Mailbag: Are England going backwards under Thomas Tuchel?

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3:25Luke Moore: Greetings one and all. Welcome to the Football Rabble Mailbag. The International Break is here and we're talking all things England. It's Thursday 4th of September. I'm Marcus Speller. And I'm Luke Moore.

3:49Luke Moore: Hello everybody. It's that time again where we get to talk about international football. we get that Premier League nonsense out the way. And now on to the main stuff, Luke Moore. I'm strapped to the chair. I'm not allowed to leave. No, that's why that was written in your contract, which I wrote up for you. Yeah. Strapped into the cuck chair.

4:12Luke Moore: If you want to get involved with the mailbag, you can tweet us on x at Football Ramble. Message us on Instagram and Blue Sky at Football Ramble. Email us at footballramble.com. And of course, Friends of the Ramble gets special priority on Discord. you can also leave a comment on YouTube Luke you can if you want the reason just to clarify that we'll move on from the cuck chair thing but I just want to clarify that's okay Marcus the reason I'm in the cuck chair is because I'm basically watching you fuck Thomas Tuchel aren't I that's an appalling way to start the show do you want to edit that or do you want to carry on no fuck get on with it get on with it mate let's start from Doug we're differentiating ourselves from the other podcasts aren't we we can do that in other ways we could do yeah we'll talk about that after from Doug on Instagram By the way, no one else is doing a fucking hour long on the England team.

4:56That's for sure.

4:57Luke Moore: Is the squad selection going backwards under the man I'm currently making love to, Thomas Tuchel? Oh, you've upgraded it to making love. There's a lot of feeling in there. That was from Doug. I just said you were fucking. Oh, bloody hell. Yeah. When I try and play along, it's always my mistake. Why don't you have a go answering this one? What do you think? I mean, I'm happy to answer it, but you can have a go if you want. It does feel a little bit like it. Yeah. I said yesterday didn't I that it feels a bit scattergun and a bit unfocused and it's hard to see what the coherent approach is so I guess in a way you could look at that as being going backwards because he doesn't feel like he's building on what came before yeah I think that's the point it's not building on what came before because what came before was a good squad of players by and large everyone was in the squad I think people felt should be you're always going to get one or two of course but Southgate had not unlocked the creative and attacking potential or some people said he was holding them back blah blah blah we remember his final tournament at Euro 2024 England were very conservative it was all about waiting for the moments the magic moments which England did produce enough to to get to the final but when it came up when it came up against the side it was like right now you're going to have to actually do something they came short again Tuchel came in and people thought right he's going to be the guy he's going to be the guy who will build on the good feeling around the England team and we'll see.

6:22Luke Moore: Yes, he's more of a pragmatist, but that's fine. That doesn't have to be a dirty word, as Thomas Frank will tell you. No. You can still play good football or certainly attack in football. Cuck chair is a dirty word. Yes, for the fourth time, yes. Two words. Probably a hyphenated word. Carry on. I think that Thomas Tuchel should get out of that chair and I think that we want to see something a bit more which looks like a plan because under Southgate again there was a plan you could see what the plan was people just weren't fans of the plan and the plan ultimately didn't get us over the line got us very close got right up to the line didn't get over the line on that particular tournament I would say there are other plans and other tournaments I don't want to go down that road because nobody wants me to well you do but no one wants you to indeed yeah that's fair that's accurate but we go in the last tournament and that's the squad or the or the where Tuchel comes in what he's inherited there and I just I think in the games that he's had which is a small sample size it's early days etc etc there doesn't seem to be any kind of a plan really at the moment so my sincere hope is that now we get into within a year of the World Cup we're going to see Tuchel tighten up a bit and we're going to see what he wants to do with this England side but then again if you look at the squad you think well is there anything in there or is there anyone in there that makes me think ah I think he's going to do this the inclusion of Adam Morton maybe but unfortunately he gets injured and then he recalls Ruben Loftus-Cheek much of the surprise to a lot of people and so I think that feeling of are we regressing here Do you know what it feels like to me?

8:07It feels like he doesn't quite know enough about England in their players. Which sounds like I'm beating him with a stick because he's German and I don't mean to. I don't actually care what his nationality is. But I think one of the things you have to do with an international side with so much attention on them like England and such a narrative around them is you have to immerse yourself in it. Now I know he's going to the games and I'm sure he's taking the job seriously and all that other stuff. But the selections he makes, it just feels a bit like he doesn't know it well enough and perhaps part of the reason for that is because he can't work with the players every day and this will be the first job he's had that he's different to that because obviously he used to have been a top level club manager.

