The 2020-2021 Football Thread

[Apple fanboy]

The three biggest surprises for me are the omissions of JWP, Ollie Watkins and Jesse Lingard.

JWP became the first player in history to play every minute of two consecutive Premier League seasons, while he was also captain of Saints, regularly lauded as the best set-piece taker on the planet and has clearly upped his work rate over the last couple of years.
Watkins is the future. He's a predatory striker and has been excellent for Villa. He should be in the squad.
Lingard: He's been outstanding for the Hammers in his spell there. He definitely should have been in the squad.

Then we have the ones that shouldn't be there: The injured, the old, the out of form and the "he's a name, so I am putting him in there" players.
I don't think England will make it past the quarter finals. I am a huge England fan, but I think this squad is all kinds of wrong and this could and should be the end for Southgate if they fail to advance past the QF stage.

When we fail the standard excuses will be rolled out.
They are tired.
The big teams players don’t play well together.
He was distracted by all the talk of transfers.

It’s the same every year. I think Lingard more than deserved a place. Your right he was outstanding. If we had Rice, Antonio and Cresswell playing a bit more in the last quarter of the season I think we could have made the top four.

 

[Silencio]

The England squad is truly loaded in attack and gets thinner and thinner the further back you go. Declan Rice is going to have a big job to do in CDM, CB could be shaky with Harry Maguire's fitness level TBD, and Pickford is a liability as a keeper. I would have felt pretty good with Pope between the sticks.

I'd say England need to soundly outscore the competition to have a good shot at winning it, but Southgate's conservative tendencies could undermine that effort.

France have to be the favorites: an incredibly well-rounded and deep group they've got.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

The England squad is truly loaded in attack and gets thinner and thinner the further back you go. Declan Rice is going to have a big job to do in CDM, CB could be shaky with Harry Maguire's fitness level TBD, and Pickford is a liability as a keeper. I would have felt pretty good with Pope between the sticks.

I'd say England need to soundly outscore the competition to have a good shot at winning it, but Southgate's conservative tendencies could undermine that effort.

France have to be the favorites: an incredibly well-rounded and deep group they've got.

I'd disagree with that one point.
I think when you have 4 right backs, your defence is far from thin...but I actually do agree with what you are saying...they look less and less capable as you move back in the field.
Southgate is an incredibly negative coach, so I am not surprised he left out attackers and attacking midfielders - I just think he picks on reputation too often and not form.
There are some players that have no right to be in that squad for a major tournament, but their legs would literally have to fall off for them to be dropped (Jordan Henderson, I am looking at you).
TAA has had an awful season and only really came right at the end, but he was locked and loaded from the start, like all the other favourites.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We will just look to win games through set pieces.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

We will just look to win games through set pieces.

Without the world's foremost set-piece taker in the squad...

I wonder what the injury to TAA will mean in the medium term. I'd say if there's a chance he could be OK to play by 2029, he'll stay in the squad.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I wouldn’t worry too much about the omissions. England won’t win regardless of how you shuffle the squad.

And oh, the irony of TAA picking up a muscle injury before the tournament starts.

 

[Silencio]

Speaking of expert set-piece takers, James Ward-Prowse really should take TAA's spot in the squad. He would help with the depth in CM and you wouldn't lose much, if anything, over TAA's free kicks.

The RB glut is mitigated by Southgate's preference to play a back three with wingbacks, so someone like Kyle Walker would play on the right of a back three and Tripper or James as the RWB. On the left, Luke Shaw has done just fine on the left in a back three the few times United played that way. But I think they need a fit Maguire pretty badly to pull that off.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

But I think they need a fit Maguire pretty badly to pull that off.

Good luck with that.
Maguire and Henderson should not be in the squad if not fully fit.
England have taken unfit and injured players to tournaments before and it's bitten them in the a$$.

I'm a firm believer that you get picked on form and fitness and whether you fit the team/squad structure. If you're injured, in bad form and/or not in a position that the squad needs, you're out.
But I don't pick the squad.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Good luck with that.
Maguire and Henderson should not be in the squad if not fully fit.
England have taken unfit and injured players to tournaments before and it's bitten them in the a$$.

I'm a firm believer that you get picked on form and fitness and whether you fit the team/squad structure. If you're injured, in bad form and/or not in a position that the squad needs, you're out.
But I don't pick the squad.

Quite right. Injured players should be swapped out if they aren’t match fit or very close to by the deadline.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Quite right. Injured players should be swapped out if they aren’t match fit or very close to by the deadline.

In practice, very few managers ever follow that approach. The pressure from fans and media pundits to bring star/veteran players, even if unfit, is often immense. International managers are in a lose-lose scenario here: cut an injured or unfit star and every bad result will be chalked up to their absence; but if they are selected and play badly everyone will say they should have been left out so that player X could be brought in.

 

[Apple fanboy]

In practice, every few managers ever follow that approach. The pressure from fans and media pundits to bring star/veteran players, even if unfit, is often immense. International managers are in a lose-lose scenario here: cut an injured or unfit star and every bad result will be chalked up to their absence; but if they are selected and play badly everyone will say they should have been left out so that player X could be brought in.

