5 QUESTIONS SOUTHGATE MUST ANSWER THIS INTERNATIONAL BREAK

Watch out Jimbo off the cuff, England. Let's talk about it. And what I've got to say, first and foremost, is have you not subscribed yet? Because if you've not subscribed, you're going to miss out on my latest England squad live squad selector, which will be occurring next week on the channel. So hit the subscribe button and the notification bell. Now, let's just wind it back. OK, let's calm it down, spin it around and let's return. Because what I've asked you guys on Twitter is, what do you think of this? And what are the big questions when it comes to England? Let's not get. OK, let's not get angry. Just keep calm. We sabotage the whole tournament, OK? Yes, I know. The England kit is terrible. Yes, I know. People just don't really like the England squad all of again, all of a sudden, all of again, all of a sudden because, well, we didn't win that tournament that time. And now we ain't got the trophies. We're going to be good when it comes to talking about. Let's get behind the lads. OK, let's get behind the lads. That said, we can critique squads. We can critique Southgate with the understanding that we are supporting the boys and we're hoping that they're going to bring it home. OK. It's not been great. OK, it's not been great over the last few games. Let's have a little look. See, where is it? England here haven't won in the last four. Of course, you have played Germany and Italy within that time. What a win against Ivory Coast, by the way. Did have someone sent off, to be fair. So many talking points about this group of lads. Now, this isn't the current group of lads. This is the current group of lads. I asked you guys to send me some questions. So I've kind of grouped them up. We'll have a little skim through here as well. This will be very, very chilled out and talk about what are the big question marks when it comes to what needs to be found within this international break? Now, people will kind of jump to conclusions, but I think there's a lot of stuff where it's like there's things that are kind of contradicting each other. And I just think it's worth having a little bit of a chat about calmly. OK, you tell I'm rattled. A little bit rattled, aren't I? I get rattled with England. It's funny. Right. So here is the squad. And there are there are so many questions here. OK, things I've got at the moment. I've got embarrassment of riches, how to get the best out of that. Center backs, players that are out of form, but still knocking about the back five situation, the amount of defenders that we've got in that squad, the best eleven understanding what is best eleven is or. Yeah. And the door being closed on a few players. And if that's a bad thing or a good thing. Now, please stay in the gray with me here, guys. Stay in the gray. OK. We're talking about a squad that has done brilliant things. OK. Really, really strong things. Now, do we have high expectations? Of course we do. Do we expect this team to be a real possibility when it comes to winning the World Cup? Yes. OK. And have we played a back five a lot? Yes, we have. But have we got loads of good fullbacks? Yes. Has he got too many in there? Maybe. Are we concerned about the center backs? But John Stones did score a screen in the over there. Right. Let's dive into some of the questions. First one, getting the most out of this sort of embarrassment of riches. And actually, it's your arm, because what is interesting in terms of the breakdown of this squad, right? If I go here, you can see it differently is in terms of central strikers. You've got Tammy Abraham, Harry Kane, Ivan Tony, people that missed out like some say Watkins, Callum Wilson, who's got injury problems at the moment. But I think elsewhere in terms of like quality, there is a lot of quality there. I think there's a few areas where it's you've had people that have kind of done well for you. And then you've got some areas where people are, you know, on the wane. And so this is one of the questions I kind of have for Southgate is you need to put your kind of line in the sand here a little bit. You need to show your hand. I think he needs to show his hand. And this is a tough decision for him because you have the balance between players that are sort of out of form. We know who we're talking about here. Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw. And then you've got the likes of Mark Gay, who is young, talented, but young. Tamori, who isn't that young. And it's maybe one where he deserves a real shot at this at this point. And then the whole, you know, debate about because if you're the manager of the team, you've got especially international football, you've got to create a bit of a culture and environment and trust there. But you've also got to base it around form to a point when people kind of go solely, oh, well, it just has to be on form. I mean, that's how Michael Ricketts got a cap for England. I mean, sometimes it's like you've been knocking at the door long enough. One knock is not enough, right? Ivan Tony's been knocking for a little while now. And thus he gets entered into the door. I mean, there are a few people there. The door feels like it's closed. Let's jump onto that. And I know this video is all over the place. I just want to have a bit of a debate and almost get a bit of a rant out there, but just get my sort of England feelings out there. A lot of people talking about James Madison, how James Madison can't