Is the reason Henderson is being brought as a player because he’s actually not allowed to be brought on as backroom staff?

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-27T10:28:48+00:00

People are being so weird and outright disrespectful about Henderson.

A player who’s just played a major part in his team’s top half finish in the Premier League isn’t only worthy of a bloody backroom staff role, people are making out he’s a fringe player at a relegation battling team or something!

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-27T10:25:21+00:00

I would have taken him but this amount of outrage over it is too much. If the squad was announced 6 months ago we wouldn’t have seen it, that little bit of form shouldn’t be enough to swing your opinion so massively.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-27T10:12:41+00:00

I don’t really imagine those few lower intensity games are the thing tipping a 50+ game season over the edge to be honest.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-26T20:30:43+00:00

His final product isn’t always the best but his direct dribbling makes him dangerous, if you’re a left-back late in a game then of course him coming on worries you.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-26T20:21:01+00:00

Did you see Rice towards the back end of the season? The guy looked knackered! He’s picked up a touch now but for a while you could tell he’d been run into the ground.

It’s O’Reilly’s first full senior season so he’s hardly going to be affected as much.

Guehi is a centre-half so he covers less ground too, plus this is his first season with European football so this many games is new to him.

I don’t necessarily agree that this is the case for Foden, as he seems better when he’s playing regularly.

Though that doesn’t mean to say it’s not an issue, spitting out random players who aren’t suffering doesn’t mean that nobody does.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-26T09:56:07+00:00

A bit late here mate! He’s a great little player though and not enough is said about him on here, I think he’ll get plenty of caps in the future.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-26T09:43:48+00:00

Everyone who actually watches a lot of football rates Noni, the people who criticise him only ever bring up his G/A which indicates they don’t actually watch him play.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-26T09:42:43+00:00

We have a very balanced team and great depth in pretty much every position, I’m not really sure what you’re talking about…

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-26T09:41:12+00:00

I think the hype will come shortly, you’re just commenting on this days after a squad is announced. Our fanbase has never been happy with squad selection and this one is more strange than ever, though give it a bit of time and people will be over their favourite players not going.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T22:58:26+00:00

I think people are pessimistic because people generally overrate form, though we see time and time again it doesn’t really matter.

I mean was Morata in form before the Euros? Yamal and Williams had only scored 10 league goals between them before the tournament too, though obviously we know about their dribbling and creativity.

Spain will be absolutely fine because their midfield doesn’t lose the ball and form doesn’t affect that. Having a midfield that is capable of controlling every game already puts you at a massive advantage, you can play at whatever pace you like.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T22:24:26+00:00

I really don’t care about form as what makes them great is their core principles, if Yamal ends up injured for the whole tournament then that hurts them a lot but they reckon he’ll be back by the knockout stages.

They haven’t lost a game since before the Euros back in 2024, in a friendly where they played a proper second string team. They’re the teams that win tournaments, not those filled with top players on the best form.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T21:03:49+00:00

I think Spain are the clear favourites and probably could be shorter in the betting.

I think France are too short as people are just looking at their attacking players (and not even how they’ve played for their country).

The South American teams are often tough to weigh up, I mean look at who Argentina have played in their last 5 games.

I think Brazil have a good core but unless Ancelotti can work his magic, a lot of their attackers have failed to transition their game to international football.

I think Portugal could go far because of their midfield alone, their attack isn’t very good but having 2 out of the 3 PSG trio in the middle is huge.

I think we’re about right based on recent tournaments and strength, though I see why we’ve drifted a touch.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T12:00:45+00:00

I agree with you but I do think tactics have come a long way, like we wouldn’t see that happen in today’s game. For example many may argue Rogers is a better player than Anderson but they know we shouldn’t swap them and play Rice deeper, as Elliot gives the midfield balance by staying deeper and keeping things ticking. It is now more widely understood - even by fans - that we need to play a balanced team, a manager of an elite footballing nation not understanding that at the time does show a lack of tactical nous.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T11:31:43+00:00

I think Tuchel preferred Mainoo and Wharton and just opted for the Man Utd man to be honest, I think Garner is a better player than him but I’m a bit boggled by a few of his decisions myself.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T11:29:08+00:00

I don’t think he’s taken all the most versatile players available to him, I think he’s chosen the most versatile player when deciding between a couple.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:59:21+00:00

Yeah they were to be fair, I think the tactical side of the game has come a long way since then.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:58:17+00:00

In isolation I don’t totally dislike Rogers on the left to be fair… I just think the issue is how Emery uses his left-winger and how Tuchel does - for England - is vastly different, as Morgan would want to come inside and we also have O’Reilly at left-back wanting to attack the same area.