Indeed. But they are rewarded handsomely for the job so don’t feel too bad for them.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Plenty of hand-wringing over fans booing players taking a knee. Many players have come out and said they find the booing very offensive (TAA looked visibly upset by it), but people keep doing it. Most media outlets are too cowardly to just admit that a portion of England fans are dumb bigoted jerks. Most fans are not, but some are and that's just the way it is right now. It's going to be impossible to stop them from booing, so people should probably just applaud the knee and drown out the troublemakers.

I remember going to a USA-Mexico game and being embarrassed by a few very drunk USA fans shouting racist slurs. Most USA fans aren't like that, but you can't get 20,000 people into a stadium without letting in some troublemakers.

Indeed. But they are rewarded handsomely for the job so don’t feel too bad for them.

Not so handsomely as many club managers - but yes, they are certainly not starving.

 

[pachyderm]

Pleasantly surprised... anyone else?

@Lord Blackadder ...?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

View attachment 1788097
View attachment 1788098

Pleasantly surprised... anyone else?

@Lord Blackadder ...?

When Mexico scored less than two minutes in, I thought it would get ugly for USA. But this young and inexperienced team were able to play their way back into the match. A very sloppy game but a hell of a spectacle.

 

[Apple fanboy]

View attachment 1788097
View attachment 1788098

Pleasantly surprised... anyone else?

@Lord Blackadder ...?

I’m surprised the US didn’t just sit behind a defensive wall (and make the Mexicans pay for it! 😀)

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I’m surprised the US didn’t just sit behind a defensive wall (and make the Mexicans pay for it! 😀)

Our defense is nowhere near good enough for that approach. Our only hope was a more balanced approach where we make use of our offensive weapons (Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, etc) and hope the defense can keep the score decent. They just barely managed it.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Our defense is nowhere near good enough for that approach. Our only hope was a more balanced approach where we make use of our offensive weapons (Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, etc) and hope the defense can keep the score decent. They just barely managed it.

Shoddy defence? Wait until you see us against Croatia!

 

[SteveManila1960]

There was just a lack of truly world class players in that team. Fortunately it wasn't the first team. The second penalty was hilarious considering all the debate over Henderson's fitness and inclusion in the squad. Probably not his finest moment at the worst possible time.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

There was just a lack of truly world class players in that team. Fortunately it wasn't the first team. The second penalty was hilarious considering all the debate over Henderson's fitness and inclusion in the squad. Probably not his finest moment at the worst possible time.

I don't know what Southgate's information on Hendo is, but from where I sit I would probably not have included him in the squad; he's an excellent player and a leader and one missed pen doesn't change that, but he isn't match fit.

On the other hand, when England get eliminated it won't be due to Henderson's inclusion. It will be because there are several national sides in Europe who are better than England when it comes down to it...likewise if England were to somehow win the tournament it won't be because Hendo was controversially brought in, unless he scores a watch-winning worldie in the final or something.

I don't have a dog in the race; If England were to embarrassingly crash out I'd chuckle, but I'd also genuinely enjoy it if they won or had a great campaign.

It's hard not to see France as favorites, they have so much talent in all areas and most are players in their prime.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I don't know what Southgate's information on Hendo is, but from where I sit I would probably not have included him in the squad; he's an excellent player and a leader and one missed pen doesn't change that, but he isn't match fit.

On the other hand, when England get eliminated it won't be due to Henderson's inclusion. It will be because there are several national sides in Europe who are better than England when it comes down to it...likewise if England were to somehow win the tournament it won't be because Hendo was controversially brought in, unless he scores a watch-winning worldie in the final or something.

I don't have a dog in the race; If England were to embarrassingly crash out I'd chuckle, but I'd also genuinely enjoy it if they won or had a great campaign.

It's hard not to see France as favorites, they have so much talent in all areas and most are players in their prime.

Never rule out the Germans. They always come good on these tournaments. Apart from England, I’d love to see one of the outsiders do well. But you are probably right with France. Perhaps Belgium might surprise us if KDB can stay fit and do the business.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Never rule out the Germans. They always come good on these tournaments. Apart from England, I’d love to see one of the outsiders do well. But you are probably right with France. Perhaps Belgium might surprise us if KDB can stay fit and do the business.

Germany are pretty much always capable of winning a tournament it seems, so naturally it would be foolish to write them off. If France can play to their full potential they will run away with it though.

 

[Silencio]

I wouldn't sleep on Portugal, either. They have an even stronger team now then when they won the last Euros. The main pitfall for them would be relying too much on Cristiano Ronaldo when they have so many other talented attacking players.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I wouldn't sleep on Portugal, either. They have an even stronger team now then when they won the last Euros. The main pitfall for them would be relying too much on Cristiano Ronaldo when they have so many other talented attacking player

They've done it before, and nobody would question their mentality.

 

[Silencio]

First match today kicking off Euro 2020: Turkey vs Italy. I'm seeing a lot of pre-tournament hype for Italy, who haven't been highly relevant on the international stage for a few cycles now. However, Roberto Mancini has done an excellent job turning it around for them. A dark horse team to keep an eye on.

Turkey also has plenty of talent, especially in defense. PL watchers will be familiar with Söyüncü and Ozan Kabak, and they've shut down some good attacking teams during qualification.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Can’t wait! Been horrible having no football for a few weeks. Looking forward to Sunday. Expect a dull draw though.