Liam: What’s your definitive starting eleven for the World Cup?<\/strong><\/p>\nOh wow. Well, Pickford would have to be in goal. Probably Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell, Rice, Bellingham, Grealish, Foden, Sterling, Kane.<\/p>\n
Liam: No Saka?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> He\u2019s a very talented player, I just think the good thing about England at this moment, they’ve got, plenty of strength in depth, plenty of top, top players, Saka being one of them.<\/p>\nSometimes it’s hard to choose a team when you’ve got so many very good players. But I think for the starting game, that would be my first eleven. It’s a good problem to have as well and off the bench, he did really well the other night along with Mount, so yeah, there\u2019s many paths he can take.<\/p>\n
Liam: What do you make of the Ivan Toney situation?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince: <\/strong>\u00a0I think it’s one of those picks that\u2019s included for now, but won\u2019t feature in the final squad. I think people obviously say, \u201cwhat’s the point of taking them?\u201d<\/p>\nWhen I used to play for England the manager would pick a player in good form to see how they would deal with the level in training, but not necessarily to play, just to be a part of it.<\/p>\n
Ivan Toney has been brilliant this year and last year, but if he’s not involved in the game, are you gonna select him for the World Cup, you know? So all he can do in the next six weeks is just try and maintain his form.<\/p>\n
Liam: We haven’t seen Tammy Abraham, he’s been doing well at Roma. If Harry was to get injured, who’s the next one on the conveyor belt?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> We don’t really know at this moment in time – I would like to see Toney get at least 15, 20, 30 minutes. He’s a different prospect as well, isn’t he? He brings a completely different dimension to the set up.<\/p>\nUnfortunately, we haven’t got to see that, but that’s the manager\u2019s choice, not mine.<\/p>\n
Liam: What do you think of English chances of making the World Cup final?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince: <\/strong>It’s gonna be tough, as an Englishman, I’d love to say, yeah, we’re gonna go all the way.<\/p>\nThere’s some very, very good teams this year. I watched France play the other night. They got beat by Denmark, but not long before that they were very good. There’s some very, very top quality teams in there. I do expect us to breeze through the group stages, I really do.<\/p>\n
I think we have the chance of playing the French in the Round of 16 or potentially the quarter-final, so that’s a huge test if we make it that far.<\/p>\n
The team’s not playing with full of confidence at the moment, especially the Germany game the other night, especially after the second goal on, in from arts. But they showed the desire and ability to get back into the game, it was great to see and it lifted the crowd.<\/p>\n
But you can’t keep going two-nil down to good teams like Germany, France and Spain. You won’t\u00a0 get away with it. There was some positive activity last night at the end of the game. Obviously we conceded three goals, but we also scored three great goals.<\/p>\n
Going into a World Cup, it’s a completely different mindset. Everything that’s gone on beforehand, Nation’s League or whatever it may be, this is the business part and the mindset changers. It really, really does.<\/p>\n
We have some truly world class players – one of the best strikers in the world, two of the most exciting young talents in Bellingham and Foden. We’ve got a very good chance, but we’ve got some tough games to get through if we’re gonna win the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Liam: What are your predictions for the two World Cup finalists?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> I’m probably going to say France, and Brazil.<\/p>\nLiam:<\/strong> Do you think England<\/strong>\u2019s recent form matters when going into this World Cup? Do you think about it that much as a player or does it go out the window when it gets the World Cup?<\/strong><\/p>\nThis year is a strange one, because it is in the middle of the season. So players are entering in different mentalities, and attitudes as opposed to being title winners, relegation candidates etc.<\/p>\n
I would be lacking a bit of confidence after getting beaten 4-0 by Hungary and 1-0 against Italy – you have to look at your performance.<\/p>\n
Once you get there though, and take part in your first training session and build up to the first game, it’s just a completely different feeling. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a completely different feeling.So what’s gone on before, is gone. It doesn’t matter. It’s what we do now that matters.<\/p>\n
Liam: What do you think of the Nations League? Do you think it has merit?<\/strong><\/p>\nI love it, I really do. I Used to hate playing friendlies for England. We were never competitive. When you had a friendly, they weren’t competitive and sometimes England would be playing a friendly against a lesser team where they can go in four or five nil.<\/p>\n
For me, there was just no point to it, you know? And I love what UEFA have done with this. I love the way that we’re now seeing big, big games. For example, the game against Germany – these are games that you only normally see when you arrive in a World Cup finals.<\/p>\n
Now we are seeing them more often and I think it is definitely competitive. There is a meaning to the end of it – it’s not just a league where there’s no merit at the finale, there’s something you get rewarded with. So, I’m more into this competitive football than having to play friendlies with score lines like 7 or 8 nil.<\/p>\n
Liam: Yeah definitely, when you hear England getting relegated, it’s such a weird thing. It puts a lot more emphasis on trying to do better. Going from losing to Italy and then drawing 3-3 with Germany, there’s obviously a reaction there.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> When you look at that group, Germany, Italy, you’ve probably expected Hungary to be the underdogs but they\u2019ve been dark horses.<\/p>\nIt’s disappointing, but the point of matter is, everything’s competitive and there’s something to play for, and that’s never been the case when you play friendlies.<\/p>\n
