Euro 2021 Tactics Thread: Team 1, England

[NoPace]

Figured I'd maybe start to double or triple up when teams with smaller fanbases on here got going. Post the lineups you think England will play or the ones they should. Keep in mind a year from now probably means a transfer window and definitely means a season of aging.

Mine:

------------Sterling---Kane---Sancho-----
Chillwell--Henderson--James----TAA
------Maguire----Rice-----WanBissaka--------
----------------------Henderson---------------

and if 3 at the back was a disaster I'd drop Wan-Bissaka and bring in Maddison or Grealish as a 10 I suppose as a first alternative, keep everyone else.

I rate James and think Rice is obviously a CB and not a DM, though if Gomez improves and he and Maguire seem to have a good partnership that seems fine too. Also kind of like Mings at LCB and 2 of Maguire, Rice, Wan-Bissaka or Gomez at CB and RCB. Don't like Chilwell or TAA defensively but love them going forward so really do prefer 3 at the back.

Wouldn't be shocked if Rashford breaks out next year and Kane is hurt or regresses and he takes that spot with Kane the big scorer off the bench who maybe starts in the group stage but then you sit deeper and want Rashford's pace on the break in the knockouts or even I guess coming on after an hour of Kane type deal.

I'm not bowled over by Henderson but I don't trust Pickford anymore. He conceded 21 more goals than Henderson and obviously that's not the difference between them and I wouldn't trust either to play 7 games (is it 7 to win?) without making an error but think Henderson has a better chance even if Pickford has a wonder save in him too.

5 at the back helps make them solid and there's enough playmaking in TAA and Sancho and enough pace in Sterling and Chilwell to give teams trouble.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

What are the options for midfield?

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Wing Backs 343
Rashford Kane Sterling
Shaw Midfield Midfield TAA
Gomez Maguire AWB
Pickford

Midfield either 2 CMs or AM&DM.
Prefer the latter but idk any good AM
So maybe..

Grealish - AM
Rice - DM
​

EDIT: Henderson and Winks as 2 CMs are probably the safest option.

 

[Andersonson]

GK
TAA-Maguire-Stones- Chilwell/Shaw
Hendo-Rice-Mount
Sterling-Kane-Rashford

Knowing Southgate, this is it.

 

[BigDunc9]

Gomez is very underrated on here, he looks great everytime I see him play. He's probably been the best English centre back of the past 2 seasons.

 

[King Andow]

---------Henderson
TAA-Gomez-Maguire-Shaw
----Henderson-Phillips
Sancho-Grealish-Sterling
--------------Kane

Would be fun to watch.

 

[Dante]

First XI

Rashford----------Kane----------------Sancho

Shaw----------------Grealish----------------Henderson-------------------TAA

Gomez-------------Maguire---------------AWB

Henderson
​

Second XI

Sterling------------Abraham------------Maddison

Chilwell----------------------AOC---------------Winks------------------------Trippier

Tarkowski-----------Rice--------------James

Pickford
​

Other options for the squad: Pope, Greenwood, Williams, Alli, Phillips, Walker, DCL, Tomori, Ings

 

[Dante]

Or as a 433

Rashford----------Kane----------------Sancho

Grealish--------------------AOC
Phillips

Shaw----------------Maguire---------------Gomez-------------TAA

Henderson​

 

[Fosu-Mens]

First XI

Rashford----------Kane----------------Sancho

Shaw----------------Grealish----------------Henderson-------------------TAA

Gomez-------------Maguire---------------AWB

Henderson​

Chilwell for Shaw. I would evaluate Kane next season. Is it just me or has he lost the little acceleration he had in his first few steps to be able to create the crucial separation from the defenders to be able to take advantage of his superb finishing ability?

Also, people not having Sancho as a starter should reevaluate. Englands best player by some margin.

 

[Gio]

Henderson
Trent - Gomez - Maguire - Chilwell
Henderson
Foden - Grealish
Sancho - Kane - Sterling​

• 4-3-3 to give some more control of games and take the initiative they couldn't get in the semi against Croatia​
• Use a system that most of the players are operating in every week​
• The front three desperately need quality service to shine so England need to get enough creativity in the midfield and full-back areas​

 

[Brightonian]

Call me mad but it seems to me that we have a serious talent overload in one particular position - LB - and a serious lack of options in another - DM/CDM. Since we'll get some part of a season to play before the tournament now, I'd love to see Southgate at least try out this somewhat Guardiola-esque solution to that problem:

Rashford Kane Sancho
Sterling Henderson
Alexander-Arnold
Shaw Maguire Gomez AWB
Henderson
​

