We got a draw with this team - The England XI the last time they faced France in a major tournament 👀 pic.twitter.com/sVr0HqcFVE— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) December 8, 2022
Remember that game. I had finished work early to go to the pub to watch it. On paper it was a pretty awful side
I did a bit of looking into this, you better believe the hatred, I think its kind of turned into a sort of stereotypical 'legend' - from Scotland to Peru the hatred is very real............I LOVE it! After losing to Italy the You Tube highlights had thousands of posted comments from Germans to Mexicans thanking the Italians for stopping the 'root of all evil' from winning a match, it's bloody hilarious. Now if only we can actually win something it would be funny watching the football worlds heads explode! So don't forget every time you see 'Johnny Foreigner' you must sing 'Its coming home' and chant 'two World Wars & one World Cup doo da doo da day' - they love it! :-D
Players that I’d like to see more of from March Goalkeeper; Ramsdale, Henderson Defence; Chilwell, James, TAA, Tomori, White, Guehi Midfield; Elliott, Maddison Just feel that these players can give us depth and deserve the odd game at least. I’d also like to see Foden tried as a no. 10 regardless of whether he plays there for Man City. Further down the line; Harwood-Bellis, Colwill, Ramsey For England to fully evolve we need players like Braybrooke and Patino to kick on. I feel that these two players in particular (alongside Elliott) could bring much needed deeper creativity to complement the likes of Rice and Bellingham. Very early days but I think these players will be fast tracked (u21s within a year) because of their unique skill sets.
We won’t be seeing Ben White again I don’t think if this is true. Will be interesting how Southgate responds at tomorrow’s press conference he is bound to be asked.Exclusive by Jeremy Cross: Ben White has returned home from England camp due to a bust up with Assistant coach Steve Holland pic.twitter.com/eH5qc40x5u— Arsenal Guns (@TheArsenalGuns) December 8, 2022 Unconvinced Dean Henderson is likely to be selected with injury absences while Pope and Newcastle are playing so well. Also not sure if James will be recalled considering how has publicly disagreed with Southgate’s leaving him out.
And there is no sign of that happening. Probably why after Kane tournament victories will be even further away than they are now.
That Ben White ‘story’ doesn’t ring true st all .. Saka’s version of a family issue sounds more feasible
I agree something doesn’t add up. It wasn’t even like Saka was asked about him and said a (rehearsed) official answer he simply mentioned him when asked about Sterling. Can’t see the rest of the press not digging further and asking Southgate and Kane tomorrow. Plus of course then Arteta in a few days - oddly he has not at all mentioned him this week when giving updates on other players. The Daily Mail are already hinting they will ask about it (Through the article seems to think Southgate could have chosen to replace him when the rules do not allow that.)
Read other reports that Ben White was already struggling to mix with other players on top of having a fallout with Holland. How true all this remains but it wouldn’t surprise me to be honest after that interview he did the other week with that foreign journalist where he was very sharp and off with him, it made me wonder if he’s not possibly very good socially where most of the other players seem very relaxed and in good spirits.
White is a funny character. Apparently he's not much of a fan of the game and doesn't watch any football at all.
You don't have to read the gutter press to see that he is a bit unusual for a football player. He was asked about his childhood memories of the World Cup before the competition and said he didn't have any because he hadn't watched any World Cups. When he joined Arsenal he said he didn't know who Patrick Viera was as a footballer because he'd never seen him play.
Sorry I wasn’t referring to that. What I mean is specifically the story about him and Steve Holland. He managed to get on fine with the same teammates during the Euros and was even one of the players chosen from the standby list.
Friend of a friend works for a PL Production show, and he said White knows literally zero about football - there was an interview about how he had the number 4 shirt and he was asked about Vieira and he barely knew who he was, let alone he had played for Arsenal. They've basically been told you can't ask him anything about football as he just doesn't get it. Whether that makes him socially awkward in that group, who knows, but if he has little interest in the rest of the WC it may do......but in these games, if you aren't doing your film work and your preparation properly when the stakes are so high then you will be infuriating those who are absolutely desperate and will leave no stone unturned looking for success
The Holland story is very detailed and does chime with what appears to be his personality i.e. a lack of interest in learning about opponents etc.
The England social media have been doing diary room videos of all the players - normally it’s just one player but Ben White was in a duo with Kalvin Phillips who is the player he is closest to in the England set up. I am not sure how close he is to his club teammates Ramsdale and Saka. Saka is known to pretty close to most of the players. And in the England arrival video they is a moment when he arrives and is told his room is next to Kalvin’s which might be a sign that they know he doesn’t chat to many of the others except him.
He might have been chosen then based on just his performances on the training field and pitch without Southgate really knowing how he gets on with the players. I mean since the Euros it has felt he was only somewhat reluctantly selected.
