England World Cup Squad

[Deutsch Wolf]

A tick over four months now until our first game - who would be in your 23? This is your pick, not what you think Gareth Nosferatu will do.

Goalkeepers

Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Tom Heaton

Defenders

John Stones, Harry Maguire, Joe Gomez, Ben Mee, Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw, Ryan Bertrand, Kieran Trippier

Central Midfielders

Eric Dier, Jack Wilshere, Harry Winks, Fabian Delph, Nathaniel Chalobah

Attacking/Wide Midfielders

Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Forwards

Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford

It's....not great is it. I've had to go with players I don't particularly like (Maguire in particular) because we don't have many alternatives.

Sick of dross like Cahill and Henderson, they can fuck off. Not remotely good enough and haven't even played well in club football for years. Hart should never play for England again. Welbeck used to be good for England but even that's fallen by the wayside lately and he's looked awful for Arsenal this season. Smalling and Jones have simply never developed and won't ever improve on what they are now. Can't go with Rose or Barkley when they're essentially never playing. Keane has had too poor a season to be considered. Chalobah is a punt in central midfield, if he gets fit. Loftus-Cheek won't be fit.

You can actually make a passable XI out of it (we're going to go three at the back, even if I don't think it's quite right for us):

------------------------Butland--------------------------

--------------Gomez---Stones---Maguire----------------

Walker----------------------------------------------Shaw

------------------------Dier--------------------------------

---------------Alli-------------Wilshere-----------------------

-----------------Sterling------Kane-----------------------

Lallana, Rashford and Vardy are good attacking options off the bench. But beyond that you don't have much depth.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, see what you can do.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Oh yeah, I forgot Lingard. Fuck him anyway, I don't like him. He's a little twat and his little purple patch is over, been totally anonymous in the last couple of games I've seen.

 

[Tredman]

If 'not being a twat' were a criteria for selection we're fucked.

That said Lingard is shite and shouldn't be in based on lack of ability.

 

[Jinky]

The saddest thing about this is I completely agree with you on the likes of Cahill, Smalling, Jones, Hart, Lingard & Henderson - but we all know every single one of those players will be selected.

If Jesse Lingard played for Burnley, he's be a million miles away from the England squad. Same with any of the players names above (apart from Hart) probably.

 

[YoungWolf]

I've been waiting for this thread to start!!

Squad

GK: (3)

Pickford, Butland, Heaton (if fit, if not Hart...)

DEF: (9)

Stones, Jones, Maguire, Gomez, Tarkowski, Walker, Trippier, Rose, Shaw

Mid: (5)

Wilshere, Dier, Lallana, Winks, Delph

Fwd: (6)

Kane, Alli, Sterling, Vardy, Lingard, Rashford

Team: 1-3-4-3

Butland

Jones-Stones-Maguire

Walker-Dier-Wilshere-Shaw

Alli-Kane-Sterling

Equally, we can go for Dan's shape as it may be better for a player like Alli but I think we will have better balance with a front three and bring out the qualities of Sterling. more. Those two are more likely to come inside and the wing backs can provide the width.

3 at the back probably our best shout as we aren't brilliant at the back other than Stones and with such a lack of midfield options being able to only play 2 also suits us better.

Inevitably, henderson and Cahill will manage to make the squad and probably start.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I wonder if there's a case for Ryan Sessegnon to cover LWB? With Rose struggling for gametime and Bertrand being part of Saints' general malaise this season.

 

[Nando]

He plays pretty much solely as part of Fulham's front three.

I'm worried about Stones for the rest of the season. He could easily be 4th choice now.

 

[lemonjelly]

Reading this helps us realise how scarce good talent is.

I'd probably take Smalling. Is it just me, or has Alli gone off the boil a bit recently?
Really not sold on Maguire either. And worried about where our width can come from too.

 

[YoungWolf]

I wonder if there's a case for Ryan Sessegnon to cover LWB? With Rose struggling for gametime and Bertrand being part of Saints' general malaise this season.

He plays pretty much solely as part of Fulham's front three.

I'm worried about Stones for the rest of the season. He could easily be 4th choice now.

I see no reason why likes of Sessegnon, Foden, Sancho who have all had success last summer and getting games at senior level can't get a look in or have a chance. I'd rather them than any potential filler too.

I think Stones will be fine. Kompany is 4th choice I would say but having head a fantastic 1st half of the season he had been playing a lot of games in a demanding role under Pep and got a muscle injury. I think Pep is looking after him at the moment and as we go into the 'business' end of the season him, Otamendi and Laporte will rotate quite often.

