Gareth Southgate is giving everyone a chance right now.
He has to be fair. And he has to be seen to be fair.
Great goalkeepers are rarer than you think.
They make a big difference to a football team. They have a massive impact on results and confidence.
For instance, Peter Shilton won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest.
Brian Clough’s partner Peter Taylor, a former keeper, said that everything changed when Forest signed Shilton from Stoke in 1977.
But a misjudgement on a goalkeeper can be embarrassing.
Spurs thought Pat Jennings was over the hill. The Irishman joined them from Watford in 1964 and played superbly till 1977 and was then sold to Arsenal and he won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 1979 and played on till 1986!
Ray Wilkins told me that David Seaman would win the league for Arsenal.
QPR coach Don Howe told my reporter friend Gassan the same thing. And Don would never say something like that lightly.
My message to England is: Good luck, Jack Butland! You can keep a clean sheet tomorrow night and after that horrible injury, you deserve some luck now.
Butland loves training hard with Pickford and Joe Hart.
He says, “You see the way we’re all competing against each other – I thought Jordan played really well last Friday – and it’s motivation for us all. It’s a good environment to work and train in, and we’re all pushing each other.
“It’s a great way to go into a World Cup. Whoever is selected will be coming in off a battle, which is what you want. It’s a positive situation to be in. We back each other – whoever it’s been in the team, everyone has always supported him. Ultimately that’s how you become a winning team and successful. It’s not by turning your head or being a bad egg, that doesn’t work for anyone. We push each other and you get performances and improvement from that.”
Who will win this World Cup in Russia?
Germany, of course.
Spain are 5th in the FIFA ranking, so they have a chance.
England’s Group G opponents are Tunisia (23rd), Panama (53rd) and Belgium (5th).
Tunisia v England is in Volvograd on Monday June 18th.