Only three England players would get in the France team France have the stronger XI but Gareth Southgate has a better match-day squad – which can give England the edge JAMIE CARRAGHER History beckons for England. Beat France and it will be the nation’s greatest result since the 1966 World Cup final. No victory over the past 56 years is even vaguely comparable if Gareth Southgate’s side overcome the world champions. For six decades we have mastered the art of falling short when faced with the obstacle of genuine trophy contenders. England simply do not win quarter-finals against nations of France’s strength unless we have home advantage. I would never demean our finest hour as a footballing country, but even Sir Alf Ramsey’s World Cup winning team had the considerable benefit of the Wembley factor. Our record against top teams in overseas tournaments is awful. Successive generations of England players travelled abroad and tasted defeat against the major footballing nations in the knockout stages of World Cups and European Championships, the high-calibre opponents like West Germany, Argentina, Portugal and Italy proving a step too far. We can re-analyse all the occasions we suffered – I played in the quarter-final defeats to Portugal in 2004 and 2006 – and talk about moments of misfortune, or the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. Some fine performances ended in heartbreak. But as a package they contribute to the same old story. Southgate and his players will be writing a new chapter in English football by progressing against such a team as France. Please note the emphasis on the word ‘team’. As the fixture edges closer, the full scale of England’s challenge becomes clearer and it goes well beyond trying to stop Kylian Mbappé. Reading and hearing some observations about how Southgate can defeat the French, there is a danger the fixation on Mbappé is causing his team mates to be seriously underestimated. Kyle Walker summed it up perfectly when dispatching the message England are playing France, not Mbappé. Mbappé is a superstar not superman. It is not as though he has won every big game he has been selected for since the last World Cup final. Top coaches and players have found ways to nullify him in the Champions League, not least Walker for Manchester City. Didier Deschamps will love the idea of England obsessing over Mbappé because France are not as over reliant on him as suggested. He is a massive influence, not the sum of their parts. Mbappé can have a quiet game on Saturday and still be part of a comfortable victory if England do not deal with other threats. Look at Antoine Griezmann, for example. He has created 15 chances so far in Qatar. I am more concerned about England’s approach to dealing with him than Mbappé. The gameplan for Mbappé is obvious, regardless of whether it works. If you could pick any right back in the world to face Mbappé it would be Walker due to his raw pace. Halting the supply line from Griezmann is more complicated as he will try to operate in the space between Declan Rice and the centre-backs. Southgate will have been wrestling with the idea of a switch of a back five, Walker as the right centre-back so that he and Kieran Trippier can double up on Mbappé. Hopefully Southgate resists that temptation. It is unnecessary. Whether Walker is right centre-back or right-back, his duel with Mbappé is still going to be based on their sprint races. England will lose too much up the park if they sacrifice an attacker for a defender. It is essential for England to stay bold and deal with the occasion by imposing their qualities because – player for player – they are disadvantaged when it comes to the experience of delivering the killer touch in games of this magnitude. We cannot ignore that France has more high-class footballers accustomed to winning the biggest prizes in club and international football. When tasked with selecting a combined England/France XI, you realise how well blessed Deschamps is, even with so many injuries. For me, only Walker, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane would make the France starting line-up. France’s back four consists of defenders from Bayern Munich (Dayot Upamecano), Barcelona (Jules Koundé) and AC Milan (Theo Hernandez), while Manchester United’s Raphaël Varane was a multiple Champions League winner at Real Madrid. Central midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni was a huge signing for Real last summer who has made the European champions stronger, and although right winger Ousmane Dembélé’s move to Barcelona has not been a huge success, we have seen glimpses of the qualities that made him a £100-million signing. He will fancy his chance of causing Luke Shaw problems. Bukayo Saka may eventually eclipse Dembélé – possibly in the next 36 hours – but he is still relatively early on his journey to the very top. Olivier Giroud passing Thierry Henry as France’s record goalscorer is proof of his pedigree. Because we are so familiar with these players having seen them week in, week out, there is no mystique like there was when watching World Cups in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, when the lack of media coverage of overseas football meant there was more excitement when seeing a ‘new’ name burst onto the international stage. Thirty years ago, everyone watching this World Cup would have been asking ‘who is this guy Richarlison, tearing it up for Brazil?’ In 2022, he is being judged on perceptions of his Premier League consistency rather than the fact he is a contender for player of the tournament. Similarly, there are no surprises in the France side for an England fan, which means – Mbappé aside – there is less aura surrounding them than once would have been the case. That does not make them any less daunting as a group. If this sounds too downbeat about England’s chances, there is one critical advantage Southgate can exploit. If France have a superior starting XI, England have a better 16-man squad if both sides use their full allocation of substitutes. This match can be won from the bench, where Southgate’s options are as good as any coach left in the tournament. This is where he must be at his bravest. To live with France’s pace and physicality, Southgate must be pro-active rather than reactive with his substitutes. His inability to switch momentum with mid-game moves against Croatia in 2018 and Italy in the Euro 2020 final have caused the fairest criticism of an otherwise excellent managerial performance as national coach. He knows that scrutiny is coming again. If the game is level with 30 minutes left, have the manager and the England players got what it takes to go for it, or will caution take hold? The group game versus USA was a worry because the advantage of strength in depth was not utilised. That was England’s only misstep so far. Southgate has more ammunition to ensure England’s energy levels are maintained for 90 minutes, or into extra-time. There can be no hesitancy against France. The lesson of Croatia and Italy was ‘do not look back with regrets’. Too many, including the manager, did on those occasions. Get it right and the prize for Southgate will be more than a semi-final. Victory would stand apart because no England team has ended the world champions’ reign on foreign soil. Win, and it could finally signal the beginning of the end of England’s status as international football’s most reliably consistent underachievers.