When England got to the semis of the last World Cup. Most were raving about how young they were and what a future they had.
On the Eric Dier thread someone mentioned how much he’s gone off and it got me thinking about the whole side. None of them have massively improved and many have let their careers grind to a halt.
The team was: Pickford. He was never that great but his Everton coach was the England coach.
Walker. Only getting occasional games at City and not the player he was.
Stones. Gets worse with every appearance.
Maguire. Never, ever an @£80m player. Leicester pulled Utds pants down.
Young. Run off for a final payday.
Trippier. Awful last season has been improving in Spain until his injury.
Henderson. The shining light. PotY for me.
Lingard. Who?
Alli. Not the player he was.
Kane. Same old Harry, banging them in for fun.
Sterling. Not improved but no worse either.

Just a surprise for me that so many should go backwards.

Thankfully a new generation of super talent are coming through. Southgate could have landed on his feet getting this coming group.

I'll be very surprised if Phil Foden isn't named in the squad for the friendlies.

FactualFrank wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:51 pm

I'll be very surprised if Phil Foden isn't named in the squad for the friendlies.

And quite right. Maddison,Mount,Grealish all pushing the incumbents. T A-A & Gomez improve the defence. Up front we are waiting for another goalscorer but Sancho has been a plus.

Go one further and say I'd be shocked if Foden wasn't in the squad!
This lad could go on to be a real superstar.

Scary that we got to the semis with that team, but agreed, the talent coming through is very promising:

GK: Pope / Henderson
LB: Trent, Bissaka, Reece James
CBs: Tomori, Gomez, Tarkowski, Mings
LB: Chilwell, Taylor

CMs: Winks, Rice
Attacking MIds: Mount, Maddison, Grealish, Barkley, Foden

Forwards: Sterling, Sancho, Hudson Odoi, Abraham, Rashford

So we can see that our next generation is potentially exciting, but we are struggling a bit for defensive-minded link players and centre halves. And potentially a world class target man if Kane gets injured.

Ric_C wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 1:11 pm

but we are struggling a bit for defensive-minded link players

There are rumours that Kalvin Phillips from Leeds will be in the next squad. Would be a good choice. Reminds me a bit of Michael Carrick.

With Southgate's preference for youth I wouldn't be surprised to see Henderson as No1 with Pickrord 2nd and Ramsdale 3rd choice

boatshed bill wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 2:31 pm

With Southgate's preference for youth I wouldn't be surprised to see Henderson as No1 with Pickrord 2nd and Ramsdale 3rd choice

Don't write Nick off so easy. Only 27 means he could have another 10 years at the top, and still improve.



The rest of the squad is a quandary. Southgate has been good at given youngsters a chance, but he still falls back on his old guard for big games, based on reputation rather than current form. If he did the right thing and picked the kids, he would face a backlash if it didn't come off.

Colburn_Claret wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 2:43 pm

Don't write Nick off so easy. Only 27 means he could have another 10 years at the top, and still improve.



The rest of the squad is a quandary. Southgate has been good at given youngsters a chance, but he still falls back on his old guard for big games, based on reputation rather than current form. If he did the right thing and picked the kids, he would face a backlash if it didn't come off.

I wouldn't write him off, he's a terrific keeper.
I think Southgate's "trick" is to be constantly looking at the future, it saves the present from being over-scrutinised

The problem with such a young team is that they are not the complete player, they are talented with potential.

In the past, how many U21 or U23 made it to the England team? Hardly any.

Southgate was just making his passage to England management easier....like Howe did. Surrounded by young pliable players.

In the end, most fall by the wayside.

I hope he has the courage to refocus, now he has stability in his job.

Trent Akexander Arnold is not all that.
Very poor v Watford and Dwight ran him ragged on the Turf

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 7:57 pm

Trent Akexander Arnold is not all that.
Very poor v Watford and Dwight ran him ragged on the Turf

Defensively average but clearly our best attacking FB. Bissaka best defender but provides zero going forward, James best all rounder but not ready yet.

Tripps is our best full back.
Nick is our best keeper.Stats dont lie.Leading the Golden glove chase
Tarks is the best cb in Prem.
Problem with Southgate he is heavily influenced by the media and changes direction witb the wind

Who else thought this was another politics thread... thank f#ck it’s football

sdrawkcab gniog dnalgnE

Bosscat wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 8:40 pm

sdrawkcab gniog dnalgnE

!yas ot ouy rof thgir lla stahT

IanMcL wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:06 pm

!yas ot ouy rof thgir lla stahT

Ysae t'nsaw tI

Ings should at least make the next squad on merit.