8:52And I also think we're talking about this in the aftermath of what happened in June, right? You sneak past Andorra, you know.

9:01Luke Moore: Very uninspiring game. Yeah, and you get beaten quite badly by Senegal. Yeah, who looked like they had a plan. Totally. By far the superior side. And so what you're looking for in that next squad, because don't forget they've got to go Serbia away in this international break. Mitrovic scored a hat-trick last time out. Yes, it was against Andorra, but he scored three times. Well, he scored two more goals himself than England did. Exactly what I was about to say. Totally. So you're looking at that context. You're looking for reasons why things could improve. And have we seen that? Not necessarily.

9:36And I think we might be in a position now where we've got like quite a lot of good players, but without a proper coherent plan as to how he's going to use them. And another thing I'd add to that would be that would then possibly suggest that they are going backwards because with Southgate at least, you kind of knew who the back four was going to be. You kind of knew, and as you rightly said, you might disagree with the plan, but the plan exists, right? And it's fine for you to have a disagreement with it, but it exists and Southgate's doing it his way and that's what he wants to do. and he went on a journey as an England manager and he landed where he landed and that's what he thought gave England the best chance of winning tournaments.

10:15Didn't do that but they did do a pretty good job overall. With Tuchel I just feel like I'm not really sure if he knows what his best team is. And I know he's got a year to go but the problem is that year is very disparate because you join up and you go again and then before you know it you might have put a plan together and then some key player gets injured or is not available and then you have a combination of friendlies and qualification competitive games which are important and so you've got to kind of adjust that accordingly. We definitely now need to see what he's all about because I don't think any England fan or analyst or pundit or whatever properly knows what he's all about.

10:56Luke Moore: So take an opposing view. Do we need to know though? Do we need to be? Well it depends when you think. We do at some point. Yeah. It just depends when you think that is. Because again going back to previous England managers or the previous England manager, I do recall that actually we would start to see what he would want to do at tournaments around maybe the last international break before the end of the year or the first international break into the year. So is that around March time usually, something like that. You would then start to see, ah, there's the shape, there's the kind of idea. And you can see that with other national teams.

11:34Luke Moore: Maybe we are looking into this a bit too much. But you've got to go on what you've got. And at the moment, Doug, yeah, we feel that there could be an element of that. I mean, the squad selection goes backwards as well. The inclusion of Jordan Henderson has been chatted. Karl Walker's not included this time around, which I think is the right call. So there have been a few inclusions. Ruben Loftus-Cheek will probably divide opinion. I mean, he knows him as a player, managed him at Chelsea, but that was a few years ago. And also, that was a few years after Loftus-Cheek had been called up to England.

12:04Luke Moore: So we shall see. Kyle Walker's not in there. Yeah, well, yeah. So, disjointed maybe. Trent Alexander-Arnold's not in there. He was in there last time. He's a bit disjointed maybe. So, you're telling me, what I'm getting at is, and it sounds a bit harsh maybe, but take Trent Alexander-Arnold for the example, just because he's been, his England career's been quite complicated, by which I mean that, you know, Southgate's left him out, people have thought that's unfair, he's been playing at a really good level for Liverpool on occasion, he'd won big trophies, clearly he's a difference maker, blah, blah, blah.

12:37with Southgate it felt coherent by which I mean I know what he can bring I know what his weaknesses are as a result I've got competition for places in that position so I'm going in a different direction as we always used to say not the first player to suffer from that I mean look at all the strikers at England in the 90s didn't get anywhere near the England team but with Tuchel it feels like okay so you started off picking him which felt to me at the time like there's going to be a line drawn to that and he's going to be part of the plan because people respect what he brings and that's that. He goes to Real Madrid, right?

13:08Fine. I mean, Real Madrid is Real Madrid, but they are Real Madrid, right? And he picks him for the Senegal squad, that break, doesn't play him and then just drops him anyway.

