England squad to be cut to 26

PR3BFC

PR3BFC

Well-known member
According to Twitter (so take with a pinch of salt!)

Ramsdale
White
Godfrey
Trent A-A
Ward-Prowse
Saka
Watkins

Are the 7 to be cut, if true Trent’s cut will upset some but I can see why. The one that would disappoint me on that list would be Saka, he’s had a good season and versatile and you have to say he’s had a much better season than say Sterling & Rashford.

Think there could also be a decent argument for Ward-Prowse.
 
Did I read that England are the favourites to win the tournament? If so, can anyone explain to me why? Cos I really can't see it myself. Defence nowhere near good enough for starters. Surely?
 
voyeur said:
Did I read that England are the favourites to win the tournament? If so, can anyone explain to me why? Cos I really can't see it myself. Defence nowhere near good enough for starters. Surely?
Click to expand...
Defence is probably their better area tbh. We are too one dimensional in midfield. Squad isn’t bad. Squad isn’t good. We are at home. Go look at other nations squads and you’ll be very underwhelmed bar Belgium and maybe Germany.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Defence is probably their better area tbh. We are too one dimensional in midfield. Squad isn’t bad. Squad isn’t good. We are at home. Go look at other nations squads and you’ll be very underwhelmed bar Belgium and maybe Germany.
Click to expand...
I don't think we are great in midfield or up front either. Decent but not good enough to win.

I wouldn't expect us to beat Italy, France or Spain, as well as Germany and Belgium. I'm not even convinced we will beat Scotland, to be honest. They will be much more focused and on it than us, I suspect, and have an improving young side.
 
voyeur said:
I don't think we are great in midfield or up front either. Decent but not good enough to win.

I wouldn't expect us to beat Italy, France or Spain, as well as Germany and Belgium. I'm not even convinced we will beat Scotland, to be honest. They will be much more focused and on it than us, I suspect, and have an improving young side.
Click to expand...
It's those games against the top sides that are still beyond us. There's just not enough all-round quality.
 
If it was not for the centre half position i would have said we had a very good chance of winning the competition. Decent keepers, decent attacking full backs, talented creative midfielders capable of opening up any defence in the world. Add in the likes of Rice and Kane and it looks a formidable squad. The injury situation with Maguire is deeply worrying in particular as the talented Gomez is missing. The likes of Walker, Coady and Mings do not inspire confidence. Without Gomez and Maguire the Belgians were able to score twice then play defensively, i fear this will happen again against the top teams. I would personally take Godfrey, he reads the game well and is cool under pressure, a certain future England regular.
 
talksport are also saying Lingard isn’t going to make the cut but whether Greenwood changes that who knows.

I don’t know about anyone else but before a major tournament I’m usually buzzing and can’t wait for it to get going but after our season only just finishing with promotion I haven’t any excitement for it at all yet!
 
Ruperthoop said:
If it was not for the centre half position i would have said we had a very good chance of winning the competition. Decent keepers, decent attacking full backs, talented creative midfielders capable of opening up any defence in the world. Add in the likes of Rice and Kane and it looks a formidable squad. The injury situation with Maguire is deeply worrying in particular as the talented Gomez is missing. The likes of Walker, Coady and Mings do not inspire confidence. Without Gomez and Maguire the Belgians were able to score twice then play defensively, i fear this will happen again against the top teams. I would personally take Godfrey, he reads the game well and is cool under pressure, a certain future England regular.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, it's the weakness of the centre backs that cause concerns over T A-A's position. If you had a decent pair, playing behind 2 good, hard working defensive midfielders, you can use your full-backs as wingers and worry less about their defensive capabilities. As it is, I can see Southgate going back to 3 at the back, because of the added protection you get from Walker and his pace. But then you lose a player who is far more likely to create a goal for you. Seems cockeyed to me, but what do I know...
 
It showed the Management genius that is Southgate, to even consider including Henderson, especially since his last match was February.
Deluded
 
BigHandsOliverKahn said:
Have we started the 'England's best route to the final by avoiding all the best sides - oh, there isn't one.' thread yet?
Click to expand...

To be honest, there's no brilliant teams. France would be favourites by default, I'd say, but are we looking at a premier German outfit? KDB's injury on the CL Final could be a big blow for Belgium and Hazaard looked like a big dobber in the CL semi against Chelsea. Portugal will be reasonable you'd think.

