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It echoes what most say on here. Some interesting quotes and doesn't instill confidence that the season will go well.

I really enjoyed this article on football pitches; ‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football | Soccer | The Guardian Myerscough College gets a mention.

I'm sure a lot of this has to do with where people live. People living in England tend to spend the vast majority of their time around other English people. It's easy to play the England stink tune if most around you agree with little dissent. oldjamfan lives in Scotland so gets a different picture. I live in America so get another one. When you have people from other nations either talking their team's prospects up, or talking down England's, it should make it easier to stick up for them. The 2 year tournament cycle offers something different. Us Rovers fans are in a bad spot at the moment. Turgid football, iffy management, and absentee owners. Watching England should give some respite.

If you'd have given me the £200m I'd have banked £100m of it and moved to Monte Carlo. With the other £100m I would have left everything in place (Williams, Finn, Allardyce, et al.) and given £10m per season either to buy or subsidise the cost of a player who would ordinarily be beyond the day to day budget. By now the club would be on solid footing and I'd sell for £400m.

The majority on here have always been ready and eager to slate England. It didn't change after the surprise of 2018 and it probably never will. Southgate is not Arrigo Saachi but I view him as the right man for the job at the moment. 7 of the squad played in the champs league final, 3 others in the Europa league final. Up front is one of Europe's top strikers. Midfield contains a champs league winning captain, and there are so many riches at right back it seems likely that a La Liga winning one won't play. England aren't Brazil 1970 but there should be optimism. All teams have a weakness somewhere. This Euro's is anybody's.

I wouldn't argue with that. The article did say that Mount and James got their Chelsea numbers which may mean something.

If this article is true; Euro 2020 – what are England's squad numbers? | FourFourTwo Then is Southgate's line up this; Pickford Walker Stones Maguire Shaw Henderson Rice Sterling Grealish Rashford Kane

I do too. Henderson is class as well. But if either of them get injured it's either Kalvin Phillips who has played 1 season of Prem football, or 17 year old Jude Bellingham in there. Both have done well this season, for club and country, but are unproven.

EURO2021_Match_Schedule - English (uefa.com) Likely to be 28th or 29th June.

There were always going to be quibbles over the final 26, yet in tournaments prior England were struggling to name 23. Holding midfield is light and central defenders aren't world beaters either but the attacking talent should make up for it.

The England squad is out; Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Manchester United), Sam Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion), Jordan Pickford (Everton) Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Reece James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker (Manchester City) Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Declan Rice (West Ham United) Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) All 4 right backs made it. Lingard, Ward-Prowse, White, Godfrey, Watkins, Ramsdale, and injured Greenwood are the ones who miss out.

It's looking like the squad will be named at 5pm UK time. TAA, Lingard, Ward-Prowse are said to be out. Greenwood has pulled out due to injury. If all is true there are 3 more to go. One will be a keeper, whom I will assume is Ramsdale. The other two? Godfrey and White? Edit: apparently squad numbers will be listed too which with England is usually an indication of the starting 11.

I thought that it was a pretty decent game. The first half was very entertaining. Chelsea were by far the better team. As has been pointed out, Guardiola got too clever and it backfired. This one will sting. They waltzed to the final then froze. It looks like all the England lads came through unscathed, unlike DeBruyne. Overall this year's champs league wasn't a classic. There weren't any memorable games.

There is a supporters shield for the team that accumulates the most points during the season but you are right in that the MLS champ is crowned after playoffs and a final. I think that there are 14 or 16 teams get in this season. Last year was odd for obvious covid reasons. Columbus won it all last time. Nobody in America expects the MLS to challenge the Premier League. It has its fans and does well for what it is.

I must be getting old as I'm with Collymore. Low block is particularly annoying. It's sitting deep, packing it in, parking the bus, giving them the halfway line. False 9 used to be deep lying centre forward. Number 8 - box to box midfielder. 6 - holding midfielder. I don't know if it's American specific but my son is always told to connect his passes.

