[Devongone]

Gareth Southgate is a nice bloke deep down, but don't look for too many nice blokes at the tops of podiums.

He has come up with 33 players and only really included one player who is anything like a goalkeeper, and he's a sandwich short of a picnic. We've got Burnley's second choice, Arsenal's reserve and the Palace No 2. We've got goalkeeping coaches on big bucks everywhere and there's no one able to combine athletic ability and the hand-eye co-ordination to catch a ball as a natural act alongside possessing sound judgement.

He's come up with Luke Shaw in defence who shouldn't be allowed out in those shorts and left out Fikayo Tomori and Eric Dier for leaving England in order to play the game with top clubs ..... But a mostly side-lined Chelsea defender makes it as does a very old-fashioned out-of-form Brighton defender.

He has wisely avoided picking a midfield, but looks likely to test Mainoo beyond breaking point.

Our hope is that we have far more potential goal scorers than any other team in the competition.
Palmer, Foden, Saka, Bellingham, Kane. How do we accommodate them all? I'd be for playing them. Saka, Kane and maybe Foden up front, then Palmer, Bellingham and Eze in behind them picking holes and scoring too. Grealish available on the bench. Rice as a defensive midfielder in front of the three fastest runners and best passers at the back ...... in front of our crazed, girly-legged keeper. Would we win it? Probably not, but we'd have fun.

Can nice Gareth win it? Not a hope!

[hibeejim21]

You've said it all perfectly really, the only impediments to England winning it is that Southgate will be up against superior tacticians in europe and Pickford who i have never particularly rated.

I mean some up here of a blue persuasion were even suggesting Butland, but i reckon his performance in the old firm game that southgate watched ended that.

Still reckon you will be there or thereabouts.

One other observation is i've saw Germany playing against France and Netherlands and they look like they will be tough opponents again. They will pummel us in the opening fixture i reckon. Musiala is absolute quality, the last tournament was too early for him but i expect him to make a big impact this time out. England should have snapped him up.

[St Charles Owl]

That squad is capable of winning this tournament despite Southgate!! At least in some positions he has finally dropped some of his favourites and put in players who have been performing week in, week out at their clubs.

If Pickford is not good enough to be No 1, who is? I grew up with an England team that for decades always had arguably the best keeper and was sometimes spoiled for choice!! Seems we have been struggling for a while now but Pickford seems to be the best of the lot currently.

[Devongone]

We are a strange mixture. The best English goalies I've seen this season were either not "yet" playing in the Premiership, or never will. In midfield we have Declan Rice and Alexander-Arnold if we decide he's not good enough to play full back and little else ...... even though both Bellingham and Eze are really advanced midfield players. Gallagher plays the position and tries hard, and Curtis Jones has never been able to nail down a place at Anfield.

At the back we went from a nation of full backs to having none and whilst I rate Quansah and Branthwaite, experience really only counts for Kyle Walker and Stones ........

Up front we are so good and have so many to pick from we think everyone is a forward. The only thing that can stop us scoring is having too rigid a tactical plan. We ought to go a long way. Our best eleven would win if Pickford was on his best day. We'll be our own most dangerous enemy. We'll lose because we'll lose.

But to answer the Pickford question honestly. He is our only No 1. Nick Pope is the only other choice and he might never be good enough again to get over his international nerves. My opinion of Pickford is that a number of years ago he would have been very lucky to have even played top flight football. Goalkeeping was in reverse gear and accelerating even before we abolished ball-handling as a skill. Once we made keepers blockers and passers instead of catchers the whole world began to lose it.

[theo_luddite]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/art...up-england

So, the question is, have they been put through their paces by The Marines again, or have they just ambled down to Burton Marina ...

https://www.bartonmarina.co.uk/

and had a few piss-up's in the remaining local breweries?

[hibeejim21]

You've said it all perfectly really, the only impediments to England winning it is that Southgate will be up against superior tacticians in europe and Pickford who i have never particularly rated.

I mean some up here of a blue persuasion were even suggesting Butland, but i reckon his performance in the old firm game that southgate watched ended that.

Still reckon you will be there or thereabouts.

One other observation is i've saw Germany playing against France and Netherlands and they look like they will be tough opponents again. They will pummel us in the opening fixture i reckon. Musiala is absolute quality, the last tournament was too early for him but i expect him to make a big impact this time out. England should have snapped him up.

Bump for the last paragraph.

[hibeejim21]

Serbia game showed the problem England have really.

They have nothing down the left hand side, their team is quite imbalanced and when the serbs changed it 2nd half Southgate hadn't a clue what to do.
Dive Dive Dive seemed to be the main tactic of the day.

Germany,Italy,Spain and France have all looked stronger sides so far.

[Lord Snooty]

Should've brought Grealish on.

[Devongone]

Even without Grealish, whose calf muscles were apparently too much of a strain on the England sock budget, we could bring on Eze, Gordon and/or get the two-footed Saka to keep changing wings.

If Foden continues to perform as if he wants to make Kane look less like a carthorse then keeping him on the field is simply gratuitous disregard of the spectating public. Foden is a very good player - to look that bad takes some doing.

[hibeejim21]

Strikes me England are also lacking a midfield playmaker - why on earth is he playing Trent in there ?

Southgate has england totally reliant on individual quality instead of a cohesive team unit. He's completely hopeless.