James Maddison is in, Callum Wilson is in, a whole bunch of fringe centre-backs are out. It’s a less conservative Gareth Southgate squad than might have been expected, with the England manager almost always opting for the more aggressive and progressive option in the few genuine 50-50 calls he had to make…
1. We’ll start by saying that it is a very good England squad and there is very little Gareth Southgate could have done with available players to make it any better. It is a squad unlikely to match the semi-final or final reached in the last two tournaments, but there is no squad available to Southgate that is likely to do that.
If all goes as well as it possibly can, this lot will probably have to play France in the last eight. And at that stage they will probably lose. But that was true yesterday, and the day before and the day before. And so forth. And Southgate has picked a squad capable of defying those predictions and there is precious little to quibble with.
At squad selection time, barring something truly astonishing, you’re talking about things going on around the edges and fringes of the squad. We can argue about this inclusion or that exclusion but really it doesn’t make a great deal of difference.
Right, with that out of the way, let’s crack on with 15 other conclusions arguing about this inclusion or that exclusion.
2. James Maddison is the obvious standout name in the 26, his form for Leicester well established over an extended period of time in the end making him impossible for even Southgate to leave out despite his obvious reservations. Not even Southgate is immune to the biennial English major tournament tradition of The Clamour in which a player with one cap from three years ago becomes suddenly and indisputably The Answer for every columnist and pundit.
We strongly suspect Maddison is a major beneficiary of the move to 26-man squads, a move that allows Southgate to loosen his tie a little and take a punt on a maverick whose infamous casino visit in 2019 appeared to have left a permanent blot on the old copybook.
Southgate is a pragmatist at heart, and above all else no fool. And Maddison’s numbers are compelling. His 13 goals and nine assists in 2022 makes 22 goal involvements – a total bettered in the Premier League by only Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne and Son Heung-min – and he has them in a Leicester team that has spent a lot of that time struggling really rather badly.
3. The argument against Maddison…
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