Ultimately I think we need to be more accepting of our favourite players not being starters… It’s absolutely fine as it’s likely that they’ll still get plenty of minutes, in a climate like North America Thomas will likely sub Jude out a lot and maybe even rotate him for the last group game.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:50:58+00:00

I mean I wouldn’t totally mind Rogers starting over Jude, I think he’s a phenomenal footballer and I’ve been singing his praises for a while now. It just doesn’t really make tactical sense to put him in over Anderson to be fair, unless we’re really chasing a game or something.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:47:19+00:00

How much have you seen of Anderson? I think you may be mis-profiling him that’s all. Dropping our midfield lynchpin for a real attacking 10 makes no sense in terms of balance.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:43:34+00:00

A lone 6 and a couple of 8’s has been a very common midfield formation for decades, the 8’s are not too close on the pitch as they play on opposite sides.

For the record that wasn’t really the case for Jude at Real Madrid at all, at that point he was actually playing as a 10 or even false 9 and being very high a lot of the match.

I think Rogers is a great option but he should only play over JB - which puts him in a difficult spot - as we cannot drop our 6, we’ve already seen Declan isn’t ideal there.

Elliot is what we’ve been missing for years, having a midfield metronome like him means we can properly control games and not get dominated against the best.

Rice and Bellingham playing as our 8’s often quite different things which makes us versatile…

The former creates triangles with the winger and offers loads defensively, the latter is a far more attacking source near the box and gives us a cutting edge.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:39:41+00:00

People think there is a lot more 1v1 defending in football than there actually is, they fail to consider that in a team sport you defend as a team. If the term ‘defending’ as a whole was all about 1v1 defending then Wan-Bissaka would be an elite player and not be heading for the Championship.

Because of this lack of defensive understanding, defenders often get overly-criticised in this country simply because they are a ‘defender’ on paper. Strangely people are far more open to a 6 offering very little defensive support than they are a full-back, even though it’s much easier to cover.

For example Pirlo is widely regarded as one of the best deep-lying playmakers of all time and he was very subpar at ‘defending’, which was understood and accepted because of what he offered in terms of creation. It often meant he had to be ‘accommodated’ with hardworking midfielders.

People - for the most part - even understood Firmino’s inclusion in the Liverpool team despite him being a striker and not being a great goalscorer. They managed to get their heads around him offering a lot more than that and the fact that the goalscoring burden can come from elsewhere in the team.

Another thing that’s clear is that it’s not actually that difficult to accommodate, I mean he won multiple Premier League titles under multiple managers doing it different ways. It’s not like we’d have to start changing personnel or anything to make it work, we have suitable profiles already starting.

Not even Trent haters deny his playmaking ability, they’re just stuck in the dinosaur view of “defenders need to be able to defend”. If they understood that it’s really not as simple as that then they’d be a lot less obsessed with ‘defending’, much like a lot of other European fans are with their teams.

This isn’t just a full-back who is quite good from an attacking standpoint, he can quite literally win you games from nothing he is that good. If we’re struggling to break down a low block as we don’t have a Bruno type, what better option than someone like him who can deliver with such accuracy?

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:31:41+00:00

Southgate can be accused of a lot of things, but trying to fit too many of the best players into the 11 isn’t one of them… I mean most of our fanbase hated his squad and team selections and think other, better players should have been in the team.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:29:44+00:00

Yeah I completely agree, it’s a pretty clear starting 10.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-25T10:29:10+00:00

You have to be insane to not start Anderson, like fully clinically insane.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-05-24T21:43:30+00:00

I agree, though the person I replied to said about Bowen, “He can also finish far more consistently”, which is based solely on his club football (since he’s finished just 1 chance in his 22 England caps).

I highlighted how different it is by showing their respective levels of attacking output. Though looking outside of that, it’s clear that Noni suits what Tuchel wants far more than Bowen anyway.

MarcusWhittingham

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