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:48 pm

When England got to the semis of the last World Cup. Most were raving about how young they were and what a future they had.
On the Eric Dier thread someone mentioned how much he’s gone off and it got me thinking about the whole side. None of them have massively improved and many have let their careers grind to a halt.
The team was:
47436062-5A0D-4BDC-BEEE-D509FD5A5BB7.jpeg

Pickford. He was never that great but his Everton coach was the England coach.
Walker. Only getting occasional games at City and not the player he was.
Stones. Gets worse with every appearance.
Maguire. Never, ever an @£80m player. Leicester pulled Utds pants down.
Young. Run off for a final payday.
Trippier. Awful last season has been improving in Spain until his injury.
Henderson. The shining light. PotY for me.
Lingard. Who?
Alli. Not the player he was.
Kane. Same old Harry, banging them in for fun.
Sterling. Not improved but no worse either.

Just a surprise for me that so many should go backwards.

Thankfully a new generation of super talent are coming through. Southgate could have landed on his feet getting this coming group.

It's worth putting England's semi-final appearance in context,it was a decent achievement,but that WC was a once in a generation event when most of the favoured sides went out early,Holland and Italy didn't even qualify,Germany exited in the group stages,and England got on the right side of the draw.

If you actually analyse England's results they're not that impressive,a last minute set-piece goal to scramble past Tunisia,thumping of the whipping boys Panama,and then defeat to Belgium's second-string,in the KO rounds again a close call against Colombia squeezing through on a shoot-out,England's best display was reserved for the quarter-final against Sweden,but the Swedes aren't the force they once were,and in the semi-final Croatia were by far the better team,although it took them until extra time to exert their superiority,and the 3rd/4th place play-off was a cruise for Belgium.

So in summary England played a couple of mediocre teams in the group stage,eased through that,struggled past a Colombian team lacking their main goalscorer,and comfortably beat an average Swedish side,all of those teams ranked well below England,when it came to the crunch matches against Belgium and Croatia,England's lack of technical ability was plain for all to see.

Of that SF line-up on current form only Henderson,Sterling and probably Kane can be confident of being first choice come the Euro's,although i suspect Gareth will include Pickford,Maguire,and Alli in his eleven fitness permitting,it does show that the door is open if players impress in the closing weeks of the club season.

What people need to remember about the World Cup is that England only played two decent teams, Croatia and Begium and we contrived to lose to them three times.

England are always over hyped by the media and as long as that remains the case, we won't improve.

Gordaleman wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:37 pm

What people need to remember about the World Cup is that England only played two decent teams, Croatia and Begium and we contrived to lose to them three times.

England are always over hyped by the media and as long as that remains the case, we won't improve.

Absolutely right! Easiest run of games imaginable and got beat by the only decent opposition 3 times as mentioned!

Ric_C wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 05, 2020 1:11 pm

Scary that we got to the semis with that team, but agreed, the talent coming through is very promising:

GK: Pope / Henderson
LB: Trent, Bissaka, Reece James
CBs: Tomori, Gomez, Tarkowski, Mings
LB: Chilwell, Taylor

CMs: Winks, Rice
Attacking MIds: Mount, Maddison, Grealish, Barkley, Foden

Forwards: Sterling, Sancho, Hudson Odoi, Abraham, Rashford

So we can see that our next generation is potentially exciting, but we are struggling a bit for defensive-minded link players and centre halves. And potentially a world class target man if Kane gets injured.

Ings should be in over Abraham, he's got the best goals to minute ratio in the Premier League.

Eve n amongst those names, there are a good number of players very much young and learning. In years past, one or two might have made the team and be surrounded by experience- like they are in the prem.

Instead, they are all chucked in, as though that is s good thing. Whilst they have ability and enthusiasm, they no longer have that surrounding of wise heads.

As Alan Hansen once said, "You can't win anything with kids".

Like others have said, yes some of those players haven’t moved forwards but a lot of others behind the scenes have.

For what it’s worth this would be my team for the Euros.

Pope
TAA Gomez Maguire Chilwell
Winks Henderson
Sancho Grealish Sterling
Kane

Bench includes Maddison, Rashford, Ali, Rice, Foden, Tripps, Abraham, Hudson Odoi. Some game changers there.

Grealish is not good enough , spends too much time diving around and not a team player. Hudson Odoi ditto pace to burn but no ball control
Madison and Mount decent and worth a spot
Abraham never good enough poor first touch and little end product

Dnalgne.

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 4:14 am

Grealish is not good enough , spends too much time diving around and not a team player. Hudson Odoi ditto pace to burn but no ball control
Madison and Mount decent and worth a spot
Abraham never good enough poor first touch and little end product

Think you've got Grealish and Maddison confused there - no worse player in the Prem for diving than Maddison.

And Mount is a fraud, only capable of creating from set pieces.

I don't rate Hudson Odoi or Abraham as ready yet either but don't agree with the flaws you've identified.