Dunk over Branthwaite and Gordon over Grealish perhaps surprising.
I believe Crystal Palace have more players than any other club....
Its a strong squad overall but still a little early for the defence. Come world cup if Branthwiate, Quansah, Guehi and Colwill kick on, CB looks promising too. Still a bit of a long term concern at FB and GK. Maybe if Ramsdale can get himself fixed up well over the summer, he might have taken Pickford's place in two years time.
Very surprised we took both Toney and Watkins, and left out Grealish in favour of Gordon. I agree with the above - Grealish was the exact type of player we needed to bring on with 30 minutes to go in Euro 2020...foot on the ball, put the opposition back on their heels.
Mind you, ecstatic Eze got in, and he can do much the same thing! Could this be the tournament where Eze really "arrives"?
I don’t get this trend of labelling midfielders as forwards. Bellingham and Palmer are as much forwards as Gerrard and Lampard were. Foden is borderline too, I see him as an attacking midfielder
When Eze played for L2 Wycombe in 2017, the fanbase was basically united in saying he will one day play for a big six club and England. Half of that equation has already been fulfilled even before this tournament, and the other half will be soon.
Not bad for a fanbase to make that call on a player making his professional debut in the fourth tier! I don't think any of us have ever doubted for a minute that we would be right, either.
And to think, it probably wouldn’t have taken this long if not for that really nasty Achilles injury. Full credit to him for coming back from that, as it’s a horrible one
Has had a fairly middling season and the great Pep seems to have converted him from one of the most exciting players in the country, arguably my favourite player to watch in the league for Villa, to a mere get it, hold it give it back to who he got it from merchant who refuses to try and beat a full back on the outside.
How's the whole 100m fee hasn't been more scrutinised by the media I don't know.
Where would you play Palmer? I see him as either left or central, but I'd have Saka and Foden ahead of him there, though I could be persuaded on dropping Saka.
Don't know enough about the mix tbh or who can do what from where, you could well be right, Palmer has an eye for goal that I'd be trying to wedge in somewhere but in the end we've got a good squad someone needs to be a bench option and take the opportunity, Southgate needs to be willing to change things as needed and respond to performances there and then. I think he's shown he's let some of his favourite people go at the right time so will try and stay positive.
Sorry, getting mixed up! I see Saka and Palmer as on the right, with Palmer able to play in the middle too.
The point I was making (very badly) is that I don't see Palmer and Eze competing for the same real estate unless they play at the 10, and I would have Foden there before either.
If there was a "depth chart" it would look something like this for me:
I think it is a straight fight between Sala and Bowen on the right, very happy with both those options and would advocate rotating to keep both players fresh during the group phase,
Bellingham, Foden and Palmer likewise in the advanced midfield positions.
I suspect the starting forwards will rotate a bit. But I would have thought as of now, the likely first choice would be Saka on right (brilliant player for me) Bellingham central with Foden filling in a little on left. Palmer starting as first choice sub.
I wonder if Kane got injured whether we might play Palmer as forward instead of Wadkins or Toney.
Nice problems to have.
on the other hand if Stones got injured (as he often is) and Shaw had a relapse, a back four of Walker Guehi Konsa Trippier is not overly convincing.
perm one from Gallagher, Mainoo or TAA to play with Rice behind the front four.
So you would have Foden on the left, Bellingham central and Saka on the right? Gordon & Eze on the bench with Palmer on the bench too? Rice and Wharton as a dual holding midfield partnership?
Eze is my preference and Gordon is the obvious understudy although I expect that Southgate sees it the other way around. Most content with the two rotating during the group stage at least. The depth that we have on the left, centre and right surely means we can adopt the same policy in each of those departments and go into the knockout phase really fresh.
Comments
Vindaloo is crying.....
Rumours that this is the final England squad:
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale.
Defenders: Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Adam Wharton.
Forwards: Jude Bellingham, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins.
Dunk over Branthwaite and Gordon over Grealish perhaps surprising.
I believe Crystal Palace have more players than any other club....
Its a strong squad overall but still a little early for the defence. Come world cup if Branthwiate, Quansah, Guehi and Colwill kick on, CB looks promising too. Still a bit of a long term concern at FB and GK. Maybe if Ramsdale can get himself fixed up well over the summer, he might have taken Pickford's place in two years time.
Pickford is outstanding. Never has a bad game for England and has had a very very good season for Everton
We'll miss Maguire though, that's a huge blow.
Really could do with Luke Shaw making a full recovery
Grealish should be going for me, used off the bench late on ,he makes things happen
Think he proved exactly that in the last game.
