There’s some obvious choices for Gareth Southgate for the England starting eleven, but other positions are much more contested for their spot on the pitch. We will be trying to work out what might be going through Southgate’s mind when picking the starting XI.
Southgate has announced his Euro 2024 training squad, but is still yet to select the 26-player squad that will be playing at the tournament.
One of the first decisions that he will have to make it to reduce the squad numbers, and that means that at least seven players will receive the call that they won’t be involved.
England will play two friendlies before the start of the Euro 2024 tournament, and this is the last shot that the players will get to prove themselves worthy of selection in an England shirt.
Will we see the starting England XI for Euro 2024, in the friendly matches?
England will play Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 3 at 19:45, and then four days later Southgate’s side will face Iceland on June 7, at 19:45.
Both games are at home for England, but the match against Bosnia & Herzegovina will be played at St. James’ Park, and then Iceland will be at Wembley Stadium, just before the team travel to Germany and arrive at their remote training camp.
As ever, it depends on where Southgate’s mind is at and as much as it’s impossible to predict, we will try.
As you can imagine with friendly matches, one of the last things that Southgate will want is for his big players such as Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, or Declan Rice to get injured in a friendly before the Euros.
On the flip side of that, Southgate will need to know who he wants starting for England before the start of a huge tournament which is a chance to end the 58 year drought of a major trophy, since the World Cup win in 1966.
It might go one of many ways…
England could line-up in the friendlies with their intended starting eleven of the Euros tournament in one match and provide a rest for the players in the other game.
This way, we will all be able to see how the team works with each other and likely what type of tactics he will deploy.
Another way that Southgate could go is to chose a selective number of players which he intends to start in Euro 2024 in each game, and this might show Southgate how players can adapt to playing with different players. However, it could be a risk not seeing the best players in action together.
The most obvious choice is to go all out with his best players in both games, as this can build the team together and it gives a chance for the coaching staff to rectify any problems they’ve seen over the two friendly games.
Southgate has been unpredictable with how he lines-up in the past before a major tournament so it will be interesting to see what he does in the coming weeks.
What is the most likely starting eleven?
There’s a few things that will be on Southgate’s mind, and the most obvious question he will ask himself is: ‘Who are my best players?’
Some of the clear and obvious choices are, Kane, Walker, Stones, Bellingham and Rice.
However, we’ve seen in the past however that hasn’t worked for England and if you think back to the squad with David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Joe Cole: England was blessed but didn’t win anything.
Southgate also needs to consider the culture around the squad to ensure that it all gels together. That’s the reason that Luton Town have over achieved compared to league rivals with much more money in the past. Simply, it not about the players but it’s about the squad.
Now, this is how we at xGenius expect Southgate to line-up his England starting eleven.
Let’s explain how we’ve come to that decision…
Most of these players are pretty nailed on, but there’s probably a few that might need explaining a bit.
Let’s first list of those players that we believe are bound to start: Jordan Pickford, Walker, Stones, Rice, Bellingham, Saka, and Kane.
Now, let’s get onto the ones that haven’t quite cemented their spot in the starting eleven…
HARRY MAGUIRE: He’s often done an outstanding job in an England shirt, and perhaps there’s still some reminiscence from the 2018 Russia World Cup.
KIERAN TRIPPIER: You may have thought that Luke Shaw should be starting at left-back but due to injuries, Southgate said that it’s not definite that he will be available, and then with Ben Chilwell not included in the squad, that leaves Tripper to be favoured in the position.
KOBBIE MAINOO: Now this is a position where there are lots of competition for a place in the starting eleven. You have Mainoo fighting with Adam Wharton and Conor Gallagher over the spot, but and it’s very tight between Mainoo and Gallagher for who we believe Southgate will chose. Although, we’ve gone with Kobbie as he can offer more defensive stability in midfield which will prove important especially in knock-out tournament football.
Make sure to give our podcast a listen, where some of xGenius team discusses their own England starting eleven…
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