England have made official the list of 23 players:
Gk: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jack Butland (Stoke), Nick Pope (Burnley)
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Kieran Trippier (Spurs), Danny Rose (Spurs), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Phil Jones (Man Utd), John Stones, Kyle Walker (both Man City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Jordan Henderson, (Liverpool), Eric Dier (Spurs), Dele Alli (Spurs), Jesse Lingard (Man Utd), Ashley Young (Man Utd), Fabian Delph (Man City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea),
Forwards: Raheem Sterling (Man City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Harry Kane (Spurs), Marcus Rashford (Man Utd), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).
What do you guys think? I think the midfield is not that impressive, really shows much they lack top players in that position (and also in the defense). I'm surprised John Stones is on the list, he didn't play that much in Man City this season, did he? and Smalling deserved to be there, he's been way more consistent that Cahill and Stones throughout the whole season. Overall, I'd be very surprised if they make it past the Round of 16.
To my mind, the strangest thing is 3 LBs and 3 RBs: Walker, Trippier, Arnold, Rose, Yound and Delph. I'm afraid it's too many slots for these positions and picking players like Albrighton or Shelvey would be better due to opening much more options in the midfield. Remember recent astonishment after seeing that Alex Sandro wasn't included into Brazilian squad? I don't want to compare if he is worse or better than Filipe Luis, but I think this is a nice example, which shows Tite has much more rational approach to forming the list than Southgate
Yeah, that's a lot of fullbacks, maybe Southgate is planning to play with 3 CB at the back (one of them being Walker, he's to that position in Man City) + two fullbacks? that would explain why they need so many defenders. Based on this squad, I think there's a chance that England is going to play with a 3-5-2 formation in the WC. We'll find out in their next friendly vs Nigeria...tough opponent, though.
And I agree with Shelvey, if feels like the squad needs more creative players. And he's the kind of players who loves to play long balls, and with fast players like Vardy, Sterling, Rashford, and Welbeck, they could've taken advantage of Shelvey's playstyle. Kinda odd that Southgate wanted Ruben Loftus-Cheek instead of a more experienced player like Shelvey.