I agree with Didi that Southgate fecked up his team selection last night because he was trying to please too many people. Political reasons, as I anticipated.
His team last night smacked of the decade long obsession with picking Gerrard and Lampard together when everybody knew it didn’t work. It smacked of a team that a child would have picked.
England won’t grow into the tournament with the team they picked last night. Southgate has to rip it up at least somewhat.
English teams need to be functional above all and that means the manager has to take tough decisions. English players don’t have the football IQ to control big international tournament games, at international level they can’t do what they do at club level, they can’t play at top pace in highly rehearsed all encompassing systems like Guardiola’s or Klopp’s, they have to be regimented within a stripped back, functional system.
Foden has done fuck all at major tournaments for England. His inclusion is political. Alexander-Arnold’s inclusion is political. Bellingham and Saka have to be the main men you build your team around.