Southgate - You're the One!

A slow start but Southgate is still learning the ropes again.

A little saddened you didn't carry on with England but best of luck with Everton!

@ScottT: Not the greatest starts but still a long way to go

Griffo: Southgate is still managing England alongside his role with Everton

Gareth Southgate has named his first squad as England start their UEFA Nations League campaign in Division A Group 1 where they will be facing Denmark, Iceland, and Spain. This next round of fixtures sees them kick off with a game at Wembley against Denmark, before making the trip over to Madrid just days later.

Two shock emissions from the side is that of Leicester City full-back Ben Chilwell and Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling.

It is believed that their exclusion from this squad is to allow Southgate to explore different options within the defensive and wide areas of the pitch, of which there are plenty of options for players to pick up their first caps for the senior side.

The first of these being Wolves defender Mason Holgate, who just transferred from Everton for 44m, as he looks to push the likes of Tomori, Stones, and Gomez for a starting spot.

There is also the return of Manchester City attacking midfielder Phil Foden and Aston Villa winger Jack Grealish who were both selected for the Euros 2020 preliminary squad but excluded from the final twenty-three. There is however a first-time inclusion for Burnley’s young winger Dwight McNeill – who impressed with 36 appearances last season.

Recalls have also come to Chelsea’s Reece James who missed out on the Euros due to an injury, as well as his teammate Mason Mount who failed to make the final twenty. Celtic’s Fraser Forster also regains his place for the first time in a year as Nick Pope is left out.


Goalkeepers:
Fraser Forster
Dean Henderson
Jordan Pickford

Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Joe Gomez
Mason Holgate
Reece James
Danny Rose
John Stones
Fikayo Tomori

Midfielders:
Dele Alli
Eric Dier
Phil Foden
Jack Grealish
Jordan Henderson
James Maddison
Dwight McNeill
Mason Mount
Jadon Sancho
Harry Winks

Forwards:
Tammy Abraham
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford

Some big players missing there, will be interesting to see how they react and if those replacing them can make the appropriate impact.

A great opportunity for some of those players. Southgate is certainly making some big decisions.

@TheLFCFan: Certainly an interesting experiment. You'll see how it went soon!

@ScottT: Exactly, Southgate shaking things up after the unsuccessful Euros campaign

Gareth Southgate’s England has made a strong start to their UEFA Nations League campaign after picking four points from their opening two games against Denmark and Spain.

England first hosted 7th in the world Denmark, and with a revamped squad from the Euros blew them away with an emphatic 6-1 victory courtesy of James Maddison and Marcus Rashford scoring braces as well as contributions from Jadon Sancho and Harry Kane.

They then went on to Madrid where they faced a strong Spanish side who were sat at 4th in the world rankings, and put an impressive display in as a Harry Kane penalty aren’t them a draw after going 1-0 behind after only three minutes.


Starting XI: (4-4-2)
01.Dean Henderson
02.Trent Alexander-Arnold
06.John Stones
05.Fikayo Tomori
03.Joe Gomez
11.Jadon Sancho (Grealish 69)
04.Jordan Henderson
08.Dele Alli (Foden 84)
07.James Maddison (McNeil 69)
10.Marcus Rashford
09.Harry Kane (c)

Scorer(s):
Marcus Rashford (3, 48)
Jadon Sancho (6)
Harry Kane (20)
James Maddison (41, 69)

Southgate’s reaction:
It was a very impressive performance from our boys tonight, as far as games go it's not often you find yourself 3-0 up within twenty minutes but we were at the blocks fast, we took risks when we had the ball and by the time you have that large a lead so early on, you have control and momentum on your side and we saw out a very impressive start to our campaign.


Starting XI: (4-4-2)
01.Jordan Pickford
02.Trent Alexander-Arnold
06.Mason Holgate
05.Fikayo Tomori
03.Danny Rose
11.Jadon Sancho
04.Jordan Henderson (Dier 87)
08.Dele Alli (Foden 87)
07.Dwight McNeil (Grealish 87)
10.Marcus Rashford
09.Harry Kane (c)

Scorer(s):
Harry Kane (pen 7)

Southgate’s reaction:
It was a challenging game for us, Spain were very strong and made a good start, thankfully we managed to convert our penalty more or less immediately after conceding which allowed us to keep ourselves in the game. Spain had a lot of the ball but out of possession we were very well organised and limited Spain to very few chances and created some decent opportunities on the break. The result is a very fair reflection of the game.

Four points and a very impressive result against the Danes in particular, that's not to be sniffed at. Nice to see Holgate and McNeil being handed starts against the Spaniards.

An absolute trouncing of the Danes and a solid away performance against the Iberian giants Spain. Great start to the group for England

Ah so i got it wrong, my bad! I expect you to focus on making Phil Foden the next England captain... andddd go

ScottT: Yes an incredible result. Those two performed well so they'll certainly be staying around the set-up in some capacity.

Eoin97: Two very pleasing results, cheers man.

Griffo: No worries pal, who knows what the future holds for him?

Well that went well! An emphatic result over Denmark and a good point against Spain, very nicely done.

TheLFCFan: Cheers mate!

Southgate’s Reaction:
A big improvement from August, we changed our approach slightly by moving from a 4-2-3-1 shape with a number 10, to a 4-3-3 with Tom Davies playing in the holding midfield role which has shown so far to be successful.

The win over Newcastle United was a very impressive performance, especially in front of the Sky Sports cameras, and it was a great way to launch us on our way. Then in our next league outing, we had a tight affair with Burnley that was very demanding against a well-organised side, and thankfully we came out on top despite not being at our best.

The League Cup I felt wasn’t a massive priority for me, hence I gave opportunities to other senior players in the squad who haven’t had the opportunities available to them to play in our league matches. We did okay, but brought on some of our regular starters to help us get back to 2-2 after trailing 2-0, but missed out penalties.