FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

Has De Paul played that much this season?

 

One major problem with the FA, is that there's no apparent scrutiny or accountability in what they actually do.

 

He's played 15 out of 17 for Miami and pretty much played 90 every week

 

Italy lost on penalties in 1990 semi final 1994 final 1998 quarterfinal to the winners and Euro 2000 in added time then won in 2006 with the remaining fumes of their golden generation. Germany likewise lost 82 86 finals before winning in 2006. They did not lose a single knock out game in 90m for 16 years and had nothing to show for it.

The key is to get to multiple finals/semi finals and lose and then you win one. England are already due for a Euro even if it arrives on penalties. Two finals in a row a third arriving against anyone but Spain is likely a win. Something like England vs Portugal Euro 2028 PKs go your way very plausible.

Messi/Maradona are anomalies in football history that have carried their teams to glory. Most winning nations just stick around near the top long enough until they win when everything aligns. Messi was just destined to face Yamine Yamal in the final this year its his story nothing anyone can do about it.

 

Yeah or just be like Germany, keep making semis with the odd quarters and you will win.

I think what I’m trying to actually get at is… never stop trying to improve coaching standards and youth development across the country. If that is always in top top shape, it goes hand in hand and the national team will uplift.

I would love to see a more unified strategy on coaching development and principles now though. Spain with De La Fuente is a prime example.

I don’t really believe in windows per se, if you keep producing good youth teams like Spain now do in men’s and women’s, you will start to have that be consistent in the seniors too.

 

Also when I hear Lamine Yamal all I hear now is Lamine Lmao.

 

That's my mentality too. I keep telling myself to hold on long enough to see us win it all. Every time we lose I think, I've got to make it another four years. Morbid I know. Hopefully we both get to see it happen.

 

Yep hope so

 

Jurgena have to run that by me again

 

Anderson seems to be copping a little bit of criticism which I don't really get.

He wasn't perfect but he had one of the toughest roles of anyone in the team. He was hung out to dry by the setup but performed pretty admirably imo.

I'd argue he was one of our most consistent performers of the tournament along with Jude and O'Reilly.

 

Most England fans are probably only watching Anderson in detail for the first time this WC and after the hype he's had, plus the £120million move, many were probably expecting his profile to be something more along the lines of Xabi Alonso than a James Milner.

 

I’m worried Anderson will be a flop at Man City and come 2028/2030 be well out of contention.

 

He's a far Higher profile than milner. I get what u mean but he's been pretty good in that role

 

Oh stop ur pathetic predictions

 

Anyone see the England montage on BBC. Just watched it and it nearly brought me to tears. It's the hope that kills.

 

What I mean by player profile is his attributes and their strengths/weaknesses and Anderson's profile is very similar to James Milner.

 

Who are you worried will out of contention?

 

Anderson. That he will flop so badly he can’t be called up anymore.

 

England have been reaching semi-finals and finals quite a while before Anderson made his England debut.

We would more than survive without him. And if Anderson were to become out of contention, it would more likely be the result of other CM's playing him out of the team, which is a good thing.

There are already a few emerging CM's with a higher technical ceiling than him, whether they fulfil that promise is another thing altogether.

 

Will they even get selected to play though? The players are here now. One was even in the squad, but failed to see a minute. We always end up reverting to Anderson/Rice types in midfield. That's England DNA alright. I mean Rice was half dead and still got selected.

I would love us to at least fail another way. It would be more fun. I eagerly await the Carsley years. Just a shame we have to suffer through 2028 first.

 

Have to say I don't see any merit in that comparison. You seem to have fundamentally misunderstood what kind of player Anderson is.

 

My honest answer is we wont get to see them whilst Tuchel is England's manager

They'll probably get the odd appearance in friendlies, but they wont become core players in the team under Tuchel. He will always select the vertical profile (Rice/Anderson/Gordon/Rogers) over the technician (Mainoo/Wharton/Gibbs White/Palmer) because he genuinely trusts that player type more to build his teams around.

 

One thing that happens for England that doesn't happen for other countries is once our top young players go to big clubs if they don't hit the ground running they fade into obscurity with the national team. It's happened with quite a few players over the years. Meanwhile Spain and Argentina have a bunch of players that aren't at top clubs anymore.

 

From a quick search, most of the critical Tweets that come up are from Man United fans, many of which also look like bot accounts. I'm sure there are things Anderson can improve on - like anyone else - but he should really be the least of our worries.