gareth southgate

[acko]

I was always confused regarding the chioice of Southgate as England manager and even more so now his track record is not inspiring at club level.FA yes man there is no doubt but his words about team selection confuse even more.He leaves out Rooney on the pretext of not playing on a regular basis for his team OK but he picks a tottenham reserve in Trippier,puts Butland in squad after 2 games,picks Defoe whose goals in 2017 have dried up 7 goals,Rooney scored 5 and hardly played.Vardy back on song to a certain extent after throwing his dummy out of the pram.I feel for Rashford on current form would struggle to get a game at Rovers,he was very poor against Ajax.I also remember Southgate complaining when under 23 manager that we would never win a tounement if we couldnt take our best young ones,and now he wont let Rashford be picked WHY is again confusing he wont be in Englands first 11 against the Scots not with Kane and Vardy firing on all cylinders.Sennd him with the under23s tournement football will do him good.

[colincramb]

Trippier is pretty much spurs number 1 right back now, if you look at recent months.

In regards to Rooney, yes in my view he should still be in the squad but not a starter on current form. I don't think we have enough quality as a nation to just discard a player of his undoubted calibre. If people are basing it on age, it doesn't stack up, given Defoe at 34 is in there

[RoversAlias]

Butland is top quality, has been out for a year so now he is fully fit again it will help him to be back in and around the England squad. I would expect Hart still to play in the Scotland qualifier.

Trippier has been picked on form, he has usurped Walker as Spurs' starting right back and been impressive in a winning side lately. Rashford too has been in good form, scoring lots of goals even if he wasn't great in the UEL Final. Defoe has been in fine form as well, he's had a great season and this is ample reward for him.

I will agree that Rashford should be going to the U21 tournament instead, but Southgate obviously sees him as a senior presence now and perhaps he feels that, after a long season of succes for the boy he is better off playing with the senior side than in this tournament. You will notice he has allowed the likes of Redmond and Ward-Prowse, two of his main "young blood" players brought in for previous games, to go with the U21s to the tournament for their final run in that team.

[roversdude]

I agree that he is an FA yes man but the selection is pretty bang on