Football 2020/2021

[eastynh]

Just now, st dan said:

I really don’t think Sterling should be going.
Don’t get me wrong he’s a great player, but he’s not had a good season at all.  He’s also had his chances at major tournaments before, and not performed well (missing big chances), even when in better form entering it. 
Two of Foden/Sancho/Rashford will be starters out wide, with the other being first sub. I think Greenwood and Saka deserve their chance from the bench after that. 

Sterling deserves his place, he has been fantastic for 3 seasons and there is no shame in not being a regular in this City team. You do need some experience in the squad and he has not only scored more goals at international level than anyone else in the squad apart from Kane, but also at domestic level.

He's had a little dip in form over the last few months, but I still back him to come good.

[Ryan1984]

15 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Sterling deserves his place, he has been fantastic for 3 seasons and there is no shame in not being a regular in this City team. You do need some experience in the squad and he has not only scored more goals at international level than anyone else in the squad apart from Kane, but also at domestic level.

He's had a little dip in form over the last few months, but I still back him to come good.

He’s also got that experience of winning things with City - don’t underestimate the importance of that.

[Hugh Jass]

Seven to ditch from that lot...

Ramsdale,

James (even Southgate can't take four RBs)

White

Lingard

Watkins

Saka

Henderson (WP if Henderson's fit)

[Hugh Jass]

Sterling may not be a guaranteed starter but saying he should be out altogether is just madness.

[eastynh]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass said:

Seven to ditch from that lot...

Ramsdale,

James (even Southgate can't take four RBs)

White

Lingard

Watkins

Saka

Henderson (WP if Henderson's fit)

I like Saka and would take him over Greenwood, just because of his versatility. I am a big Greenwood fan and would rather him than Rashford (the modern day Darren Huckerby), but there is no chance he is not taking Rashford.

To be fair our squad looks pretty decent. Just been looking at the Spain squad and they have taken Eric Garcia over Sergio Ramos. I would dig up a dead Sergio Ramos and take his corpse before I would take Eric Garcia.

[JoeyT]

9 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Seven to ditch from that lot...

Ramsdale,

James (even Southgate can't take four RBs)

White

Lingard

Watkins

Saka

Henderson (WP if Henderson's fit)

I think Lingard has to be a shoe in surely?

He was playing like Gazza during his stint at West Ham!

[Hugh Jass]

My starting XI.. only one position I’m not sure on:

Pickford
TAA
Maguire
Stones
Shaw
Bellingham
Rice
Mount
Foden
Kane
Sterling/Rashford/Sancho/Grealish

[waltere]

Whichever keeper survives the cut out of Ramsdale and Johnstone is going to be an incredible pointless answer for "England players at a major tournament" in the future.

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, JoeyT said:

I think Lingard has to be a shoe in surely?

He was playing like Gazza during his stint at West Ham!

For the first couple of months he was. Has tailed off last few weeks.

[Hugh Jass]

Just now, waltere said:

Whichever keeper survives the cut out of Ramsdale and Johnstone is going to be an incredible pointless answer for "England players at a major tournament" in the future.

I pray it’s Johnstone purely because it’ll add a few extra mil onto his transfer value.

[TheGayTent]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass said:

For the first couple of months he was. Has tailed off last few weeks.

True. 
 

He also conserves a lot of energy (that’s putting it kindly), and why Fornals is so important to our team. 

[eastynh]

3 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

I think Lingard has to be a shoe in surely?

He was playing like Gazza during his stint at West Ham!

Who do you take him in front of? That's the problem. England are stacked in those attacking forward positions. Madison has had a better overall season and he's not even made this cut.

[st dan]

3 minutes ago, eastynh said:

I like Saka and would take him over Greenwood, just because of his versatility. I am a big Greenwood fan and would rather him than Rashford (the modern day Darren Huckerby), but there is no chance he is not taking Rashford.

To be fair our squad looks pretty decent. Just been looking at the Spain squad and they have taken Eric Garcia over Sergio Ramos. I would dig up a dead Sergio Ramos and take his corpse before I would take Eric Garcia.

Agree with you there about Rashford, as I know many other United fans do too. I think he’s got a huge couple of seasons ahead on him if his career is going to carry on the way it started. He can’t get complacent that he’s guaranteed a starting spot at either United or England, although he still is at both at this stage of his career.  

I’d say the overall squad is probably the strongest we’ve had in my lifetime (30 years), nowhere near the levels of the quality in the starting 11 as the famous 2004 Euros squad, but I think as a collective, this team is probably superior, with genuine options to set up in a number of ways. Plus the fact it’s young and exciting too, with not many egos or damaged goods in there. 

I’d say only France have a stronger squad, and we should be aiming for the final - anything else is a failure. 

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, eastynh said:

Who do you take him in front of? That's the problem. England are stacked in those attacking forward positions. Madison has had a better overall season and he's not even made this cut.

It's a shame that Harvey Barnes had his poorly timed injury/bout of naughtiness. I think he would have been pushing for the squad.