I'm not suggesting England will win it, but their best chance is likely to come from keeping games tight and using set-pieces as a weapon. All the more reason to have the best deliverer of a football in England in the squad I'd say...
 
voyeur said:
I don't think we are great in midfield or up front either. Decent but not good enough to win.

I wouldn't expect us to beat Italy, France or Spain, as well as Germany and Belgium. I'm not even convinced we will beat Scotland, to be honest. They will be much more focused and on it than us, I suspect, and have an improving young side.
Click to expand...
We have a better front three and replacement front three than any side in the competition to be honest.
 
SeasideKurt said:
We have a better front three and replacement front three than any side in the competition to be honest.
Click to expand...
On paper we have decent options, but the recent performances of Rashford and Sterling in big games was hardly inspiring. The flip side being the recent performances of Mount.
The first game against Croatia will give us a big clue to whether we've developed compared to the WC semi. A good win, would provide a massive confidence boost too. I would say I'm confident of us getting into the last 8, after that, who knows.
 
Ward Prowse should be in the squad for me, as mentioned above his delivery is so good. Sterling should not be starting just now, the combination of Mount and Grealish should IMO complement Kane. A midfield of Foden, Bellingham + Rice would be a bold choice with James and Chilwell at full backs, Stones and Walker in the middle.
 
SeasideKurt said:
We have a better front three and replacement front three than any side in the competition to be honest.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure we actually do. On paper, maybe, maybe not. When it comes to what happens on the grass in the context of a finals tournament, we tend to look pedestrian and frustrating. We generally flounder, and lose to Iceland or summat. Let's not make the same mistake over and over again of thinking we are better than Germany, Italy and Spain before a ball is kicked. A lot of this is about mentality, confidence, savviness, coaching. But also it's about individual players having more than football ability, we tend to see Italians and Germans displaying qualities we lack. Football intelligence, and know how, finding ways to win games.
 
voyeur said:
I'm not sure we actually do. On paper, maybe, maybe not. When it comes to what happens on the grass in the context of a finals tournament, we tend to look pedestrian and frustrating. We generally flounder, and lose to Iceland or summat. Let's not make the same mistake over and over again of thinking we are better than Germany, Italy and Spain before a ball is kicked. A lot of this is about mentality, confidence, savviness, coaching. But also it's about individual players having more than football ability, we tend to see Italians and Germans displaying qualities we lack. Football intelligence, and know how, finding ways to win games.
Click to expand...
Name me a better front three mix than in another team.

Kane Sterling Rashford Grealish Sancho Foden

You won't be able to because it's easier to big up other teams than actually look into it. We've had brilliant footballers before, we have more depth in the striking force than I can ever remember.

It's about the set up. This is our best chance for a while. Don't rate any of the other nations really.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Name me a better front three mix than in another team.

Kane Sterling Rashford Grealish Sancho Foden

You won't be able to because it's easier to big up other teams than actually look into it. We've had brilliant footballers before, we have more depth in the striking force than I can ever remember.

It's about the set up. This is our best chance for a while. Don't rate any of the other nations really.
Click to expand...
You're not really listening to what I'm saying. I said on paper maybe. I have bad memories of a tournament in which Kane trundled about and seemed to be trying to knock out spectators in various parts of row Z. We also have a strong tendency to believe our players are better than they are because we see them on tele all the time. We do have some good players, yes, but we have weaknesses, and we habitually under achieve because we are tactically weak and also lack the confidence of Germans and Italians in tournaments. And our expectation levels are nearly always too high. Our defence if going to struggle anyway, I suspect. And we will probably have Pickford in nets. Walker and Stones. Rice is not Kante. Etc.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Name me a better front three mix than in another team.

Kane Sterling Rashford Grealish Sancho Foden

You won't be able to because it's easier to big up other teams than actually look into it. We've had brilliant footballers before, we have more depth in the striking force than I can ever remember.

It's about the set up. This is our best chance for a while. Don't rate any of the other nations really.
Click to expand...
I tend to agree with this, it is out best chance and we've won stuff with the kids who are now coming through.

