With the awful form and persistent injuries of some of the regulars, will Newcastle players fill any gaps? *Injuries or woeful form calls into question selection GK Starting with GK, you have to say Darlow won't get close. Likely choice between: Pickford, Butland*, Forster*, Pope, Hart*. Defence We might see a chance with the defence, due to significant injuries and woeful form. Likely choice between: Bertrand*, Rose, Cahill*, Stones*, Phil Jones*, Smalling, Dier, Trippier, Gomez, Maguire, Keane*, Alexander-Arnold, Walker, Dunk, Cresswell*... and with so many question marks over centre defenders, how about Lascelles? Midfield I think Shelvey has been decent this year, and is essentially the only quarterback type English player in the league, so is our best bet. Likely choice between: Loftus-Cheek, Henderson, Lingard, Cork, Cook, Alli, Winks*, Young, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sterling*, Livermore*, Walcott, Shelvey. Strikers Obviously no chance here. Even though our current starting striker is English, he's nowhere near good enough or near double figures. Likely choice between: Rashford, Vardy, Kane... then there really isn't much. There's always pressure to pick one player on form... which would have to be Glenn Murray! Or else you're looking at potential candidates being Callum Wilson... or Abraham*?
I’d pick the likes of Jamaal, Mee, Tarchowski and Mawson above any of the big clubs cbs. These lads know what defending is. Shelvey is the only competent passer England have. If neither go to the World Cup in favour of default picks like Henderson, Smalling etc, then I won’t be watching. Honest.
On current form and not Manager/Media favouritism both Jonjo and Lascelles should be serious contenders.
Mee and Tarchowski defo in with a shout, but I'm not sure about Mawson. We haven't got many superstars anymore. For me, we need to focus on playing like Burnley, as a team which can punch above it's weight. We may have to leave out technically better players to do that.
Lascelles at least should be a goer. Genuinely think he'll be overlooked though and Phil Jones or someone **** will be picked instead. That tends to be how these things go.
I don’t see any there. Lascelles has a chance but it us very late in the day to be rejigging your defensive options. Similar with Shelvey, you’d have to change your way of playing to accommodate him. Their late charge is admirable but I think it’s a case of too little too late. However every England manager of the last 15 years has had the last minute panic switch up so all hope is not lost.
CB is England's biggest problem as I see it. Southgate needs to have a serious think about who he is going to take. Jamaal should be in with a shot. Maguire is also decent. Cahill is not the same player. Smalling and Jones are not good enough and although I think he has potential good teams will see stones as a weakness and put him under pressure
Genuinely hope none of them - Lascelles goes and does well in the footy's biggest shop window then what chance do we have of keeping him? Same with Shelvey but probably less of an issue
I don't think Shelvey has any chance. Reputation and racism charge will mean they will just stay clear. He's also not that good to be honest, at least in terms of consistency if nothing else. Lascelles is the only possibility but I doubt Southgate would pick him over someone with international experience since there is only 3 months until it starts and it's a bit late in the day to try new CBs. If he gets a call up in the next squad and if there are a few injuries to regulars in the last few weeks of the season you never know he could get picked and make up the numbers at the world cup.
Kane might not be going. I'm sure you lot will be very sympathetic towards him given his tackle on your defender on game one this season. Feel free to wind up some spuds on the PL board
Get it right Tel, none of our players were stood on by either Kane in game one or either of the Huddersfield players in game two. We were lucky and should have received yellow cards for attacking the bottom of their boots with their bodies.
If Laecelles doesn't even get in the squad, then Southgate is ****ing stupid.....however I really think he will stick with the old guard, and old knackers like Cahill will get in ahead of Laecelles. Shelvey should be a shoe-in to the squad too, but Southgate will no doubt get on his high horse (horse face on a high horse) about the racism charge and he won't even be considered. We're gonna be embarassing and **** anyway, so does anyone really give a **** about getting in the squad? This was the team that got knocked out of the Euros by Iceland with a better manager than we have now.
I'd be tempted to take both in current form. I understand that side of it. However we've been building towards a world cup for 4 years. Its the same old England, a clamour for people to be included at the last minute. The very thing they get slaughtered for afterwards, but its the fans as much as the management who drive it. I think it tells you one thing, we lack credible options in various areas. With all due respect to Shelvey, he'd get nowhere any of the top international sides squads. He just isn't good enough. I mean have we all forgotten Bournemouth the other week where he made no effort for the two goals. Yes the manager invited problems on to us, but Shelvey certainly did not cover himself in glory. He is in a good moment now but he's had a middling season. You have to set up to accommodate him to. Big changes at this late stage. Lascelles has more of a case but he was getting slaughtered last season off many of our own fans. He has been pretty solid aside from a rocky spell from October to January. Hardly a glowing reference but he is in form as the international week looms and suddenly he's a must. Granted Cahill, Jones, Smalling, Keane, Stones have all looked out of sorts, but they've been rightly picked prior to that. Has Lascelles really done more than Ben Mee and James Tarkowski? I'm not sure he has, they've done well all season. Is there an argument to take them two as they know each others game? They are hardly getting a mention. The world cup will bring different demands of a centre back. The football tends to be much slower, less pressing, with more emphasis on ball playing. I think Lascelles has an argument here against someone like Cahill who is clumsy. All in all I can't understand anyone who thinks Lascelles and Shelvey should be a shoe in? I think that is massively over stating their abilities personally (regardless of what I think Lascelles can become under the right guidance)
Of course Shelvey wouldn't get into the top sides, but that's cos they've got far better foreign players, for a controlling central mid with a good passing range, there really aren't many decent English options. When cack like Livermore is regularly getting English caps, you know the team ain't that much cop these days. The only one listed above that can really be a commanding CM is Henderson, most of the rest are far too attack minded to fill that role - Alli, Walcott, Sterling, Lingard, Young, etc. And of course Laecelles took flack at the end of last season, but it was only revealed at the end that he was playing through a hernea, considering that, he made a phenomenal effort last season.
The PL has massively restricted our ability at Intl level. Simple, really, that back in '96 teams all played very similarly so you could just pick the better ones and they'd more or less understand what was expected in a 4-4-2. Always used to kill us not having a decent left winger born in England. Modern football's changed the landscape. It was always bad enough watching England managers always play people out of position, or constantly persevere with Lampard/Gerrard regardless of tactic. But we've now got Chelsea playing 3-4-3, Man U adopting 4-2-3-1, Liverpool doing "gegenpressing" and Man City's megabucks propping up any deficiencies with their English quota. Be hard enough with an identity, but it's impossible with a feckless muppet like Southgate. You almost wish for someone like Rafa to be England manager. You'd know you were playing 4-2-3-1 and he'd pick the best players to play that system; not squash the most expensive players into whatever's the most favoured tactic. It's where we always go wrong. We'll take Kane and Vardy; Kane gets injured, can Vardy play 4-2-3-1? Nope, not what he's done for the last however many years. Then there's the caps-over-form debacle, which will see the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain going to Russia.
Listening to Talk Sport on my walk home. Everyone bigging up Shelvey for a spot. England literally do not have any CM options that will do that job. He is always looking to hurt the oppo. Might not be the most disciplined but if you are a Kane I guarantee you would like to have him in that England team
