England Squad - Euro 2024

Lauz9888 said:


Midfield looks light. Ok so they're counting the number 10 types as forwards.

But really only Rice with any proven international experience there.

Keeper/defence is ok. Pickford plus Stones and Maguire is an established core that does pretty well in international football.

And lots of attacking options.
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Agree about the midfield looking light. I think it says a lot about Southgate’s mindset that he has selected twice as many defenders than midfielders for the provisional squad (I don’t count TAA as a midfielder).

Rico should be there over Mainoo to cover fullback and midfield. That’s not my City bias talking—Lewis is the better, more versatile player that England desperately need to integrate for the future. Unfortunately, his lack of minutes this season saw him miss out.

Not sure we could convince him to commit to England (though this recent France snub might make that a bit easier), but I would take Olise over Gallagher every day of the week, as well.

I would actually like to see Stones with Branthwaite, in a Younger John / Older John tandem; opposition would struggle to get the ball and they are both excellent defenders of the counter. But Southgate is a coward and will want to go with his known clogging approach.

Would have selected Mitchell over Gomez, as well.

My ideal starting 11 from that provisional squad would be:

Out of possession
——————————— Ramsdale ———————————
———— Walker ——— Stones —— Branthwaite ——
Trippier ———————— Rice ————————— Shaw
——————— Bellingham ——— Eze —————————
————————————— Foden ————————————
————————————— Kane —————————————

In possession
——————————— Ramsdale ———————————
—————Walker ———————— Branthwaite ———
————————— Stones —— Rice ——————————
Trippier —————— Bellingham ——————— Shaw
————————— Eze <————> Foden ————————
————————————— Kane —————————————

But I know Southgate would never select that group of players for a Euro match, much less play such an attacking setup.
 
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“With Phil [Foden] is where he ends up, not his starting position. He's been allowed to drift for Manchester City. It's where these players arrive and where they are allowed to drift to.
"We never pin these forwards to the touchline. There is this freedom. You want Phil in those central areas, as you want with two or three others."

That’s Phil on the wing then ffs
 
Crooked_rain said:
Really? he basically said Bellingham will be the 10.

He justified Phil starting on the left saying he can drift inside, but we know he isn't as effective doing that.

It's simple, start him as a 10 if you want the best out of him. He's the most talented English player.
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He said Phil has played off the right and left but it's about where he ends up not where he starts. He can drift. He mentioned about Bellingham playing as a 10 but defending the left side, which to me suggests he's open to Phil coming inside to operate and having Jude help mark that side of the pitch.

We're not going to play both as number 10s. Rice isn't Rodri. So we'll see Mainoo presumably alongside Rice and then Foden-Bellingham-Saka-Kane. But I think his words mean he's already looking at how he can give Phil the freedom he needs to play centrally. Southgate's naturally defensive, but his comments on Bellingham tell me he thinks Phil can play centrally from the left and Jude can help cover.
 
Crooked_rain said:
Mainoo is part of the reason teams just stroll through the rag midfield. He has no sense or awareness of his positioning on the pitch.

I'd rather Gallagher out of the two. I don't rate him that highly but he's certainly got a better grasp on the basics and his positioning, plus he's been decent for Chelsea in their good form recently.

Mainoo would be a liability coming up against intelligent players.
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Gallagher's a decent PL midfielder. Nothing much to write home about in the grand scheme of things but puts a shift in and possibly his experience of the captaincy at Chelsea might have made him a little less likely to go flying in than he was.

Not the most exciting prospect but probably the kind of player needed to knit together that midfield.
 
City Raider said:
“With Phil [Foden] is where he ends up, not his starting position. He's been allowed to drift for Manchester City. It's where these players arrive and where they are allowed to drift to.
"We never pin these forwards to the touchline. There is this freedom. You want Phil in those central areas, as you want with two or three others."

That’s Phil on the wing then ffs
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And brought off after 65 mins for james maddison - who'll play the next 25 mins exactly where Phil should have been playing.
 
Blue Smarties said:
You think a 33 YO Trippier at left back is a good selection heading into a major tournament?
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Yeah I think he’s probably Englands best LB option. Hes better defensively than Chilwell, he’s got loads of experience, his set pieces have supplied loads of goals and he’s got a track record of playing well in that position for England at major tournaments.

