Tag Archives: England

England reinforce their Spursy tag and fall at last hurdle

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Well last night went how most of us predicted. It was all a little Spursy.

Hopefully by the end of this week, Gareth Southgate has done the right thing and announces he is stepping down to allow someone new to take over this England time.

it is quite clear that this England team has outgrown their defensive manager. No longer should we be looking to scrape through tournaments, beating lowly ranked teams, to then go out to our only decent opponent. Southgate is unable to get the best out of the attacking riches we have available.

Let him graciously step aside. Thank him and wish him well. then we move on.

As for the game being on a Sunday night, this is a disgrace. The game so late last night ended up losing its lack of community.

Everyone had been hanging around all day waiting for kick of. By the time the game started, everyone was lethargic, kids were falling asleep, and wives were looking at their watches itching to go home. Finals should be held on a Saturday.

Apparently, it was held so late last night due to the “American and Asian market”. But this was the EUROPEAN Championships. You do not get Eurovision held late on a Sunday.

And one big reason the NFL has never really taken across around Europe is because the Super Bowl is held so late on a Sunday. No one wants to be watching a major sporting event at a time when they want to be unwinding from a weekend and preparing for a week at work.

With both the Euro’s and Copa America now over, we turn our full focus back on The Arsenal.

Our first proper friendly is in 10-days against Bournemouth on some field in America. it will be interesting to see what sort of squad we send out.

After an international tournament, we usually see players get around 3-weeks off. By the time we play Bournemouth, everyone except for our English, Spanish and French contingent would have had at least 20-days off.

Ramsdale, Raya, Saliba, Rice, and Saka are our only players who were still involved in International football beyond 6 July.

For Bournemouth, I expect the team to be all those who did not travel to Germany or America for their countries, whilst Manchester United might see cameos from some of those who were knocked out early or saw little game time.

The Liverpool match is probably the game where every bar the 6 mentioned above will see some action. That would have given most of the squad their 3 week break and a weeks training.

It will not be until the friendlies in London that we see the likes of Saka and Rice. they will be given a proper rest with Mikel Arteta knowing he has a long season ahead.

One thing that is always interesting about these pre-season tournaments is the balance between Arteta wanting to give his players a rest, and the pressure from above for him to play his best players due to the money involved. There will be a lot of unhappy Yanks who have paid a lot of money if they do not get to see Saka, Martinelli, Rice, etc.

This week I expect to see us begin confirming departures. That then frees up the squad places for us to make some signings.

Have a good Monday!

Keenos

Saka left back for England

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After the dismal bore draw against Slovenia, Ian Wright floated the idea of Bukayo Saka being moved to left back. This idea has been derided by many. But is it really as crazy as it seems?

A lot of (mainly Arsenal fans), gave Wrighty some abuse for his suggestion. They saw his comments as both a slant on Saka’s form and that Wright would be sacrificing the Arsenal man to et Cole Palmer into the team. Neither of these are true.

A major issue for England this tournament is the team has lacked balance.

Take way that Southgate is playing the wrong formation (he should go 4141) and tactics (why play so defensive minded when we have so many great attackers?), the left hand side has been one of England’s biggest problems.

Kieran Trippier was lucky to make the squad.

He had an average season for Newcastle United, which led to many Geordies calling for him to be dropped. At 33-years-old, his decline this season has been rapid. Were it not for Ben White’s falling out and Reece James’ injury, I do not think Trippier would have been in Southgate’s final squad.

The former Spurs and Burnley player is also not a left back. A quick search of Transfermarkt shows that he ha splayed just one game domestically in that position – a League Cup tie against Barnsley back in 2017.

Trippier offers nothing going forward on that left hand side. He does not use his left foot, does not even pretend to go down the outside and does not hug the touchline. It makes England very narrow and predictable.

Ahead of him, you have Phil Foden.

Foden is a fantastic player. You do not win Premier League Player of the Year being average. But he is best suited centrally, either as the sole 10 or on the right hand side of a pair of 8s.

When Foden plays on that left hand side, he always looks to come inside to get more involved. He is just not your typical “chalk on the boots” winger.

