Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelBlue
The talent we have in England at the moment is bonkers and in the lower leagues too.
I didn't realise Maguire is injured. I thought he had just been dropped
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No, I don’t think GS would drop him if he was fully-fit, because a fully-fit Harry Maguire is great for England. He is outstanding in the air and prominent in both boxes. It means that we’re taking some relatively inexperienced players to be first-teamers at a tournament, but this is something that’s happened before. Jordan Pickford and Harry Maguire were relative rookies going into the 2018 World Cup, and did really well. Southgate himself went into Euro 96 with only about 4 caps I think, but played really well. Sometimes, you just have to take a chance on a new player.
I agree that the talent we have coming through is immense. I have never known an England team with such strength and depth. This is definitely down to the academy of excellence we opened in 2013. Thanks to that, we can now develop real technically-gifted players which the continentals have been doing for decades.
France opened one in 1988, and have been producing quality players consistently. Spain did the same in 2010 and so have Germany (but I don’t exactly know when). All 3 countries have won tournaments since doing so.
There will come a time though, when the national team isn’t that great (just like Germany in 2004 or France in 2010) because football runs in cycles, so let’s enjoy things whilst we have a great squad.