England now have FIVE Euro 2024 doubts including Jude Bellingham!

Editor F365
England have FIVE injury doubts apparently
England have FIVE injury doubts apparently

England cannot enter a major tournament without injury doubts and they now have FIVE, while Trent Alexander-Arnold is on trial for a place he already has…

 

FIVE get over-excited
We’re now into the final week before England play in a major tournament opener so of course there’s this from The Sun…

England hit by FIVE injury worries ahead of Serbia clash as Gareth Southgate sweats on Euro 2024 stars’ fitness

That’s not one, two, three or four, but FIVE.

Southgate stunned fans by picking a relatively inexperienced and young Euros squad while leaving out big names such as Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Harry Maguire.

Well Maguire was injured and Maddison only actually has seven England caps but carry on…

And he could be forced to field newbies including Anthony Gordon, Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze sooner than expected amid questions over the fitness of five England regulars.

The Telegraph claims Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, John Stones and Luke Shaw will all need to be checked ahead of the Serbia match.

We suspect all the squad ‘will need to be checked’ but this is the first we have heard about Bellingham being a doubt; he literally played in a Champions League final 10 days ago.

So off to the Telegraph we go…

With Alexander-Arnold in pole position to play next to Rice, Saka will start in the front three, behind Harry Kane, along with Bellingham and Foden. But Bellingham did not play in any of England’s two warm-up games after winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and must be careful after dislocating his shoulder in November.

He didn’t play in ‘any’ (the word is usually ‘either’) of England’s two warm-up games because he was given extra time off after winning the Champions League; he literally couldn’t have played in those games.

He did dislocate his shoulder in November, but he has since played 28 games for his club. He’s not an ‘injury worry’; we don’t think Gareth Southgate will be ‘sweating’ on an injury he suffered seven months ago.

Meanwhile, Foden literally played 90 minutes of football on Friday night and Saka came on for the final 25 minutes against Iceland. It doesn’t feel like there are FIVE injury worries.

MORE ON ENGLAND AT EURO 2024 FROM F365:
👉 Stop playing down England; they’re at least as good as France
👉 Eze leaves after fallout, Mainoo barely plays, Foden the new Rashford – what England squad numbers say
👉 Euro 2024 Power Rankings: England realism, Scottish despair and French glory

 

Source bottle
That Telegraph story has tickled Mediawatch because it breathlessly tells us that ‘Trent Alexander-Arnold is in pole position to start the European Championship as Declan Rice’s central midfield partner for England’.

The same Trent Alexander-Arnold who has started the last five of the last seven England games for which he has been available in midfield? That Trent Alexander-Arnold?

Alexander-Arnold has been handed the No 8 shirt for the tournament and Telegraph Sport understands the 25-year-old is at the front of the queue to start alongside Rice.

And Mediawatch understands that Jordan Pickford will start in goal.

England manager Gareth Southgate also has Conor Gallagher, Kobbie Mainoo and Adam Wharton competing for the spot next to Rice, but a source said: “A lot can change, obviously, but Trent was given the No 8 shirt for a reason.”

We also have a source: A list of the recent England starting XIs that usually feature Alexander-Arnold in midfield.

Over at the Mail, they’re calling it an ‘experiment’:

He has literally been England’s first-choice central midfielder for a year. It’s utterly bizarre that nobody appears to have noticed.

Sami Mokbel even writes ‘Kalvin Phillips, who would normally play alongside Rice…’

In the 12 months in which Alexander-Arnold has started five times in central midfield, Phillips has started twice.

The Liverpool man is now on ‘trial’ for a position he has already made his own.

 

Sh*thouse England squad headline of the day
‘Forgotten Man Utd star earns surprise call-up to join England Euro 2024 squad’ – Mirror.

It’s Tom Heaton and he will help in goalkeeper training, presumably because it’s easier to do certain drills with even numbers.

 

The Greal Thing
One man not at Euro 2024 is Jack Grealish so he is of course in Dubai because of course he is. And The Sun have the exclusive on the ‘moment Jack Grealish gets a helping hand at hotel as he lets his hair down in Dubai after missing out on Euros squad’.

And it really is a ‘moment’; Grealish’s friend puts his hand on his waist as he is momentarily confused by the concept of a revolving door.

But thankfully The Sun have got hold of a ‘witness’ who described the whole thing in perfectly normal language:

“It was shocking to see Jack looking so refreshed at 6.30pm, but after everything he’s been through he deserved a kick-back.

“He and his team parked up outside the hotel entrance in a black wagon then breezed through the foyer towards the venue’s beach bar.

“It looked like the group had been on a good session already. He’s clearly taking time to work through his Euros rejection.

“At least he had his friends around him. The episode did nothing to dampen his ‘party boy’ reputation, but it was very hard not to feel sorry for him.”

Sounds exactly like a real person.

 

Chapter and Merse
Another man not at Euro 2024 is Harry Maguire, but for rather different reasons. He has not played since April because of a calf injury that would have kept him out of the group stages at least.

You might have thought Paul Merson would know that. Or at least whoever was interviewing him for his Sky Sports column would have known that. It’s ludicrous to just print this sh*t regardless…

Southgate has made some big decisions. Harry Maguire was a certainty to play. He never lets England down.

He was literally a certainty not to play in the group games at least.

Jack Grealish’s omission is also a big shock. I know people have said he hasn’t played a lot this season but when he was fit, Pep Guardiola played him in the big games for Manchester City.

Nope. He played about 10 minutes of football in May as City were chasing the Premier League title.

Apart from that…smashed it.

Mediawatch England

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