England team runs out of strikers

WHO IS W ATKINS?

Observers agreed almost unanimously before the England-Wales friendly that if Harry Kane could not play, Ollie Watkins would be his replacement. Not because of Watkins's high level of expertise, but because apart from this striker, the football homeland currently has no other striker worth noting.

Watkins himself is approaching his 30th birthday and has only played 20 times for England, which is telling. At 26, Watkins was called up to the England team for the first time. It was also the first time he played at a senior level (with Aston Villa). Before that, he had played for Brentford in the Second Division, or for teams at the very bottom level like Exeter City or Weston-super-Mare!

Đội tuyển Anh cạn kiệt trung phong- Ảnh 1. — Ollie Watkins is likely to start in England's attack.

If you don’t think about the name or the pedigree, Watkins has been nothing special this season. He has scored just one goal for Villa in 10 games in all competitions. He has scored five goals in 20 appearances for England, and he has yet to score in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Besides Watkins, the real strikers in English football are Ivan Toney, Liam Delap or Dominic Solanke. All are insignificant. Toney is much more mediocre and has been forgotten since moving to Saudi Arabia. Solanke (Tottenham) and Delap (Chelsea) are currently injured.

Looking at the current situation of the "Three Lions", former player Kevin Phillips lamented that if he could play football in this era, he would have had the honor of wearing the England national team shirt about 50-60 times. In the 1999-2000 season, Phillips, despite only playing for the small club Sunderland, still scored 30 goals, not only being the top scorer in the Premier League but also becoming the first English player to win the European Golden Boot. To this day, he is still the only player to have won this title while playing in the Premier League.

IS IT A MATTER OF TIMES OR THE SCARCITY OF ANH FOOTBALL ?

Kevin Phillips played for England less than ten times. During his time, the "Three Lions" also had Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham, Alan Smith, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Andrew Johnson..., so it was difficult for him to compete for a place in the team!

20 years ago, the English team always played with a pair of pure strikers. Now, people often only use one striker, or even do not need a real striker in the squad, so this role is gradually "extinct" in English football? Or on the contrary, because English football is so scarce of real strikers, people have to turn to the solution of using wingers, or versatile players as virtual strikers?

This season, the strong teams in the Premier League have to compete to spend money to buy strikers. Obviously, the striker role is still considered important, but English football cannot provide good players for big clubs. Benjamin Sesko, Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak, Nick Woltemade, Viktor Gyokeres are making waves in the transfer market. Man.City does not have to spend a lot because they already have the top striker Erling Haaland. The common point is that they are all foreign players.

On the surface, England are absolutely winning the World Cup qualifiers, winning 8 of their last 9 matches. In fact, commentators once called for the FA to sack head coach Thomas Tuchel when England lost 1-3 to Senegal in a friendly at home. Tuchel and his team are still maintaining their absolute score in the World Cup qualifiers mainly because their opponents are too weak. It is right to be criticized for only winning 1-0 or 2-0 against Andorra!

Harry Kane will turn 33 next summer. The Three Lions urgently need a good striker to replace Kane in the long term, but it is too difficult. Where can we find a new star in the next few months? Using "modified" strikers is easy, but has not been effective for many years.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-anh-can-kiet-trung-phong-185251009165748303.htm