[Football] England squad announcement - Lewis Dunk RECALLED!

[brighton_tom]

"He was always regarded as a bit of a bruising centre-back, great at defending his box and not much else."

Lines like that annoy me and you see it a lot. I posted the other day about the misperception many fans had/have of Dunk due to their first being introduced to him in the Hughton years in the PL. But did no one watch him in the Championship? And even when heading, blocking and clearing was his MO alongside Duffy in the top flight, it was plain to see he had the passing ability.

We all know that statement is hugely inaccurate, it's down to a lazy journalist who is trying to justify why Lewis is suddenly in the England frame. Its basically them trying to save face. The alternative/correct thing to say would be ''He's always been a very decent centre back, great at defending his box, great with the ball at his feet, great at reading the game, and great passing range, but we've all been too ignorant to take notice''. But they're not exactly going to say that. Its just a journalist trying to create a narrative that Lewis has all of a sudden become good, and arent we all great for giving him his England moment at just the right time.

 

[brighton_tom]

Something I took great enjoyment from last night was that directly after one Dunky's many headed clearances that denied Scotland a goalscoring chance, you could hear Kyle Walker scream ''YESSSS DUNKYY''. Just a little example of his worth and ability being recognised within the squad. If senior figures in the team value him then no doubt Southgate will pick up on it. You would hope.

 

[Nobby]

So many chips on shoulders this morning, focusing on the wrong part of that Sky Sports piece.

Shouldn't we be focusing on the important take? "He simply can't be dropped after a faultless display in a fiercely competitive environment. This wasn't Gibraltar at home. Opportunity taken. Dunk deserves to keep the shirt."

Well of course he deserves to keep it. He has deserved to keep it for the last five years!!

But we have an idiot in charge

 

[Guinness Boy]

I enjoyed it too, but very much like the games under Potter at the start of last season - it was because of the players and not the manager. Bellingham last night was mercurial - what a performance. Dunk was classic Dunk, anyone paying attention to him for the last 10 years wouldn't be surprised by that performance.

I thought it was an easy game for England and that was because of the performances of the players rather than Scotland being well below their own level, etc.

You can't have it that when England do well it's the players and when they do badly it's the coach. It's just inconsistent and shows bias. It's always a mixture of training, tactics and how the players react to and use them.

We played well partly because it was a very British game, like a top Premier League side against a very average one or even Championship team. The good news for Euro 24 is that there's no Brazil or Argentina or, indeed, any good teams except us, Portugal and France. If Bellingham and Dunk can do it against those two - and, yes, if Southgate lets them - then maybe the trophy really isn't that far off. If he'll only let us off the leash in comfortable games or if the players freeze against bigger opposition then the knives will be out, no doubt.

 

[Brovion]

Congratulations to Lewis Dunk. Terrific performance and made the step up look effortless.

In terms of Gazza v Bellingham. It's a tough one as we haven't seen anywhere near the peak of Jude Bellingham yet and with Gazza, it's all what might have been.

I'm prepared to say, that if Gazza had no mental health and alcohol demons, had steered clear of injury and had more positive guidance off the field he would had to the better career as he has more skill than Bellingham. But clearly, those things aren't the case and i'm always mindful that we won't see Jude's full talent blossom for another full world cup cycle yet.

It's always impossible to compare people from different eras so it's hard to say whether Bellingham's more skilful or not. But Gazza DID have those off-field issues (which were so bad he wasn't even selected for the 1998 World Cup when he arguably should have been at is peak), so even at this early stage I'm going to say Bellingham, even if he isn't the better all-round package now, is eventually going to knock him into a cocked hat.

 

[Mustafa II]

Just as a side note, this cap means that he has surpassed legends Peter Ward and Tommy Cook (1), and equalled Bobby Zamora's number of England caps (2). One more, and he will have equalled that of Steve Foster (3), which is the record number of England caps for a current Brighton player.

I think this is significant because Dunky is quite possibly the greatest Albion player of all time - the greatest Albion legend - regardless of how this historic season plays out for us/him.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

And like clockwork Southgate comes out making the press conference all about Maguire, The chances of him being dropped are low

 

[Live by the sea]

I think it’s almost certain Dunk will be in the euros squad , even Southgate can’t not include him now ..

 

[Live by the sea]

Something I took great enjoyment from last night was that directly after one Dunky's many headed clearances that denied Scotland a goalscoring chance, you could hear Kyle Walker scream ''YESSSS DUNKYY''. Just a little example of his worth and ability being recognised within the squad. If senior figures in the team value him then no doubt Southgate will pick up on it. You would hope.

Walker is a world class elite defender , he knows class when he sees it.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Possibly an unpopular opinion, but...
I thought Dunky played a little within himself yesterday.

Seemed to be picking shorter passes than usual and his attempts at line breaking passes, were not as effective as they would have been for us.

I still thought he had a great game, but just thought he sensibly made sure it was a solid performance rather than really going for it,
Hopefully he get's the chance to grow into the role.