1. TAA has the perfect skillset for the deep-creative position: defensively strong, footballing intelligence, brilliant range of passing, superb vision.
2. Now we have the two most defensively-solid FBs available starting, both reliable in big, high-pressure games, which is exactly where England have stumbled before.
3. All four of our world-class attackers start.
4. Sterling's best play under Guardiola has all been fairly central, ghosting between the lines from midfield into attack. This releases him from the responsibilities of a wide-man.
5. Sancho has firmed up his position at Dortmund as RW. That's also where he'll be at United next season. So there he is.
6. Key club partnerships preserved in various places on the pitch. Maguire-Shaw-Rashford. Gomez-TAA-Henderson.
7. There are lots of swaps you could make here. Chilwell for Shaw. Grealish for Sterling. Various other CBs for Gomez/Maguire. Trippier, Walker, James all options at RB.
8. I can't even start to hazard a guess at the bench. This is the strongest depth of talent England have ever had in my memory.

 

[VP89]

We are spoilt for choice among the best talents in the world who actually can build complimentary chemistry with each other. I've never experienced that in my lifetime so it's very exciting.

 

[JJ12]

Gomez is very underrated on here, he looks great everytime I see him play. He's probably been the best English centre back of the past 2 seasons.

Wasn’t he injured all last season? I’ve seen him be average a few times this season but generally pretty good.

 

[Scarecrow]

Who is James?

 

[DWelbz19]

Reece James in central midfield and Declan Rice and Bissaka in a back three? Have a day off fella

 

[marktan]

Sterling ----------Kane----------------Sancho

Grealish--------------------AOC
Henderson

Shaw/Chillwell-------------Maguire----------Gomez-----------TAA

Henderson​

With a pretty strong bench of Rashford, Maddison, AWB, Shaw/Chilwell, a CB, a CM, and one of Abraham/Ings/Calvert-Lewin.

The 1 year break works out well for England as the squad is young and gives them time to develop, and with the Euros in 2021 and the WC in 2022 should see largely the same team play in both. Crucially for the first time in my life time we have not one but two world-class wide forwards, a position that is absolutely crucial to the modern game. The best we've had since I was a kid were Joe Cole, Lennon and Ashley Young. Good players but not near the quality required to go far in a international competition.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

What are the options for midfield?

The weakest positions.

DM: Henderson, Dier, Rice, Delph
CM: Loftus-Cheek, Winks, Oxlade, Mount, Barkley, Cook, Kalvin Phillips
More Attack-minded CM: Grealish, Alli, Mount, Foden, Maddison, Lallana

Wouldn't be surprised to see a call-up for Bellingham at this rate.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

People actually rate Rice? He should be nowhere near the Premier League, let alone the squad.

 

[bosnian_red]

Henderson
TAA Gomez Maguire Chilwell
Grealish Henderson Maddison
Sancho Kane Rashford​

Hard as feck to leave one of sancho/sterling/Rashford out. Maybe have Sterling in for Grealish and change to a 4231 with Sancho as the 10?

 

[Impulse]

Henderson
TAA - Gomez - Maguire - Shaw
AOC - Henderson - Grealish
Sancho - Kane - Rashford​

 

[sun_tzu]

...................henderson............
T.a.a...maguire....stones...chilwell
.......ox.....Henderson.. foden...
Sancho..........Kane............Stirling

Back ups
................... Pickford................
AWB....smalling....Gomez....Shaw
.......Ali...........rice........maddison
.......c.h.o.......calvert l......rashford

Greenwood might be pushing for a place as well

I think foden will take Silva's place and within a year have got himself in the national team

Gomez has a shout of replacing stones if he can get enough games for Liverpool

Ali...if he recaptures his old form he will be in the starting xi and if he does not prove from this season won't make the squad

 

[Bwuk]

Henderson
TAA - Gomez - Maguire - Chilwell
Sancho - Henderson - Grealish - Sterling
Kane - Rashford​

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Hardest decision is who is going to start on the wings.

Henderson

TAA
Gomez
Maguire
Chilwell

AOC
Henderson
Grealish

Sancho
Kane
Rashford

 

[NoPace]

The weakest positions.

DM: Henderson, Dier, Rice, Delph
CM: Loftus-Cheek, Winks, Oxlade, Mount, Barkley, Cook, Kalvin Phillips
More Attack-minded CM: Grealish, Alli, Mount, Foden, Maddison, Lallana

Wouldn't be surprised to see a call-up for Bellingham at this rate.

The more I look at this the more I think Southgate needs to just pick one of Maddison or Grealish and then it's that AM, Henderson and 3rd midfielder and you spend the year experimenting to see who fits best.

