By Johnathon Pearl
There was a frenzy of social media activity as Gareth Southgate announced England’s World Cup squad for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Southgate largely stayed loyal to the squad that reached the Euro 2020 final, with only 7 new members included in this squad compared to the Euro’s squad.
While there was a small element of happiness with the inclusion of players such as James Maddison and Callum Wilson, the overall emotion was anger towards Southgate over his selection of the squad.
Supporters from both Ireland and England took to Twitter with Southgate springing a few surprises.
Ex English international Gary Lineker congratulated the players that were picked to represent England in Qatar.
Some of the surprise omissions included Brentford striker Ivan Toney, who has been prolific in the Premier League for the past two seasons, Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse and winner of the Italian league (Serie A) last season Fikayo Tomori.
Toney – who had scored two goals against Manchester City the previous weekend – was a huge omission from Southgate, with a large number of people backing him to get into the 26-man squad.
Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips received a lot of criticism online. Previously, Southgate had stated that he would only be picking players based on their club form.
Kalvin Phillips has played one game all season for Manchester City, while Maguire has been dropped by new Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag and has only started two games all season.
Ireland supporters won’t have been surprised that previous underage players Jack Grealish and Declan Rice had been chosen to go on the plane, a regular occurrence in Southgate’s squads.
Even if Ireland fans haven’t forgotten Grealish and Rice’s betrayal, it is thought that both will have a significant influence on whether or not England will win the World Cup.
However, one player that the majority of England were delighted to see in the England squad was Leicester midfielder James Maddison.
Maddison – who hasn’t been picked in an England squad since 2019 – has had the second most goal involvements of any England player in the Premier League since the start of last season.
England captain Harry Kane will likely break the all-time record for England goals during the tournament, needing two goals to surpass Wayne Rooney.
Kane is also currently 10 goals shy of being the World Cup’s all-time leading goal scorer. Former Germany striker Mirsolav Klose remains top of the table with 16 goals.
A closer look at the squad
The average age of England’s squad is extremely young with the new generation branded as the ‘golden generation’. Jude Bellingham (19), Bukayo Saka (21), Phil Foden (22) and Mason Mount (23) are all likely to be starting in Southgate’s team, reflecting the inexperience within the squad.
England boast the ninth youngest squad in the 32-team tournament, with an average age of 26.4 years old.
| Player | Position | Club | ▲ Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jude Bellingham | Midfielder | Borussia Dortmund | 19 |
| Bukayo Saka | Forward | Arsenal | 21 |
| Conor Gallagher | Midfielder | Chelsea | 22 |
| Phil Foden | Forward | Man City | 22 |
| Declan Rice | Midfielder | West Ham | 23 |
| Mason Mount | Midfielder | Chelsea | 23 |
| Aaron Ramsdale | Goalkeeper | Arsenal | 24 |
| T. Alexander-Arnold | Defender | Liverpool | 24 |
| Ben White | Defender | Arsenal | 25 |
| James Maddison | Forward | Leicester | 25 |
There has been a general trend towards having younger squads in recent years. This squad is one of the youngest squads ever picked by an England manager. Even though the age of the squad is young, it is in fact the second most capped (820) English squad in World Cup history.
Club Composition
Club composition is always a fascinating angle of the England squad. Historically, Manchester United have produced the most English players of all time (43). The squad that Southgate has chosen has a varied number of players from a lot of different clubs as shown on the graph below:
| Aaron Ramsdale | Goalkeeper | Arsenal |
| Ben White | Defender | Arsenal |
| Bukayo Saka | Forward | Arsenal |
| Jude Bellingham | Midfielder | Borussia Dortmund |
| Conor Gallagher | Midfielder | Chelsea |
| Mason Mount | Midfielder | Chelsea |
| Raheem Sterling | Forward | Chelsea |
| Jordan Pickford | Goalkeeper | Everton |
| Conor Coady | Defender | Everton |
| James Maddison | Forward | Leicester |
| T. Alexander-Arnold | Defender | Liverpool |
| Jordan Henderson | Midfielder | Liverpool |
| John Stones | Defender | Man City |
| Kyle Walker | Defender | Man City |
| Kalvin Phillips | Midfielder | Man City |
| Phil Foden | Forward | Man City |
| Jack Grealish | Forward | Man City |
| Harry Maguire | Defender | Man Utd |
| Luke Shaw | Defender | Man Utd |
| Marcus Rashford | Forward | Man Utd |
| Nick Pope | Goalkeeper | Newcastle |
| Kieran Trippier | Defender | Newcastle |
| Callum Wilson | Forward | Newcastle |
| Eric Dier | Defender | Tottenham |
| Harry Kane | Forward | Tottenham |
| Declan Rice | Midfielder | West Ham |
Manchester City are the most dominant club, with five players representing Pep Guardiola’s team. Surprisingly Liverpool only have two players that have been picked with both Joe Gomez and Harvey Elliot missing out. Other English heavyweights such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United all have three players in the squad
Southgate’s position as England manager
Gareth Southgate’s position as England manager has become increasingly unstable, particularly after the Nations League defeats to Hungary and Italy. Various shouts of getting rid of the manager before the World Cup were rejected, but failure to progress deep into the latter stages of this tournament could spark the end of his reign in charge.
The negativity coming into this tournament for Southgate is quite unusual, in the previous two major tournaments he led England to the World Cup Semi-final in 2018 and in 2021 he reached the European Championship final, losing to Italy on penalties.
When asked about his future surrounding recent negativity in the build up to the Qatar World Cup, Southgate responded with a sense of realism.
‘’I’m not foolish. I am realistic about that (the negativity). I’ll be judged on what’s delivered in Qatar and I am perfectly happy in that way,” Southgate said.
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