interesting squad obviously looking to the future? as well as putting out a fresh young team...hopefully Welbeck stays fit!
This World Cup has a slightly different atmosphere to it for me. A fresh young squad which is exciting, but none of the over-hype of previous campaigns. The England fans have tasted and adopted humility, so expectations are low. This team will play without the ‘England Expects’ monkey on their back.
That won't stop the nay-sayers spouting the same old stuff about them not having enough 'pashun' (sic), and being overpaid prima-donnas. I'd rather those that say they're 'done with the national team' keep to their word and butt out, particularly if by some miracle England do well enough to reach the last four or something. I should like to think we'll qualify from the group stage, but we'd be on a collision course to face Colombia in the last 16, who have a decent team at the minute and would likely be favourites.
I'm not impressed to be honest. I wouldn't have been impressed whatever squad was picked as we don't have good enough players. Could any of this squad get in the Brazil team or the French team. Maybe 1 or 2 but that's it. Yes the expectation has gone which is a positive. But this squad aint good enough to cause a surprise either. We have no creative spark in CM. Just defensive minded players. To me this means there will be a lot of long balls. I don't rate Henderson but he will be the captain. That alone is a micky take. I don't rate Delph either. Delph has made just 29 appearances in all competitions for Man City this season due to injuries. Wilshere has made 38 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal, yet has not been selected as he is deemed a risk due to a history of injuries, although has made more appearances this season than Delph. Last season, Delph made just 13 appearances in all comps due to injuries. Wilshere made 29 in all comps last season. Sorry but Southgate has contradicted himself here! Wilshere has the creative spark that we need at CM. We will miss him. Maguire, Cahill and Jones been crap all season. How they get selected I don't know. Maybe because we don't have anyone better. Which is why I knew this squad selection was going to be a shambles. Taking 3 left backs. This must mean Alexander-Arnold must only be there for experience only. That's a waste of a space which could have gone to someone else. Bertrand is Better than Rose this season so that's another strange call from Southgate. Rose has made 21 appearances in all comps this season. While Bertrand has made 45. Ashley Young is not a LB but has been played there all season and done well there. But this means he should be picked to play there as that is where he has impressed Southgate at. And how on earth has Welbeck been selected? Completely useless. Has speed but no clue with the ball and is greedy at the same time. Maybe he will be picked for his defensive duties as he gets back to help and with this squad, we will be defending more often than not! I could go on but I think you get the picture!
We’ve tried the ‘obvious’ choices many times only to be left scratching our heads as to why our millionaires have succumbed to ‘inferior’ opposition. Iceland anyone? Time for a new, radical approach. No pressure - we’re **** after all. We also won the u17 and u20 world cups so let’s use players who are used to winning big trophies.
We are in agreement. That's why I think Henderson, Delph, Cahill, Magiure, Jones & Welbeck shouldn't be in this squad. Replace this with players from the u20's and use this world cup to give them experience at this level and we will be in a better position in 4 years time.
Quite happy with that squad personally. Some really good posts above which I agree with - the idiots will still be out in force but for the most part, the sensible fans will be willing to allow this team to go to Russia with a lot less pressure than previous squads. I'm quite encouraged by Southgate, whom I originally thought was completely underwhelming. In the friendlies the players seemed to play with a Liverpool-like high press and really seemed to have some great work rate, something which I never thought I'd see from an England team. Certainly it's something you wouldn't have seen from some previous England players, Sturridge for example being a prime example. I think second round should be an expected result, quarter finals could be considered to be a 'success' and anything further would be dreamland in all honesty. As Nick says above, being drawn with and losing to a team like Colombia, we would be slated by the press, but in reality that's from our own arrogance. Colombia are a very decent side and we need to understand where we are in the footballing world these days. The most frustrating part of it all is just how good our youth teams continually seem to be, before they then drop off at the first-team level. It's clearly a Premier League-influenced problem but it doesn't soften the blow from the truth that we are essentially creating our own downfall.