 

[Javeaseagull]

Southgate loyally sticking up for Maguire again, completely missing the point that it is his fault, no one else, that Maguire gets so much stick. The man is woefully short of match practice because he doesn’t play for his club. Who’s fault is that? The public? The press? No, he is not picked for his club except in an emergency because he is not good enough and yet Southgate makes him the first name on the sheet. He thinks he is being loyal, I think he is being cruel. Have him in the squad if you must but for pity’s sake don’t play him unless you have to, a bit like Man Utd.

 

[Nobby]

Possibly an unpopular opinion, but...
I thought Dunky played a little within himself yesterday.

Seemed to be picking shorter passes than usual and his attempts at line breaking passes, were not as effective as they would have been for us.

I still thought he had a great game, but just thought he sensibly made sure it was a solid performance rather than really going for it,
Hopefully he get's the chance to grow into the role.

I thought he was great first half, was really zipping it about and right on top of everything, but then when Carthorse came on the whole game changed - it was slower, and Dunky seemed to catch the bug for a bit. Can't be easy when you're playing with someone so slow and seemingly lazy, with a manager who just thinks it's the way to play. Especially when you train and play each day with a manager who has a clue.

 

[Guinness Boy]

It's always impossible to compare people from different eras so it's hard to say whether Bellingham's more skilful or not. But Gazza DID have those off-field issues (which were so bad he wasn't even selected for the 1998 World Cup when he arguably should have been at is peak), so even at this early stage I'm going to say Bellingham, even if he isn't the better all-round package now, is eventually going to knock him into a cocked hat.

Every now and again players come along who are genius and partly because of their flawed mental states. Almost as if being outrageous is as addictive to them as the rest of the world. George Best for sure, Robin Friday by reputation and Gazza in football. Ronnie O'Sullivan is the same for me, as was Alex Higgins. Kyrgios in tennis. Take away their addictions and insecurities and you arguably water down their skill and entertainment value.

Then there are those who have that talent but also apply hard work on top, have better refuelling habits. They may have an element of madness but their success is talent plus incredible dedication. Tiger Woods, even though much more murky than his early PR is probably in this category. Ben Stokes, Jonny Wilkinson, Stephen Hendry and our very own Roberto De Zerbi are others off the top of my head. To me, Bellingham sits here. It gives him the potential to outperform the first group statistically and in terms of trophies and to therefore, objectively be "better". But, subjectively, many punters will prefer the outrageousness and the every man relatability of the first group, even though the skill and flair levels in this group are just as high.

 

[Bridcutt]

 

[The Fits]

Possibly an unpopular opinion, but...
I thought Dunky played a little within himself yesterday.

Seemed to be picking shorter passes than usual and his attempts at line breaking passes, were not as effective as they would have been for us.

I still thought he had a great game, but just thought he sensibly made sure it was a solid performance rather than really going for it,
Hopefully he get's the chance to grow into the role.

He didn't have the options a lot of the time. He tried. He played the most forward passes of anyone.

He looked to grow in confidence. If he was a starter with Stones you could imagine him being one of the genuine leaders. Such a shame he hasn't played more.

 

[Stato]

Possibly an unpopular opinion, but...
I thought Dunky played a little within himself yesterday.

Seemed to be picking shorter passes than usual and his attempts at line breaking passes, were not as effective as they would have been for us.

I still thought he had a great game, but just thought he sensibly made sure it was a solid performance rather than really going for it,
Hopefully he get's the chance to grow into the role.

I think you're right, but I wouldn't see it as a fault. He was playing to Southgate's plan not to RDZ's. You could see some of the influence or RDZ/Pep in the approach. The full backs pushed wide and high and the centre halves and defensive midfielders played wall passes to create the space to look for runners with passes over the top. However, it wasn't full on RDZ. There was the odd moment when Dunk stood with his studs on the ball, seemingly to lure, but this wasn't obviously a planned tactic. The emphasis was more on moving the ball quickly, presumably as a reaction to the slow pace against Ukraine. This means more short, one touch passing. It was harder for LD to break the lines because, other than for the first 20 of the second half, Scotland sat deep, understandably, a bit wary of leaving any space in behind for the scary array of attacking talent to exploit.

 

[Nobby]

People have probably forgotten he was part of Poyet's team that played possession football, or that Gus gave him his debut up at Milton Keynes.

I was there at Franchise. Looked assured for such a young player. Disgraceful that he hasn’t been part of the England set up for the last 5 years!!

 

[Mellotron]

I was there at Franchise. Looked assured for such a young player. Disgraceful that he hasn’t been part of the England set up for the last 5 years!!

Bit of a dull game though, wasn't it?

Only things I really remember;

Arismendi's anguish at his slightly harsh red card
Hoyte hitting the bar being our only chance of note

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I was there at Franchise. Looked assured for such a young player. Disgraceful that he hasn’t been part of the England set up for the last 5 years!!

I was there, with my two lads, sat behind a big bald bloke, who turned out to be Dunk's Dad.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Congratulations to Lewis Dunk. Terrific performance and made the step up look effortless.

He made the 'step up' look effortless, simply because there IS NO STEP UP.

He's spent the last six years playing against better forwards than he faced last night, week in week out, and more than holding his own against just about all of them.