[eastynh]

1 minute ago, st dan said:

Agree with you there about Rashford, as I know many other United fans do too. I think he’s got a huge couple of seasons ahead on him if his career is going to carry on the way it started. He can’t get complacent that he’s guaranteed a starting spot at either United or England, although he still is at both at this stage of his career.  

I’d say the overall squad is probably the strongest we’ve had in my lifetime (30 years), nowhere near the levels of the quality in the starting 11 as the famous 2004 Euros squad, but I think as a collective, this team is probably superior, with genuine options to set up in a number of ways. Plus the fact it’s young and exciting too, with not many egos or damaged goods in there. 

I’d say only France have a stronger squad, and we should be aiming for the final - anything else is a failure. 

I don't know about that. Portugal, Belgium and Germany all have very good squads and Italy could be dark horses. I fancy Portugal to win it.

[eastynh]

2 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

It's a shame that Harvey Barnes had his poorly timed injury/bout of naughtiness. I think he would have been pushing for the squad.

Yes definitely, he really pushed on this season. But, then again he plays in the same position as Grealish and where Foden has been playing. Good player though and really improved this season.

[JoeyT]

2 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Who do you take him in front of? That's the problem. England are stacked in those attacking forward positions. Madison has had a better overall season and he's not even made this cut.

The squad I'd go for out of those named today is:

Pickford, Henderson, Johnston

Walker, Trippier, Trent, Stones, Maguire, Coady, Mings, Shaw, Chilwell

Rice, Phillips, Bellingham, Henderson

Sancho, Lingard, Mount, Foden, Sterling, Rashford, Grealish

Kane, Calvert-Lewin, Watkins

[waltere]

3 minutes ago, st dan said:

I’d say only France have a stronger squad, and we should be aiming for the final - anything else is a failure. 

HUGE statement that.

We're undeniably loaded going forward but I remain unconvinced by the CB and keeping situation, which is probably the worst area in which to be flawed

[Hugh Jass]

You can’t look at our goalkeeping and defensive options and think we should be winning anything.

[eastynh]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass said:

You can’t look at our goalkeeping and defensive options and think we should be winning anything.

Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes (Olympique Lyon), Rui Patricio (Wolves), Rui Silva (Granada)

Defenders: Joao Cancelo (Manchester City), Nelson Semedo (Wolves), Jose Fonte (Lille), Pepe (Porto), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Nuno Mendes (Sporting), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders: Danilo Pereira (Paris St Germain), Joao Palhinha (Sporting), Ruben Neves (Wolves), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Moutinho (Wolves), Renato Sanches (Lille), Sergio Oliveira (Porto), William Carvalho (Real Betis)

Forwards: Pedro Goncalves (Sporting), Andre Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Goncalo Guedes (Valencia), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Rafa Silva (Benfica).

 

Thats far better than our squad

[JoeyT]

7 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

You can’t look at our goalkeeping and defensive options and think we should be winning anything.

We'll just have to rely on the classic "we're going to score one more than you" in that case then 😂

[st dan]

Is our defence really that bad?!

............. Pickford / Henderson ............

... TAA ... Stones ... Maguire ... Shaw ...

All the back four are players who are regular starters for teams that finished 1st / 2nd / 3rd this season. 
I really don’t see that as weak at all, although ideally a more solid keeper would be preferable.
Then there are decent options to bring in if you want a back three - bring in Walker as 3rd CB, and swap Chilwell for Shaw for example.  

[eastynh]

Just now, st dan said:

Is our defence really that bad?!

............. Pickford / Henderson ............

... TAA ... Stones ... Maguire ... Shaw ...

All the back four are players who are regular starters for teams that finished 1st / 2nd / 3rd this season. 
I really don’t see that as weak at all, although ideally a more solid keeper would be preferable.
Then there are decent options to bring in if you want a back three - bring in Walker as 3rd CB, and swap Chilwell for Shaw for example.  

Walker has been fantastic this season, he will start at RB and deservedly so. By and large TAA has been abysmal.

 

 

[st dan]

2 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Walker has been fantastic this season, he will start at RB and deservedly so. By and large TAA has been abysmal.

 

 

Yeah fair point, swap Walker for TAA and the point still stands, and in fact makes it even stronger I guess. And we’ve got cover in Chilwell, Trippier and TAA out wide. Granted we are a bit light in top class CB cover, but Coady and Mings can do a job if required.

It may not be as good as Cole, Ferdinand, Terry, Neville on paper, but I  don’t see it as weak, and it has good options and cover. 

[eastynh]

2 minutes ago, st dan said:

Yeah fair point, swap Walker for TAA and the point still stands, and in fact makes it even stronger I guess. And we’ve got cover in Chilwell, Trippier and TAA out wide. Granted we are a bit light in top class CB cover, but Coady and Mings can do a job if required.

It may not be as good as Cole, Ferdinand, Terry, Neville on paper, but I  don’t see it as weak, and it has good options and cover. 

I think we have a very decent squad and no one will want to play us. I think Foden will light up the tournament. But, I think there are better squads than ours. We do have a goal threat and match winners. My biggest concern in whether Southgate will be too pragmatic.

I would play TAA if we play 3 at that back.