Euro 2024: England Thread

[Justin Cider]

I think Pope was out of the squads before his injuries and Johnstone I think needs surgery and has been ruled out.

Not sure he’d risk James and Shaw fitness wise in the squad. His injury record is shocking.

Brathwaite not coming on in either of the friendlies makes me think they’ve decided he’s not quite ready. Not sure when Guehi is back from his injury.

Toney vs Watkins is a real 50/50 shout at the moment.

I don't care if they win it or get knocked out after the first group phase, it's just player for player, helps if they are fit enough mind.

 

[SuperRash]

I think Pope was out of the squads before his injuries and Johnstone I think needs surgery and has been ruled out.

Not sure he’d risk James and Shaw fitness wise in the squad. His injury record is shocking.

Brathwaite not coming on in either of the friendlies makes me think they’ve decided he’s not quite ready. Not sure when Guehi is back from his injury.

Toney vs Watkins is a real 50/50 shout at the moment.

Not sure it’s that close to be honest. For what Toney can bring to the party as an impact sub and a Kane back up edges it over Watkins.

Watkins is a good player but Toney brings that physicality and added threat when he comes on for me. Also Kane will be playing the majority of the games for 90 minutes barring injuries, so I think I would rather have Toney on the bench as a sub when chasing a goal.

 

[Jayc1860]

I looked at on his whole career at City and he's played around 80 games on the left and 40 games on the right. This season though he's played a lot more on the right. I think he's just that good that you can put him anywhere and he'll contribute.

82 games on the left 24 goals and 17 assists
40 games on the right 17 goals and 8 assists.

I just think against the better sides you want to make sure we keep the ball which has been a huge problem for England in major tournaments and that is what I think Foden gives you.

Rashford I think might even struggle to make the squad I think the performances of Gordon in these friendlies and his club form has given Southgate a real question over how loyal he can be to Rashford.

I don't think it take top players that long to get up to full speed if Shaw doesn't feature in any of the Utd games before the end of the season I think it's a different story. Problem we have with Shaw is the drop off in quality to the replacement is massive so I think he's one player it's worth taking the gamble on in terms of injury.

I'm thinking a lot of those different positions were simply down to Pep playing different formations and testing out Foden in his younger years to find out what suited him. Could he play as a conventional LM/LW, could he play CF [which pep tried him with too] could he play centrally or was he one of those players where any position he can do a good job, but not a great one? I think that is what Pep initially thought, but now he's found the formation and positions that suit the player, finally. He's undoubtedly matured into an almost perfect roaming/dribbling #10, and the only thing I see as his wekaness is that he can have 3-4 good games then go very quiet for a while, so consistency is his final hurdle, and that'll come with age.

Him playing at RW/RM is almost nearly as effective but only when he has other mobile ball players around him with intelligence and I'm not sure that's England. No matter where he starts on the pitch the player always end up roaming in field, because it's naturally the best place to be for a great player, you have a lot of options and can run at the goal drawing players in. The problem with that is then Bellingham becomes crowded out or pushed into parts of the pitch he is not accustomed to being, or even wants to be. This England team doesn't have the intelligence to move around like City and accomodate foden's roaming. So for me it's either play Foden or Bellingham if you really want to win the tournament.

I just can't see the logic in us always trying to accomodate all of our talent OOP in a different style with no real reason other than they are good footballers. Play one or the other in their strongest position and if one is not performing the other is always waiting for you - that's how you're supposed to manage a team. It's a mistake we have always made, and it's always ended badly for us.

The teams you see win tournaments aren't always the best in terms of player quality, they are the teams set up well with players in their strongest positions putting in good-very good perfomances every match.

Southgate is already setting himself up to lose trying to accomodate them.. we lost to a very average Brazil team and should have really lost to Belguim. We got lucky in the end, but in a tournament do you think those players go to sleep a bit at the end of the game? Nah, they push through and make that a 2-1 win. Yeah the team wasn't it's strongest, but that is sometimes the way at a tournament - you won't always have everybody at full strength, so it's still the same thing.

As for Rashford I really can't see him being left out, even with his season being a lot weaker on the whole he has his best attribute and that is that he always scores against the big teams - he has one the best records of any Manchester United player, and that is something people are quick to forget. Those players are the rarest and is what makes him special IMO. If Southgate knows his stuff, he'll know that and a big goal in a big game is the only thing that will win you a major tournament.

It would be total madness to take Gordon over Rashford. The lad is barely mature enough to handle the pressure of any huge match let alone going to a major tournament and being expected to go straight in there and pull something out of the hat if we are losing. It just wouldn't happen he's not 21-yr-old Messi, he's just a good up-coming player with potential.

As for Shaw, well I don't think it's very wise to rush back a player who is known for reinjuring himself just back from one. I think this time he needs nursed back to fully 100% in the right way. It's not working to keep pushing any injury prone player back to fast. I hope that our club has made this a must for the England team unless of course you want him out again and potentially missing the start of the season for us, and if that happens we might even have to buy two left-backs rather than one.

 

[SuperRash]

Would be stupid not to take Cole Palmer to the Euro’s, he’s a stand out for Chelsea in a poor season.

I think Rashford would be in serious peril if there were more options out on the left but I don’t think his place his safe by any means.

 

[jsp]

Think it’s between Palmer and Bowen as the backup to Saka.

 

[SuperRash]

Yeah I think so and I would say Palmer will edge out Bowen. Both having great seasons but Palmer for me has that little bit more star quality.

 

[jsp]

It’s tricky as Bowen gives you that something different but I tend to agree Palmer is just playing to well to be ignored.

Rashford and Grealish at the moment could both find themselves being left at home.