get himself into this squad. I've got to say, I feel like he has been knocking for some time. And someone was saying it here when I asked on Twitter, why, you know, why is he not in here? So here, Liam, who does Madison have to nosh off to get in? That great point, well made. I think that is a bit unfair that he is not getting a look at it because we do have such an embarrassment of riches. So finding room for all of them. And that's why, let's be honest, that's why when I do my World Cup squad, that's why those videos do well. The reason it does well is because it's interesting. There's huge debate there. And you're going to struggle to kind of agree on on a lot of it. So when we come back to this squad, I'm kind of like merging a lot of questions here. But when it comes to the back five, right? And if he's going to play that or back four, that kind of walks into the question of what is his best eleven? Why don't we know what his best eleven is? And is he getting caught up in the fact that he's got so much choice? And he's also been playing sort of Nations League games where it's like these are kind of important, but they're not really important. Let's be honest. And trying to fit a lot of these guys in, because I think that he has to take a moment now. And I really think there are a few players here that are in on supposed leadership or personality. That is Connor Cody, in my opinion. Eric Dyer, Eric Dyer. That's a bit harsh, maybe because he has been in really, really good form. And Southgate's, you know, knows him, trusts him, all that stuff. Luke Shaw, who I don't think is a bad player. I think he's been a bad club and has been in and out of the side, which, of course, has to be partly down to him. But, you know, these aren't bad players. Right. And of course, Harry Maguire, which is someone who has done well for England. And I think he was kicking it. I think he made a mistake in the last squad by not taking him out then, because if he took about them, he would let the conversation sort of occur and it would have given him that route in terms of his next steps. And the problem is, is he's so far down the line now, Gareth Southgate, with what has worked and and and it has worked. Give all these caveats, but it has worked. We've got to semifinals. We've got to finals. Very close to winning things. Right. Would it have got over the line? That's so subjective. Right. But that squad and how the team has played, playing with the back three, playing with Kyle Walker as a right sided center back. All these things have worked. So when do you sort of accept that the environment has changed and change yourself accordingly? That is where that is where Gareth Southgate will be known as a a good manager who sort of picked us off off the ground or a manager that, you know, all the guys that aren't fans of him will go. See, I told you he's out of his depth. This is the moment. This is the moment for him massively, because it is a great squad. You know, Pickford's not in there this time. The goalkeeper position is interesting as well. But when you've got when you've built something up, how many blocks do you want to take away? That's that's the thing I kind of keep coming back to. And in terms of the correct answers, like I can have my opinion on it and you can have your opinion. I'd love to know what it is in the comments below. Here's the bottom line, in my opinion, over these next few games. I think he as I've said, he needs to show his hand. He has to decide on who his best eleven is and how he wants to play. And that means there has to be casualties. There will be players that will now know or start to know that going into this tournament, you will not be a starter for England, because what we have struggled with is, of course, scoring goals. And in terms of scoring goals for me, that comes from having enough attacking players on the pitch. And so this sort of like, you know, repurposing of the word fullback, despite us all knowing very well that fullbacks these days are essentially wingers. If you have a back three or back four, it's all much of a much. It's about having great players on the pitch. And generally, he's definitely a defensive manager and he likes to stay in games. And that has kind of worked for him. But between now and the end of the World Cup, he everyone's going to hammer him anyway, regardless. Right. So he best go out the way that he wants to. And so these are the people that he wants to trust. And so be it. But what I would like to see is that conviction in a lack of, you know, no more experimenting for me. I don't really need I don't need to see it. I don't think he needs to see it. What needs to occur is a very clear understanding of who the best 11 are. So those players themselves can get ready for that, because I think there's enough leadership in there and there's certainly enough talent. And when we talk about that starting 11, there's some big calls to make. As I say, Harry Maguire, should he be involved in all of this? Or despite being so for a very long time, are you moving away from this back three? If you are, then how are you going to do so? I don't think he is with a squad like that. I think he's staying with the back three, if I'm honest. Huge conversation to be had about Calvin Phillips and Jude Bellingham. Calvin Phillips hasn't really put a foot wrong for for England. I mean, yeah, but it's Jude Bellingham. The guy is a superstar, in my opinion, and needs to play. And so you've