Mon 15 Jul 2024
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England had the third youngest squad in Germany, so there need not be major surgery.
But there is a World Cup less than two years away and who knows who England’s manager will be then.
The team is picked in a 4-2-3-1 formation, although the 3-4-2-1 that closed out Euro 2024 is clearly a possibility.
It’s coming ho… oh just bloody stop it…
Things could change if Dean Henderson progresses at Crystal Palace or Aaron Ramsdale leaves Arsenal this summer, but Pickford has done nothing wrong. At 32, he will still be peak age in 2026. The distribution is a slight worry, but then none of the other options excel in this area either. It is perfectly feasible that Pickford reaches 100 caps, which would be a mammoth achievement.
Kyle Walker is highly unlikely to play in a major tournament at the age of 36, which leaves a place free for any one of a number of right-backs. That could include Reece James, if he stays fit, or Archie Gray if he kicks on at Tottenham (and plays at full-back rather than in central midfield). But, for now, Alexander-Arnold deserves a chance to make this position his own. The central midfield experiment is surely over.
With three of the defenders changing, with there being precious little competition for the place and with Shaw still only 28 despite being around forever (he was in an England major tournament squad with Rickie Lambert and Frank Lampard), in he stays. Shaw has barely ever let England down and, just so long as the injury problems cease, he will be the senior member of the back four.
Guehi filled in excellently to cover for Harry Maguire’s absence, and with it may come a move into the starting XI for the World Cup. John Stones’ position is safe for now – and he is only 30 – but there must be a chance that he loses his position to a new model at Manchester City between now and then. That might give a new manager the chance to bring through Guehi, who is still only 24. He earned the faith during this tournament.
If we reason that Maguire will not be first choice at the age of 33, despite his Manchester United renaissance, it might be because he loses his place at club level to Branthwaite. United have made three bids for the Everton central defender. Complete the move this summer or next, and subsequently cope with the pressure, and Branthwaite will rival Levi Colwill for the left-sided centre-back role.
One of the toughest calls in this team, because the alternative option is to pick Adam Wharton as the defensive midfielder and allow Rice higher up the pitch, better replicating his current Arsenal role. But with most of the first-choice back four changing over the next tournament cycle, it makes sense to keep some consistency here. So Rice protects the defence and Wharton is (hopefully) an excellent backup.
I understood the argument for bringing Bellingham deeper in Germany, but what England were crying out for was a young, hungry midfielder happy to receive the ball under pressure and recycle it while offering further energy in the press. Manchester United have dulled the star quality of an array of signings and academy graduates, but if Mainoo can avoid that same pitfalls he looks the perfect long-term partner for Rice.
Bellingham has only just turned 21 and has played more than 250 senior games; this is a problem. Real Madrid have signed Kylian Mbappe which may see Bellingham moved deeper with less responsibility to score goals; this is a factor when selecting this XI. But I think a Bellingham with the freedom to roam is a deeply beautiful thing and so that’s exactly what I’m doing.
England’s best attacking player at Euro 2024 and their official Player of the Year in 2023 and 2022, Saka also coped with switching to a new role mid-tournament and promptly saved England’s skins by scoring the equaliser against Switzerland. As with Bellingham, he’s played nearly 300 senior games before turning 23, which is definitely a concern. But Saka deserves to have that right side nailed unless something dramatic happens.
It’s amazing how few changes there are to an attack that largely failed to fire in Germany, but I don’t know how you drop Foden if he continues his current trajectory (and yes, there is a Lampard-Gerrard-style dilemma building with him and Bellingham). Having Shaw as the natural left-back should allow him to overlap and Foden to drift centrally, dovetailing/swapping positions with Bellingham.
Kane will be 32 and this tournament raised doubts about his ability to flourish in a team with a collection of attacking midfielders who want to occupy the same space. But Kane will score a stupid number of goals (and eventually win trophies) if he stays at Bayern Munich and there is simply nobody else who is a better finisher. We’re more than happy to have others – Watkins, Toney, Rashford – knocking on the door, but can’t see them shifting Kane just yet.
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