Jordan Henderson and Harry Maguire are the two most suspected players in the "Three Lions" this training session.
While the former Liverpool captain has moved to play in the Saudi Pro League, Maguire is considered a superb at Manchester United.
Coach Gareth Southgate chose Henderson and Maguire because he believed in past achievements and current experience in a young team. However, the 1-1 draw with Ukraine showed that Southgate was somewhat wrong.
England's draw was not entirely due to Henderson and Maguire's mistakes. And this result is not a disaster as the "Three Lions" have a great chance of leading Group C and qualifying for EURO next year. However, each match at the moment is a measure to see if the "Three Lions" can make a difference in the tournament in Germany or not. Therefore, England's performance will be "dug up".
For a generation of talented players, Southgate's decision to choose personnel plays a very important role. It will be easy for Southgate to remove Henderson's name after the former Liverpool midfielder moved to Al-Ettifaq. But the 53-year-old has kept a player he sees as key and brought balance in midfield.
Against Ukraine, Maguire once again became the center of attention with a situation with teammate Marc Guehi, thereby opening up an opportunity for Oleksandr Zinchenko to score the opening goal. Maguire's poor performance in the last game was no surprise as the 30-year-old centre-back has only played for 23 minutes this season at Man United.
Marc Guehi had an encouraging performance in his 5th appearance for England, but Fikayo Tomori, Lewis Dunk and Levi Colwill were disappointed to sit on the bench.
England controlled the ball up to 79% in the first 20 minutes but only had 1 shot. The equalizer in the 41st minute of the "Three Lions" had a huge individual mark from Harry Kane. The Bayern Munich striker stepped deep to help Kyle Walker equalize.
To highlight England's struggles in attack, Kane has only had 16 touches and made 7 passes in the first half. Meanwhile, James Maddison is not in good form as he was for Tottenham.
"I think in a game like this, the experienced players are really important for the team and I think they all did very well," Southgate said after the game.
That is a clear allusion to Maguire, Henderson and Walker, but only one of those three players has truly proven his worth.
Southgate has the right to make any choice that he finds suitable. And it is worth noting that in Group C of the EURO 2024 qualifiers, England won against Italy for the first time since 28. That more or less shows the progress of the "Three Lions", but lacks consistency.
If coach Southgate believes the match against Ukraine is a "really good test", how is the use of Maguire and Henderson seen?