13:20Luke Moore: Yeah. Well, I think you mentioned it's scattergun. In a time, by the way, at exactly the same time that Kyle Walker is now apparently seen to be too old, which is what we're reading from the lines on that. Well, it is. So what in the pecking order? Where is he? Well, this is it. And so this would be the criticism I think a lot of people have is if Tuchel is saying, I just want to have a look at him, fine. You don't have many squads left. And why do you just want to have a look at, say, Karl Walker? For the whole game in a friendly against Senegal. Exactly. That is something I don't get. All right, let's move on.

13:50Luke Moore: This from Toby on YouTube. England's attacking options are looking good, as they have done for a long time, whereas the defence arguably lacks this quality and depth. so can you see Tuchel adopting an outscore the opposition at all costs approach in the summer to get the best out of a top heavy squad I mean what we were just talking about there it doesn't seem to be the case but things can change there's still a little bit of time before the tournament and even even when a tournament comes around a manager can still quickly say do you know what right we're doing this now I think there's two different ways of looking at the observation about a squad or a team being quote top heavy.

14:31And to me, they're either, you've got fuck all at the back. So you're just going to, it's so obvious you can't defend. You're going to smash it going forward. Or the other way of interpreting it is our forward players are better than our defensive players. And I think the latter is relevant for England. I still think England have got some good defensive players. And in front of their defense, they've got capable holding midfield players too, which is key to this. When people talk about like, centre-backs not being that good or not having such a great time about it. If you look into the detail, a lot of the time it can mean that there's other reasons for it.

15:08So, for example, if you look at the start Connate's had at Liverpool this season, as we record this now, he's found it quite tough. He's not too bad against Arsenal, but he's found it tough. And you could say, well, maybe Connate's just not that good now or his contract thing at Liverpool's affecting him. Or you could say, well, Ryan Graven-Birch was suspended for the first game of the season. Alexis McAllister isn't fully fit yet. And he's playing Sir Bozlight right back, which is a completely different kettle of fish. That all factors in. What I'm saying is all these things are connected. And England have, you know, again, like Konza.

15:39Esri Konza not had a great start to the season at Villa. They've been quite poor. But he's a good defender. Mark Gay is a really good defender. He's the subject of all the chat because Liverpool want him. You know, John Stones is a vastly experienced, still really good centre-back, right? fullbacks or wingbacks depending on how you play they're expected to attack a lot now right I don't think you can say that Myles Lewis Skelly isn't a really good fullback or

16:04Luke Moore: or even Rhys James who he knows quite well I know he's had his injury trouble Rhys James at his best is absolutely brilliant you know Jed Spence has forced his way in there Liveramento in terms of the whole midfield players the Jordan Henderson ghost specter at the feast aside he's not going to start games you've got Elliot Anson in there fine he's inexperienced but he's a really good energetic midfield player Adam Warton can keep holding the ball Declan Rice is amazing I know he plays a bit further forward for England but he's still capable so I don't necessarily think that England are that bad at the back but I do think going forward they've got so many weapons and I suppose I'll round off this quite rambling point by just saying that if England are going to go that way it didn't really work against Senegal you know we tried to attack we did attack and we scored early and we didn't really have any kind of plan to deal with what Senegal brought and I'm telling you now, Senegal are not going to win the World Cup.

16:58So it doesn't really inject us with a huge amount of confidence, even if Tuchel's going to go down that road that Toby suggested. I don't know what you think.

17:07Luke Moore: I don't think he is going to go on an, you know, let's outscore the opposition type of vibe because if you're poor at the back and you've got some players up top that can do some damage, you will play on the front foot against the poorer teams. We know this because the poorer teams are going to sit deeper. So that will be the dynamic for you would have thought. That's the dynamic for like 90 % of anything in game. Which is a difficulty, yeah. Indeed. The question is when you come up against a very good opponent or opponent that's your equal or better or even just slightly inferior one might say.

17:43Luke Moore: I think Tuchel will be more cautious but still try. My great hope is that he'll still try and unlock a bit more of that attacking talent. but I think as we see often at international level I think he probably will be a little bit more cautious but remember he got his Chelsea team to beat some very good opponents I mean Man City in that final of the Champions League this is what I'm clinging to by the way they got them to win that game it wasn't a kind of a swashbuckling performance you know those kind of games in the latter stages or in knockout football tend not to be the case I think that attention to detail that he can pick up on that's what we're wanting to but I don't think he can do that I think the comparison is really difficult to make.

