FRIDAY’S BIG STORIES
Three More Players
The World Cup may be coming late for everybody this year, but for Gareth Southgate, Christmas has come early. Yesterday, FIFA announced that international managers will be able to take an extra three players to Qatar, a full squad of 26 up from the usual 23. And all 15 players not named in the starting line-up will be available as substitutes.
World Cup
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Tournament squads were expanded to 26 players during the Covid-19 pandemic, of course, and since that is still rumbling on in much of the world – if not the headlines – then continuing the practice makes sense. Qatar also presents its own logistical challenges, coming as it does in the middle of the European season and in temperatures of up to 30 degrees.
In theory, of course, this benefits the stronger nations with deeper talent pools; in practice, we’re willing to bet that most managers at the tournament know most of their starting 11 and likely replacements. But a little extra flexibility never hurt anybody, and for Southgate, coming off the back of a bizarre defeat against Hungary, this is a chance to fortify his campaign against all possibilities. So what might he do with the extra numbers?
Three Manchester United players
If the rumours are to be believed, than at least one international player, Jurrien Timber, has been told by his international manager not to move to the multi-layered binfire that is Manchester United, lest he lose his international place. But what of those England players already stuck there? Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Jadon Sancho – they seem nice lads to have around the place. And everybody involved at Old Trafford needs a holiday.
Three more right backs
Kyle Walker-Peters! Nathanial Clyne! James Justin! Your time is now. It seems clear that Soutgate just likes having right-backs around the place: he trusts them, he enjoys their company, he vibes with their vibe. So here’s a chance to get a few more along, just to keep things buzzing. At the very least, this should ensure a spot for Trent Alexander-Arnold, just to keep that argument rolling along.
Three more goalkeepers
Not actually sure if this is allowed, but never mind. After Andrew Redmayne’s heroic clowning saw Australia through against Peru, it seems clear that the old principles of goalkeeping – you pick your best one and then a back-up and then a back-up to the back-up – are gone. Goalkeepers have strengths now. They have particular jobs to do. And England can find work for a full half-dozen.
So they’ll take Jordan Pickford as first choice, and Aaron Ramsdale in case they need a taller Pickford, perhaps to shout at something on a high shelf. Ben Foster can come along to spearhead content production, Joe Hart for a little experience and presence on the bench, and Nigel Martyn to sit there looking all stoic. For old time’s sake. And Nick Pope, having just completed his move to Newcastle, will come in handy whenever there are some human rights issues not to think about.
Three more penalty takers
Bringing players on specifically for a shootout backfired at Euro 2020, but the principle is a sound one. The only mistake Southgate made was bringing on relatively normal players as opposed to actual penalty specialists. Obviously Matt Le Tissier’s out, given all the recent unpleasantness, but don’t be surprised if we see shock call-ups for some of England’s more reliable spot-kickers. Get Alan Shearer back. Get Frank Lampard. They’ve kept themselves in half-decent shape. And get Mark Noble. It’s time he got that cap.
Three more Harry Kanes
England have very few truly irreplaceable players, but as goes Kane, so goes his nation. Other teams will be aware of this, of course, and may be targeting Kane in the lead-up to the tournament. Trying to drop a piano on his head, trying to give him an exploding cake – things of that nature. So England will need decoys. Imagine the damage it will do to Welsh morale: they think they’ve successfully tricked England’s captain into running head-first into a painting of a road, but there he is, trotting out into the sunshine.
Cover in defence, an option in midfield, and one more tricky wide player that can operate on either flank
Booooooorrrrriiiinnnnngggggggg.
Record home defeat ‘not mentally damaging’ says England boss Southgate
Four More Years
Bad news for the rumour mill, and presumably for a few clubs as well: Christopher Nkunku, who scored 35 goals last season for Red Bull Leipzig, will be staying with nobody’s favourite fizzy drink marketing scheme. For four more years, if he fills out the contract.