 

[Brightonian]

I'm telling you, Alexander-Arnold as a DM.

It's a switch that has worked again and again for clever, technical fullbacks with a good range of passing, and it lets us use two of our absurd array of left-backs (my vote being AWB to actually fill the position) while saving us from the embarrassment* of having to pick Declan Rice or Eric Dier at DM because we literally have no other option.

*I actually think both are decent players criticised much too harshly. They just aren't up to the standard we can field in so many other positions.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

The Euros now one year later is the best situation what could have happened to the England team!!!

D.Henderson should replace Pickford.....Southgate wouldn't have done that this year.

and Foden, Saka, Greenwood, Wan-Bissaka, Williams, Grealish, Hudson-Odoi, Loftus-Cheek, James, Abraham, Mount & Phillips will have now a great chance to be in the squad.

+ more time to test Alexander-Arnold in the midfield position.

 

[Mcking]

Dean Henderson
Reece James
Joe Gomez
Harry Maguire
Luke Shaw
Jordan Henderson
Kalvin Phillips
Phil Foden
Raheem Sterling
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford

- I could see TAA losing his starting place with James's emergence, but I think the former should be tried in midfield with England's shortage of creativity in central midfielder.
- Gomez will have some competition next season with Webster, White both looking good.
- If Henderson has another strong season, likely with Sheffield, I have no doubt he will be no.1.
- Shaw is better than Chilwell imo and if he can stay fit, then he will be our first choice, England's first choice.
- Phillips is already England's best DM imo, and if Leeds gets to the EPL next season, then I could see him cementing his place in the side.
- The AM position is a tricky one with Grealish, Maddison, Foden, Barkley, Mount all potential options. Barkley and Mount should be nowhere near the England team or even Chelsea's. Southgate has never looked like a fan of Maddison and I could see next season not going as well for Grealish. Foden, with a potential City UCL ban and Silva's departure will establish himself as first choice for City and looks a natural fit for England on the left side of midfield.
- Sancho doesn't quite have the dynamism you get from Rashford and Sterling, has a little too many quiet games for my liking and hasn't looked that good for England next to Kane.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Think Arnold-Alexander at midfield is a terrible suggestion.

He's proven to be arguably the greatest players in the world in the position he is playing right now. 12 assists in the league from wide positions and crossing from the byline. And suddenly people want to play him in a position he's never played in before, pretty rich coming from fans that have seen Scholes shunt out to left midfield just to ensure we have all the best players on the pitch. Similarly to TAA, people thought Beckham would be better there but it just never worked out for him in that position as much as being wide.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Dean Henderson
Reece James
Joe Gomez
Harry Maguire
Luke Shaw
Jordan Henderson
Kalvin Phillips
Phil Foden
Raheem Sterling
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford

- I could see TAA losing his starting place with James's emergence, but I think the former should be tried in midfield with England's shortage of creativity in central midfielder.
- Gomez will have some competition next season with Webster, White both looking good.
- If Henderson has another strong season, likely with Sheffield, I have no doubt he will be no.1.
- Shaw is better than Chilwell imo and if he can stay fit, then he will be our first choice, England's first choice.
- Phillips is already England's best DM imo, and if Leeds gets to the EPL next season, then I could see him cementing his place in the side.
- The AM position is a tricky one with Grealish, Maddison, Foden, Barkley, Mount all potential options. Barkley and Mount should be nowhere near the England team or even Chelsea's. Southgate has never looked like a fan of Maddison and I could see next season not going as well for Grealish. Foden, with a potential City UCL ban and Silva's departure will establish himself as first choice for City and looks a natural fit for England on the left side of midfield.
- Sancho doesn't quite have the dynamism you get from Rashford and Sterling, has a little too many quiet games for my liking and hasn't looked that good for England next to Kane.

Reece James is nowhere near benching TAA. TAA is arguably the best player in the world at his position, ridiculous to drop a player like him. Let's take our United bias out of this...

 

[P-Nut]

It's so tempting to put Sancho as the 10, but feel that's falling into the trap England have done for years of picking the best 11 players and trying to fit them all in.

I'd leave Sancho on the right and let Rashford and Sterling fight it out over the next year to see who gets the starting berth on the left. Either one coming on late in the game is going to have a big impact and it's nice to actually have that option for once.

In fact if you go 4231 you could have such a strong bench to freshen things up if needed...

Henderson
TAA Maguire Gomez Chilwell
Henderson ?
Sancho Maddison Rashford
Kane

Pickford
AWB
?
?
Grealish
Sterling
Greenwood

Greenwood is obviously dependant on how much he kicks on again next season, but if this one is anything to go by he could be the wildcard option.

