He’s had a bit of a shocking one here. I definitely would not love to be caught red handed saying one thing and doing another by the panel of ‘Have I Got News For You’.

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Here's the England squad then!



Anybody got axes to grind or does that look about right?

It’s about right, gonna struggle to see how Southgate will cope with another exciting attacking player like Maddison.
I’m sure he’ll stifle his positive ideas quickly like he has the rest and turn him into the rest of the turgid players.
And can you imagine Dier and Maguire as a central defence partnership???!!! God help us!
Team for first game?

Pickford
Trippier
Stones
Coady
White
Rice
Phillips
Foden
Maddison
Sterling
Kane

Thoughts??

Southgate pretty much picked the squad that I thought he would. The only slight surprises are that he didn't pick Tomori from AC Milan and Abraham from Roma. Leaving out Sancho makes complete sense, he's been underwhelming since joining Man Utd. The problem will be trying to get players that play in attacking 4-3-3 formations for their clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City, to play in a more defensive 3-4-3 formation like Chelsea and Spurs. But given that he got to the Euros final and the World Cup semis playing that way, then I'm sure Gareth knows what he's doing and it'll at least lead to getting to the quarter finals. Deschamps plays with a similarly safety first approach and it won him a World Cup, so with a bit of luck it might work for Southgate too.

I think he'll pick this team for his first game: (3-4-3) Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Rice, Bellingham, Shaw; Saka, Kane, Sterling.

Personally, given the players in the squad, their previous performances for England and their current club form, I'd pick this team for the Iran match: (4-3-3) Ramsdale; Walker, White, Stones, Trippier; Rice, Bellingham, Maddison; Saka, Kane, Foden.

Mount, Grealish, Rashford and Sterling are good options from the bench if a goal is needed, but qualifying from the group stage shouldn't be that difficult regardless of what starting eleven he picks or what subs he makes.

As long as they play attractive football and get plenty of protesting done I’m good with any 11

Three at the back does seem overly cautious for the group stage, but wasn't it always the thing that he didn't trust his centre halves to play in a back four?

Maybe a midfield three of Rice, Phillips and Bellingham would compensate for the extra man at the back?

If so Pickford, Walker (RB), Trippier (LB), Maguire, Stones; Rice, Phillips, Bellingham; Sterling, Foden, Kane seems like the sort of 4-3-3 Southgate would pick.

simple as

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Everyone always going on about World in Motion but the real heads know.



Anyway, where's our official Qatar 2022 anthem??

For the life of me I can’t find Ben Dover’s “England Expects” anywhere. If anyone can then please insert video here.

On my search I did find a “comedy” album from someone who calls themselves Ben Dover also.



Oh and this promo piece for the original Ben Dover’s smash hit.