The Mailbox reacts to Gareth Southgate’s last England squad before he picks his World Cup party. Also: more All-Star missives, Man Utd in Moldova, and Shaun Goater.
Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
England expects
What we’re hoping for…
4-1-4-1
Pickford – just shades it
Chilwell – England’s best left-back
Dier – filling the Maguire meat head role
Tomori – England’s best centre-back
Reece James – World class right back
Rice – mainly because Phillips is now a Man City reserve
Bellingham – the Jude Bellingham era has to start sometime
Mount – Foden is better, but Mount runs around more
Sterling – Foden is better, but Sterling does the business for England
Kane – of course
Saka – bigger and better every day. Foden is still probably better.
What we’ll get…
3-4-3
Pickford – 48% pass completion in Euro 2020…going long is the way to go apparently
Trippier – one-footed right back, gets nose bleeds over the halfway line, shoe-horned into the left back role because he can take free kicks
Maguire and Stones – never let anyone down.
Walker – speed outweighs brain farts
James – it’s not going to be TAA is it
Rice/Phillips double defensive pivot – where England attacks go to die…
Sterling – isolated due to Trippier not crossing the halfway line
Kane – isolated due to no No.10 or any attacking midfield
Saka – told to double team as an extra wing back
Can’t wait.
Matthew (ITFC)
…My favourite times of the year; the England squads being announced. Going to go over all of the things that annoy me about it so much. It’s probably my biggest pet peeve in football.
Firstly I’ll start with people getting annoyed that Southgate doesn’t pick on form. Why the hell would he? You can’t build an international side if you’re picking on form. You need to consistently have a similar group of players. If a player keeps up form for a sustained period they’ll get in i.e Bowen at the end of last season. If they are out of form for a sustained period they won’t get in i.e Sancho and Rashford. There are obviously some caveats to this. Grealish hasn’t been great but he can’t drop everyone. Grealish has performed well in the past and won’t be a starter anyways.
There’s also this weird narrative that he doesn’t select players from smaller clubs. It’s the most moronic thing I’ve ever heard. Let’s go through it. Coady, Mings, Guehi, Rice, JWP Phillips, Ings, Grealish, Watkins, Toney. All of these…
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