Trippier not being able to play on the outside and Foden looking to come inside all the time has made our left wing almost non-existent. we are basically playing in just 70% of the pitch, which in turn allows teams to defend narrower and restrict our space.

Southgate needs to get width into the team.

He could play Saka on the left wing, but like Foden he will probably look to drop inside to be more involved. The solution therefore could be to move Saka to left back.

Often during his youth career, Saka would play at left back. And when he first broke into the first team, he was utilised both at left back and left wing back. I must say that these were emergency cases and the club always saw him as an attacking player.

Whilst you might lose some of Saka’s attacking contributions on the right hand side, you gain by having a natural left footer at left back. Someone that has the discipline and game awareness to provide width, get chalk on his boots, and make those runs in behind Foden.

It might not be a long-term solution as better teams will look to exploit Saka’s defensive weakness, however against Slovakia this has to be an option.

Slovakia are unlikely to attack us much, so doubling up with Foden and Saka on the left hand side could turn it into a strength.

Southgate then has the option of either Cole Palmer or Jarrod Bowen on the right hand side – whilst they might not be at our mans level, they can both certainly do a decent enough job on that wing.

In my view, you gain more upgrading from Trippier to Saka at left back, then you lose from downgrading from Saka to Palmer/Bowen on the right wing.

Wrighty’s (and mine) comments should not be seen as disrespect for Saka. it is not him being pushed back into defence due to his form. It is a compliment to the young mans versatility that he should be a genuine option there. And sometimes as a player you need to make a sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

Over the years I think of Thierry Henry playing left wing for France, Sergio Ramos playing right back for Spain, Javier Mascherano playing centre back for Barcelona and many others who have been pushed out of their natural position to do a job elsewhere.

I would be surprised if Southgate does select Saka at left back. the knock out stages of an international tournament is not really the time or place to be experimenting. But we can also not keep going with Trippier when he offers so little in attacking positions.

Enjoy your Thursday. Cricket starts at 15:30. Hopefully we smash the Indians!

Keenos

Maddison, Jones and Quansah out – who will be next to be cut?

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A lunchtime read from me today as work has got a bit on top.

There is pretty much no Arsenal news floating about. The only thing really happening today is players leaving the England squad.

Liverpool’s Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah have both been cut. This should not be a surprise. The feeling was always they had been called up to train with the senior team with an eye on life beyond the Euro’s. I do not think anyone could make a case for either to be selected ahead of any player still in.

Then we have James Maddison.

The Spurs player has reportedly stormed out of the camp after being told he will not be going to Germany. “Madders” turns 28-years-oldin November, so you have to think this will be the end of a short England career, that saw him win just 7 England caps.

I always remember Leicester City fans saying that there are 3 James Maddison’s: The one that will be World Class for 1/3 of the season; The one that will be injured for 1/3 of the season; The one that will be average for 1/3 of the season.

He started off this years campaign in fine form. Then got injured. And was poor on returning from injury as Tottenham collapsed. And during this time he was overtaken in the pecking order by others.

You have Cole Palmer with his breakthrough season. And Eberechi Eze who finished the season strongly. Throw in Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham, Gareth Southgate has an embarrassment of riches who play in Maddison’s position.

Some will make the argument that Maddison should be in the squad ahead of Conor Gallagher, but this ignores the fact that they play different positons.

Gallagher plays a bit deeper and is an option to play alongside Declan Rice if Southgate opts to go 4231. Maddison can not play as part of a midfield 2.

The option for Southgate was therefore Jack Grealish or James Maddison – and it should not be a surprise he has stuck with Grealish.

In other news, the Manchester City story continues to roll on.

I am keeping my powder dry with it all is there is a lot of mud slinging and mistruths from fans. On one hand you have (foreign) City fans saying they want their management to destroy the Premier League, and acting like they have in depth knowledge of both their lawyers and the rules and regulations. On the other you have equally as uneducated fans throwing all sorts of accusations at City.

What we know is City face 115 charges, and at the same time they have decided to take the Premier League to court over rules which they deem break UK competition law. It will be interesting to see how this all ends.

Lunch is over. I need to get back to work. Have a good Thursdsay.

Keenos