Will England rue the lack of Elliott and Solanke at Euro 2024?
Gareth Southgate has been bold with his England selections but has he been bold enough? Should Harvey Elliott and Dominic Solanke have got a call?
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Has Southgate missed a trick with Elliott?
Few qualms with Gareth’s selections and reasoning this time round. He may have just shown teeth for the first time in an England tenure dominated by his gums, his circular rhetoric, his cringey vests.
Jettisoning Hendo makes sense, he’s well past it and there’s little value to his leadership if he’s not taking the pitch. Ditto omitting Sterling, who’s been patchy and has lost ten steps. Rashford shouldn’t come anywhere near this camp given the quality of options in the forward line, never mind the ever-deepening fog he’s disappeared into. Can’t argue with Anthony Gordon, Quansah, Curtis Jones, Eze, Guehi; all solid inclusions there.
Harry Maguire continues to be a punchline, and he forces whatever side he’s in to significantly alter field tilt detrimentally to accommodate his slabby head, slabby torso and two slabs for feet. But I suppose he’s one of only two or three centre halves with proper experience so I guess I get why he’s there (surely it’s also for the bantz).
I do wonder whether Southgate will rue selecting James Maddison, who is one dimensional and only plays well downhill with the wind at his back. Not selecting Solanke and Harvey Elliott (perhaps the latter instead of Maddison, the former instead of Ivan Toney) seems debatable too. On Elliott: he brings everything Maddison has in the locker, plus superior work rate and positional discipline, better form and fitness, more graft, more humility, while also being left-footed.
Speaking of left-footed, if Luke Shaw can’t get off hamburgers (I jest) it could be rough sledding playing Gomez there as the quality ticks up through later stages. All said, England still the big favourites if Gareth 2.0 keeps bearing his new incisors.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (I reckon Poch leaving by “mutual consent” is huge spin… Poch wanted to stay but Bottle Job FC needed someone more malleable and able to tow the company line/blue propaganda/not-so-Clearlake smoke and mirrors)
MORE ON THE ENGLAND SQUAD FROM F365:
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What about Sancho?
I assume the F365 writers are shocked and will be calling for Southgate’s head for not selecting Sancho in this England squad?
Separately, what the hell is Southgate doing taking Shaw? Love the lad but he has barely played this year, it’s utter madness to even consider him, he certainly won’t be match fit even if he magically recovers. Are we really saying there’s no alternatives other than Trippier or putting the excellent *centre back* Branthwaite there? Gomez, Mitchell and Burn would like to have a word.
Badwolf (Apparently we’re still short of CB options too)
(Well, Joe Gomez is in the squad – Ed)
Elliott is a part-time footballer
Jesus, Liverpool fans are insufferable. I’m truly looking forward to their slide back to nothing.
Claiming Harvey Elliott “won” all these trophies hilarious. His 17 mins in the Charity shield?? The 140 mins he played in the entire 21/22 FA Cup run?? The 41 mins he played in the Lge Cup that season?? The 18 minutes he played over 2 games in the PL winning season??
Pathetic, this means more, garbage.
Weldoninhio, BAC
Why are you surprised, Chelsea fans?
Though I agree sacking Poch was ultimately the wrong decision I do find it difficult to give any credence to those Chelsea supporters who are so outraged, this is normal for you guys. Chelsea FC have been for a long time the archetypal club for sacking the manager after they actually did a decent job. Is the former Spurs bloke who finished 6th really where you draw the ‘boycotting the club’ line?
Without context here is a list of Chelsea managers, over the last 25 years, who were shown the door with a better win ratio than Poch. Thomas Tuchel, Frank Lampard, Maurizo Sarri, Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez, Roberto Di Matteo, Carlo Ancelotti, Gus Hiddink, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Avram Grant, Jose Mourinho again, Claudio Ranieri, and Gianluca Vialli. That’s pretty much all of them except Potter and Villas Boas.
When you also consider what some of those managers achieved in winning leagues and cups it seems bizarre to me that Poch’s sacking is viewed as anything but standard practice. Perhaps because a bloated American is doing the firing rather than a crafty Russian there is less confidence in their decisions but purely from a procedural basis this is how Chelsea win.
Anyway, wouldn’t mind Poch at United should Ten Hag go but also not particularly excited by the idea either.
Dave, Manchester
MORE ON CHELSEA AND POCHETTINO FROM F365:
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Kroos control?
Now that we know Chelsea’s ownership is keen on replicating the Bayer Leverkusen model by bringing in a Xabi Alonso-type figure to take the helm, it’s intriguing to consider whether Todd Boehly & Co might look to appoint a similar former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder as their next manager.
Introducing the retiring genius that is Toni Kroos, we all chuckle but you would not put it past them.
The Admin @ At The Bridge Pod
Actually…
Cole Palmer as Player/Manager?
“Lads, just pass the ball to me.”
Niallio, Dublin
????TO THE COMMENTS! Who should be the next manager of Chelsea? Join the debate here
Oh dear to Man Utd and Chelsea
Ten Hag’s death knell is Pochettino’s sudden (and bizarre) availability. Just as Poch finally gets them playing well and gets some momentum going, the uber-idiot and faux alpha-male Tod Boehly sacks him in some sort of dick-waving contest. Chelsea are a disgrace right now, although United are arguably ahead of them here. It’s great to see. Ten Hag to Munich?
Mat (Liverpool may be in transition next season – we will see – but they are a well run club with people who know what they are doing, United and Chelsea are doomed, doomed I tell you)
What is Daniel thinking?
Having had the misfortune to watch closely the work of Daniel Levy over the last two decades, I reckon his thought process this morning could be something like:
“Mmm, its going to cost a fortune to back Ange this Summer and if I don’t the those ungrateful customers (fans to you & me) will sing songs about me again and lets be honest here, I’ll probably have to sack him in late October / early November anyway, so now I can get the bloke back that took us to a CL final on a shoestring and with a midfield axis of Sissoko and Winks for free thats definately the path to follow. And if I can provoke Ange into resigning as well, I won’t have to pay him off either.”
By the way, there’s been mailbox Gold in the last two days. Firstly, Kane is apparently a pub player and today Saka isn’t any good either. I thought they only let those kind of people out at the weekends.
Graeme “ENIC Out” Barnstaple, Devon