I prefer Shaw to Gomez but Gomez has played 20 games at LB this season and has lost 1 match, he’s in form.
 
supercity88 said:
He said Phil has played off the right and left but it's about where he ends up not where he starts. He can drift. He mentioned about Bellingham playing as a 10 but defending the left side, which to me suggests he's open to Phil coming inside to operate and having Jude help mark that side of the pitch.

We're not going to play both as number 10s. Rice isn't Rodri. So we'll see Mainoo presumably alongside Rice and then Foden-Bellingham-Saka-Kane. But I think his words mean he's already looking at how he can give Phil the freedom he needs to play centrally. Southgate's naturally defensive, but his comments on Bellingham tell me he thinks Phil can play centrally from the left and Jude can help cover.
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Do Bellingham and Foden have the maturity and understanding to balance that approach? They have very little experience playing together and if it goes wrong they're getting in each other's way in the middle and there's a gaping hole where the left wing should be.
 
Crooked_rain said:
Mainoo is part of the reason teams just stroll through the rag midfield. He has no sense or awareness of his positioning on the pitch.

I'd rather Gallagher out of the two. I don't rate him that highly but he's certainly got a better grasp on the basics and his positioning, plus he's been decent for Chelsea in their good form recently.

Mainoo would be a liability coming up against intelligent players.
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Playing for the rags to be expected he’s no tactical awareness ……..
 
Lauz9888 said:
Gallagher's a decent PL midfielder. Nothing much to write home about in the grand scheme of things but puts a shift in and possibly his experience of the captaincy at Chelsea might have made him a little less likely to go flying in than he was.

Not the most exciting prospect but probably the kind of player needed to knit together that midfield.
Click to expand...

Crooked_rain said:
Mainoo is part of the reason teams just stroll through the rag midfield. He has no sense or awareness of his positioning on the pitch.

I'd rather Gallagher out of the two. I don't rate him that highly but he's certainly got a better grasp on the basics and his positioning, plus he's been decent for Chelsea in their good form recently.

Mainoo would be a liability coming up against intelligent players.
Click to expand...

Rico would be a better selection than both, but his lack of minutes saw him miss out, unfortunately.
 
Lauz9888 said:
Do Bellingham and Foden have the maturity and understanding to balance that approach? They have very little experience playing together and if it goes wrong they're getting in each other's way in the middle and there's a gaping hole where the left wing should be.
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There are so many ways to cover it. It doesn't need Bellingham and Foden to resolve it specifically. Both work hard on and off the ball for starters. Secondly, you make sure your shape in possession covers for it. Rice/Mainoo drifts to the left if you lose possession. You drop to a back three with Walker covering right, Stones central and X covering the left side. Shaw pushes up to close the space. Or Stones steps up and enables Rice/Mainoo to close the space instead.

We've often had Gvardiol on his own wide left, with no options but to pass back inside because Phil and Kev were both in the number 10 space. And we stuck with that because it was creating overloads elsewhere.
 
youngbob said:
Has a similar G/A record to Rodri this season (7 goals, 10 assists to Rodri's 9 goals, 14 assists). Not as good as Rodri, which we know, but he's definitely still dangerous going forward and has turned up with some big goals for Arsenal this season in tight games (United at home, Luton away, Chelsea away) that kept City honest until the final day.

If you have someone like Jones, or Mainoo, or Alexander-Arnold, or Gallagher, or even Stones, sat in there basically doing the grunt work, it allows Foden, Bellingham, and Rice to shine where they do the most damage. It's exactly what Kovacic has brought to us this season, a deferential hard worker who stitches the entire operation together.

It's something a succession of England managers never understood throughout the 2000s despite all the talent they had on show. And Southgate playing a midfield three of Rice, Bellingham, and Foden will see us sent packing as soon as we come up against a decent side. The formation doesn't matter, someone just has to keep Rice company.

Although, another reason he needs someone sat alongside him for England is that he's not the best at playing the DM role on his own like Rodri, where he basically runs the game from behind the midfield. A lot of England's play was halted by his off-the-ball positioning at the World Cup, especially in that knockout game against France.

I still think England are a better team with Rice, Bellingham, and Foden in it but they can't all play together without a workhorse making sure they're allowed to shine. International football, significantly more than club football, is about making do with what you've got and someone is gonna have to make some sacrifices to make sure the team ticks.
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I think Bellingham is that player, his half season playing upfront for Real Madrid has people convinced he is a forward. I see no reason why he can't sit with Rice in a double pivot. In fact I think thats his best position.
 
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