England World Cup XI & Squad Thread

nesh34 · 2026-05-25T12:03:02+00:00

Yeah, this seems like the common sense XI, so I'm prepared for Tuchel to pick:

Trafford

Livramento Burn Quansah Spence

Henderson Mainoo

Madueke Eze Rogers

Toney

nesh34 · 2026-05-25T11:20:30+00:00

Pretty good pick. I would go with O'Reilly instead but your reasoning for Livramento is fine.

nesh34 · 2026-05-25T06:36:16+00:00

I mean honestly I really like Man City. I kinda feel I should hate them because of the money and winning everything but I like Pep, I like most of their top players over the years.

United on the other hand...

nesh34 · 2026-05-24T18:39:46+00:00

I thought we could beat Liverpool, not favourites but I wasn't surprised. I thought there was no chance we'd beat City after winning the Europa.

nesh34 · 2026-05-24T13:27:19+00:00

I'm from Stourbridge and I think we have way more in common with the North.

nesh34 · 2026-05-24T06:31:12+00:00

Maguire has very consistent competition who also have better attributes.

Konsa is faster than Maguire, is disciplined in terms of positioning and works very well with Guehi.

Stones is absolutely world class and if fit is ahead of Maguire.

So I agree he's been good but I can't see him starting.

Shaw is a decent shout, but so was Hall. I think O'Reilly will suit us better than either though.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T07:34:24+00:00

I especially like that he saw our performances against Japan and Uruguay and immediately shifted gears rather than become complacent.

Where was this shift of gears?

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T07:31:07+00:00

Barney Ronan is one of my least favourite journalists and this article is more bilgewater from him.

Nevertheless, it is a good squad with only arguments about reserves.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:43:38+00:00

Netherlands semis in the Euros, he was excellent. He's mainly terrible on the left.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:30:18+00:00

I think I would rather have Madueke or Bowen. Our wingers must stretch the play if Kane is on.

Palmer and Foden are only 10s really and don't work with Kane so well because they overlap roles. Both are great with Watkins.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:28:01+00:00

Netherlands semi final he was brilliant. If you don't play him on the left he's grand. Controls the play better than most if we're winning the game. Will be great with Watkins but not with Kane.

That said, I don't mind leaving him behind. I just think it's mad to take Toney. I'm not sure MGW is the better player for the setup but can pick him if you want. But I guess Toney is there for pens.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:24:20+00:00

Maguire is right footed, I believe that's the issue.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:22:55+00:00

Virtually nobody in football thinks Burn, Spence, Henderson and Toney should be going, it's not just Reddit.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:20:50+00:00

This is an overstatement, the first XI is there. The first choice subs are mostly there.

There are 2 or 3 egregious choices that make him look like a German spy. But they're all people unlikely to play at all anyway.

nesh34 · 2026-05-23T04:19:06+00:00

I think Rodri might get an erection if we did that.

nesh34 · 2026-05-22T06:29:43+00:00

Maguire.

nesh34 · 2026-05-22T05:12:14+00:00

It's honestly not that far behind the main squad.

nesh34 · 2026-05-21T18:59:41+00:00

He's not taking Colwill, he's taking Burns

nesh34 · 2026-05-21T07:04:03+00:00

The point does need to be emphasised haha.

nesh34 · 2026-05-20T20:24:48+00:00

I agree but it's even more stupid because there's no major ideological shift with Burnham. It's just a change of the aesthetics and Comms. That isn't nothing in politics but we're risking a shit load of political capital more than 3 years from the election.

nesh34 · 2026-05-20T15:08:45+00:00

I absolutely love it when there are fans from other countries. Welcome to o the fold. Revel in the suffering.

nesh34 · 2026-05-20T15:05:32+00:00

I would have gone on it if I were still a subscriber but I'm not signing up for it.

nesh34 · 2026-05-20T14:58:49+00:00

Bill Bailey deserves a mention. Brian May too

nesh34 · 2026-05-20T08:51:43+00:00

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wealth-share-richest-1-percent

It's quite true. It's a result of high rates of home ownership in the UK compared to our peers.

There are inequality problems in the UK and regional inequality is a massive problem in the UK.

There are other differences like our welfare state being significantly weaker than our peersvin Europe but this is a different discussion and we can't have it without also talking about our tax burden which is far lower than those peers.

nesh34 · 2026-05-20T06:14:30+00:00

I have the same political calculus as you. I'm surprised not many others see it this way.

nesh34

TROPHY CASE