2026 World Cup

[AKCJ]

Djed Spence over Trent Alexander-Arnold is nothing short of ridiculous.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

47 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Toney is in there for penalty shoot outs. 

 

Henderson is in for the same reason you lot bought Coady. Dressing room only. 

 

I do think the main reason Henderson is in is because of the fabled 'dressing room leadership' like you say but it's easy to overlook he has actually played quite a lot of football for a side pushing for Europe

[RowlattsFox]

Part of me thinks fair play to Tuchel for picking players he likes and will do a job for him and not what people think he should do. But at the same time it has a very average premier league team look to it. 

 

I think Maguire should be included but again his family getting involved does not help him  

 

 

[RowlattsFox]

Feel for Jarrod Bowen as well because he'd be a decent squad option and no-one is even questioning why he's not involved  

[Torquay Gunner]

56 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

Does anyone rate Madueke? To me he has always looked useless. Just runs at players then loses the ball. Barnes is better than him (no bias). Also KDH offers something different and is better than Henderson. He's taken Reece James and Stones who are both injury prone and left a guy in Maguire that has played well and helped a team from nest the bottom to 3rd on the league. 

 

Doesn't scream winners to me...seems dodgy. 

Unfortunately, he appears to be exactly the sort of player many Arsenal fans feared he would be when signed from Chelsea. Far too inconsistent to be effective over a season, because there's just not enough end product. The amount of times he falls over is absurd, not sure if at times he actually has wheels on his boots!

[Samilktray]

Maguire has made himself look a right whopper hasnt he

[RowlattsFox]

From memory I think Madueke has done pretty well for England, especially against weaker opposition. His directness on the right can be an alternative to Saka cutting in. 

[richardsfoxes]

Palmer should of been in the squad, offers something different. 

[AKCJ]

Personally think the following are crazy decisions:

 

Spence over Alexander- Arnold. Obviously Spence won't be starting games and neither would Alexander-Arnold but who do you want to come off the bench when we're losing to swing crosses in?

 

Burn over Hall. We don't need 5 centre halves and we have gone into the tournament without an out and out left back. O'Reilly laying left back for Pep doesn't count. He won't look the same in Tuchel's system.

 

Madueke over Bowen. I think this one is obvious. No chance does Madueke go over Bowen if he played for West Ham and Bowen played for Arsenal.

 

 

There are 5/6 that are on that "I can see why he's done that but I wouldn't have taken him" but other than that, it's a good squad.

 

Huge wake up call needed for Foden and Palmer. 25 and 24 years old and should be in their prime. Two years ago they were the two best players in the league IMO.

[Super_horns]

Does that stand out as a potential World Cup winning squad or rather a team with lack of depth in some areas ?

[Sly]

I still think of Iran get booted, an All Star team should be picked from anyone not selected. 
 

The quality in it would be insane. 

[RowlattsFox]

Foden and Palmer are a sign of where football is right now. Likes of Morgan Rogers are preferred because they are more direct, have more running ability, physical presence whilst also having a decent output. 

Rayan Cherki is one player who is similar to Foden/Palmer but has more about him in other aspects of the game so he's thriving. 

[Muzzy_no7]

Djed Spence being included is absolutely unreal by itself, let alone the fact it’s ahead of Trent.

[AKCJ]

Just now, Super_horns said:

Does that stand out as a potential World Cup winning squad or rather a team with lack of depth in some areas ?

Depends on injuries. The first 11 stands against anyone IMO.

 

Anything happening to Kane would be game over.

[Muzzy_no7]

Ffs just clocked it’s Madueke over Bowen as well.

 

F***ing unreal

[Lionator]

7 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Does that stand out as a potential World Cup winning squad or rather a team with lack of depth in some areas ?

No but Tuchel could easily terror ball us to the latter stages. We could win it playing the worst ball known to man. 

[Lionator]

 

[Mickyblueeyes]

A lot of players that will be sat at home who have star quality. Interesting selections. A few I don’t agree with. 

[RowlattsFox]

Apart from left back he has picked players to play in their positions, which is something we always complain about. Could've picked 4 number 10s and played them wide but he's got 2 who play on the right, and 2 who play on the left. 

[FOXYTALK]

He's paid the big bucks to make the right calls. 

I'm happy with the squad overall. He will get judged on how far into the tournament we get. 

People seem to get attached on a name. 

It's different for club over country. 

[FOXYTALK]

Also Maguire is too slow (although I'm surprised he took burn). Mbappe had him on toast at the last world cup. 

[Danizen]

I think we should have taken one more DM. We seem paper thin there, considering there's potentially 8 games and a lot of them will be in sweltering heat.

 

Henderson, Toney and Spence are dreadful picks.

[MaidstoneFox]

3 minutes ago, Danizen said:

I think we should have taken one more DM. We seem paper thin there, considering there's potentially 8 games and a lot of them will be in sweltering heat.

 

Henderson, Toney and Spence are dreadful picks.

O'Reilly can play in midfield, that may be the thinking there.

[MaidstoneFox]

Rather than just pick the 26 most technically talented players, I believe he's picked a tournament squad, where at least half your games might be against less technically able but very physical teams - you are only going to play Spain once if at all.

 

That said, I would have taken TAA, just for his creative abilities to turn games.

[Super_horns]

No Liverpool players in the squad- must be a first ?