Ali Maxwell

And he doesn't hold back and even can be quite jarring, can't he?

He's very honest about why he didn't take Palmer and Foden.

I think Foden, he said, I don't know what position he plays for us.

And that is jarring, but I like his honesty.

So I wouldn't say any of the squad announcement actually shocked us other than the Tony inclusion.

Because...

This England team, and it's always worth making this point, it's not been put together now for the World Cup.

It started back in March 2025.

And so it was actually the camps in September, October, November that were the most important for building the team.

It doesn't start now, it started then.

So the main guys that I think were the headlines not being included, Gibbs White for his fantastic club form, but wasn't involved in any of the qualifying.

Foden and Palmer for different reasons.

I think people have

sort of just about understood why they didn't go.

They've got so much competition in their positions and if you watch England's, Tuchel's England, and you see how Rodgers played, for example, it's hard to argue that he would be, you know, someone to play in that number 10 role.

Lewis Hall, just because we've only got one left-footed left-back and that's a bit of a concern on that front.

I agree with Dan.

For me, it's the omission of Wharton that I find hardest to get my head around.

A, because of the player that he is and the skill that he has that not many other players have with that snappy, progressive passing and his vision.

We can all see, because we've seen it dozens of times, games in which England are struggling against a set defence and that skill must be something that, you know, it's so important for that.