They Have Themselves To Blame, Gareth Unveils England Squad While Leaving Out 3 Key English Players

With the announcement of a daring and thrilling preliminary England squad for the European Championship, Gareth Southgate has embraced the future and moved on from his past.

Raheem Sterling's international career has just been ordered to end, while Jordan Henderson is likely gone forever. Even while such omissions were anticipated, Marcus Rashford's absence has shocked English football.

Despite having a terrible season for Manchester United, Erik ten Hag has largely kept Rashford as a regular starter. However, Southgate has not spared the striker, punishing him for his startling decline in performance this year and offering this meek defence: "I just feel other players in that area of the game have had better seasons." That concludes it.

Attacking options abound for Southgate, as Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon both deserve to be in the starting lineup at Rashford's cost. Along with recalling the brilliant Eberechi Eze, the coach also unexpectedly called up Adam Wharton, a teammate at Crystal Palace.

Eric Dier is not starting, but Southgate has faith in the youthful center-backs Jarrell Quansah and Jarrad Branthwaite. The manager hasn't made any major roster changes, either, and it's telling that he still believes Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw will fully recover from seasons marred by injuries.

After having an incredible season the year before, in which he scored a career-high thirty goals, Rashford has fallen from glory considerably. That being said, he has regressed and lost focus since signing a big contract at Old Trafford. His lowest point may have been being left off the England squad weeks before a major tournament.

Rashford, who broke through as an 18-year-old in 2016, is a deadly player on his day and has been a regular for England in competitions, if not always a starter, despite his severe form dip and the constant worries about his attitude.

But for the most of the season, he has struggled and appeared to be a player without ambition or hunger. His inebriated night out in Belfast, which caused him to skip training, further highlighted his lack of professionalism, a factor that has been more and more concerning over the past year.

Remember when Rashford became a national hero in 2020 when he advocated against food poverty amid the pandemic? Fans came together in support of him after he received shocking backlash on social media for missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final shootout. He was a poster kid for the charming new generation that Southgate has produced. However, the coach has now made the decision that he does not want him on the team, which is a scathing indictment of how his status has faded in the last year.

When Henderson relocated to Al-Ettifaq last summer, he must have realized that his England career was in jeopardy, yet he chose to pursue it nevertheless, severing his ties with the LGBTQ+ community in the process. He finally decided to pursue his greed above performing at the greatest level, and he has been justly punished for it.

Henderson was a major disappointment for Ajax, especially after being ridiculed by a television reporter following a poor performance in a 2-2 draw with Fortuna Sittard. Henderson did realize his error and eventually decided to end his time in Saudi Arabia after just five months.

In the lengthy text above, key and young among them is Rashford, do you think it was a wise decision leaving Rashord off in the English picture?