On Wednesday, Gareth Southgate picked his 23-man squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia with one of the most youngish squads England has ever sent to a major tournament.
On Wednesday, Gareth Southgate picked his 23-man squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia with one of the most youngish squads England has ever sent to a major tournament.
The perennial under-performers, whose last big-tourney outing ended in a dismal 1-0 loss to Iceland in France 2016 included 19-year-old Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold who has enjoyed an extended run in Jurgen Klopp’s team.
Among the veterans are Gary Cahill, who has been recalled, while the likes of Jack Wilshere, Joe Hart and Chris Smalling miss out.
England start their campaign against Tunisia on 18th June before facing Panama and dark horses Belgium. Speaking about the squad, Southgate said: “I believe this is a squad we can be excited about. It is a young group but with some really important senior players, so I feel the balance of the squad is good, both in terms of its experience, its character and also the positional balance."
Five players are also on standby including Liverpool’s Adam Llana, Burnley keeper Tom Heaton, defender James Tarkowski, Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook and Jake Livermore of West Brom.
Goalkeepers
Butland (Stoke), Pickford (Everton), Pope (Burnley)
Defenders
Jones (Man Utd), Cahill (Chelsea), Walker (Man City), Trippier (Tottenham), Rose (Tottenham), Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Young (Man Utd), Stones (Man City), Maguire (Leicester)
Midfielders
Dier (Tottenham), Henderson (Liverpool), Delph (Man City), Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Lingard (Man Utd), Alli (Tottenham)
Forwards
Kane (Tottenham), Rashford (Man Utd), Vardy (Leicester), Sterling (Man City), Welbeck (Arsenal)
Here are five quick takeaways:
1) Big names miss out
For years, big names were often chosen for the squad instead of players in form and Gareth Southgate has bucked the trend by leaving home some of the players who’d been shoo-ins in older eras. Manchester United defender Chris Smalling misses out despite having a decent campaign and the word on the street is that Gareth Southgate just doesn’t trust him on the ball.
Similarly, Jack Wilshere’s name is missing from the final list and the Arsenal player who started his career with such a bang is missing, thanks to stop-start season beguiled with injuries, despite his obvious technical ability.
Joe Hart is another big name whose stock has plunged ever since Pep Guardiola replaced him with Claudio Bravo and then Ederson. While pundits have felt that Guardiola’s assessment of Hart was harsh, the former Man City keeper hasn’t been able to hold on to the starting spot even in the West Ham line-up.
Ryan Bertrand is also missing thanks to the competition for full-back places in the squad and Fabian Delph, who had a brilliant season for Pep Guardiola’s Man City makes the cut in his stead. The fact that Delph can play both as a full-back and in midfield is an added bonus.
Another big miss is Liverpool’s Alexander Oxlade-Chamberlain but he misses out because of the fierce competition for the front positions with Marcus Rashford and Welbeck getting the nod instead.
2) Euro 2016 squad goes missing
There are only 11 survivors from Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 England squad with many of the older generation deemed not good enough. The players had famously frozen in the Round of 16 match against Iceland and only Stones, Walker, Rose, Cahill, Alli, Henderson, Sterling, Dier, Vardy, Kane and Rashford are on the plane for Russia.
While the selected players have fewer caps between them, they are also unlikely to be crippled by big-stage fear which tends to plague English footballers. Rooney, clearly out of depth in midfield in Euro 2016, has retired while Ross Barkley has looked much like a fish out of water at Chelsea.
Perhaps, James Milner, who has had a decent season at Liverpool might feel hard-done by.
3) Giving youth a chance
Southgate has picked one of the youngest English squads to go to a major tournament with 11 players who are 25 or under the age of 25. The average age of the squad is 26 years and 18 days, which makes it the third youngest English squad of all time behind only the 1958 and the 2006 squad.
The only players above 30 are Jamie Vardy, Ashley Young and Gary Cahill. Despite their lack of years many of the players – the likes of Harry Kane, Jesse Lingard, John Stones, Eric Dier and Marcus Rashford – have played a lot of football in the Premier League.
Players in the squad who are 25 or younger are: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Ruben Loftus-Creek, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Alexander Trent-Arnold.
4) Complete surprise – uncapped Trent Alexander-Arnold
The biggest surprise of the squad selection is undoubtedly uncapped youngster Alexander-Arnold who has played 33 times for Liverpool this year including nine times in the Champions League for Jurgen Klopp’s swashbuckling side.
Explaining his decision, Gareth Southgate said: “The first call-up for Trent Alexander-Arnold is well deserved. When we pick young players, it's not just because they are young, it's because their performances deserve it." With an upcoming final against Real Madrid in the Champions League, the future looks glowingly bright for the youngster.
5) Tottenham get maximum representation
Marcio Pocchetino might not have won any trophies with Tottenham yet but he has certainly contributed a host of exciting young English talent for the national squad. Tottenham are the most represented squad this year with five players including Harry Kane who became the first Englishman to score 30 goals in a season since Kevin Phillips in the 1999-2000 season.
Even the much-hyped Wayne Rooney, despite his stellar record at Manchester United over the years, failed to breach that mark. Kane is joined by midfield dynamo Dele Alli, full-backs Kieren Trippier and Danny Rose and defensive midfielder Eric Dyer.
Manchester City, who became the first Premier League team to hit a century of points has four players, as do their cross-town rivals Manchester United.
Sterling, Delph, Walker and Delph make the cut from City, while Young, Rashford, Lingard and Jones are in the squad from United.
All in all, it’s an exciting English squad and the perennially frustrated fans will hope that they will finally see a squad that doesn’t freeze on the big stage.
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 "Trent Alexander-Arnold (Left) and Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane (Right)")
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