North Macedonia v England: Score Predictions & Match Thread

[Chimpimp]

This is a ridiculous argument - which is essentially - if Southgate picks a player he must be the best available full stop and there's no point debating it- and then basing it on over the top reading of one game in which Maguire made a terrible mistake in possession to justify he's the best in possession. If he's making mistakes / can't hack it in games like Copenhagen, Scotland, North Macedonia (and getting away with the latter) it stands to reason there's a mistake in him when he's against France/Germany/Spain in an England team that tends to create little (and often has less of the ball) when we play Europe's elite still. He might be alright on the ball, but he is also ponderous, slow, not good in a high line, has a mistake in him in a team that can ill afford them, and has maintained a place out of sheer loyalty even when not playing for his club.

The argument that qualified people pick him so therefore they are right then falls down seeing as Erik Ten Hag jettisoned him to play a left back centre back for a while... before injuries he was basically their 5th choice centre back. So how would you reconcile an argument solely based on he gets picked so he's the best with him not being picked and an English left back playing ahead of him?

Perhaps Ten Hag wishes he needed Maguire's passing skills to make Kane and Bellingham thrive....

...but I think he has different priorities?

 

[Rasenimp]

Perhaps Ten Hag wishes he needed Maguire's passing skills to make Kane and Bellingham thrive....

...but I think he has different priorities?

Think this would be a faintly ridiculous reading of manchester united seeing as they signed a keeper who's good with his feet rather than seemingly goalkeeping.

 

[Bucksimp]

Quite the contrary. AI is designed to pick up the rubbish people have already created and allow others to regurgitate as their own.

When I see it - I ask myself why highly intelligent and qualified people are doing something the layman in the pub thinks is mad.

Its usually because the intelligent, qualified person knows best.

Or at least that's the conclusion I come to.

UTI.

It's good to know you only regurgitate your own rubbish Chimp.

Only kidding mate, no offence, it's good that you always seem to take a contrary view and provoke some debate.
You should have been in the original Monty Python argument sketch.

Don 't forget there's one definition of madness that entails repeating exactly the same thing each time but expecting a different outcome. Even by qualified people.

UTI

 

[sedgleyimp]

With the squad we have at our disposal, we should have won Euro 2020 or 2022 World Cup.

Really??
Most Premier League clubs have 1 or 2 English qualified players. You think we have better players in all positions than the French, Spanish, Belgians, Argentinians to name a few. English World Class players at the moment are Bellingham, Kane and possibly Saka. That's it.

 

[Rasenimp]

Really??
Most Premier League clubs have 1 or 2 English qualified players. You think we have better players in all positions than the French, Spanish, Belgians, Argentinians to name a few. English World Class players at the moment are Bellingham, Kane and possibly Saka. That's it.

I think we have a better squad than all the European teams bar France - definitely better than the Spanish or Belgians. If you look at the recent Spanish teams the front three would struggle to get into our squads yet alone start and Belgium have precious little depth. If that's your yard stick of world class players above, I'd say Belgium only have KDB (who has been long term injured) and Spain only have Rodri.

We've had issues at centre half but otherwise we do have loads of flipping good players. I think you could make cases for the likes of Stones and Walker being pretty high in their respective positions world wide and certainly in Europe. The best club side in the world regularly fields them + one at least one of Foden and Grealish and has an English kid now regularly getting minutes. Quality of players was a decent argument through a lot of the 10s but these aren't the days of Welbeck and Carroll now, we have loads of good players and have been excellent through the younger age groups for quite a while.

 

[cdhIMP]

Really??
Most Premier League clubs have 1 or 2 English qualified players. You think we have better players in all positions than the French, Spanish, Belgians, Argentinians to name a few. English World Class players at the moment are Bellingham, Kane and possibly Saka. That's it.

I don't think we have better players in every position but I do think we have more world class players than most if not all the other international teams.

What about Rice, Walker, Stones?

Along with the three you have mentioned, we have 6 out of a starting 11 that are either the best in their position or in the top three/five in the world in their position. Name another national side with that quality at their disposal?

Mbappe, Saliba - France
Messi, Enzo, Alvarez - Argentina
KDB - Belgium
Gavi, Rodri - Spain
Alisson/Ederson, Neymar - Brazil

We are seriously underachieving.

 

[Chimpimp]

It's good to know you only regurgitate your own rubbish Chimp.

Only kidding mate, no offence, it's good that you always seem to take a contrary view and provoke some debate.
You should have been in the original Monty Python argument sketch.

Don 't forget there's one definition of madness that entails repeating exactly the same thing each time but expecting a different outcome. Even by qualified people.

UTI

I am not sure I can agree with that there

 

[plumbob]

7/2 England or 4/1 France. I know which is a better value bet.
We have some very good players and some bang ordinary ones in the squad. All directed by an ordinary manager.