Other Games - 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup Edition (+ warm-up matches): Villa-watch

[Dogtanian]

I'm sure Saka will grace the deck with his presence at some point.

[TopDeck113]

For the love of the 80s, has anyone gotten hold of Um Bongo?

Hasn't taken the Scots long to get back to remembering that their role at World Cup time is actually to support whoever is playing England.

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[CT Villan]

Looks like Southgate never left, we're obviously hoping to take them to penalties.

[brontebilly]

If he had any balls he’d have played Ollie in front of Kane. Ollie to chase and harass the defenders, Kane to take advantage of the space created. Rogers over Bellingham isn’t going to happen. But to play two defensive midfielders against Congo, well you know it will be a lot of sideways passing.

Rice not really a defensive midfielder, should be trying to get on end of things tonight rather than sitting in a back 7 if focus is on Bellingham. Rogers and Bellingham together won't really work I reckon. Not sure at all about balance of Rashford and O'Reilly on other side. O'Reilly gets caught up pitch as he will and not exactly Rashfords forte to get back.

[cdbearsfan]

Moaning because they're only playing four attackers is weird even by England fan standards. It's basically exactly the same formation France had yesterday.

[Somniloquism]

Obviously from before the team selection but McNulty is latest on "Stones should be playing"

Their injuries leave Djed Spence as the last right-back standing, although Tuchel could also switch centre-back Ezri Konsa to that position, opening up the possibility of a recall for John Stones.

Jordan Pickford is the goalkeeping mainstay, but the defence is unsettled, Tuchel starting with Stones and Konsa in the 4-2 win against Croatia. He then switched to Konsa and Marc Guehi, with Stones dropping out.

Tuchel has been left having to factor in 32-year-old Stones starting only five Premier League games before leaving Manchester City at the end of last season, while James only started 20 for Chelsea.

[cdbearsfan]

Obviously from before the team selection but McNulty is latest on "Stones should be playing"

Their injuries leave Djed Spence as the last right-back standing, although Tuchel could also switch centre-back Ezri Konsa to that position, opening up the possibility of a recall for John Stones.

Jordan Pickford is the goalkeeping mainstay, but the defence is unsettled, Tuchel starting with Stones and Konsa in the 4-2 win against Croatia. He then switched to Konsa and Marc Guehi, with Stones dropping out.

Tuchel has been left having to factor in 32-year-old Stones starting only five Premier League games before leaving Manchester City at the end of last season, while James only started 20 for Chelsea.

It doesn't say "Stones should be playing", though.

[Toronto Villa]

If he had any balls he’d have played Ollie in front of Kane. Ollie to chase and harass the defenders, Kane to take advantage of the space created. Rogers over Bellingham isn’t going to happen. But to play two defensive midfielders against Congo, well you know it will be a lot of sideways passing.

Strongly disagree on pretty much all counts.

Erm. Sure ok that’s nice. Let’s see how it plays out. Because against Ghana that’s a lot of what we got

[PeterWithesShin]

Awful negative line up, press insisting Konsa be dropped for old man Stones, it's like massive failure Southgate never left.

[eamonn]

Chappers just rinsed Meeks for his time at Villa.

[Dave]

If he had any balls he’d have played Ollie in front of Kane. Ollie to chase and harass the defenders, Kane to take advantage of the space created. Rogers over Bellingham isn’t going to happen. But to play two defensive midfielders against Congo, well you know it will be a lot of sideways passing.

Strongly disagree on pretty much all counts.

Erm. Sure ok that’s nice. Let’s see how it plays out. Because against Ghana that’s a lot of what we got

I'm not saying that it'll be great. But taking the one player in the team with a claim to be the current best in the world and putting him somewhere that he doesn't play isn't the thing that will make it work.

Every international team plays with (at least) two sitting midfielders. France played Iraq with Rabiot and Kone. Argentina played Algeria with all of Fernandez, McAllister and De Paul.

And Rice isn't really a defensive midfielder anyway.

Taking out (nominally) defensive players and replacing them with with (nominally) attacking players doesn't suddenly make you an attacking team. You're just an unbalanced team with too many players trying to do the same thing.

[devilla]

Chappers just rinsed Meeks for his time at Villa.

Yep, I enjoyed that!

[Toronto Villa]

Harry Kane drops into deep positions all the time while playing up front. What I’m suggesting is a false 9 type of role where he still gets to attack but has another player doing the running for him opening up space. Take out Madueke who is quite shit and play another system. And while Rice isn’t strictly defensive he’s going to play a holding role. Do we really need two versus Congo?

[Proposition Joe]

Awful negative line up, press insisting Konsa be dropped for old man Stones, it's like massive failure Southgate never left.

Why negative lineup? Seems pretty attacking to me, both fullbacks are attack-minded, Rice gets forward too. It's only Anderson and the CBs that will really sit.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's only Congo, we shouldn't need more than a of couple defenders nevermind wasting spots on defensive midfielders.