stattointhailand wrote: ↑June 14, 2018, 8:48 pm
Prediction Time:-
Statts............................................Mat.
Group A 1st Uruguay 2nd Russia............ditto.
Group B 1st Portugal 2nd Spain.............Spain; Portugal.
Group C 1st Peru 2nd Denmark.............France; AUSTRALIA!
Group D 1st Argies 2nd Croatia.............Argentina; Nigeria.
Group E 1st Brazil 2nd Serbia..............Brazil; Serbia.
Group F 1st Germany 2nd Mexico..........Germany; Sth. Korea.
Group G 1st England 2nd Belgium..........Belgian; England.
Group H 1st Columbia 2nd Senegal.........Col
ombia; Japan.
I note both Statts & Zid have refused to take up my, oft repeated, challenge to post the formation and personnel THEY , (NOT Southgate), would choose for the opening game against Tunisia. Of course, that does leave the door open to be critical, or wise, after the event! :-"
So, seems I am the only one prepared to risk 'the slings & arrows....' by placing before you, my pearls of footballing wisdom!
One disclaimer I wish to make is that I have been restricted in my selection by the fact that Southgate has demonstrated, by both his actions and words, the bastion of the England teams performance, will be built around a back three formation. Were that position otherwise, my choices, both as to formation and personnel, would have been somewhat different.
From the outset, I omitted
Young; Cahill; Alli; Henderson; Sterlings & Welbeck, as candidates for inclusion in the starting eleven. The short explanation for my decision, in each case, is that I considered there were available challengers in the squad, whose 'time had arrived' to be given an opportunity over older players on the wane; others who possessed greater footballing skills than those omitted and others that could be relied upon to commit 100% , both physically and mentally, to the team; and even some among those I have selected who could be said to fulfill all these criteria.
My decisions to omit Jones; Trent-Arnold; Dier & Loftus-Cheek, were not made easily; but the last three named have their whole careers before them, and may yet get the opportunity to prove me wrong during this current World Cup.
MY Selection. Formation will comprise Goalkeeper; Back Three; A midfield of three, flanked on each side by wing backs and, up front two strikers, working in harness and supporting each other.
A GoalKeeper: Trippier, Stones & Maguire; Walker, Lingard, Delph, Rashford, Rose; Vardy & Kane.
The Bench:To include a Goalkeeper, Cahill, Dier, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling,Alli & Trent-Arnold.
Of course, Southgate's selection will bear not the remotest resemblance to mine, but I bet I have had more fun doing this than has he; plus I don't have the need or responsibility to be right!
to the current EPL thread!](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
