England World Cup squad

[WaspInWales]

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Kyle Walker, John Stones (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Jones, Ashley Young (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Eric Dier, Dele Alli (both Tottenham Hotspur), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).

Forwards: Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) Harry Kane (Tottenham).

Standby: Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski (Burnley), Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Jake Livermore (West Brom) and Adam Lallana (Liverpool).

I dare say that is a fairly decent squad. There's a good attack, although I'm surprised Welbeck is there. Midfield so-so, I'm not a huge fan of Delph or Young, but both have impressed this season, and the latter has switched to full back. Defence, especially centre backs, as always is our weakest link. Stones will no doubt have one or two costly brainfarts. Have to hope whoever is between the sticks has a stormer.

Well done for dropping Hart and Wilshere.

This is Kane's chance to produce the goods for England. Superb club player with an amazing scoring record for club at domestic and European league level, but still a bit meh in an England shirt. Alli too, needs to put in the kind of performances he does for Spurs. Sterling has improved for England in recent games, but he needs to stay on his feet instead of looking for free kicks and penalties.

Is it too soon to predict them winning the final against Germany 5-1?

Knockout stage has to be the realistic target. There's probably at least 10 teams which are better than us, and only one of those are in our group so round of 16 has got to be doable.

If this lot fail to get out of the group, I will forever switch allegiance to Wales

[Stom]

You're right, it is a decent squad.

However, I do feel that Gareth hasn't quite got it right in terms of Englishness...And I actually mean that.

Traditionally, England have always had "runners" in midfield. Players who are tactically ok, physically excellent and technically crap. We often have a few exceptions, but the majority are not who you would claim are playmakers. This year isn't just no exception, it's almost like satire. We have a midfield of Henderson, a converted CB, two fullbacks, an injury prone inexperienced (albeit technically good) bulldozer, and Jesse Lingard.

So why are we playing possession football?

For me, this England team seem perfect to play a particular brand of heavy metal football that's coming out of the North West...And I don't mean Allardici.

Workmanlike midfielders and inside forwards with pace and trickery. Press high and heavy, and get forward with pace. We've got the players for it, and the majority of the team comes from either Liverpool or Spurs, so they're going to be attuned to it.

With the current team, we lack creativity in midfield and play at a pace that means we don't take advantage of the transitions. And as Mou would say, it's the transitions that win you matches.

TL;DR: Klopp is more English than Gareth.

[Galfon]

True -top tournament teams have strong and adaptable midfields.This squad's m/f looks 'honest' at best so will require massive contributions from the other areas.