 

[YoungWolf]

Reading this helps us realise how scarce good talent is.

I'd probably take Smalling. Is it just me, or has Alli gone off the boil a bit recently?
Really not sold on Maguire either. And worried about where our width can come from too.

I think Alli has been playing very well lately. He's had a fairly slow season sprinkled with good performances in the league and champions league but I think he is starting to peak just at the right time.

Alli was always going to be the type that people will get frustrated with. I see him as our version of Thomas Muller. The German's manage to find a system that gets the best out of him, I'm not sure Southgate will.

 

[Lycan]

 

[jd1981]

The defence is a huge problem. Attacking wise I’m confident we can open teams up in the group stages. Glad Wilshere is playing regular games again just hope his glass ankle doesn’t give way. As for goalkeepers I agree Hart has no place in the squad and I’d probably favour Butland over Heaton either or I’d more than happy.

 

[Johnny75]

Squad

GK: (3)

Pickford, Butland, Heaton (if not fit I would look at McCarthy (Soton) or Heaton's deputy Pope)

DEF: (9)

Stones, Jones, Maguire, Gomez, Tarkowski, Walker, Trippier, Rose, Shaw - I like Alexander-Arnold but RB is our strongest position at the moment.

Mid: (5)

Wilshere, Dier, Lallana, Winks, Drinkwater - Can't be having Delph he's shite.

Fwd: (6)

Kane, Alli, Sterling, Vardy, Ox, Rashford - Lingard is an arse and not as good as the Ox.

Team: 1-3-4-3

Pickford

Jones-Stones-Maguire

Walker-Dier-Wilshere-Shaw

Alli-Kane-Sterling

No place for Keane who seems to have gone backwards or Mee even though he's had a good season for Burnley. I'd be tempted to have a look at both Sancho and Lookman who are having a good time in Germany.

 

[Tony Towner]

Too many poor tournaments, a manager I have no faith in, the honest answer at the moment is I don't really care.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Dele Alli - Tottenham Hotspur
Ryan Bertrand - Southampton
Jack Butland - Stoke City
Lewis Cook - AFC Bournemouth
Eric Dier - Tottenham Hotspur
Joe Gomez - Liverpool
Joe Hart - West Ham United (loan from Manchester City)
Jordan Henderson - Liverpool
Adam Lallana - Liverpool
Jesse Lingard - Manchester United
Jake Livermore - West Bromwich Albion
Harry Maguire - Leicester City
Alfie Mawson - Swansea City
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Liverpool
Jordan Pickford - Everton
Nick Pope - Burnley
Marcus Rashford - Manchester United
Danny Rose - Tottenham Hotspur
Raheem Sterling - Manchester City
John Stones - Manchester City
James Tarkowski - Burnley
Kieran Trippier - Tottenham Hotspur
Jamie Vardy - Leicester City
Kyle Walker - Manchester City
Danny Welbeck - Arsenal
Jack Wilshere - Arsenal
Ashley Young - Manchester United

Those in bold have absolutely no business being near the squad on form/ability, Gomez is lucky to be in too as he's hardly playing any football at all.

No Cahill though which is nice, hopefully he never plays again.

 

[Nando]

Vomit.

The absolute state of that.

 

[Tony Towner]

At least 11 of them aren't first choice at their club if everyone is fit.

 

[YoungWolf]

Pleased for Lewis Cook. I think he would be one of my options to play in midfield, as I think he has a lot more quality than some of our recent options (Henderson, Livermore..). Mawson and Tarkowski deservedly ahead of Cahill, too.

 

[Johnny75]

Nice to see some of the younger lads getting a go at the senior level but we are desperately poor quality wise. Why pick Welbeck, Young, Hart and especially Livermore. Just gash.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Hart is quite obviously a dreadful pick (one league game in how many months, and he conceded three, one of them being directly his fault), Livermore is a League One player who Southgate loves for some inexplicable reason but Young is the strangest one I think.

- Nearly 33
- Plays left back for his club - we have picked two other left backs
- We are committed to playing wingbacks - doubt he has played 20 games there in his career and his age is not conducive to that role
- Can't really defend
- Hasn't played further forward for club or country for years so we aren't going to deploy him there

Pick no-one or chuck the likes of Sessegnon in rather than shite like that FFS.