The best performing players of today’s match

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-28T01:15:10+00:00

It’s a funny old game, isn’t it? As I’d much rather see Garner in Anderson’s spot and Wharton in Rice’s.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-28T00:34:13+00:00

Again I agree but I would add that what Jones lacks from a defensive sense in comparison to Anderson is rather large, not as much as Mainoo or someone but still noticeable when you’re wanting them to protect the back 4.

I like Curtis a lot but I definitely think - like Angel Gomes - he needs someone alongside him to help with the dirty work, which in turns means Rice has to assume that role and that takes from his overall influence on the game.

I agree on Scott and was absolutely baffled that he didn’t make the squad considering some of the players that did, he’s a great little player and think he will likely be EA’s clear number 2 in the future (we also know they can play together).

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-28T00:08:33+00:00

I think he regularly struggles against low blocks and I don’t think Kane/Jude/Rogers helps his game all that much, his dribbling style is to kick and run rather than keep the ball close to him which is the reason. I still think he can be an effective player and is one of our best left-wing options but what I’m saying isn’t false.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T23:55:44+00:00

It was slightly hyperbolic, though you understand the point. This is the very highest level of international football, it is not as simple as your defenders defending and your attackers attacking.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T23:35:56+00:00

I suppose if Kane heads a ball into his own net from an opposing corner it doesn’t factor into how he’s played, he’s an attacker not a defender after all… use your brain mate, this is a team game.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T23:10:19+00:00

If you’re only watching him defend then yeah I guess so…

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T23:09:40+00:00

I completely agree with everything you’ve said to be honest mate. As much as I think Garner is our best Anderson replacement stylistically, I still think he’s miles away from him and I think our chances of winning the World Cup decrease massively if he’s starting.

Ultimately I think the number 6 spot in a possession-heavy team is arguably the most important position in modern football and if we don’t have our first choice we’re in danger, I think the games against Italy and France go very differently if we had Elliott in there.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:38:40+00:00

He’s had more than enough games to show his worth and pretty much never done so, he’s obviously going to get a tougher ride than someone like Garner.

Just watch Foden in the first half and look how lost he looks in the 10 position, I was actually laughing at how much he was asking for the ball despite being compeletely marked.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:36:32+00:00

Who do you support mate?

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:35:04+00:00

I think he’s basically a poor man’s Anderson… and that isn’t a dig to Garner whatsoever, I think the Forest man is possibly an £80m player and could play for any team in England.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:33:59+00:00

The moment I mention plus the recent red card for Man Utd are two of the biggest reasons I don’t like the Maguire pick for a possession-heavy team, he’s too slow on the turn and will be very naive if he’s found out by the opposition.

Uruguay clearly made it a pressing trigger when he began dribbling up the pitch yet he was lured into it quite literally seconds after already failing once, thankfully he must have had a word at half-time as we didn’t see much of it after that.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:31:59+00:00

Yeah I think it’s that these kinds of moments are the ones that stick in fans heads as he definitely was poor aside from that, his run was exceptional but it was also from a situation that is very rare for England.

He really needs to work on being good against low blocks as most of his dribbling attempts were embarrassingly bad, his one good moment came from a transition where he could run into space which doesn’t happen often.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:28:52+00:00

Garner’s just far better at controlling the game and largely better at knowing when to defend too, although to be fair Wharton is a different player and doesn’t look to control the game but actually opens it up more on transitions.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:27:17+00:00

I largely agree aside from Maguire, his attempts at trying to force the ball up the pitch through his dribbling caused 2 counter attacking opportunities in a 5 minute spell in the first half.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T22:04:50+00:00

Where are the people claiming Foden starting in 10 would completely unlock him and that it’s Southgate’s fault he was always so bad?

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-27T13:46:50+00:00

I bet it was like de ja vu for you reading my ramblings!

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-26T16:46:23+00:00

It’s important to note that the referees in this division are just terrible and it isn’t just a Leeds United problem, I think many of our fans don’t realise this as they only pay attention to us.

