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- Should international managers call up players based on club form? ☎️
Should international managers call up players based on club form? ☎️
Hi football fans,
We’re back.
(we’ve used this meme before, we’ll use it again)
Today we look at:
☎️ Should international managers call up players based on club form?
🏆 Women’s Super League kicks off this weekend…
🎁 Competition Time: Win a new football shirt every month this season…
🦁 The England Squad
The England team was announced on Wednesday, mostly to the surprise of Harry Maguire, who has racked up a total of -1 points on fantasy football so far this season, but managed to keep his spot in the squad.
Naturally, this upset a lot of fans with Southgate’s perceived favourites getting regular call-ups despite club form. With players such as Ben White missing a place after a great start to the season, the default opinion being that the best players at the time should get the call up.
@GraceOnFootball gave us an alternative view, reminding us of Germany’s golden era team selection:
With the World Cup only 65 days away, Southgate will have some tough calls to make before selecting his final squad for the tournament.
🔍 Premier League to review VAR
After the success of the semi-automated offsides in the Champions League, with decision-making delays of only 0.5 seconds, the Premier League is pushing to introduce the technology asap with a vote expected after the World Cup. The semi-automated offsides work using tracking technology and artificial intelligence (AI) which makes decisions almost instantly.
It uses 12 cameras dotted around the stadium to track the ball and player during play, using AI to monitor the player’s bodies using a skeletal tracking system of every individual player so we know toe-nails have been accounted for.
🏆 Women's Super League
The Women’s Super League is back this weekend. Emma Hayes’ Chelsea will seek a fourth consecutive league title. The implication of this is a one-team league but Chelsea won the three league titles by 1 point, 2 points, and on a points per game basis (COVID season) meaning every season went down to the wire.
💰 First £1m player in the women’s game
The Times are saying that we’re soon to see the first £1 million female football player.
Forty-five years after we had the first £1 million men’s player, once again highlighting the slow progress we’ve made in promoting the women’s game. With the recent increased attention the women’s game has gotten, particularly in the UK, we wouldn’t be surprised if we see record signings every year going forward.
Sign up to The Guardian’s weekly football newsletter about the women’s game - Moving the goal posts
⚽ This evening’s games
Aston Villa - Southampton
Whilst performances have improved recently, Gerrard is in desperate need of some results and may have been fortunate to have had an extra week as Villa’s manager after last weekend’s games were postponed.Martinez is set to miss the match this evening with an injury after missing training. Maitland-Niles is set to start for Southampton after joining his fourth club on loan from Arsenal.
Nottingham Forest - Fulham
Two of the newly promoted play each other tonight. Fulham sitting comfortably in 10th whilst Forest (19th) haven’t quite got into their stride after buying 22 players this summer.Antonee Robinson is a doubt for Fulham. Orel Mangala is close to returning for Forest but this game is likely to have come a few days too early.
🎁 Competition Time
To celebrate the re-launch of our football newsletter, we're celebrating by giving away a football shirt every month until the football season ends (May 2023).
All you need to do is subscribe to our newsletter to be in with a chance of winning.
If you’re reading this right now, you’re already in with a chance.
How it's going to work…👇👇
Every month, we'll pick a subscriber at random, and give them a shirt of their choice (up to £95 and something that can actually be purchased. We’re not buying you Newcastle’s Goalkeeper Shirt from ‘95). We'll cover delivery.
How to increase your chances of winning...👇👇
Each subscriber will receive a ticket (1 slot on the digital wheel), however, for every additional subscriber that uses your referral code, you’ll receive another slot. 10 referrals, 10 slots. You know how to add up.
We currently have just over 100 subscribers, that means the chances of you winning a shirt for September is never going to be higher than it is right now.
Sign up and start referring with your unique code here:
On the evening of the last day of the month, we’ll email the winner letting them know they’ve won a shirt of their choice and post the winner on our socials.
🏡 Housekeeping
A reminder of what the newsletter is going to look like on a weekly basis and an option to opt out if you no longer think this is for you. We won’t take it personally.
This is what the timetable looks like:
Monday will cover La Liga 🇪🇸Tuesday will cover Serie A 🇮🇹Wednesday will cover Bundesliga 🇩🇪Thursday will cover Ligue 1 🇫🇷 Friday will cover the women’s game and the action from the rest of the world 🌍Saturday - we’ll bring about your longer read warm-up to the Premier League and all the weekend’s action ⚽ Sunday - we rest 🥱