I've been listening to a radio show with Rodney Marsh and Tommy Smith recently (the only footie related show on during my drive to work).
They are adamant that England will win both Euro 2020 and the Qatar World Cup. Absolutely adamant that this current England side are the best in the world.
Of course they've already started working out ways to blame the entire thing on Southgate sabotaging the side in case it doesn't happen
Nah, not a chance. Well there's a chance but it would take a miracle turnaround. The defence is too poor, Maguire seems lost trying to hold it all together and none of his partners look anything above average. The midfield is also still a big question mark, Henderson is not a quality player in his own right so looks worse in an England shirt trying to be an instrumental player when at Liverpool he is legs for a team based around their quality counter attacking and defence.
Up front is the only basic guarantee - Kane will score goals and Sterling has developed into an important international player. Throw in young talents like Sancho, Abraham and Hudson-Odoi, and AMs like Dele Alli and James Maddison, and there are enough attacking options. Midfield just doesn't seem to come together, and if you lose in midfield you can't win an international tournament.
Rodney Marsh got bombed off British tv for comments he made in the past but he was always pretty outspoken and a bit of a knob. Seems to me like American audiences like big, bold claims and brashness more than British ones do. I know Tommy Smyth has been in the US for a long time so he probably knows how it all works, but he's cringeworthy and comes off as a loud idiot.
The fact is that England's group is so ridiculously weak they weren't even tested until last night, but the warning signs were there in Kosovo.