Liam: Do you think Gareth Southgate has done a good job with the squad selection over the Nation League game? Or do you think he’s missed the boat a bit?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think it’s tough as a manager – as I said, I’m in the same seat now as Gareth at the moment.<\/p>\nAs a team, we need to find out how we are gonna play? You know, what is our identity? Are we gonna play counter attacking football? Like we saw at times against Germany. Or are we gonna go on the front foot?<\/p>\n
By deciding what type of team you are, you can then pick your personnel based on that. I think when you are picking teams, everyone’s got their own opinion.<\/p>\n
Everyone has an opinion, \u2018he should be in the squad, he should be playing. Why is he not on the squad?\u2019 Everyone’s an England manager.<\/p>\n
It’s hard because when you have so many players at your disposal, so many top class players playing in the Premier League, it becomes tougher and tougher. The thing Gareth would be worried about now is picking the right players and the right personnel for the first game against Iran. That’s all that matters now, we have to move on.<\/p>\n
He himself will be thinking deeply about the right squad right now – who am I gonna take? Who am I not gonna take? These are all incredibly tough decisions that he has to make. I would hate to be in that position –\u00a0 I would not like to tell someone that he’s not going to make it.<\/p>\n
Liam: Are there any exclusions that have shocked you?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> It’s so tough because if you ask this in six months time when the Premier League’s finished, I could tell you. We’re actually only about two months into the league.<\/p>\nTrent not being in there is an obvious one – I’d like to have seen Toney take some part in the games.<\/p>\n
I think Gareth would probably know 95% of the squad that he’s taking to Qatar. It’s just sitting down with Steve Holland and the staff and deciding who the other 5% are gonna be.<\/p>\n
Liam; October’s gonna be crazy with the amount of games. I<\/strong>\u2019d imagine there’s gonna be an injury in there somewhere.<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> I think as a player it’s always kind of tricky. You’re kind of half playing for your club and obviously that’s your priority. They pay your wages, but you\u2019re also half thinking, don’t get injured. Don’t get injured, you know, you subconsciously have that in the back of your mind.<\/p>\nWhen I was going to France 98 that, yeah, I still played the way I normally play, but I was praying to God, \u2018please don’t get injured.\u2019<\/p>\n
So you could be sitting here now as England manager thinking, right, this is my squad. I’ve settled on that. And then three, four weeks down the line, you got two or three, four injuries, which changes your whole planning.<\/p>\n
Liam: What about Kalvin Phillips, would you take him to the World Cup?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> If he’s fit – I think he’d be disappointed to not be involved because of injury. I think when he first started playing for England, his performances were very, very good.<\/p>\nYou don’t go to Man City if you’re not a top class player. It’s just a case of how long this injury is gonna be? When’s he gonna be back training, when’s gonna be back fit? You know, you also gotta think you’ve got Rice there, you’ve got Bellingham there, you’ve got Henderson coming back in now.<\/p>\n
It’s just a case of how soon he can return to full fitness, but he is an incredibly talented player that’s for sure.<\/p>\n
Liam: If you were in the manager<\/strong>\u2019s seat, would you now switch back to a back four, or would you stick with a back three with what we’ve got at our disposal?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> I think it’s got to be horses for courses. For example, I play a back three for Reading which has served us okay this season. If I felt there’d be an advantage for us to play a back four against the opposition, then I’d do it.<\/p>\nYou have to have players in your squad who can be flexible, who can adapt to a new system. We’ve seen the three work. Southgate at Euro \u201996 played in a three. So a lot of teams are playing three at the back, especially in the championship.<\/p>\n
The most important thing is you have to be quite diverse and you have to be willing to change formations in the game depending how the game’s going.<\/p>\n
Liam: Do you think Manchester United, with their very late transfer business, will get top four this season?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> There’s a lot of top teams in the league.\u00a0 What we’re hopefully seeing is a turnaround now.<\/p>\nTen Hag has just walked through the door, but they look a lot better than they have been. He’s brought some good players in. Those players need to settle but they’ve got some very good results and have started the Premier League very well.<\/p>\n
I think they’ll be up there, I think they’ll be challenging and that’s what United fans want, That’s what fans expect – one of the biggest teams in the world to be changing for the Champions League. So yeah, I’d expect them to be up there.<\/p>\n
Liam: Who do you think, with the new recruits that have come in, is Man United’s best midfield?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> Casemiro is a massive bit of business, Eriksen has come to United and fit like a glove.<\/p>\nThey give them something completely different and all you’re hoping is that those two players have an influence on the likes of McTominay and Fred. Bringing in top players like that, I think it’s important to see the club going forward.<\/p>\n
I still think McTominay is a very good player – I think he will get better playing alongside Casemiro and Eriksen which provides a good balance. Premier League teams have gotten so big, they can mix and match with their line-ups and formations, and this midfield has so much depth.<\/p>\n
