Nah, I’m not battling anything, I don’t care about England’s national side, but it’s just an objective football topic.
One of them in midfield in some games, maybe.
But he’s not doing it at City and his England performances haven’t been great so far. No big deal if he’s not starting yet.
He started the last Euro in a position not too different from the one at City. Didn’t perform, Saka came in and did better.
I don’t see the fuss really. If all goes well, Foden will start for England soon. Pep himself says that he’s still not ready to be a regular in midfield, he thinks he offers more in an offensive position.
Sterling is a runner and an experienced player. I fully understand why he’s still playing a lot for England, regardless of his Chelsea form.
It’s a bit like Pedro for Spain all those years when “there were more talented players than him”. Or why perhaps France didn’t start with Dembele, but Matuidi in 2018. Different style, but same point.
Sterling, Saka, Foden… whoever, in the end, it’s high quality and good mixture of different qualities. That’s not the issue I don’t think.
My belief is that it didn’t work back then because the side was either unbalanced and/or full of egos. Look at this pool of players (even though Southgate still finds time to complain that it should be bigger than this) - I’d argue that the only glaring weakness is the goalkeeper, and even that is because Southgate is blindly loyal to Pickford (Pope is a better option, in my opinion, but still short of what the likes of Brazil, Germany or Spain have on offer).
This is largely a young side where majority of players are coached by managerial cream of the crop or up-and-coming managers. They are still tactically malleable and can be fit into a coherent XI that plays dynamic, expansive football. Yet, two main proponents of such football, Trent and Foden, are left on the bench. It’s just one of the symptoms of England’s disease and their perennial failure to turn their strength into trophies.
Well, he’s been given a few little chances and didn’t really perform like that, not stylistically and not enough quality as for City (not a big deal we see it all the time, different team, different context). I expected him to be better already in the last Euro. England then turned to either Saka or playing Sterling on the right. And I’m a big Foden fan. No problems I don’t think, he’ll probably take some of the next chances he gets.
City are quite different to England. Sometimes players earn more patience, sometimes less. Especially when you have high calibre competition in the same position(s). I’d probably play Foden more than Southgate plays Grealish (in terms of minutes). Even if I can understand the reasons why.
The media are far too easy on Southgate, in the past they have abused the managers and turned the fans against them, they wanted to build a statue of Southgate for failing in the past.
The England mens manager has been Conservative since the Venables tenure since Hoddle, we’ve had the team for a generation for at least 22 years and it’s been managed by international coaches that are there to collect a pension and poor English coaches.
Amount of games he has managed he is just getting over the new manager bounce no wonder he didn’t last in club football.
England will (might) (could) be fine. Silky performance put 6 past Iran. Ran into a highly motivated U.S. team which played out of its mind and beat England to most 50/50 balls. One of England’s 3 shots on target and arguably its most lethal was taken by Mason Mount, and only a keen save by Matt Turner kept it out.
Need to pound the Welsh to move into the knockout round with some momentum and positivity. Think the odds chart has their chances about right.
Normally you’d be able to point to an overly defensive team selection that leaves too many players behind the ball to explain a negative disjointed performance like this. This was on paper at least an XI that approximates what most fans who want a more expansive front foot side would have picked. You can quibble with individual selections, but swapping out Saka for Foden, for example, wouldnt change too much about what you’d expect the side to play like, and it wouldnt have been as disjointed as this performance
White has not played a single game at CB this season. Picking him over Maguire would not a move justified by picking players on form. For all the justified criticism of Maguire over the past couple of season, he has rarely let down Southgate (although did in the recent games) and it was not the defense who were problemtic yesterday. One of the hallmarks of international teams who have had success over the past decade or so is the reliance on unfashionable players who have the manager’s trust to play a specific role or provide much needed continuity in a game where there is not much familiarity among the players. We have to see Maguire in that light and so it’s really difficult for me to understand how someone can connect the dots on his continued selection with what we saw yesterday.
Likewise with Phillips. Lots of teams have used the added luxury the extra 5 players has given them to take a chance on an important player with questionable fitness. If he doesnt play a minute of football, have they really missed out. Is there really a player who is 27th in the pecking order who would have made a meaningful difference?
I think having a few positions that are not crystal clear is nothing new in international football.
It’s damn rare to have a sorted XI that is well oiled like a club side, winning games and tournaments. But you need to find a base and build around that. No other way with the time they have. Having partnerships on the pitch is fundamental. And then “play” with a few other positions where form can be more important.
Maybe in Southgate’s head it’s all crystal clear.
On a few cases, I agree that I’d seriously think is it best to continue with the likes of Pickford, Maguire and Mount. Grealish getting minutes off the bench ahead of Foden.
Phillips was an interesting one with so few minutes this season. But England lack proper central midfielders and considering he was a regular starter in the last tournament, I have no problems with him being among the 26.
England are through…I think there’s like a 0.00000001% chance they don’t if Wales beat them by 6 goals and USA manage to beat Iran by 5., Gareth will opt to play the reserves and they’ll probably play at 10% and that’ll still be enough to beat Wales.