18:23Luke Moore: Well, it is, yeah. Hence, I'm grasping at straws a little bit. I think a lot of the top modern managers are so detail-focused, obviously, because you see evidence of it all the time when you're watching Premier League and Champions League. And I don't think that translates to international football. Sometimes it is the emotional waves of international football. 100%. And I think what Southgate did really well is he tapped into what it meant to be an England player. And I don't think that's a kind of, necessarily a cliched England thing to say. Oh, you could say about Scalonia, Argentina. Totally.

18:53Italy do it all the time. You know, I think the idea that you bring together what unites you all is a really powerful thing to do in an environment when you don't get the time to work on the detail. It's impossible for Tuchel to be getting into forensic detail with certain players that he wants to do things for England and that he's not going to see that player in person again for like three months. This is never going to happen. So I think that's the problem, isn't it, with the follow-up recruitment of Tuchel off the back of Southgate. And I'm not asked to time in here because we were all saying, well, I was definitely saying this when we knew Southgate was going to go.

19:30There needs to be a lineage. And I suppose they half tried it with Karsley. It didn't work out for slightly different reasons.

19:36Luke Moore: But you could see what Karsley was trying to do. You could, but you also don't, I also don't think that England as an organisation gave Karsley the best chance, right? So what you end up with is just go and get the best coach that's available and wants the job and that you can afford. And I don't know if Tuchel has that aspect of him about him. Anyway, I hope that answers your question, Toby. The answer, I suppose, is probably not. And I think Marcus hit on something when he said he's a pragmatist first and foremost, right? That's really what we're talking about. How pragmatic can you be, though, realistically as an international manager?

20:08Anyway, what about this one from C on X? on the back of his call up is Elliot Anderson potentially England's future answer to bringing balance to England's midfield I watch him every week for Forrest and cannot believe with my own eyes how good he is well he's in the squad

20:24Luke Moore: we're pleased about that and I would love to see Elliot Anderson play a decent amount in these England games coming up I think the midfield is to me when you talk about England it's always the midfield trying to get a balance in there trying to get creativity, but also players that can win the ball back because England are not a particularly possession-based heavy side against good opponents because inferior opponents basically give them the ball and say, right, I'll try and break this down. And so I think Anderson could have a part to play potentially. But again, just briefly harking back to what we just said, you know what it's like at international football, you get a very short period of time and sometimes with those, with the emotions of it and so on, they're the things you've got to tap into and if a player, it's almost like a trial.

21:16Luke Moore: If you see something, if a player takes to it straight away or shows signs of that, you're going to go... Or plays for a big club. That's part of it. Well, that's not what I'm saying. What it should be is, do they take to it? You can see that sometimes and some people get one chance at it and then, well, see you later maybe. Obviously, people with a lot of quality will always get more opportunities. Some people do take to international straightaway. Can Elliot Anderson do that? If he can, yes, he definitely could be in England's midfield, whether that's as a starter or a sub or whatever, because we're all sold.

21:52Luke Moore: I think Declan Rice is in there. Declan Rice has been the holding midfielder for England in the midfield at the Euros, which you saw Southgate go for Alexander-Arnold and Conor Gallagher came along, and one or two others. Bellingham will probably be in that advanced midfield position he he's a driver of that team people may prefer to have Cole Palmer in there or something Bellingham will start for England Declan Rice will start for England and 4-3-3 will be the position unless we see Tuchel maybe go for a back three but I don't want to get into the but he played a 4-2-3-1 against Latvia yeah 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, fine but the reason that's important though sorry to cut you off but I want to make it it's important to say that in that Latvia game you played Rice and Bellingham and played Morgan Rogers further forward.

22:40Luke Moore: Yes. Now Bellingham's not available so it may well be that for the game against Serbian and who gives a fuck but the game against Serbia away you'll see you hope you don't see Henderson you'd hope you'd see Anderson next to Rice. Yes. Right? We want Anderson not Henderson. Correct. Don't get it mixed up. Absolutely. That's different. They're all sons but come on you know which one. So, fine. So, I want to see Elliot Anderson in there because it could also let Declan Rice off the lead a little bit because with Rice, when he's been playing more as an eight rather than a six for Arsenal, we saw that, especially in their Champions League games, just how effective he can be.

