England doesn't have any decent LBs, so I'd rather have a mediocre LB that provides something different than a mediocre LB that doesn't.
If he’s the best LB then fine, but we know he only played because the manager is desperate to fit in the big names. There are better English left backs available.
Lewis Hall is looking pretty good for us (and had a good end of season for Chelsea before we signed him) but he's only just turned 20 last month and I reckon needs another season or two under his belt before you can tell whether he's actually international standard. Got the potential to be though.
I would rather have him at LB than Trent as on that side you negate his strengths and if anything exaggerate his weakness .
So ... on reflection... Better than against Greece ... but then again, it couldn't have been worse... and would have been difficult to have 'matched' such an abject level again ... The very best players in the world should be able to play in numerous positions ... many of ours can't ... that, quite simply, is because the are probably not the best in the world.. if we look beyond the hype that always surrounds the England team ... Greece look a tidy outfit and deservedly took the win ... anything else would have been an injustice ... Finland, in contrast, had much of a League One look about them ... anything less than winning there, on the evidence of that game, would have been quite embarrassing... Positives - Angel Gomes, even allowing for Finland being a bit crap, looks a fine prospect - very busy, comfortable on the ball and a good passing range... Watkins - another great cameo and has to start in future IMHO ... brings energy and pace and transformed us from being pedestrian and predictable - has attributes to trouble the very best defenders TAA - fine set-piece and passing and awareness has been great - but he's no left-back.. and shouldn't be played there again. Right back / right wing back. Negatives - Biggest, most consistent ... and frustrating to boot - we're still trying to accommodate 'names' rather than pick the best functioning 'team' Left-back - it shouldn't be such a problem - baffling why Mitchhell ain't getting a shout - Chilwell would have done a better job than any in that squad - even though he's not currently playing for the Chavs! - there are a few others - brings you right back to the first negative... Done.
Has it lol, although funnily enough any Kent derbys always seem to bring the worst out in people. I'll never forget Gills v Dover in the cup, it was just nuts, never seen anything like it, Gills lost that day and it caused weeks of grief for the Chairman. When I was a lad a mate of mine whose parents use to go Gills as well, were also Maidstone supporters, so when the Gills were playing away games, they would go to Maidstone if they were playing at home.
Personally I'd be playing trent as right-back for the next handful of England games and then reassessing him after. Whilst I think peak Walker was a much better RB overall the version of Walker we have now ranks behind TAA for me (let's forget about the excellent Reece James who seems too injury ravaged sadly). My main two issues with Trent as LB are that: a) I think we have better options for that position even if they're worse players overall and b) They're doing TAA a disservice by putting him in at a role he's going to struggle in, kind of setting him up to fail. There's a lot of people who are happy to have a go at him (myself included at times when I think it's warranted) but if a player is happy to play out of their position even though it accentuates their weaknesses then they should be praised for that and it's the manager who you need to question. Had a similar issue with Trippier in the Euros. He was the weak link in our back line but was taking one for the team for agreeing to play in that position. His reward was to be dropped for the final. I just don't think it's good management of people and the average fans highlights the weakness rather than the character of the player for agreeing to it. What's different is that for Trippier it was a swan song and he's got enough credit in the bank to not worry about it, for TAA if England mess him about for the next couple of years I wouldn't blame him for walking away from the England set up.
'Character of the player for agreeing to it ..." sorry mate but that's bordering on woke bollocks ... "Jordan, can you show some character and play up front in the next one, mate?... Harry's just been out sprinted in the warm-up by a sloth on beta blockers and Olly Watkins would be just too great a risk against such formidable oponents as San Marino..." The English player pool is ****ing huge ... there should be absolutely no need to be asking players to 'show character' by playing out of position ... Might perhaps understand it if we had a player pool the size of Northern Ireland or Luxembourg...
Back in 1755 Samuel Johnson put forward 6 key indicators of a persons good character and one of them was "vocation and sacrifice" including a part about a willingness to sacrifice the role you were stronger at for the good of others. How very woke of him, 270 years ago. I agree entirely with everything I have underlined in bold, indeed that was a key part of my point when I said: "I think we have better options for that position even if they're worse players overall". I repeated it there just in case reading back to fact check was too woke for you. ps. try not to use words (like woke) you don't understand, it doesn't help your point, it just reminds us that you're old.
23. Gills, Home draw against 78. Maidstone please or even 75. Tonbridge Angels. Others 10. Bromley 14. Charlton
They’ve spent ten minutes advertising Bradford as a tourist destination. Get on with it, I’ve got a chicken in the oven.
