Reece James is a brilliant nuts and bolts association football righback and can do a bit of what Trent does too. If James could stay fit any way assuredly, twould be James and Trent.
People skills of supposedly top managers are hilarious
With Grealo out of the picture, who will England be relying on to fulfil the essential role of class clown?
Dan Burn? Big Dan will already be occupied filling the roles of Terry Butcher against Cameroon in 1990 AND Jack Charlton in 1966.
This England squad list looks quite light on the sort of endearing class clown personality types you need to perform at a World Cup. And this will be a LONG World Cup.
A potential seven weeks with a German headmaster and lads with their heads buried in phones doesn’t strike me as a recipe for a happy camp.
If you look at the 1990 squad, it was a serious mix of personality types under a dotty uncle everybody loved. And that camp had just recorded the greatest football song ever made and was at number one on Top Of The Pops. That would have already given them confidence.
You had the class clown in Gazza. You had his genteel minder Gary Lineker. You had Terry Butcher being Winston Churchill. John Barnes the genius footballer, rapper and rebel intellectual. Stuart Pearce the punk guy. David Platt the aloof dark horse. Chris Waddle the football genius with the brain of Trigger from Only Fools And Horses. Peter Shilton the old, cranky, miserable git. Steve Bull, the human embodiment of a steak and kidney pie. Peter Beardsley and his big chin and slight speech impediment. Paul Parker and Des Walker the hunger of youth. Tony Dorigo the chirpy Australian. Mark Wright embracing Italy and the Italian lifestyle by going full continental libero.
A proper motley crew.
It was like Auf Wiedersehen Pet, a Geordie led gang of lads together all bouncing off each other, with the hut on a German building site being replaced by an Italian villa. Actually it was like the second series of Auf Wiedersehen Pet where they’re in the Spanish villa.
This group looks like a group who could be saying Auf Widersehen Pet to the tournament before the quarter-finals.
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Worst Engerland squad in my lifetime.
Surely 2018 was much worse?
I couldn’t tell you one thing about the modern guys. I’d probably watch a netflix sitcom on the lads you mentioned there.
Gibbs-White seems a very good guy from the way he took the Spurs move falling through in the summer.
Tuchel is top class but he could Capello it as you say.
Reading reports, Spain’s midfield is crippled. If the Portuguese lads don’t play like the do for PSG, it could be there for England. France just play to the level of their opponent, Brazil and Germany aren’t hectic. Argentina are poor at the back apparently. Brazil have a starting fullback that switched national allegiance and switched back.
I’d have been an Elliot Anderson doubter, will be interesting seeing can he bring the control they typically lack.
I think it’s all set for a massive tournament for Rashford.
They could really do with Saka’s injuries fully clearing. Bellingham hasn’t burnt a ball all year but I saw him get the most fantastic goal against Oviedo the other night, looking a man coming to the boil maybe.
Rodri looks fucked.
Was it Lingard and Dele manning the midfield at one point
Rashford is a really good kid. I’m delighted he’s surprised what United tried to do to him. He’s not the first and won’t be the last. Paul McGrath could tell him a few stories
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He’s two years left on a deal which is about 40 mill in wages. How much would it cost to sign a winger to back up Cunha who is definitely better than Rashford? 80 or 100 mill. I think Carrick should talk to him. Barca don’t have the money and he’d be an idiot to drop from 350k per week to under 200.
He was worth a few bob so they tried to monetise him, not force him to retire to collect an insurance payout. Same principle though
What England need is the squad to be a mixture of Auf Wiedersehen Pet for the white lads and The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air for the black lads.
Auf Wiedersehen Pet casting:
Dan Burn as Oz
Jordan Henderson as Neville
Jordan Pickford as Dennis
Declan Rice as Wayne the West Ham supporting Cockney
Anthony Gordon as Moxey the Scouser
Jack Grealish would have been Barry the lad with the over the top Wolverhampton accent but there’s now nobody for that role.
There’s no Bomber the big man from Bristol character. Harry Maguire could have played something like that but that’s gone now.
John Stones will have to assume a sort of Geoffrey Boycott style Yorkshire stereotype as a sort of substitute character.
I never watched The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air so I can’t really go beyond saying that Jude Bellingham is the most likely person to fulfil the Will Smoth role.
Angel Gomes would have been a great fit for the Arnold from Diff’rent Strokes role. But alas, Tommy Tuchel said whatchoo talkin’ about Angel, you’re not in the squad.
The England squad is about half black and half white. I think a key theme for England needs to be the black lads embracing the spirit of American hip hop and civil rights culture in its natural environment and teaching the white lads all about it as the tournament goes on.
The music on the bus will be key and it needs to alternate between the hippety hoppety and rap and soul the black lads play, and the Phil Collins and landfill indie stuff the white lads will want.
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The Kop would have great time for Rashford after standing up to the Tories.
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Jesus Harry made a right prick of himself with that statement
Might have taken a few blows to the head from those Greek coppers that time
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Who is crippled in spains midfield?
Fermin (injured) and Rodri anyways, I’ll get back on the rest!
Barrios, Merino and doubt over Yamal
Spanish midfield has gone back a long way since the days Xavi, Busquets and Alonso bestrode the field like colussses
How in the name of fuck do you namecheck Busquets and Alonso above Iniesta?