Not 100% convinced Southgate will play to our strengths but who knows.
 
voyeur said:
You're not really listening to what I'm saying. I said on paper maybe. I have bad memories of a tournament in which Kane trundled about and seemed to be trying to knock out spectators in various parts of row Z. We also have a strong tendency to believe our players are better than they are because we see them on tele all the time. We do have some good players, yes, but we have weaknesses, and we habitually under achieve because we are tactically weak and also lack the confidence of Germans and Italians in tournaments. And our expectation levels are nearly always too high. Our defence if going to struggle anyway, I suspect. And we will probably have Pickford in nets. Walker and Stones. Rice is not Kante. Etc.
Click to expand...

Regarding us being tactically weak, Southgate gets stick, but he's the first coach in a long time that has developed a squad that can play in multiple systems. Plus Steve Holland is still in the set up and he does have some nous. Like you, i don't see us winning it, but that doesn't mean we can't be properly involved in the competition. It's all about getting the right mix. A big concern for me right now is the array of attacking 'talent' Kurt is talking about, hasn't really been in great form recently.

I mentioned Sterling and Rashford, but Grealish's best performances were a good few months ago and Foden ended the season playing some of his worst football. Can't really comment on Sancho. Kane is a class act of course and if he stays fit, he's the player the other nations will be wary of.

I think it's unfair to make comparisons of Rice and Kante; every other country will also have a defensive midfielder that is 'not Kante' either. The only thing our coaching team can do is ensure we get more out of our team set up and performance than the sum of the parts.

Kurt is definitely right about there being no stand out teams. Then you can take inspiration from the Greece win in 2004 and realise that having a set up and game plan might just work. There's also the added point that we may well end up playing plenty of games at Wembley with a hugely partizan crowd. Will that lift the squad or see them freeze? I suspect there'll be a huge appetite to party so that usually means an upbeat atmosphere of positivity.

All a load of conjecture of course. Whichever way I look at it, I still see a side that is easily capable of getting in the last 8 and has the potential to win one-off games from there, but also to lose them through the obvious weaknesses that are there.

The best thing that could ever have happened to England from my perspective, was the continued 'under achieving' from 1998 onwards and Blackpool's brief sojourn to the PL. It eventually led to a resetting of expectations for me based on seeing the Emperor's new clothes and understanding that the PL was 90% marketing and 10% English talent. Now I watch tournaments with a freedom that never existed until at least 2016.
 
They could take a 50 man squad and still do nowt...most of the English players look better than they are as they play with world class players in their premier league teams...I reckon Kane is our only world class player...😎
 
France are probably favourites on paper at least. Home advantage should help us, I just maintain low expectations and I'm never disappointed! I hope I'm wrong this time but it makes a lot of sense to me to expect normal service to be provided.

France have a pretty good set of attacking options...

FW: Antoine Griezmann, (Barcelona)
FW: Kylian Mbappé, (Paris Saint-Germain)
FW: Kingsley Coman, (Bayern Munich)
FW: Thomas Lemar, (Atletico Madrid)
FW: Ousmane Dembele, (Barcelona)
FW: Wissam Ben Yedder, (Monaco)
FW: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
FW: Marcus Thuram (Borussia Monchengladbach)
 
Killingmesoftly said:
They could take a 50 man squad and still do nowt...most of the English players look better than they are as they play with world class players in their premier league teams...I reckon Kane is our only world class player...😎
Click to expand...
Kane is currently our only world class player but there's two or three youngsters like Foden and Mount who are making great strides. It's up to Southgate to get the best out of them and I really hope but doubt Grealish is match fit as I think at this point he's better than both of them My fear is that Sothgates loyalty will see him start the first game with two hopelessly out of form players in Sterling and Rashford.
 
20togo said:
Kane is currently our only world class player but there's two or three youngsters like Foden and Mount who are making great strides. It's up to Southgate to get the best out of them and I really hope but doubt Grealish is match fit as I think at this point he's better than both of them My fear is that Sothgates loyalty will see him start the first game with two hopelessly out of form players in Sterling and Rashford.
Click to expand...
Hell probably start Pickford, Walker and Stones too. The Chelsea trio of Mount, Chilwell and James will be going into the tournament in great form and full of confidence, at least.
 
voyeur said:
Hell probably start Pickford, Walker and Stones too. The Chelsea trio of Mount, Chilwell and James will be going into the tournament in great form and full of confidence, at least.
Click to expand...
Walker got too much criticism and I think he's come back string and certainly deserves his place in the squad. As does Stones. Really like James too and TTA has come back well after his omission. I'd take him too and leave out Trippier. That said though, I've not seen much of Athletico Madrid and how his form has been.
 
