Harry Maguire has been arguably England’s best defender for the past 5 years - surely that counts for something?
I feel like the wheels have been falling off for the last couple of years though.
I'm not a big fan of "you should pick players based solely on their club form." I do actually think international form counts for something, and the international game is very different to the Premier League. And to be fair to Maguire, he is often left very exposed by the team in front of him at Manchester United. But, given his form, it feels like now would be a good time to give him a break. Why Tomori isn't in the squad is beyond me, he's been a stalwart for first place Milan this season. It would also be a good time to bring Gomez back in, or maybe bring in someone like Konsa (though I think he's injured).
Come tournament time, even come Nations League time, I fully expect Maguire to be in the team and unless things get even worse I wouldn't really argue with that. But for two meaningless friendlies, and given that England aren't blessed with quality in depth at CB, it seems like as good of a time as any to blood some players on the periphery.
Part of the reason for Southgate's success is the fact he seems to have created a club mentality around St. George's Park with the Senior Squad - Keep changing the team on a constant basis, just because someone is out of form, just spells disaster, and genuinely question if other countries do that.
On the other hand there is a fine balancing act, and feel that Southgate has been equal to it so far - Joachim Low got blamed after the 2018 World Cup for being too loyal to his players that won the Tournament... Could say the same about Maguire / Pickford with us, but equally Gareth hasnt hesitated to drop; Alli | Lingard, and now Rashford from that trip to the semi-finals.
The friendlies aren’t meaningless though are they? Especially when the team get limited opportunities to train and play together leading up to a tournament.
England’s defence at the Euros was superb. They only conceded one goal from open play (Italy in the final). Maguire has been superb in an England shirt, and until his form drops for England then that call up keeps coming.
I agree that Tomori should be given a chance (ahead of the Palace player).
Not sure about Konsa/Gomez…If we take the Charlton tinted glasses off I don’t think they’ve warranted a call up ahead of anyone else to be honest.
The friendlies aren’t meaningless though are they? Especially when the team get limited opportunities to train and play together leading up to a tournament.
England’s defence at the Euros was superb. They only conceded one goal from open play (Italy in the final). Maguire has been superb in an England shirt, and until his form drops for England then that call up keeps coming.
I agree that Tomori should be given a chance (ahead of the Palace player).
Not sure about Konsa/Gomez…If we take the Charlton tinted glasses off I don’t think they’ve warranted a call up ahead of anyone else to be honest.
Marc Guehi sounded like a decent prospect @ Chelsea, surprised they sold him to Palace so quickly - Surprised that both Coady and Mings have kept their place ahead of Tomori, even Trevor Chalobah.
Yeah I missed this in my first read over of the squad but it's quite odd. He's a quality player who would be an automatic starter for a lot of international sides, and on top of that he's found form for United. Not really sure what's going on there.
Maguire is a permanent in this squad. Regularly plays out his skin in an England shirt and was one of our best players in the euros. His form for United has been poor but football Twitter have jumped all over it and it seems a lot worse than it is. It’s the Mings selection over Tomori that baffles me.
I suspect that Gomez is going to have to move on from Liverpool, if he is going to continue his England career
Think something must already in motion for the summer. He’s got to leave Liverpool and start playing games if he wants to not only play for England but not become a player who is forgotten about.
The friendlies aren’t meaningless though are they? Especially when the team get limited opportunities to train and play together leading up to a tournament.
England’s defence at the Euros was superb. They only conceded one goal from open play (Italy in the final). Maguire has been superb in an England shirt, and until his form drops for England then that call up keeps coming.
I agree that Tomori should be given a chance (ahead of the Palace player).
Not sure about Konsa/Gomez…If we take the Charlton tinted glasses off I don’t think they’ve warranted a call up ahead of anyone else to be honest.
Marc Guehi sounded like a decent prospect @ Chelsea, surprised they sold him to Palace so quickly - Surprised that both Coady and Mings have kept their place ahead of Tomori, even Trevor Chalobah.
Ramsdale is the future and a far better goalkeeper than Pickford. Pickford probably deserves to stay for the time being though as we do have a tournament in a few months.
Pickford may be quality in an England shirt but come 2024, Ramsdale will be in goal.
“I don’t think it ever crossed our minds not to select Harry Maguire for this squad. He has been a key part of the starting XI that got us to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final.
“I know the club are going through a difficult period but you have to look at who are our best players and the core of that team and he is in that group. No doubt in my mind that he is one of our best centre backs and form in that sense is temporary.
“There is also in our forward areas a lot more competition for those wide places, so I will always be accused of double standards on picking on form but there are nuances to that because we are not picking the 100m finalists here, where the fastest time wins and it is all very clear. There is a more difficult path on selecting a football team and selecting a squad, but Harry is now on over 40 caps, a consistently strong performer for us, he was over the Autumn period as well, and hopefully he can continue that vein of form with us that he has had for such a long period of time.”
Comments
Great to see Conor getting another chance
The upper tier at Wembley for England games is like hell on earth.
Shaw can only be in because there is no one else.
I'm not a big fan of "you should pick players based solely on their club form." I do actually think international form counts for something, and the international game is very different to the Premier League. And to be fair to Maguire, he is often left very exposed by the team in front of him at Manchester United. But, given his form, it feels like now would be a good time to give him a break. Why Tomori isn't in the squad is beyond me, he's been a stalwart for first place Milan this season. It would also be a good time to bring Gomez back in, or maybe bring in someone like Konsa (though I think he's injured).
Come tournament time, even come Nations League time, I fully expect Maguire to be in the team and unless things get even worse I wouldn't really argue with that. But for two meaningless friendlies, and given that England aren't blessed with quality in depth at CB, it seems like as good of a time as any to blood some players on the periphery.
Part of the reason for Southgate's success is the fact he seems to have created a club mentality around St. George's Park with the Senior Squad - Keep changing the team on a constant basis, just because someone is out of form, just spells disaster, and genuinely question if other countries do that.
On the other hand there is a fine balancing act, and feel that Southgate has been equal to it so far - Joachim Low got blamed after the 2018 World Cup for being too loyal to his players that won the Tournament... Could say the same about Maguire / Pickford with us, but equally Gareth hasnt hesitated to drop; Alli | Lingard, and now Rashford from that trip to the semi-finals.
England’s defence at the Euros was superb. They only conceded one goal from open play (Italy in the final). Maguire has been superb in an England shirt, and until his form drops for England then that call up keeps coming.
Not sure about Konsa/Gomez…If we take the Charlton tinted glasses off I don’t think they’ve warranted a call up ahead of anyone else to be honest.
Ramsdale or Pickford?
Thought Arsenal signed him as a No. 2 or were fools for getting him in the first place.
Really happy to be proven wrong.
Pickford may be quality in an England shirt but come 2024, Ramsdale will be in goal.
“I don’t think it ever crossed our minds not to select Harry Maguire for this squad. He has been a key part of the starting XI that got us to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final.
“I know the club are going through a difficult period but you have to look at who are our best players and the core of that team and he is in that group. No doubt in my mind that he is one of our best centre backs and form in that sense is temporary.
“There is also in our forward areas a lot more competition for those wide places, so I will always be accused of double standards on picking on form but there are nuances to that because we are not picking the 100m finalists here, where the fastest time wins and it is all very clear. There is a more difficult path on selecting a football team and selecting a squad, but Harry is now on over 40 caps, a consistently strong performer for us, he was over the Autumn period as well, and hopefully he can continue that vein of form with us that he has had for such a long period of time.”
https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2022/Mar/17/gareth-southgate-england-squad-announcement-20220317