Smirking_Saint

As far as the Scotland game was concerned, I'm not sure JWP would have made much of a difference, and tbh, if he'd of taken Phillips or Rice of for JWP, after my initial Saints based hype, I'd be asking why we were still persisting with a double pivot. Friday night looked predominantly to me like two teams that didn't want to lose, rather than trying to win. But that said, Scotland defended very deep, often with serious numbers... we didn't get the ball forward quick enough, and when we did we had no real adventure. He persisted with Sterling, despite having no room to get in behind. If he wanted to go for it, he probably should have pushed the fullbacks higher to create overloads, or employed Foden AND Grealish, who can operate in tighter spaces than the likes of Rashford or Sterling... but he didn't I would say Southgate is still worried about his goalkeeper and CBs, which is why he is employing effectively a block of 6 defensive players (Back 4 + double pivot) and is asking his wide midfielders to primarily track the fullbacks (He has already stated he has kept Sterling in the side for his defensive workrate) Ultimately we won't see a lot of adventure until Maguire is back, and likely even then there may be question marks over his fitness

Not sure... we've never had a larger squad pick before

Southgate can pick an extra 3 players this year, which means if he feels Maguire and Henderson can add something to the team in the latter stages then it makes sense JWP to me makes more sense as a Henderson replacement, as he isn't as good as Phillips or Rice in the positions they play (He also isn't as good as Mount or Henderson in theirs either). We can judge Southgate on what happens with Henderson later on but considering he has already played half a friendly means he is probably fit enough. This consistent JWP mantra is pointless, yes he takes a good free kick, but outside of that he doesn't have the skillset of the other 3 midfield options... and whilst most years I'd agree, taking half fit players is daft, this year he has 3 extra picks... so its worth a gamble

I mean, this is a perfect example to be honest, you have ignored countless counter arguments regarding Southgates inclusion of KP/DR over JWP. Deciding instead to point towards statistics which again paint only half a picture And the england selection team as well as a number of pundits seem to agree

I find that quite hard to believe really, your reading of the game always comes across as very superficial, unless of course it is an analyst role, relaying statistical data Stats have a huge impact in the game as it stands right now, but you still need people that understand what they are looking at, and unfortunately stats do not ever paint the whole picture, they need to be assessed alongside a visual assessment and taking into consideration tactical limitations etc I don’t really expect you to respond, like you didn’t to my earlier points regarding JWP vs Phillips/Rice or the Lemina stats you posted the other day, feel free to try to pick posts apart from a pedantry perspective and stop digging yourself a hole regarding the depth of your superficial knowledge

Of course it does, the statement effectively suggested that, of the teams quoted, they are unlikely to reach a final without their best players, and of those teams their 'stars' are almost always foreign... not english

You've literally clipped half the sentence I really cannot be bothered with this level of pedantry England have a good side, but our quality isn't as good as we think it is, and it is compounded by an international manager that prioritises defensive play

You are doing your best pedantry to move the conversation away from what we were talking about in the first place City and Chelsea don't get to finals without their best players, that are arguably their foreigners If there was no domestic quota then the likes of City, liverpool and Chelsea are able to find better and probably cheaper alternatives in every position Kane and perhaps Trent aside their isn't any England player in the top 3 of their position IMO

JWP isn't as good as Rice or Phillips in the positions that they play, the fact that Southgate is still trying to play Phillips out of position is odd Rice is a better No.6 than anyone else in the squad, and as a pure defensive midfielder Phillips is better than JWP Prowse for me was the Henderson alternative, and once Jordan decided for himself he was fit enough then it ended JWPs chances of making the squad

wow 😅

Of course they played an important role, they are the best of our domestic cohort That said, very few of those are the best players in their individual teams though are they ?

Ive been in two minds about this, ultimately we haven't had the worst start, we've never really looked in any danger over the last 180 minutes, but then, arguably we never should be against the likes of Scotland or a poor Croatia Our weakness has always been defensively going into this, and Southgate has obviously accepted that and set up accordingly. You do, after all, win tournaments by not conceding. My issue is though, for such an array of attacking talent and flair we look so ordinary and devoid of ideas in the final third. I said it against the Croatians and Ill say it again.... Kane looks injured, slow and lethargic. Sterling flattered to deceive against the Croatians and I have no idea how he stayed on last night This tournament is set up to favour defensive action, thats why it has been relatively dull. If we are unable to find an attacking thrust I can't see us progressing past even Spain or Germany

They are probably picking them as they have to have a certain number of domestic bias though

Arsenal are a bit of a sleeping giant at the moment tbh, they are still 'arguably' the 2nd or 3rd biggest club in the prem from a history and commercial perspective. If they convince Kroenke to put his hand in his deep pockets then they will be a much larger option than Leicester That said, you are correct, if I was Maddison, short term I'm not sure I'd be moving anywhere like Arsenal

Unproven ? He was one of the only shining lights of that Norwich season I'm surprised they managed to keep hold of Aarons and Buendia for so long tbh

I'm starting to lose patience with the continuing of the lockdowns, but it feels like potentially it is a necessity IF the numbers quoted by whitty stack up. As we discussed before it does pose a risk to those waiting for treatment by the NHS What irks me however is how exempt for any form of long lived scrutiny these absolute c*nts in power are. Other than their vaccine gamble (which has turned out fantastically for them, but it felt like a gamble at the time) every way they have turned has been brought with an entourage of deceit or incompetence. They fucked the message to the masses when they failed to adequately address the DC barnard castle trip, and now have already shot themselves in the foot by having a party at the G7. I refuse to believe that this cabinet is genuinely this incompetent, which leads me to believe they are just happy to treat us with contempt safe in the knowledge that the opposition is non existent and they have a core following of idiots that would happily allow Boris to murder their nan.

Fair enough, didn’t know that, I suppose thats what happens when you show little faith in a player

Looks a good replacement for Haaland tbh

And yet theres still those that whitter on about untested poisons etc Which although isn’t as batshit, its equally as damaging and Ive not seen enough counter evidence from the wider medical community, other than just saying ‘don’t be stupid etc’ To be clear, I’m pro vaccine, but this feels like the brexit debate, where one side is pushing the agenda (anti-vax) and the other is basically just ignoring it and hopes it goes away (pro-vax)

You can also argue that the government have been wanker than wank at debunking the vaccine myths... similar to mask wearing etc There has been basically zero spend on an advertising info campaign on any of these things which is surely a bigger need than something as arbitrary as fucking brexit (I don't want to get involved in a brexit chat, just comparing the two)

If Firpo can recoup much of his Real Betis form then I'm all for it, he was fantastic... and I believe he is two footed and can play wide left if needed But Im not convinced. Its probably difficult assessing a difference between Perraud who has been in good form in a worse league over Firpo that has been in poor form for a better side with a hugely better LB infront of him Im genuinely not sure on this one, but on the balance of versatility I think Id go for Firpo Edit - The fact that I changed my mind halfway through this post probably says it all 😄

Our net spend has never been anything much over 30m for any of the past decade.... which sort of shows you where our finances sit Our biggest net spend was within the last 3 years

JWPs stats whilst operating at DM over the last two seasons completely disagree with your assessment that he is a luxury player tbh

Liked him for a couple of years, he always looked very bright in the Eiredivisie and carried it on at Sociadad Was the young player of the year in spain this year.... no chance he comes here.... 40m min I expect

To be fair, Walker is our best 1 on 1 defender, we'll be fine