There's a nice recent trend of some of our youngsters moving to the Bundesliga in search of game-time. It's maybe too early to say for sure, but the future could be bright... http://www.football365.com/news/bundesliga-the-new-home-of-english-talent
what the f! typed a response and it suddenly posted midway through! will try again.............. the question is how many of the PNE Brentford teams would make the prem teams?.. they missed out just on the playoff's and a chance... the reason is because none of them individually might, but it is a team game, and the occasional "fancy trick" of the prima donna may go awry and result in the unexpected reward! I have always liked Welbeck, he has a good record in a England shirt and injuries aside may have been a better player than he has shown, starting line up of Kane Welbeck and Rashford ....TALLY HO!
Agree with this - he sometimes may look a little 'gangly', but Welbeck actually has a lot of quality if fit and firing; unfortunately, fitness has been his issue. It's nice to have options - if in good condition Kane is the obvious choice to start in the middle, flanked by Rashford and Sterling, but Vardy is one of the most potent counter-attacking threats out there (sometimes hard to do with England, as a lot of the smaller nations 'park the bus', leaving no space behind), and Welbeck can play a bit more of a target man/hold the ball up role, whilst also having experience playing as a winger. Hopefully we're adaptable enough to deal with specific situations. Against Panama it'll be the common issue of trying to break down a team with 11 men behind the ball - in these cases I hate the 'pass the ball about' approach, as space is rarely presented, and think it's better to flood the box and get crosses in, so you either win a header directly, which the keeper will struggle to read due to the sheer number of bodies, or there's the possibility of a goal-mouth scramble where you might score a cheap goal. Tunisia will likely be a sterner test than many would expect, though still pretty defensive, so probably best for the Rashford-Kane-Sterling triumvirate, but Belgium will be very tough with the quality they have at the moment, so I think Vardy should lead the line there. I'm intrigued by the back three formation that Southgate has introduced, with Kyle Walker there, leaving wing-back free for Trippier. A 3-5-2 with Dele, Lingard or even Sterling playing behind the front two could be the most positive we've seen England play at a World Cup since 2002.
Southgate has admitted that he is not taking Wilshere as he is a risk due to his injury history. If playing in 38 games in all competitions this season is classed as a risk instead of proving his fitness is good then fair enough. But then Southgate loses all respect from me when he immediately contradicts himself by selecting Welbeck, who has only started 12 games all season due to injuries! If Southgate is talking about injury history before this season then its even worse for Welbeck. Last season he only started 8 games due to injuries. Season before that he only started 7 games due to injuries. So refusing to take probably what is our most creative CM, while leaving ourselves with no creative CM's, using "injury history" as an excuse, just don't cut it with me when he decides to take Welbeck, who has an atrocious injury record, far worse than Wilshere, really baffles me.
The thing I like about Welbeck is that he gets back to help in defence. Good team player who will chase back to deal with an attacking full back and not just let his guy go. Maybe thats what has been the deciding factor for Southgate to take him. Welbeck does a lot right but his final ball (either shot/cross/pass) 9 times out of 10 leaves a lot to be desired. Regarding the rest of your comment, I am really exciting to see Sterling in this world cup. He has had a great season and I hope he continues this into the summer. He could thrive without the add pressure from the press and fans where the xpectation is low.
Me too - the press have given him some stick in the past, but he's been a big part of why Man City have had such a great season. He has done so by playing more centrally though, whereas for England he's more likely to play wide - not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean he's less likely to chip in with goals, whereas he's been a bit of a poacher at club level.
I’m really looking forward to this World Cup - with no pressure because everyone thinks we will crash out early.
A selection that might baffle some but when you consider the dedication of the younger international squads that have lifted trophies recently perhaps this is the way to go. How many more seasons must we have before we wake up to the fact that previous World Cup teams, loaded with so called superstars, have failed to show up and produce any kind of effort that warranted their selection? I'm all for changing it up and this new lot certainly will not be under the pressure of previous tournaments and hopefully get the chance to shine where others preferred to stay in the shade and hope nobody noticed. There are a couple of the selections that bother me a little because I think they have lost their way and their commitment to the task at hand may be a little lacking in either mental state or playing weaknesses. Good luck to them all and how nice it would be to see them do well and shock the pundits by lifting the trophy that I witnessed in the hands of Booby Moore personally at Wembley in 1966.
