Leaked England Team

As expected pretty much. I think the only question mark was Foden for Saka.

Personally I think it's too negative, especially given we have Mount, Grealish, Foden all sitting on the bench.

I'd like to have seen...

....................Pickford

Walker...Stones...Maguire...Tripper

..............Mount...Phillips

.........Saka...Foden...Grealish

.......................Kane
 
Very disappointed if that is the team.
Walker has proved time and time again that he simply does not have the positional awareness to play in a back 3.
 
Humpty said:
No problems with that team. It's going to be a tight game. Germany keep possession well. Makes sense to go like for like. Sit Phillips on Kroos and try and get Saka and Sterling attacking the channels outside of Hummels.
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Hummels definitely needs to be targeted with pace.
 
Just as expected. 3 CBs (as he doesn't trust 2) and 2 holding CMs.

It really doesn't give is much going the other way.

I would happily 1-0 our way to winning it. It's just gonna be a bit boring and with the players we have I don't know why😕. If we never let the handbrake off in the group stages we definitely won't in the knockouts.
 
My two penneth for what it's worth, I can see why we go with 5 and the two holding, this will always be the mindset for Gareth in a big game because of the way Croatia tore the midfield apart in the WC semi.

I would start Foden everyday, he just holds on to the ball so well. I can see why Saka is starting after his performance against the Czech Republic, but I worry about his ability to hold on to the ball and the spped the Germans can counter attack this could be our undoing.

Hopefully we will start on the front foot like we did against both Croatia and the Czechs, but keep it going for the full 90 minutes, if we do then we have enough to win this game.
 
Well if that is the team, Southgate will have no hiding place if we lose. Deschamps did the exact same thing in matching up the mighty Swiss yesterday and it didn't work. Guardiola tried something new and unusual in the CL Final and it didn't work, whereas Tuchel stuck with the tried and tested and took home the European Cup.

To me it makes no sense to play 5 games in a month with a back 4, keep 5 clean sheets and then move to a back 5 at the first sign of trouble. It smacks of cowardice and basically means we need to be better than the Germans at their own game. I'd much rather we had let their wing backs worry about our pace out wide and get them on the back foot.

At the end of the day, Southgate will live and die by his choices and I truly hope this selection, if true, works for him.
 
That team is fine, providing we can keep it 0-0 till halftime and then bring the subs on, albeit the chance of this isn't high imo.

The problem is, that team is unlikely (not saying it won't, I'm saying unlikely) to be able to get ahead and stay ahead, and if we end up chasing, then we're knackered.

Looks a bit handicapped to me.

We're one of few teams who have plenty of attacking talent, as their strength, yet we play a way suited to our weaknesess.

It would be like boro playing attacking a few years back, when we had a strong defence, but zero creativity, it's the wrong way around. It was like France yesterday, for the first half, they played a way that did not suit their squad structure and as soon as they changed it they battered the Swiss. The only reason they conceded (and ultimately lost) is they got extremely arrogant and complacent.

Don't play defensive when you need two holding mids (neither who are our top 5 players), and have a back three which is error-prone. Especially against a team that is slow at the back, and error-prone themselves.

I think we should be trying to attack teams, forcing them to be defensive, seems a bit of an easy way out doing it the opposite way to this.

The only saving grace is that Germany are not great, and probably a weaker side than us, so we may still scrape it. We also have home advantage.

A loss isn't an option here.

If we do manage to keep it tight, then bringing on Foden and Grealish, among others could work out really well second half, but we don't want to be doing that from a losing position, as Germany will just sit back and absorb everything we have.
 
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WilliamMunny said:
Well if that is the team, Southgate will have no hiding place if we lose. Deschamps did the exact same thing in matching up the mighty Swiss yesterday and it didn't work. Guardiola tried something new and unusual in the CL Final and it didn't work, whereas Tuchel stuck with the tried and tested and took home the European Cup.

To me it makes no sense to play 5 games in a month with a back 4, keep 5 clean sheets and then move to a back 5 at the first sign of trouble. It smacks of cowardice and basically means we need to be better than the Germans at their own game. I'd much rather we had let their wing backs worry about our pace out wide and get them on the back foot.

At the end of the day, Southgate will live and die by his choices and I truly hope this selection, if true, works for him.
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I suppose playing devils advocate, looking at the example you use of the Champions league final, Chelsea won playing a conservative 3 4 3 whilst Man City played in a cavalier way and lost.
As a fan I'd always go as attacking as possible, but like most fans I'm quite often wrong.
 
The Card Cheat said:
I suppose playing devils advocate, looking at the example you use of the Champions league final, Chelsea won playing a conservative 3 4 3 whilst Man City played in a cavalier way and lost.
As a fan I'd always go as attacking as possible, but like most fans I'm quite often wrong.
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I suppose defence/ holding mid was Chelsea's strength though, so they were at least playing to their better areas. Trading punches with City would be extremely risky, and one which very few can risk doing.

We should be able to trade punches with Germany, it should be our goal to do that, as we should be the much harder hitter if we actually tried swinging.
 
I expected the formation and that back five.

I didn’t expect mount to play due to the isolation. I also thought Henderson may come back in because he played 45 minutes.

I expected Foden might get his place over Saka but no complaints. Saka was excellent and his pace and direct play is not a bad idea against that slow German defence.

If Mount is playing, I think he’s going to need to have a hell of a game in the middle of the park to really set up our attacking play, along with the wing backs from the 5. I thought he went missing a bit in the games he’s played so far, so this is the game where he really needs to step it up.
 
WilliamMunny said:
Well if that is the team, Southgate will have no hiding place if we lose. Deschamps did the exact same thing in matching up the mighty Swiss yesterday and it didn't work. Guardiola tried something new and unusual in the CL Final and it didn't work, whereas Tuchel stuck with the tried and tested and took home the European Cup.

To me it makes no sense to play 5 games in a month with a back 4, keep 5 clean sheets and then move to a back 5 at the first sign of trouble. It smacks of cowardice and basically means we need to be better than the Germans at their own game. I'd much rather we had let their wing backs worry about our pace out wide and get them on the back foot.

At the end of the day, Southgate will live and die by his choices and I truly hope this selection, if true, works for him.
Click to expand...
Well Scotland played 3 at the back and we struggled to get a proper foothold, a change in formation could help tactically in that regard

germany formation slightly different to Scotland but might be trying to relive the pressure in the middles with Walker/magurie carrying the ball forward

can’t get on board that it doesn’t make sense, I can see the logic, but I wouldn’t have changed it personally
 
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