Very surprised we took both Toney and Watkins, and left out Grealish in favour of Gordon. I agree with the above - Grealish was the exact type of player we needed to bring on with 30 minutes to go in Euro 2020...foot on the ball, put the opposition back on their heels.
Mind you, ecstatic Eze got in, and he can do much the same thing! Could this be the tournament where Eze really "arrives"?
Was thinking much the same @Shev. If it came down to Eze or Grealish then I'm glad it's Eze that's going.
Fun to see that the club sending the most players is...Crystal Palace (4)! One in each phase of the pitch, too.
Mind you, their fans are probably too excited over how well Selhurst Park is doing in our ground vote to notice such things.
That and the tiny chance even 3 of the 4 are still theirs in May
I don’t get this trend of labelling midfielders as forwards. Bellingham and Palmer are as much forwards as Gerrard and Lampard were. Foden is borderline too, I see him as an attacking midfielder
When Eze played for L2 Wycombe in 2017, the fanbase was basically united in saying he will one day play for a big six club and England. Half of that equation has already been fulfilled even before this tournament, and the other half will be soon.
Not bad for a fanbase to make that call on a player making his professional debut in the fourth tier! I don't think any of us have ever doubted for a minute that we would be right, either.
And to think, it probably wouldn’t have taken this long if not for that really nasty Achilles injury. Full credit to him for coming back from that, as it’s a horrible one
Don't think Grealish deserved to go.
Has had a fairly middling season and the great Pep seems to have converted him from one of the most exciting players in the country, arguably my favourite player to watch in the league for Villa, to a mere get it, hold it give it back to who he got it from merchant who refuses to try and beat a full back on the outside.
How's the whole 100m fee hasn't been more scrutinised by the media I don't know.
We'll be fine without Grealish anyway - hopefully this means Eze starts on the left.
Rice, Bellingham, Foden, Saka, Eze, Kane with Palmer as understudy on the left and the 10 and Gordon behind Eze on the left is quite tasty.
Love Eze but don't see him ahead of Palmer right now.
Where would you play Palmer? I see him as either left or central, but I'd have Saka and Foden ahead of him there, though I could be persuaded on dropping Saka.
Don't know enough about the mix tbh or who can do what from where, you could well be right, Palmer has an eye for goal that I'd be trying to wedge in somewhere but in the end we've got a good squad someone needs to be a bench option and take the opportunity, Southgate needs to be willing to change things as needed and respond to performances there and then. I think he's shown he's let some of his favourite people go at the right time so will try and stay positive.
You see Saka as competing for a spot on the left or centre?
Saka surely only plays on the right.
Talking of Saka, I heard somewhere that he has picked up the nickname ‘potatoes’ as in ‘falls down like a sack-a’, I thought was quite witty.
There’s four players in there that I’ve never even heard of.
Sorry, getting mixed up! I see Saka and Palmer as on the right, with Palmer able to play in the middle too.
The point I was making (very badly) is that I don't see Palmer and Eze competing for the same real estate unless they play at the 10, and I would have Foden there before either.
If there was a "depth chart" it would look something like this for me:
Left:
Eze, Gordon
Central:
Foden, Eze, Palmer
Right:
Saka, Palmer
I think it is a straight fight between Sala and Bowen on the right, very happy with both those options and would advocate rotating to keep both players fresh during the group phase,
Bellingham, Foden and Palmer likewise in the advanced midfield positions.
I suspect the starting forwards will rotate a bit. But I would have thought as of now, the likely first choice would be Saka on right (brilliant player for me) Bellingham central with Foden filling in a little on left. Palmer starting as first choice sub.
I wonder if Kane got injured whether we might play Palmer as forward instead of Wadkins or Toney.
Nice problems to have.
on the other hand if Stones got injured (as he often is) and Shaw had a relapse, a back four of Walker Guehi Konsa Trippier is not overly convincing.
perm one from Gallagher, Mainoo or TAA to play with Rice behind the front four.
So you would have Foden on the left, Bellingham central and Saka on the right? Gordon & Eze on the bench with Palmer on the bench too? Rice and Wharton as a dual holding midfield partnership?
Ah, forgot about Bowen - good shout.
Who would you have on the left instead of Eze? I don't see Foden or Palmer as natural there.
I'd personally prefer Bellingham more as an 8 with all the advanced options we have.
Eze is my preference and Gordon is the obvious understudy although I expect that Southgate sees it the other way around. Most content with the two rotating during the group stage at least. The depth that we have on the left, centre and right surely means we can adopt the same policy in each of those departments and go into the knockout phase really fresh.
It will be an interesting shout, as they have almost the same amount of PL experience to the match (116-112 to Gordon, if Wiki is to be believed).