James Maddison victim of ‘ruthless’ Southgate about to drop EIGHT stars

Editor F365 06 Jun 2024 11:37 AM

James Maddison, Harry Maguire and TRent Alexander-Arnold with England badge.

Are we supposed to be shocked about James Maddison? The England squad chat reaches nonsense places as Jermaine Pennant can’t count and picks Harry Maguire.

Madd about the boy
‘James Maddison cut from England Euro 2024 squad in latest shock’ is the headline that caught our eye in the Evening Standard.

It implies that this is a shock (it absolutely isn’t) and that there are a whole load of other shocks that have happened this week (there weren’t).

Maddison was pretty lucky to make it into the initial 33-man England squad for Euro 2024 and really had to play much better against Bosnia on Monday night to keep his place.

Over at the Mirror they have gone for ‘RUTHLESS SOUTHGATE!’ as if it is somehow a surprise that somebody had to be culled at all. Will every Euro 2024 coach be dubbed ‘ruthless’ for the necessary cuts to get their squads down to 26 players? In the Express it’s a ‘brutal cut’.

The Mirror also promise to get ‘Inside James Maddison axe as England plans becomes clearer ahead of Euro 2024 deadline’.

So let’s hear it from the ‘inside’. Did he smash up his hotel room like Gazza? Did he punch Gareth Southgate in his smug face?

Let’s hear the full lowdown from England reporter John Cross…

James Maddison has become the first player to be cut from Gareth Southgate’s final 26-man squad.

‌Tottenham midfielder Maddison left the England camp after being told he was one of the seven to miss out amid fierce competition for the wide and forward areas.

And. That’s. It.

Such detail. Such insight. Such utter clickbait nonsense.

Don’t give anything away

Really narrowing it down there in the search for clicks… pic.twitter.com/Wn6YL9V7uN

— Football365 (@F365) June 6, 2024

Jam Bowen
Over at the Daily Mail, they asked their ‘experts’ Ian Ladyman, Craig Hope and Sami Mokbel to pick the seven who would be discarded by England. They say:

The likes of Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen and Adam Wharton staked their claim to be included in the squad that will begin England’s Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia on June 16.

Odd then that in the Mail’s own player ratings from the Bosnia game – written by Hope – Bowen was only given a 6.5 and was told he ‘did not do enough here by comparison, despite one or two bursts of promise’.

Just two days later, that was forgotten and he has now ‘staked his claim’. West Ham and the media that.

MORE ON ENGLAND FROM F365:
👉 Maddison leaves England camp as Liverpool pair also dropped
👉 Euro 2024 predictions: A France-Germany final and classic semi-final woe for brave England
👉 England Euro 2024 squad: Predicting the Unfortunate Seven to be cut in Southgate’s final 26

TalkSHITE
On TalkSPORT, we were treated to Jason Cundy explaining that England would have to pick six outfield players and a goalkeeper to be axed from the squad and encouraging co-host Jermaine Pennant to ‘rattle’ out the names.

Pennant then reels off Harry Maguire, Lewis Dunk, Jarrell Quansah, Curtis Jones, Ivan Toney, James Maddison and Jarrod Bowen. And then adds James Trafford when pushed. Spot the slight problem there.

Even leaving aside the small matter of basic maths, Pennant gives this explanation for choosing Maguire:

“If Branthwaite is at Man Utd, he plays ahead of Maguire. If Guehi is at Man Utd, he plays ahead of Maguire. If Stones is at Man Utd, he plays ahead of Maguire.”

Because that’s entirely how it works, Jermaine. Oh. Except it doesn’t. This is England, not Manchester United.

Mediawatch’s favourite part is when he says “please tell me that is bang on”, entirely oblivious to the fact that a) he can’t count and b) he’s a lunatic.

Elsewhere on the channel, actual former England manager Glenn Hoddle thinks he has spotted something about Trent Alexander-Arnold:

“Well I think it was really interesting that Gareth played him in that game [3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina], albeit a friendly, but in that central position.

“I think he’s having one little eye on that and thinking, ‘Well, he goes in there for Liverpool, but maybe, can we play him in there?’

“Because of his passing, because of the defensive side that we’ve got and the movement that we’ve got, the cleverness that we’ve got going forward, I think he’s looked at him in that central midfield.”

Do you think, Glenn? What a spot.

Pesky fact: Trent Alexander-Arnold has started five of the last seven England games for which he’s been available in midfield.

On the spot
‘Incredible stats shows England are now GOOD at penalties as stars’ astonishing success rate is revealed’ – The Sun.

Well that’s a weight off.

Because obviously The Sun are surely not just ‘revealing’ that England’s players score quite a lot of penalties for their clubs? That would be ludicrous and have absolutely no bearing on whether England are now GOOD at penalties.

A STAGGERING statistic reveals that 20 England past and present internationals have taken 52 penalties in games and shootouts in the 2023-24 season and missed only ONE – showing a 98 per cent success rate.

Ah. it’s actually worse than we thought. They’re not just counting the England players who might feature at Euro 2024, but claiming that England’s penalty curse is now over, at least in part because Callum Wilson, James Ward-Prowse, Marcus Rashford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are excellent from the spot.