Debate goes on but Southgate should know his best England squad by now

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s inclusion will spark more arguments but coach’s focus will be on how the side functions collectively

There is a tendency in international football to focus not on who is in the team but who is out of it. There is little thought for how an XI might function and a lot of outrage about the supposedly disgraceful treatment of those who have been left out, a tendency that reached fresh heights of absurdity last October when England beat the No 1 ranked team in the world, Belgium, and much of the post-match chatter was still about how Jack Grealish should have played.

So pervasive is the tendency that even Gareth Southgate became involved on Tuesday, leaving out as few players as possible by naming a 33-man provisional squad that he will cut down to 26 next week. The only real decisions to have been made are the omissions of Eric Dier, Michael Keane, Danny Ings and Patrick Bamford – and even then the preference for Ollie Watkins over Bamford and Ings was in effect made in March when the Aston Villa forward came off the bench in the World Cup qualifier against San Marino.

Related: Ben White and Alexander-Arnold in England’s provisional Euro 2020 squad

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