Centre back and defensive midfield are massively lacking compared to our other options.

 

[Dancfc]

Reece James is nowhere near benching TAA. TAA is arguably the best player in the world at his position, ridiculous to drop a player like him. Let's take our United bias out of this...

In fairness Trent has struggled to displace Trippier and I would say James has already proven to be better than the latter. As incredible as he's been for Liverpool he hasn't hit the same heights for England.

But either way both should be playing somehow, Reece has played both RCB and CM to high standards so there's plenty of scope to fit in both.

I feel Hudson Odoi will have a massive break through season next season aswell although probably not enough of one to force his way in ahead of Sancho and Rashford (especially if they're playing club football together).

 

[Web of Bissaka]

People actually rate Rice? He should be nowhere near the Premier League, let alone the squad.

Not really, but then there are no other younger/longer-term DMF it seems atm. Last time I saw Dier play - he was so baaadd.

Henderson is my first choice (let's face it, he's the most useful) but selection in this thread is for next euro - he's not a good longer term option.

 

[ivaldo]

Not really, but then there are no other younger/longer-term DMF it seems atm. Last time I saw Dier play - he was so baaadd.

Henderson is my first choice (let's face it, he's the most useful) but selection in this thread is for next euro - he's not a good longer term option.

Rice is so incredibly overrated. Phillips is twice the player he is.

 

[P-Nut]

Not really, but then there are no other younger/longer-term DMF it seems atm. Last time I saw Dier play - he was so baaadd.

Henderson is my first choice (let's face it, he's the most useful) but selection in this thread is for next euro - he's not a good longer term option.

It's only 12 months away, Henderson should still be going strong by then.

 

[Mcking]

Reece James is nowhere near benching TAA. TAA is arguably the best player in the world at his position, ridiculous to drop a player like him. Let's take our United bias out of this...

TAA has never been that good for England. He gets a lot of assists due to his delivery, but I think Reece James could be an even better fullback.

 

[NoPace]

Reece James in central midfield and Declan Rice and Bissaka in a back three? Have a day off fella

My argument is that Reece James will have a much better career than England's other deep midfield options, Declan Rice is clearly a CB when you watch him every time and Wan-Bissaka is the kind of committed defender England don't have enough of which is why Mandzukic put them out when Stones and Maguire fell asleep at the same time with 1 minute left in the match.

If England play 4 at the back with Chilwell-Maguire-Gomez/Stones-TAA I just don't see how they have a serious chance to win 4 tough knockout games in a row. That's a back 4 to do well in the group stages then concede 3+ goals in a knockout stage game when things go a bit wrong.

 

[NoPace]

Reece James is nowhere near benching TAA. TAA is arguably the best player in the world at his position, ridiculous to drop a player like him. Let's take our United bias out of this...

I do wonder if for an international tournament this might work better:

----------Sterling-Rashford/Kane------
Sancho--Henderson-Winks-TAA
Chilwell-Maguire-Gomez-James

which gives you 11 players who are comfortable on the ball and a 4-4-2 is not too much thinking for the notoriously confused and scared England players. James and TAA great crossers and Sancho and Chillwell are high assists types, could probably make enough chances even when outplayed.

I don't like Winks there much but I don't watch Champo so have no Phillips takes and don't trust Rice on the ball (or his appetite to get on it).

If TAA isn't playing well at RB for England that doesn't mean he has to be benched, but it might be a case for a 3-5-2 or playing him at RW.

 

[NoPace]

It's so tempting to put Sancho as the 10, but feel that's falling into the trap England have done for years of picking the best 11 players and trying to fit them all in.

I'd leave Sancho on the right and let Rashford and Sterling fight it out over the next year to see who gets the starting berth on the left. Either one coming on late in the game is going to have a big impact and it's nice to actually have that option for once.

Pretty good chance Kane isn't healthy or has struggled off injury, so a Sterling-Rashford-Sancho front 3 might be just as likely, especially if Rashford can make a similar improvement like did in going from 10 goals in 2300 Prem minutes last year to 14 in 1900 this year. If he's at 20 Prem goals with full healthy season...

 

[P-Nut]

Pretty good chance Kane isn't healthy or has struggled off injury, so a Sterling-Rashford-Sancho front 3 might be just as likely, especially if Rashford can make a similar improvement like did in going from 10 goals in 2300 Prem minutes last year to 14 in 1900 this year. If he's at 20 Prem goals with full healthy season...

Yeah if we could set up a defensively sound midfield that attack would be scary on the counter.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

It's only 12 months away, Henderson should still be going strong by then.

Agree. However, I doubt the next euro will be on 2021.