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The England Thread

McFlash

In the corner, eating crayons.
Oct 19, 2005
12,740
45,363
I didn't say I agree with certain selections.

Actually I don't think Dunk has put a foot wrong for Brighton for years now, so to say he doesn't deserve it is a bit much. People want players picked on form, and well Dunk has been solid for his club.
Would I have Dunk over a Tomori or a Branthwaite? Probably not, but don't dismiss what he has done in helping Brighton get to where they are. I think one tournament is fine. If everyone is fit, he won't start.
Dunk is nothing more than a mid to lower level pl player and he's 32, so I'd much rather use this tournament to get one of the youngsters used to being away with England.
I don't really care what he's done with Brighton in the past because we need to be using these places to plan for the future.

They are the players that we will soon be relying upon and the more experience they can get now, the better for me.

Dunk will gain nothing from taking up the 4th spot, apart from a nice holiday.
The youngsters would gain vital experience of the big tournaments to come.
I honestly can't see any benefit in taking him over the likes of Branthwaite, Tomori, Guehi etc.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Take individual errors out of the equation, I think if England set-up like they have done in the last two games at the tournament then they’re going to hit plenty of problems.

All of a sudden they were trying a high press/squeeze, with large numbers committed high up the pitch. It worked sporadically but most of the time it was fairly passive and badly organised, and the number of times both Brazil and Belgium took the majority of our players out of the game, easily went through a non-existent midfield line, and had a free run at a now backpedalling defence, was just way too often an occurrence. This might have just been experimentation in a friendly, who knows, but on that evidence they have to be more pragmatic because it didn’t really work and give any of the teams that amount of chance to get at your defence and you’re going to get punished.

I obviously see a different game to everyone else, but as I always say about the national team midfield is the biggest issue. The balance is really bad still, there isn’t a passer, there isn’t really a sitter.

Rice likes to run and charge about and has fairly weak positional discipline and doesn’t see passes often enough, it took Arsenal about three months to realise they hadn’t got what they thought they were buying, changed his role and put a holding midfielder alongside him, and want another proper holding player in the summer.

Gallagher is a forward runner/presser/box-crasher, not really suited to playing with Rice or Bellingham.

Mainoo was alright (it wasn’t a ground-breaking display by any stretch) and is only a kid, but at least does have a bit of ability and nous to play that connecting box-to-box 6/8 role and so showed up a lot of the others.

“Belly” is a more rounded and frankly more gifted version of Dele, but to be honest I hear echoes of the latter in terms of how people and pundits and the coaches (wrongly, for me) view him. He is a forward/box runner who should be in the final third. He can do a lot, he also does have faults though and isn’t the creative hub who should be running things and always being given the ball. He tries stuff and can do some great flair play but also likes far too many touches a lot of the time and fucks the ball away a plenty and isn’t some pass and move metronomic lynchpin. Get him focused on the final third, simplify his role, and don’t have him coming deep and constantly looking to be on the ball. He could be great, but not as your playmaking main man.

So yep, as ever if England want to do something then it will be about solving the midfield equation. Putting the right mix together, and being able to find positional and possession control. What is the right balance. Where is the defensive shield. Who can play the passes around the pitch to put us in the right areas and allow the talented forward players to do their stuff.
 

ItsBoris

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2011
7,467
8,604
I didn't say I agree with certain selections.

Actually I don't think Dunk has put a foot wrong for Brighton for years now, so to say he doesn't deserve it is a bit much. People want players picked on form, and well Dunk has been solid for his club.

Would I have Dunk over a Tomori or a Branthwaite? Probably not, but don't dismiss what he has done in helping Brighton get to where they are. I think one tournament is fine. If everyone is fit, he won't start.

Didn’t Dunk/Brighton just get ripped apart a few weeks ago by none other than Romelu Lukaku/Roma? I didn’t see most of that game but it was 4-0 iirc
 

Cochise

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
4,763
12,519
If we can solve the problem of keeping the width on the left then I'd be quite happy with Foden starting out there. Our right back will likely be Walker and he's going to sit back to give us a back three and leave Saka sitting high on the right. It just means we end up pinning our hopes on an injury prone Chilwell or an out of sorts Luke Shaw.

I think we have to find a way to keep Foden in the centre of the pitch. He is so good at what he does and once we pin a team back in the final third his ability to ghost in to the box is priceless. Not to mention at City he comes up against that sort of scenario every week.
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2003
9,187
11,149
One thing that always goes under the radar is keeper management and that’s with most managers at club and international level.
Look at what happened with Pope when he came in and how he looked so out of his depth, Southgate has failed massively on the keeper front and failed to give any other potential no2 at least a half in two friendlies so I can only assume that he knows Pickford won’t ‘pick’ up a knock.
Leaves us with two club no2’s to pick from in Henderson and Ramsdale, both capable but not playing regular football and from a keepers perspective that is pretty poor:

 

ItsBoris

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2011
7,467
8,604
Are there any other left backs worth a look at who are England qualified?

Alfie Doughty I would say. But hard to justify being in the England squad when you're part of Luton's defense.

But as someone who get forward and stay wide and let Foden cut inside, could be worth a try imo.
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,562
Are there any other left backs worth a look at who are England qualified?
Rico Henry at Brentford would've been the obvious third choice behind Chilwell or Shaw if not for his season ending injury early this season. Nobody else is proven well enough at PL level, Doughty has had a good season but I'm not convinced he should be an International
 

easley91

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
18,721
53,768
Dunk is nothing more than a mid to lower level pl player and he's 32, so I'd much rather use this tournament to get one of the youngsters used to being away with England.
I don't really care what he's done with Brighton in the past because we need to be using these places to plan for the future.

They are the players that we will soon be relying upon and the more experience they can get now, the better for me.

Dunk will gain nothing from taking up the 4th spot, apart from a nice holiday.
The youngsters would gain vital experience of the big tournaments to come.
I honestly can't see any benefit in taking him over the likes of Branthwaite, Tomori, Guehi etc.
Again I am NOT saying I AGREE with it. Just saying I CAN see WHY.
 

easley91

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
18,721
53,768
Didn’t Dunk/Brighton just get ripped apart a few weeks ago by none other than Romelu Lukaku/Roma? I didn’t see most of that game but it was 4-0 iirc
And Cuti got ripped apart by Fulham. Bad games happen and who knows that could have been down to the team just as much as Dunk. Judging a player based off one or two games is madness and I'm surprised people still don't realise it.

It's not like I'm saying I want Dunk or personally think he should be picked, I just don't think he is as bad as is made out to be and I am not basing his ability off one or two friendlies. He isn't world class, but he isn't crap either. There IS a middle ground which some don't want to accept as apparently it's either you're elite or you're dogshit these days.
 
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rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,907
78,643
Didn’t Dunk/Brighton just get ripped apart a few weeks ago by none other than Romelu Lukaku/Roma? I didn’t see most of that game but it was 4-0 iirc
One if those players that looks decent in PL because of the way the game if played but exposed to European football and his shortcomings are really highlighted
 

Insomnia

Twisted Firestarter
Jan 18, 2006
20,199
55,542
I think he played Dunk for his experience rather than going with 2 young kids vs Belgium myself, probably helped Konsa plenty having Dunk next to him
 
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