I read the same. Was it the Guardian? Solskjær’s lack of a cohesive attacking structure has been brutally exposed | Manchester United | The Guardian What made it worse is that Man U could have made another sub, and Henderson has saved almost half of the penalties he's faced. What I read was pretty scathing toward Solskjear. He isn't up to it. I've said that since he was appointed. His squad is paper thin and he relies on Fernandes for everything.

Not Champs League but it fits here. I watched the last 20 mins plus extra time of the Europa league final last night. It was turgid stuff. The penalty shootout was good though. All of Villareal's were top notch. Their keeper got close to about 4 of Man U's before saving De Gea's attempt. 4 titles now for Emery. He could be on 5 if his Arsenal team would have turned up against Chelsea 2 years ago.

He mentioned as much in his after match comments last night. His foot and shoulder are giving him grief. Fernandes looked gone too. Hopefully he doesn't have anything left in the tank for Portugal. Another aspect that has plagued England teams is that they get to a major tournament and the players are knackered from playing too much. This doesn't look to be the case this time. Squad rotation and injuries have helped.

TAA had a bad few months. That Real game and Southgate dropping him was his nadir. Since then he's knuckled down and is now performing very well. I'd have him playing but won't gripe if either Walker or Tripper get the nod. Wan-Bissaka is at least 5th choice. James Justin may even be ahead of him. He puts in a good sliding tackle but is not better than the others.

Sven's teams were thin everywhere aside from central defence and central midfield. Yet Sven tried to shoehorn all his star midfielders into the side, and had to deal with a Ferdinand suspension/Campbell/King injuries. Up front if either Owen or Rooney got injured - which both of them did at separate tournaments - back ups were thin. Vassell or Walcott anyone? Add in the Ferguson, and latterly Mourinho, driven club over country mantra that pitted the squad against each other and it is no wonder that they underachieved. You can chop and change any number of players in today's squad and not see a drop in quality.

Of the 4 Gary Neville would be first out. Ashley Cole was world class. The 4 used during that era; Ferdinand, Campbell, Terry, and King were all excellent defenders. England 04-06 had iffy keepers. David James in 04 and Paul Robinson in 06. You could have had the Italian back 4 admiral Nelsen mentioned yet they'd get a bit nervous with either of those 2 behind them. Sven had a midfield with talent to spare but no balance. There wasn't a left sided midfielder in sight. Joe Cole did a job for a while but he wasn't a natural there. I think that individually Sven's England had a better individual talent in his first 11 but for overall squad depth, balance, and camaraderie the current iteration is miles ahead. Both squads got knocked out on penalties. I think that 06 was the better team. Rooney's idiocy, not bad luck, cost that side.

Add in the Leicester trio - Maddison, Barnes, Justin. Plus Gomez and Oxlade-Chamberlain (a stretch this one but prior to his bad injury 2 years ago he was in the starting 11) from Liverpool.

I've changed my mind. Trippier out Greenwood in. Southgate doesn't need 3 right backs.

There were. He likes the top right. Gignac was linked to all and sundry a few years back. I too was surprised that he went to Mexico, but teams there pay top wages. Incidentally it's one of the major reasons cited for Mexico's usual bright but ultimate early failure at World Cups. Mexican players don't need to leave their homeland for financial reasons, and they are treated like royalty, so they are happy to stay, win CONCACAF Champions Leagues, all whilst being isolated from the world game. It is turning though and there are a more going to Europe now. They all have a long way to go though to match Hugo Sanchez who starred at Real in the 80's.

Full provisional squad; Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Manchester United), Sam Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion), Nick Pope (Burnley), Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield United) Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Ben Godfrey (Everton), Reece James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ben White (Brighton & Hove Albion) Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (West Ham United, loan from Manchester United), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Declan Rice (West Ham United), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton) Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Mason Greenwood (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) Good luck culling that down to 26. I think that barring injuries Southgate sees Ramsdale, Godfrey, White, Watkins as first out. Then cut 3 from; TAA, James, Trippier, Greenwood, Saka, Sancho. I'd leave out the first 4 plus James, Greenwood, Saka.