It just shows how much depth England have that Grealish was number 10 for these games. No Foden, Bellingham or Palmer? That's fine, just stick in a Man City player. Fair play to Carsley. He even defeated Antman. Highlights:
Poch confirmed as new head coach of the USA men's team. Still can't fully understand the move (on his part, on theirs it's quite a coup), but best of luck to him.
I know I'm in the minority but I really don't get Grealish. He appears to have so much skill but for me does not apply it constructively. Yes, I know it's hard to justify such a comment since he scored, but he also seems to be a player that defines the attribute "flair". But flair isn't always what you want. Running around until you get fouled is not a way I would want my team to play. There seemed to be several situation where he could have done something more simple, make an earlier pass for example, that would have benefited the team more. The desire to beat a player for a second time perhaps. But he looks good doing what he does, and I think that might convince a lot of people that he is more useful than he actually is. Again, I know most pundits would disagree.
I think you could describe him as a luxury player. Does he really work hard for the team? I'm not sure, good to bring on as a disrupter. City can afford him because of the rest of their team, a team like Brighton would love him because he would add a lot to them. I prefer players like McTominay no frills but always works hard and always make a difference, he would have made a massive difference to us, just what we need in the middle. Grealish on the other hand, was much better at Villa because he was the main man which suited his ego but I'm not sure he's a team player.
I had to check where Eswatini was. Unfortunately it seems I am behind the times and find that it used to be Swaziland. It changed in 2018 apparently.
I'm not going to disagree, but instead I'll offer alternatives for the attacking midfielder position. You could also have had Eze, Maddison, Gibbs-White, Mount or, for some reason, Jordan ****ing Henderson.
Full England squad from the BBC live thingy: Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Newcastle United) Defenders: Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), John Stones (Manchester City), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Rico Lewis (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City) Midfielders: Conor Gallagher (Atletico Madrid), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Angel Gomes (Lille), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) Forwards: Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Noni Madueke (Chelsea) Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa), Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur) Solanke's first callup since 2017. Maddison misses out again. Not much going on at left-back, again.
I'm pleased for Solanke although watching through my fingers as you just know what will happen... But you have to ask, why now? Yes, he's scored a couple of goals in the few matches he's played, but last season he was near the top of the PL tree for goalscoring. Is that another example of club bias. Bournemouth players don't get the same recognition as Top 6?
He’s next in line. If you’re looking at no.9s, then it’s hard to think of any player who would be have got the nod ahead of him. Calvert-Lewin is the only one who has been considered in recent times, but he was never going to get picked this time. Welbeck’s too old and Delap’s too young.
And all it took was Jesus Navas physically breaking down and retiring from football completely. Hopefully they'll just pick Carvajal for both games and give Porro a rest, though. It's nice for him that they've finally selected him, though. He deserves it.
Lee Carsley has already had to go on the defensive about whether he'll select Foden, Palmer and Bellingham together. You can easily work them into the same XI, in my opinion, but rotating them is a sensible option, too. He could pick an entirely different team for both games and still have a ton of good choices.
Vicario and Udogie have been called up by Italy. Wouldn't surprise me if neither of them play. Daniel Maldini has also been called up. He's a forward, which is obviously heresy.