23:20Luke Moore: One of the best midfielders in the world at doing that. As a number eight, I think Rice is one of the best in the world. As a six, he's very, very good. But one of the best in the world, I don't know if I would go to that in that position. But as an eight, yes. And so therefore, can you get someone in there? Because I know Elliot Anderson, is he a six or an eight? Is he defensive? He's more of a shuttler. He can do, if you've got someone in there who can partner with Rice and do a bit of everything and let Rice go on some more marauding runs and get further up the pitch at times, then I think you get more of the Declan Rice we want to see.

23:52Luke Moore: So you need a player like that. So yes, I think that Elliot Anderson could be an answer to bringing balance to England's midfield, which as I say, tried out so many different combinations. it kind of settled on Kobi Meynu which I quite liked at the Euros but Meynu's not in the squad blah blah blah and we're also reading the runes to an extent because we still don't really know what Tuchel's all about as we've already said so like it's a bit of guesswork in there too because I think I get the feeling we might be a bit surprised or in a negative way when we see the line up against Serbia I just think it's really tempting just to be like right the Serbia game is the key game isn't it I mean really it is a way to Serbia away so if you lose that away which is eminently possible bit of pressure on yeah it becomes dependent on how the other game because Serbia have got a game in hand as well so it depends on how the other game goes you might find yourself in a bit of a straight shootout and then pressure can be different yeah because the problem is the minimum requirement is to qualify and qualify well now of course as we sit here recording this they haven't considered the single goal yet so they haven't got way too much about it but when that draw is made Serbia away bang becomes the difficult game definitely and that's what's coming next it's not a given yeah because they're going to brush aside Andorra aren't they I mean I know they only won 1-0 but I mean realistically they're going to brush them aside well if they don't win that game then yes if they don't win that game they basically may not qualify so I mean in one way I guess that is important but you're right so in one way it's interesting and with Wharton not in the side it's a chance for Anderson to get something because I thought Wharton might be the man to add more balance in that midfield I think a lot of people do that I think Wharton Rice he seems to struggle getting injured at key times which is not a habit you want to get into as a football player definitely not although you could say get them out of the way early in the season so you'll be fine for the World Cup but I think Elliot Anderson is a player that we're all quite pleased is in there he needs to play the problem is other than giving them a little bit of experience with the squad and getting to do that video where they all turn up at the St George's Park I love those videos it's a great video but other than that what's the point of picking him alright then coming up after this more of your questions

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28:18Luke Moore: We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to, or the succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With AllTrails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on-trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with AllTrails.

28:55Luke Moore: Welcome back, everybody. Right, from our ball on Discord. Good to have a Discord-er in there. Now, as always, with so many star English Academy players, do you think England's improved international performances at all levels are directly linked to the introduction of EPPP? And if so, is this a good thing? Of course, Jadon Sancho joined Manchester City's Academy from Watford, age 14, under EPPP, and has played for England. I know people, you know, he's not in the squad and so on, but certainly a player of note. James Trafford moved from Carlisle's Academy to Manchester City's under EPPP rules.

29:29Luke Moore: Fulham signed Jay Stansfield, who played his part in the England Under-21s Euros win in the summer. They signed him from Exeter City's academy after negotiating a fee above what they were likely to get in an arbitration fee under EPPP rules, but the deal was still below what Exeter City felt Stansfield's true value was. And of course he won the Euros with James Trafford in the summer. So there's a few examples. You could have a few more as well. We don't want to bore people too much. I'm obviously tremendously critical of EPPP because normally you get asked the question in the context of how it affects the English football pyramid, right?

30:04Yes. And that is my view. I mean, it's been my view for a long time. I think many other people share that view. It absolutely, you know, shackles, hamstrings, hobbles, however you want to call it, lower league clubs, for all the obvious reasons that I won't bore people with again now. From an England point of view, it feels to me like it probably is beneficial for England. The reason being that these players, when they do move, in my view, again, unfairly from a lower league clubs academy to a Premier League academy, they clearly get to play with better quality players with usually better facilities.

30:42They get fast-tracked into the England set-up and what happens, as you've just mentioned, can occasionally or more often these days happen for England at the academy and age group level. The thing that's interesting about it is that it just depends on where your priority is as a fan. Because I think, having said that it is beneficial probably for England players, it's kind of ultimately still not that beneficial because if you have, I don't know, 20 football league clubs going to the wall, that's clearly not good for all of football. And so the whole thing feeds into the overall truism of that.

