Gareth Southgate has named his England squad for the upcoming friendlies against Germany and Brazil.
New call-ups include Joe Gomez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham while some surprise exclusions also came in the form of the decision to drop the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chris Smalling.
Daniel Sturridge and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have not been blessed with as much playing time for Liverpool as they might have hoped but one would have expected Chris Smalling to have received the call considering the fact that he’s regularly featured for the meanest defence in the Premier League this season.
Southgate was quizzed over his decision to leave out the Manchester United centre-half and his explanation will not fill the 27-year-old with confidence.
Here's the #ThreeLions squad for this month's games against Germany and Brazil!
🇩🇪 https://t.co/E4ThMiHz0C
🇧🇷 https://t.co/hm7mZF0nVY pic.twitter.com/baVjCGjoIs— England (@England) November 2, 2017
The England manager has revealed that he intends to play out from the back in the upcoming fixtures and does not believe Smalling is capable of pulling off such tactics.
Guardian reporter Daniel Taylor was in attendance at Southgate’s press conference on Thursday afternoon and announced Southgate’s reasoning via Twitter.
Southgate says Chris Smalling dropped because he wants England defenders to be able to use the ball from the back. That's pretty cutting.
— Daniel Taylor (@DTathletic) November 2, 2017
England take on world champions Germany on November 10 before they welcome Brazil to Wembley on November 14.
