Amongst Three Lions supporters, perhaps the biggest talking point ahead of the World Cup is assessing how England should line up at the showpiece event.
As is custom before any major tournament, fans and pundits alike have put forth their ideal XIs, and explained the rationale behind their selections.
Former Arsenal and England midfielder, Jack Wilshere has done the same on talkSPORT.
“I had two different teams and this is for the first one, Iran. I decided against a back three because, no disrespect to Iran, I don’t think we need three centre-backs”, he said.
When quizzed about which goalkeeper should be England’s No.1, Wilshere replied, “Aaron Ramsdale. You’re asking me for my team, I want a team that can play out from the back and a goalie is a key player in that. He’s the best one with his feet, that’s a fact.”
The retired star continued, “Trent [Alexander-Arnold] at right-back, [Ben] White and [Eric] Dier at centre-back and Luke Shaw at left-back. Kyle Walker is injured for the first game, are you going to play him with one leg?”
Wilshere went on to break down the rationale behind his choice of system, saying. “I decided against a back three, but what I would do is that when we’re building up, I’d move Trent into the middle with [Declan] Rice and build up with a back three, so Dier would be in the middle, Ben White on the right and Luke Shaw on the left.
“So, when England are attacking, I’d build up with two holding midfielders, Rice and Trent, so Declan Rice would obviously be your holding midfielder.”
He added, “Jude Bellingham would be one of your number eights, Phil Foden would be the other.”
“Harry Kane would be at no.9. I think that it’s important that when you play with Harry Kane, your widemen, Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka have the pace to run behind.”
While the world will continue to theorize about what is England’s best possible XI, Gareth Southgate tends to stick to systems and personnel that have delivered for him in the past.
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