31:21So I think the short answer is probably yes. Is it a good thing? Depends how you look at it. But I also think that what, you know, back in the day, I always used to think that England would put together good quality performances at age group level because they used to pride physicality above technique. And it would just even itself out the older they got, right? If you're picking, it's almost like some kind of weird version of like social Darwinism or something. You're picking players because of their physicality. That's all you pick them on. you can bully teams at age group level.

31:58Luke Moore: At a teenage level. Yeah. But then, of course, when it gets to full level and you've actually not got any technique, any technical players, because all they are is tacklers and tough guys, which kind of was the case for a long while. It's easy to forget. I mean, we produce so many good technical players now because of the influence of European coaches and the rest of it. That was kind of a factor as well. I guess sometimes when I think about this, I come down on the viewpoint of, I don't really know how much age group stuff matters. I think it's a nice incidental benefit for the players at a young age to win a trophy and to think they're great and it's good for their confidence and all the rest of it.

32:37But when you think of the grand, in the grand scheme of things, when a player gets to old age and eventually passes away, is anyone going to mention the fact that they won the under-19s Euros? It's not really what it's all about. So to me...

32:50Luke Moore: If we still haven't won the main Euros, yeah. I'll mention that might have to under 20s World Cup if there's nothing else to say Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the winning goal in the under 20s World Cup once look at him now look at the chance he's missing for Leeds he's a Premier League player but do you understand the points I'm making there I do get what you're saying I don't want to denigrate the question because I think it's an interesting one it is so I think both those things can be true at the same time in summary I think that it's terrible for the league pyramid it's probably quite good for England does it ultimately matter I'm not sure that's my answer yeah those at the top of the tree benefit do you want to have a go or should we crack on?

33:21Luke Moore: No, I think you've covered that very, very well. All right, good. Well, I'll pick up this one from Tom then. Also on X. What are you doing on X, Tom? Wasting your life. Get outside, go for a walk. How well would Ben Chilwell have to play in Ligue 1 and likewise Luke Shaw at Manchester United to force their way into Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad given Myles Lewis Skelly isn't playing much for Arsenal at the moment? I think that's a fair question. I think it's unlikely Ben Chilwell will play for England again. I think Chilwell would have to play out of his skin for Strasbourg to get anywhere near the England side again.

33:57Luke Moore: I think Chilwell... For people to remember him. Well, I think... But played under Tuchel, won the Champions League under Tuchel, so Tuchel is very aware of him. Talking to players getting injured at key moments though. Well, so Chilwell knows this. I'm glad that he's going to be playing some football. Presumably he's going to be playing there. I think he would have to be it would have to be almost sort of bordering on Strasbourg player of the season sort of stuff for his team to be considered again and for some injuries and what not but I think with Luke Shaw I think Luke Shaw if he can play consistently well which is rather difficult at Manchester United I'll be honest with you but I think Luke Shaw still might have a little something to offer the England team the reason why I say that is if you look around the squad who do you have as a traditional left back I know is that a dig at Big Dan Byrne I was about to start with Big Dan Byrne because he's tall he can't be a traditional left back correct no I think Big Dan Byrne he's been playing centre back this season he's going to be he's going to be probably fourth choice centre half I would imagine for the World Cup squad someone's got to do it someone's got to do it someone's got to do the Connor Cody role and he's a great lad to have around the place and also if we need something and it's injury time get him on pump the ball up to him No, he is a weapon in the air.

35:16Luke Moore: So I don't know. Especially with Tino's long throws. Yeah, there you're talking. So there you go. So you've mentioned Livramento. Yeah. Right-footed player, of course, but can play left-back. Doesn't often... We're going into sort of Kieran Trippier, Euros territory. Yeah, but full-backs like these days, a lot of them roam into midfield. They underlap. Like Lewis Skelly. They cut inside. Clearly, that's the case, right? And if you look at the Lewis Skelly thing, Marcus, what's happened there this season with Skelly? Lewis Skelly. It's very early in the season, but my assessment of it rightly or wrongly I'm sure people will tell me is that Arteta picked Calafiore for a specific job at Old Traff on the first day of the season they did well they closed out a 1-0 win when United were probably the better team and he's just stayed there and he's played since and that's how football can work right and so Lewis Scully I don't think has necessarily done anything wrong or become a worse player because of that I don't actually even think necessarily it means he can't play for England because Arsenal have so many games this season he'll end up popping up he's going to play 20 games at least this season I think Mars Lewis is a good option for England he's played under Tuchel he's scored the first goal my memory serves me well of the Tuchel era and it was a lovely goal and if he can if Eberges starts playing a lot for Arsenal on the left which we suspect he will and gets an understanding there that could benefit England too so I think Lewis Skelly unless he does something pretty badly this season I think he'll be one of the choices that left back.

