England.
As Gareth Southgate announces his first post World Cup squad yet again an England manager comes in saying one thing and pretty much does the exact opposite.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, England got to that World Cup semi final despite Southgtae not due to him and this squad just carries that on.
Every time it’s the same, the new England manager says he’ll only pick players who are playing, in form and not injured and every time they end up picking their favourites who are injured, out of form and not playing.
Gareth Southgate said We’ve tried to pick players who are playing regularly
. Well, going by this squad and the WC squad he’s not trying very hard. All the focus is on Luke Shaw being recalled but at least he’s actually appeared on a football pitch this season and he’s not exactly been responsible for the six goals United have shipped over their last two games.
Others though… well… here’s four names and the minutes they’ve played so far this season in the league.
Adam Lallana… 3
Ruben Loftus-Cheek… 22
Fabian Delph… 0
Danny Welbeck… 15.
Oh but Gareth thinks it’s due to them coming back from the WC late. Well, Lallana didn’t go because he’s barely played for an age now and has managed just the three minutes so far. Loftus-Cheek isn’t playing because Chelsea bought a new midfielder and are using others rather than him including Barkely who has featured in all three league games, playing 137 minutes.
Delph, City have their left-back back so he won’t be playing there and so where else is he going to feature, while the likes of Sane aren’t even getting much game time. Welbeck, do me a favour. Someone pointed out he’ll shortly have more England caps than league goals if it carries on like this.
Jadon Sancho’s team, Dortmund, have only had one league game so far and he’s only played for 13 minutes of it, though he got an assist, but surely his inclusion would have been better than any of the above. The same with Ryan Sessegnon, who hasn’t shone in the Premier like he did in the Championship, but he’s only three games into it, playing in all three, two complete games.
And you know Southgate is desperate to get Joe Hart back in the fold…