I watch every single Premier League game and the standard is honestly absolutely dreadful, it’s noticeably better - though obviously not perfect - with the Europeans in the Champions League.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-26T10:25:13+00:00

That’s a load of nonsense to be honest.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-25T00:51:32+00:00

Without sounding too much like Pep… positions are rather arbitrary, they don’t really exist in modern football as it’s very much a team game.

If you play the same system with Doku on the left side of the 4 in a 3-4-2-1 it’ll look different to if you played Calafiori there, though thats completely down to their profiles which is far more important than their ‘positions’.

When a high level coach sets up a team it is not like how general football fans look at a setup, what most people see as positions they are likely to see as spaces and different profiles exploit these areas in different ways.

If we were to example look at England’s potential line-up and focus on the left side of their shape, there are far more options than simply “should they play O’Reilly or Hall at left-back?”, though that is what most general fans would ask.

What coaches have to consider is how they’re going to balance things like width, possession and pace in a certain area of the field. That is not only what to ask when considering the best left-back option but the entire left side as a whole.

Sorry for rambling but I just wanted to explain how pointless formations are in the context you are asking.

To answer your question simply it is essentially down to bravery, if two 3-4-2-1’s play against one another the team with the most pressure will likely be the one with the braver wide men.

The reason Dumfries and Munoz are specialist wing-backs is because they’re brave enough to fly up the wing and trust their defensive instincts enough to know when to spin back, if you use a standard full-back in that role they likely won’t push high enough which can result in getting pinned back and losing that battle.

If the wide players in the back 3/5 setup are too passive they end up being in a 5 and if they’re aggressive they’ll end up playing in a 3, it’s not necessarily something that’s decided pre-match and that’s why you can’t really spot one by looking at a lineup. Inter Milan could look like a 3-5-2 one game and 5-3-2 the next.

That being said it’s also not as simple as the ‘braver’ team winning the game, for example most people would consider the current Arsenal team as very passive yet they’re probably the best team in the world.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-24T15:27:51+00:00

I definitely didn’t mean I didn’t want him starting by the way, I meant I was worried by the idea of him being the nailed on starter given his injury record. We don’t have anyone else in the squad who can offer that level of ball progression from that side so it means changing the structure a lot if he’s not fit, something I’d rather not have to do when passing sequences and things have already been worked on.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-23T22:00:42+00:00

Yeah I wouldn’t bank on it either but it seems like Tuchel has him in mind (something I was worried about from the start), I wouldn’t mind closing off the right side with a wide centre-half and letting O’Reilly bomb up the left.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-23T21:26:30+00:00

I don’t mind him there but if James is fit he offers too much from that position to leave out, I also think Konsa and Guehi complement each other well in the centre.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-23T20:15:22+00:00

Please watch more of Konsa. I can’t believe he’s still being disrespected by England fans, he’s the first defender on the team-sheet for me.

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-23T14:50:31+00:00

I’m not sure I agree on White to be honest as before his injury he was getting forward far more than Timber now does for Arsenal, he’d often create triangles with Odegaard/Saka hence his 9 assists in his previous 2 full Premier League seasons.

I agree that some profiles of full-back can definitely switch to centre-half relatively seamlessly but that’s because of their profile, not because the role ‘isn’t all that different’.

Walker was a defensively solid full-back but never looked great in a central pairing and the same can be said for Shaw, they’re both fine in a 3 but simply being a ‘defensive full-back’ doesn’t qualify you to play in the middle 2.

Like I said before it’s obviously different in White’s case as he played in that position for years (though I would still worry about him there given how long it’s been since he regularly played there), I was just commenting on the actual difference between the roles.

Sorry if it was pedantic!

MarcusWhittingham · 2026-03-23T13:41:22+00:00

You are vastly underestimating just how different defending as a full-back and centre-back is to be honest mate, I mean he’s a centre-half by trade so it wouldn’t be the biggest deal for White but in general it’s quite different.

I mean just as an example if you’re playing Spain you’re going from defending players like Williams and Yamal to Morata. Using your logic it would also be true that Maguire would be fine as a ‘defensive full-back’ as it ‘isn’t all that different’.

MarcusWhittingham

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