So Greenwood has withdrawn and Lingard allegedly left out plus...

"The Daily Mail claim that the other five players sweating on their place in the squad are Trent Alexander-Arnold, James Ward-Prowse, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale and Ben Godfrey."

Not impressed if that's all true.
 
Part of me can't help thinking James will get in based on one performance against a very poor Sterling. That's probably harsh on the lad (James not Sterling...)
 
straightatthewall said:
Sky Sports News (and others) now reporting that TAA will be in the 26.
Click to expand...
one of the reporters on SSN made the point yesterday about what it would do for the confidence of TTA if he did NOT make the squad especially with it also being a wold cup year next year. And in the right context that's a valid point. Yep we seem to have great quality in the right back position so it's a tough choice. TTA clearly wasn't helped by VVD missing frm Liverpools team for the season and with Liverpools poor mid season form his own form suffered. I just wonder if he's a player who has that touch of arrogance about him in the fact that he thought he was a certainty for the team/squad six-nine months ago and Southgate gave him a wake up call by dropping him. That seems to have done the trick so yeah hope he makes it. However from being the number one right back he's probably slipped to at best no 3 behind Walker and James. That is if indeed he makes it instead of Trippier.
 
And just for Bighands...

If we win the group, we would (almost certainly) play one of France, Germany or Portugal.
2nd place and it's second from the group of Spain, Sweden, Poland and Slovakia.

Better to come second....
 
20togo said:
one of the reporters on SSN made the point yesterday about what it would do for the confidence of TTA if he did NOT make the squad especially with it also being a wold cup year next year. And in the right context that's a valid point. Yep we seem to have great quality in the right back position so it's a tough choice. TTA clearly wasn't helped by VVD missing frm Liverpools team for the season and with Liverpools poor mid season form his own form suffered. I just wonder if he's a player who has that touch of arrogance about him in the fact that he thought he was a certainty for the team/squad six-nine months ago and Southgate gave him a wake up call by dropping him. That seems to have done the trick so yeah hope he makes it. However from being the number one right back he's probably slipped to at best no 3 behind Walker and James. That is if indeed he makes it instead of Trippier.
Click to expand...

Trippier will be in the squad. He's not only got great delivery but he's the most natural and effective wing-back we have if they play 3 at the back - something I think they will do at times.
On top of that, Trippier has been a regular for the La Liga winners, who happen to be coached by one of the best defensive coaches in modern times.

James is behind him, Walker and TAA as a player for me. Typical England though. We need at least one more CB and central midfielder and we've got right backs coming out of our ears.
 
straightatthewall said:
Trippier will be in the squad. He's not only got great delivery but he's the most natural and effective wing-back we have if they play 3 at the back - something I think they will do at times.
On top of that, Trippier has been a regular for the La Liga winners, who happen to be coached by one of the best defensive coaches in modern times.

James is behind him, Walker and TAA as a player for me. Typical England though. We need at least one more CB and central midfielder and we've got right backs coming out of our ears.
Click to expand...
The other three have much greater pace than Trippier though. And that's going forward as well as back. So if rumours are that TTA is going, will it be all four right backs. As said though Walker and maybe James can play in a back 3.,
 
20togo said:
The other three have much greater pace than Trippier though. And that's going forward as well as back. So if rumours are that TTA is going, will it be all four right backs. As said though Walker and maybe James can play in a back 3.,
Click to expand...
Yeah, but Southgate likes Trippier 😉
 
straightatthewall said:
The problem with the midfield, is who would you add? Not many options really.
Click to expand...
Stewart and Embleton. 👍😃

Full backs wise, TAA and James can both play further forward, perhaps? Bit late for experimentation, mind. If we play at three at the back we'd have one of those and Chilwell augmenting midfield.
 
Taking already injured players such as Maguire and Henderson is always a mistake, in my view. Henderson is only just coming back from groin surgery, for heaven’s sake. He can only just trundle along at full fitness anyway. Will he even get a game? I doubt it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top