I do wonder if Tuchel and his staff have not told any player yet that they are in the preliminary squad. The FA will have the relevant details for all players to register them. So, they don’t need to talk to players or agents. It just seems very quiet. You would assume there would be at least one unique selection.
Livramento---Stones--Guehi-----Shaw/Hall -----------Anderson----Rice Palmer--------Bellingham----Rashford --------------Kane Thinking over the above team again. I think England will still struggle to keep the ball against the better sides. Rice and Anderson as a duo, are probably not capable to control games against the best teams in the tournament. Although maybe this can be mitigated with Stones, Bellingham and Palmer in the team. This is where Mainoo can come in really useful too and offer that balance to the midfield to allow Bellingham, Palmer to operate and be more effective higher up the pitch Therefore if Tuchel ends up playing what I fear he will go with; Konsa (to partner Guehi), Rogers and Gordon, (or the below eleven against Croatia), I think England will get dominated on possession by Croatia. The below feels more similar to the 2018 WC team profile than the one of Southgates final years. James---Konsa---Guehi------O'Reilly ----------Anderson----Rice Saka----------Rogers------Gordon --------------------Kane
There's very few teams that can control games from midfield. Spain and Portugal the only two. Everyone else has midfielders that do a lot of running. It's not just an England problem
Foden has actually played very well for England on the Right, combined with Rashford on the left - That combination seemed to work very well. I remember the game vs Scotland away before Euro24 and its one of the most balanced performances I've ever seen from an England team.
The media seem confident Shaw is the 55. They all write it as it’s confirmed not jsut something reproted by another paper.