World Cup 2026

[Escalator]

Don't think there needs to be an inquest about English football at all. That's overthinking it in my opinion.

It's all on Tuchel for me. Kobbie Mainoo is a good technical player. Didn't use him once. Adam Wharton is excellent technically. Chose not to take him.

He chose ''Premier League power'', as Anthony Barry said, over technical footballers.

I think they should've taken one of Foden or Palmer to have that kind of technical option in the forward positions. They might not even play much, but have at least one option of a tekky creative midfielder in case you need them in certain games (which they did).

Rather than packing the defence at 1 nil with 40 minutes to go, they should've packed the midfield and played with the ball.

The semi-final was one of the worst coaching meltdowns I've ever seen in top flight football.

Agree entirely, as I said, rather than taking two chocolate tea pots in Henderson and Toney at least have Foden and Palmer on the bench.

[kramer]

You can fill a really good squad with players he could’ve and should’ve taken over Henderson.

But I suppose you need an experienced hand to get booked without even getting in the game and then injured during the resulting celebrations.

[Sir Stealth]

I think Alex Scott and Adam Wharton for centre mid are good technical players that could have really helped us

With a slight Everton bias Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the mix!

Was injured so ultimately wouldn’t have been able to play but Jack Grealish would have been perfect the other night with us clinging on to hold the ball and win us free kicks (basically any outfield Everton player has at least got a lot of experience in the scenario we were in!)

We were only 5mins of Normal time plus 9 added on from winning the game, so even a couple of tweaks could have seen us through that one

We would have definitely been easily beaten by Spain I think anyway

But moving forward I would like to see us better in possession and more comfortable on the ball (this is true for both Everton and England as well)

There are probably too many players in there who just want to be all action, the way Rice and Anderson were, all chaos but no control

[Cereal Killer]

[cassius]

Yeah I'm not really talking about academies tbh, I'm talking about grass roots from under 7s upwards, and the changes the FA made to help grow players with a much greater technical ability than previously.

Right I see.

So the FA has influence on kids, outside of academies, who will become technically brilliant Sunday league players?

I may be missing something but the FA doesn't really have any impact on the development of kids who become professional footballers so they?

[74Blue]

There is nothing to like about this Argentinian team horrible bunch especially Enzo ....

Subs Konsa and Rice needed to be like for like...

Mainoo would have been the better option for Rice. Would have given a little energy in the middle at least. When he was taking Gordon off, why not Ollie Watkins or Rashford? Gives you an outlet. Even if the instruction is to just stand on the halfway line and chase anything that goes into the opposition half. It keeps a couple of centre halves occupied and gives you some sort of attacking threat.

[AjaxAndy]

Right I see.

So the FA has influence on kids, outside of academies, who will become technically brilliant Sunday league players?

I may be missing something but the FA doesn't really have any impact on the development of kids who become professional footballers so they?

Not all kids play in academies at a very young age... Even if you're picked up at 9 you've played 2 seasons of youth football with local teams.

I don't know if you've read much on Project England, but kids were playing 11 a side from pretty much the start, so it was breeding lot of long ball and big grok type players. They ripped up grass roots and made all under 7s & 8s play 5 a side, 9s-10s 7 a side, 11s - 12s 9 a side. This was to enable kids to learn how to be more technical by playing smaller pitch games with less players and positions.

It's gone even more extreme now with it starting at 3 a side, which I think has gone too far, but that's another story.

This age grouping and team sizes is applied to both local and academy football, so even if a kid is picked up at the younger age ranges they still play the smaller sided games (until under 14s).

So yeah the FA might not directly influence kids, the rules they brought in do very much influence them, regardless of academy or not.

[weimaranerblues]

Where did I hear the quote about the bench , Madeuke, Rashford ,Saka , Watkins , etc being the finishers . Was it from Tuchel or pundits etc

[TheRam]

I don’t get why Lionel Messi was washing Lamine Yamal as a baby and why it was done for a photoshoot.

[Toddacelli]

I don’t get why Lionel Messi was washing Lamine Yamal as a baby and why it was done for a photoshoot.

[777Kidnappings]

I don’t get why Lionel Messi was washing Lamine Yamal as a baby and why it was done for a photoshoot.

Apparently its a unicef photoshoot and his parents won a raffle to take part and were randomly assigned messi.

I dont get how hes such a chubby baby that his head has eaten his neck