Gareth Southgate's England

[drippin]

Looking forward to Southgate running Rice into the ground with another 90 minute friendly appearance vs Belgium.

Holland & Southgate will likely try to punish Arsenal for the White debacle (even if their own fault), and perhaps Saka leaving. At least Saka got out this time so they can't torture him for fun.

 

[North5]

Yh, England gonna get found out again I think. Just no creativity in midfield, especially in terms of passing and the final pass. Foden, Mainoo, Rice, Bellingham etc are all good driving and running with the ball; but the technical passing precision imo. Admittedly,I've not seen much of Mainoo but he seems a similar profile to the others

TAA should be put next to Rice because he has great progressive passing.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Yh, England gonna get found out again I think. Just no creativity in midfield, especially in terms of passing and the final pass. Foden, Mainoo, Rice, Bellingham etc are all good driving and running with the ball; but the technical passing precision imo. Admittedly,I've not seen much of Mainoo but he seems a similar profile to the others

I'll never understand why England never produces creative midfielders or ones that can dictate play, in my whole life the only one I can think of is Carrick and he never actually got much respect in the national team.

The midfielders are always the same hard tackling driving with the ball type, just lots of proto-Gerrards. Probably my least favourite type of player to watch.

 

[db10_therza]

I'll never understand why England never produces creative midfielders or ones that can dictate play, in my whole life the only one I can think of is Carrick and he never actually got much respect in the national team.

The midfielders are always the same hard tackling driving with the ball type, just lots of proto-Gerrards. Probably my least favourite type of player to watch.

Can’t remember who it was (maybe Arsène?) some time ago who essentially said the problem in England was that kids are simply taught to win from a very young age instead of being taught certain attributes and skills and that is why we have so many Brexit ballers

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Because Gareth isn't gonna invert his FB's (even tho I think it'd work well with TAA inverting alongside Rice allowing England to even play Foden or Maddison in midfield) I think this will side come Euros.

Pickford
Walker Stones Maguire Shaw
Rice
TAA Bellingham
Saka Kane Foden​

 

[GoonerJay24]

TAA should be put next to Rice because he has great progressive passing.

But can he control a game and understand midfield positioning?

 

[Riou]

I'll never understand why England never produces creative midfielders or ones that can dictate play, in my whole life the only one I can think of is Carrick and he never actually got much respect in the national team.

Wilshere was initially like this, then just went...

"I am gonna pack on a ridiculous amount of muscle now, and try to literally run through every opponent despite being about half their height!"

...was so frustrating that

 

[GoonerJay24]

For me, the best lineup is below

Pickford
Walker Stones Braithwaithe Chilwell
Rice Bellingham
Foden Saka
Kane Watkins

442 with inverted wingers cutting inside and given license to express themselves in possession. England have many attacking players who can play this half and half wingers midfield role.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Wilshere was initially like this, then just went...

"I am gonna pack on a ridiculous amount of muscle now, and try to literally run through every opponent despite being about half their height!"

...was so frustrating that

Exactly! Funny because Wilshere is when I noticed it. He would’ve had a much better career if he was a Jorginho type of player but he wanted to be a propa English midfielder.

Turns out he was way too small and weak for that, one hard tackle would have him out for a year and all that muscle just made his running look weird.

 

[A_G]

Wow

 

[Riou]

Wow

WOW

 

[RunTheTrap]

Wow

I don't know who made this guy the suzerain of football, but whatever, I guess. The discourse on Foden is funny because he is never to blame when things go wrong. If he has a stinker for England, it's Southgate’s fault. If Foden has a stinker for City, then Pep is holding him back. At what point does the blame lie with the player, or is Philip immune to criticism?

 

[A_G]

@Macho @2Smokeyy

 

[Bucephalus]

I don't know who made this guy the suzerain of football, but whatever, I guess. The discourse on Foden is funny because he is never to blame when things go wrong. If he has a stinker for England, it's Southgate’s fault. If Foden has a stinker for City, then Pep is holding him back. At what point does the blame lie with the player, or is Philip immune to criticism?

I didn't watch the game, so I have no idea if he played in midfield or on the wing.

If on the wing, I'll have to defend his non-productivity even though I don't like him, the same way I defend Saka. A winger depends on tactics and service to have anything useful to do. Never criticize a player if they weren't given a chance to begin with.

If he was in midfield, his non-productivity was truly abysmal, and he deserves all the criticism.

Also, tangentially related because Saka was unavailable anyway, Southgate is a terrible international manager. You don't get to train together very much, so players who already know how to play together are important cogs in the wheel. Who cares if you don't think Ben White is the best RB in England. You have an opportunity to select a plug-and-play combination of world-class winger with a pretty damned good overlapping RB who understand each other very well. Even if you thought White was second best defensively, why would you pick the guy who doesn't have a working relationship with the guy who is no worse than the third best RW in the world?

 

[SuperGoon]

Cringe.

 

[Stevo the Villan]

------------Pickford
Walker, Stones, Konsa, Shaw
----------Rice, Mainoo
------------Jude
Saka ------------------- Foden
-------------Kane


Mainoo is a bit of a punt as he's so young and not proven at International level yet, but it's a position we desperately need improvement in, and it would let Rice operate as an 8 so would really unlock the midfield. Mainoo is the future in that position so just get him in there.

That's the best England lineup. Don't @ me

 

[Kobi]

This is mine:

 

[Riou]

------------Pickford
Walker, Stones, Konsa, Shaw
----------Rice, Mainoo
------------Jude
Saka ------------------- Foden
-------------Kane

That's the best England lineup.

How are you leaving out the guy that's basically Tony Adams and Paul McGrath combined as a defender...

 

[Juan Matas Beard]

Give me Rashford on the left over Foden and we're cooking, genuine threat from behind in our forward line in a competent team with the link up from Shaw.

Pickford
Walker Stones Branthwaite Shaw
Rice
Trent Bellingham
Saka Kane Rashford​

 

[roz]

Give me Rashford on the left over Foden and we're cooking, genuine threat from behind in our forward line in a competent team with the link up from Shaw.

Pickford
Walker Stones Branthwaite Shaw
Rice
Trent Bellingham
Saka Kane Rashford​

Rashford is spent, better to have him as an option from the bench, genuinely not sure he should even be making the squad.

Bit of United bias creeping in from you there. Whilst Foden has done nothing internationally, Rashford has been v been beyond dreadful this season.