It is now less than a fortnight until England‘s first game in at Euro 2024.
Things get serious this week with two warm-up games after which Gareth Southgate whittles his squad down to the 26 who head to Germany with a realistic chance of winning the tournament.
Who is most at risk of missing out on the final squad?
Southgate is no stranger to the corrosive effect of being made to feel like you’re on trial in the run-up to a major tournament. The circus around Paul Gascoigne before the World Cup in 1998, and the disruption of Glenn Hoddle’s badly handled decision to cut him from the squad, has stayed with him.
So despite naming a 33-man training squad, the next week is not a Three Lions beauty parade for those holed up at Rockliffe Hall in Teesside. Of the seven who will miss out, the majority are likely to be those with the fewest minutes in an England shirt.
“I think we’ve got some young players who I spoke to at the start and said ‘Look, we don’t know how this will play out but let the starting point be this is going to be a great experience for you, you’re coming to train with us’,” Southgate said on Sunday.
“I’ve been honest with the younger ones who it is their first time with us. [They’ve been told] the chances are you might not be coming with us.
“Equally things can happen and they can force their way in. They understand that.”
That doesn’t sound like great news for James Trafford, Jarell Quansah, Curtis Jones or Adam Wharton – who don’t have a single cap between them. Jarrad Branthwaite, who won’t start against Bosnia despite concerns over Harry Maguire, might also be sweating on his place although injuries in defence might give him an opportunity and force Southgate to cut players further up the field.
The England manager admitted as much, fully aware that if they take senior defenders with fitness issues they will need to include cover in case they break down.
Who will serve as Kane’s understudy?
That might spell trouble for one of Ivan Toney or Ollie Watkins, who are yet to establish themselves as Harry Kane’s understudy. The Aston Villa man will start against Bosnia – although Southgate says his inclusion in the squad won’t be decided by his performance.
“They’re embedded with the group, we’re happy with Ollie and Ivan and there’s not a trial going on,” he said.
“We know who we think we’d like to take, what we don’t know is what positions we need and what the balance of those decisions will need to be.
“I don’t want players to feel that everything has to be perfect on Monday and everything’s hinging on that. We’d be looking far more broadly than that.”
Despite the pressure on the call Southgate must make next week, the mood in the camp has been good. New players might bring pressure on places but they’ve been welcomed with open arms by more senior men – a sign of the positive culture Southgate has built.
“I said to them on day one the elephant in the room is there’s 33 here. If you want to come and sit with me, I’ll explain as much as I can,” he said. No-one has taken up the offer.
England’s 33-man provisional squad
Goalkeepers
- Jordan Pickford (Everton)
- Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
- Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)
- James Trafford (Burnley)
Defenders
- Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton)
- Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion)
- Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
- Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace)
- Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)
- Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
- Jarell Quansah (Liverpool)
- Luke Shaw (Manchester United)
- John Stones (Manchester City)
- Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United)
- Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
Midfielders
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
- Conor Gallagher (Chelsea)
- Curtis Jones (Liverpool)
- Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal)
- Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)
Forwards
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
- Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United)
- Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace)
- Phil Foden (Manchester City)
- Jack Grealish (Manchester City)
- Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United)
- Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
- James Maddison (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
- Ivan Toney (Brentford)
- Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
Is Jack Grealish the senior man closest to missing the cut?
England are blessed in forward areas and Southgate has already shown with the omission of Marcus Rashford that he has enough options to make bold calls.
Eberechi Eze and Anthony Gordon ended the season in far better form than Jack Grealish, who endured a difficult campaign for Manchester City. It said it all that when Pep Guardiola was casting around for a saviour in the FA Cup final, Grealish stayed on the bench.
“I don’t know about more pressure because you’re always – at this level – competing with good players. We have got a lot of good players in that area of the pitch, they’re all competing,” Southgate said when asked about Grealish specifically.
The Manchester City winger reported early in an effort to impress the England manager, who declined to correct an assertion from one journalist that Grealish was “vulnerable” to being cut.
“We think we know who the best have been across the season,” Southgate said.
“What we don’t know is how many we need to take and how many we can allow ourselves to take because of the cover we might need in other positions.”
Could Adam Wharton be this summer’s ‘bolter’?
Southgate spoke very warmly of Wharton, whose form for Crystal Palace at the end of the season was sensational. He offers something that few others in the squad have and of all the debutants named, the 20-year-old seems closest to booking his ticket for Germany.
“He’s settled in really confidently with the ball, I think the fact he looks to play forward as quickly as he can,” Southgate said.
“He sees pictures when he receives the ball and we’ve been short of those types of players for seven or eight years if I’m honest and that’s had an effect on the way we play.”
How much concern is there over those injuries?
Southgate said he wouldn’t consult players with fitness question marks ahead of his final decision. Why? “Because they’re lying buggers,” he quipped.
The lesson here: they all want to go. But Maguire is rated uncertain for the tournament opener against Serbia and Luke Shaw is behind him. Surely picking both would be a major gamble?
At least John Stones, who sat out training at Middlesbrough on Sunday, is fine. His personal fitness programme dictated he is on lighter duties and much of the next week is about ensuring players are gradually eased into the tournament.
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