He won’t, of course. If reports are to be believed then Nkunku is following the Haaland model, and has baked a relatively modest release clause into his new deal. Expect more of this, along with more two- and three-year deals, as a natural reaction to the bloating of transfer fees and the stretched wallets of some superclubs. An ambitious player can no longer rely on the club of their dreams being able to buy them out of any contract.
This may also be a consequence of the winter World Cup. Nkunku, who won his first France cap in March this year, would have been in the perfect position to roll up to a summer tournament, have some fun, then roll out the other side with a big move. But there are three months of football between the end of summer and the World Cup, and that’s plenty of time to make a move, make a slow start, and lose one’s place in a squad. Even a 26-man squad. Why move to a club in the middle of a rebuild when you can stay in a team that you know, and that knows you? Every footballer in the world has from August to November to put on their very best face. This is a time to stick, not to twist.
And this is particularly true for strikers linked with Manchester United. To be clear, we have no idea if United are interested in Nkunku, because it’s almost impossible to filter out signal from noise. Everybody has been linked with Manchester United. Even the Warm-Up. We’re flattered, but we’re not interested in a move at this time.
But say Nkunku is of interest to Erik ten Hag and company. Should he move now, with Cristiano Ronaldo still in situ, and the club apparently struggling to get anything done, and United players falling out of international squads? Or should he wait a year, get past the World Cup, and see what Ten Hag actually manages to do? In times gone by, players had to demonstrate to United that they were good enough; now, the equation has shifted.
IN OTHER NEWS
There isn’t actually much news, let alone Other News, so here’s a nice thing that happened on Twitter last night. Click on the tweet, and then dive into the replies like Scrooge McDuck into a swimming pool filled of money.
(Do not attempt to dive into an actual swimming pool filled with actual money. It will hurt and you will feel foolish.)
RETRO CORNER
It’s been 18 years since England and Portugal ran into each other in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004, and conspired to produce one of the great knockout games. Easy to forget, given all the chaos at the end of the shootout, just how good Michael Owen’s opener was, or just how hard Rui Costa hit his goal in extra time.
It’s one of the great sliding doors games as well. What if Wayne Rooney, young and carefree and utterly terrifying, had made it through the game? What if Sol Campbell’s header hadn’t been ruled out? What if David Beckham had noticed that the penalty spot was more of a penalty smear, and decided to go low? Of all the golden generation’s nearlys, maybes, and not quites, this one might just be the sharpest of the lot.
The Warm-Up watched this game in a pub in north London. It was very full, and when Campbell ‘scored’ that last-minute header, a handful of England fans spilled out into the pub garden and had their own small celebration party on top of the picnic benches. A good five minutes passed before they realised that nobody had come out to join them, and that the game was still going on.
HAT TIP
“There are people who go around saying ‘I support Ukraine’ but then finally you say ‘OK, show us that you support Ukraine’, and they don’t want to support. We have one European club — a well-known club — we have a contract with them that includes a clause which means they must play us in a friendly game or they are obliged pay us €300,000. … When the war started, we said to them, ‘Look, we’ve not played the friendly, we don’t need the money as a club, so please donate this money to Ukrainian refugees’. They have not paid it. This club has money — big money. This is an example.”
Not every club has been quite so stingy, of course, and Palkin is clear that support – moral and practical; inspirational and useful – has come from across the game. But from the sounds of it, agents are trying to make hay while the shells fall.
“Some agents are destroying us. They are trying to steal players. They play games, contacting clubs, saying don’t pay [Shakhtar] and deals are being broken. You cannot imagine what is going on. Agents are arriving to clubs and saying, ‘Don’t pay Shakhtar, the players will become free, just pay me [the agent] €10m and forget about the club’.”
COMING UP
You’ve got a choice to make this evening. You can either watch Scotland’s women take on Ukraine in a World Cup qualifier, or you can watch England’s second Euro 2022 warm-up game. This time they’re playing defending champions the Netherlands. Should be instructive for the tournament to come.
Have a great weekend. Don’t eat your transfer rumours all at once. Tom Adams will be here on Monday.
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