got to find a way to fit him in the team. You've got Trent and Reece James. You're going to have options. He's shown that he's got options and he's shown he's given all these players enough game time. He has to decide on what he wants to do. The only area where I think there is an allowance for some kind of experimentation is, which is another question you guys put forward to me, which I thought was a good one, was Ivan Tony, the use of Ivan Tony, because I think he I think he could really sneak into this squad. I think he's got a real chance. You know, how many strikers do you want to have? Again, how are you going to play? Because there's enough, you know, there's enough people knocking about. Right. But I think that's the one area, because if Harry Kane gets injured, you have to have another option. And Harry Kane is someone who has regularly got injured in his career. So if we're in a position where he isn't available and we're playing Raheem Sterling up front just because he wants to keep everyone happy, that's where I'll be annoyed. You have to have a striker. You know, I think we're seeing it happen in modern football. And yes, international football is very different. And this is another thing where can Gareth Southgate and his team be brave enough to understand how football evolves? And with that in mind, the difference between being a team that sticks around and stays in a game and a team that goes and wins a game. For me, the difference is a back three and a back four. The Liverpools, the Man Cities, they have to. Yes, you can win cup competitions with a back three because you stay in the game, you stay solid. And maybe that's a concern for us as well. And that's probably what he's maybe he's being realistic. He's going, we've not got a good enough two to play two centre backs despite having amazing fullbacks. And maybe he does use that that Chelsea model where you play three, four, three. And that's how you get those guys higher up the pitch. These are all questions that need to be answered. And he needs to start answering them now. OK, what's got you from A to B won't get you from B to C. And I am more than willing to accept that something doesn't feel right at this moment in time. The expectations are through the roof. OK, so people are going to jump on, you know, any kind of problem. But losing four nil to Hungary is unacceptable. And more importantly, the inability to to make our way through the thirds. I think that comes down to a lack of understanding within the group in terms of how the team is going to play. And that's about it really for me. We're talking about personnel and names and all that stuff. Right. That's just going to go round and round and round. But look at France, for example. And look, OK, yeah, they want to walk up. Actually, they got to the finals in May of 2016. Had a stinker in the last one. But Deschamps makes some, you know, ugly decisions, let's say. You know, Giroud, as much as it's like cool to like him and he is good. That's a brave call that he all sticks with it because he suits the system. And Gérard, Southgate has had a system in place. Is he going to double down, triple down on that? And, you know, when we talk about, say, the Germany game, that was a two nil victory for England, by the way. He said afterwards, he said, I know if I lose this, I'm dead. Whatever, whatever he said. Right. And that will continue. But I think he the worst thing he can do is hesitate now. The worst thing he can do and what he needs is the mason mounts to step up. You know, you understand why he's used. He's an intelligent footballer. Gerard Bowen, are you really up to it? Foden, where have you been? Sterling and Kane seem to score the bulk of the goals for this England team. Where are the other goals? It's I think it's not 50 50. It's more on the manager. It has to be. It has to be. This is a good group of players. And we should be offering a little bit more at this stage. So I think it's weird, isn't it? It's a high pressure last set of games. And there's some really tough ones, obviously, with it being Italy and Germany. So for him to get out of this with everyone being happy with him is feel pretty much impossible when you're playing. You know, the team played in the final in Germany again. But that is really, really tough. But what I want is clarity. That's what I want. That is the big question that I want to come out with, knowing this is how he wants to play. This is his second option of playing. And it hasn't. You know, it feels like it's evolving and there's a there's a strength to it and making those brave decisions with the likes of Tamori and the likes of Bellingham, in my opinion. What do you guys think? We'll we'll save starting elevens for another day. We've got to talk about broad strokes and tactics. I understand people get frustrated with the defensive side of it. I'm kind of getting there as well myself. So what would you like to see in this international break from this England side? Let me know in the comments down below. If you're new to the channel, hit subscribe and hit that notification bell, as I said, because I think it's going to be Wednesday next week. We will be doing the World Cup selector second iteration, having a look at what we did back in March. I think it was and see how the squad has changed from there because there are so many options for them. Right, guys. Thanks a lot. If you enjoyed it, like button. Sorry for it being all over the place. They say.