36:44Luke Moore: Jed Spence and Tino Livermanto, as I say, can play there. They are right-footed players. And maybe Tuchel is happy with that. But I think Luke Shaw, if he can play well and stay fit, and those are two big ifs because he's playing for Manchester United, I think that there would be a little bit of a chance that he could play his way back in there to answer the question directly. I think he would have to play very well because, again, playing for a poor side and I was about to say maybe being sort of yesterday's England player, but he's picked Henderson. But if you look at Luke Shaw, the performance he put in in the Euros final, he hadn't played for how long?

37:21Luke Moore: A long time. Now, I know he came on, I think, in the quarterfinal, but Southgate thought he was worth the risk. And in the final, particularly in that first half, stood up to, it would have been Lamine Jamal on that side, stood up very well to him in that first half. but in the second half where do both goals come from I know the move starts on his side but they ultimately come down Walker's side both goals so I think Luke Shaw he's got big game experience for England he's played in two finals he strikes me as the type of guy who takes an opportunity so he started every game this season as well so he drew a line at the start of each season and saying I think it's only fair to say he's had a lot of injury problems it's almost become farcical how injured he's got but he started the season going yeah a consistent season and putting in decent performances I think Luke Shaw being an oven ready left back in a more traditional sense I think I think he could play his way and he's also been I mean it's pretty unfortunate that Tom's included him and Ben Sheeran were in the same question because I think Ben Sheeran was miles behind I agree you have to say that well I mean the two of them even when they were fit and at the top of their games Luke Shaw was still the number one and I think going back to your Jed Spence point it's right to say that that Jed Spence has occupied the other flank on occasion last season.

38:39Partly because Ange Postacogli is mental, but also because Needs must have had so many injuries. But you have to conclude that Jed Spence has been picked in this squad as a right-back, otherwise the only right-back he's picked is Rhys James. And that would seem strange. So I don't think that's a realistic option.

38:55Luke Moore: And Liveromento as well. And Liveromento is playing at the left for Luke. So to sort of sum up, if you're having a bet, I would say Luke Shaw would be an outside bet right now. but for going in in the World Cup squad next summer I don't think there's a bet at all for Ben Chilwell agree let's end with this final question Marcus oh go on then this is from Objective on X can the plane take a detour through Lombardi on its way to the World Cup to pick up Jamie Vardy Vardy in Lombardi there is Lombardi when it's well by the time he's finished with it there is Rube on this show and indeed all the Ramble shows for a bit of the heart yeah there is but ultimately you've got to do mostly the head which is why we haven't mention Andy Carroll?

39:36Luke Moore: No. Yeah. Well, not the only reason. Jamie Vardy's 39 in January. Come on. Eh? Weirdly enough, he's playing in Italy and there is precedent probably for Italian strikers to come back at that age. How many, I mean, how many, how far down the peck of door do you think about that? Okay, here's a question for you, Luke Moore. Vardy playing in Serie A at 39 by the time the World Cup comes round or Ivan Toney in the Saudi Pro League? Yeah. Yeah. God, who would you have if it strikes you out? I was actually going to answer this question by just explaining to you the plot of the 1991 comedy film, King Ralph, where Ralph, played by John Goodman, finds himself the king of our country because the entire British royal family are electrocuted in a freak accident outside Buckingham Palace.

40:25I remember this film, yeah. And he finds himself, as a lounge singer in Las Vegas, suddenly becoming the king. Something like that. Something like that. For Vardy.

40:32Luke Moore: and Ivan Tony just behind him yeah probably yeah okay fair enough thank you for listening to the Football Animal Mailbag part of the Acast Creator Network I'll be back tomorrow with Jim Vish and Pete for the preview show because people are scared of me being on a Friday show we're all petrified of it and don't want you there please do send us your responses opinions and questions for next week's Mailbag and subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your pods thank you Lukey thank you very much cheers and good luck to Old England

41:07The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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