I like the business that United have done and because of Liverpool and Chelsea\u2019s slow start, they have a shot at the Champions League. This has always been a project for Ten Hag and I think to be successful, you just can’t keep sacking managers.<\/p>\n
Liam: Do you think there’s a midfield player in the summer transfer window that they missed out or they should have brought in?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> We find out that from these big clubs, if they want someone, nine times out of 10, they normally get them. There were no warning signs of signing the likes of Bellingham, but you can’t just rush into things – you gotta take your time and you’ve gotta be given time.\u00a0 As long as Ten Hag is given time, he will be able to pick the ones that he requires.<\/p>\nLiam:<\/strong> Moving on to Ronaldo, do you think it was a mistake for Man United to keep him at the club?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince<\/strong>: No, not all. Ronaldo is a serial winner and one of the greatest players ever to play football. He undoubtedly has an influence on the pitch. It is easy to forget last year he got 18 goals. Without those goals, where would United have been?<\/p>\nThose types of players don’t come along very easily. I understand he wants to play football<\/a>, I get that, and he will get games. I think he just has to be patient and his time will come – it is important to keep your best players and Ronaldo is definitely a world class player, even at his age.<\/p>\nLiam: What do you make of the Glazers? Do you think the fans should continue to protest the ownership of the club?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> I don’t really get involved in that type of stuff. As a manager, you know, all you do is you talk about football and you worry about football. It isn\u2019t for me to say what the fans should do or fans shouldn’t do. All you want your supporters or your fans to do is to support the team.<\/p>\nI can certainly see the reason behind it, but sometimes it can be a distraction to the team. For me, you know, as a manager, you never talk about the owners, and I\u2019m sure Ten Hag will be thinking the same.<\/p>\n
Liam: I\u2019d like to talk about Rashford – do you think that this season is make or break?\u00a0 Do you think he might need to leave to get some more game time? And what do you think his future looks like?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> When he came on the scene, you thought, \u201cwow, this kid’s amazing, special\u201d. He still is, but has been plagued with a few injuries. He\u2019s had few knock backs when he’s lost a little bit of confidence. The arrival of a new manager has given him a lift, and it looks like he has that confidence back the way he is playing.<\/p>\nHe’s got his vibe back, and he definitely has the potential to be a world class player.<\/p>\n
Liam: What would your advice be for Ten Hag for his first Manchester Derby?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> Manchester Derby time. Enjoy it. As I said, United are in a good place, the players are playing well. When it comes to Derby games, plans just go out the window.<\/p>\nIt’s not about who’s first, who second, who’s fifth, who’s last. It’s a one off, and anything can happen. When you’re world class or top class manager, like he is when, he left Ajax to experience these games.<\/p>\n
To be part of these types of games every week against one of the greatest coaches in the world in Pep. That’s why he left Ajax. But you’ve got to enjoy it, because they’re the moments you want to experience as a manager.<\/p>\n
Liam: How would you contain Erling Haaland?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> You\u2019ve just got to hope and pray he has an off day. You have some players and study them and study them, \u2018I think we need to do this, we need to do that.\u2019 But then some players are simply unstoppable.<\/p>\nFor example, when you watch Messi, and he gets it on his left foot, you know what comes next. You just can’t stop it because he’s that good. This is the same with Haaland –\u00a0 his movement is fantastic. If he gets a chance nine times out of ten he’s gonna finish it.<\/p>\n
You just hope that he won’t get too many chances. I think also, as a manager you wanna put your own stamp on it. You know, you can’t spend most of the time worrying about their players.<\/p>\n
You’ve gotta worry about what we do as a team. And yes, we know the dangers, but you know, we have to implement our style and go there to get the result. But I\u2019ve played enough to know they’re fantastic games with incredible atmospheres, so yeah, they’re great games to play in.<\/p>\n
Liam: Just off the cuff, do you think Arsenal can win the league?<\/strong><\/p>\nI just can’t see past City. I love what Arteta is doing, you know, I do, you know. They look to be\u00a0 improving year after year and he’s brought some really good players in. My boys are Arsenal fans, my two fans, so if they do, I’ll be getting it in the ear!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fantastic to see them up there. There is a long way to go, it’ll be a good challenge against Tottenham who are also a very good side at the moment – it’ll be a good test.<\/p>\n
Liam: Jurgen Klopp is seemingly under pressure in his press conferences – he is not the real bubbly Klopp that we know. What do you think has gone wrong?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince<\/strong>: There’s so much pressure on managers, you know. We see managers lose their jobs after 10 games, everybody wants to win, but not everyone can win.<\/p>\nYou look at what Klopp\u2019s done the last five years at Liverpool, it’s been absolutely amazing.No one could have envisaged this when Klopp walked through the door.<\/p>\n
The race between him and Pep was incredible – all our eyes were focused on that. So he has had some wonderful moments, some great, great moments. And at the moment, you know, it’s one of those where he has\u00a0 kind of lost his midfield, lost Mane, which for me is a big, big loss.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re probably going through a little transition at this moment in time – a lot of clubs do it, Fergie was a genius at it. Sometimes these things take time, but Klopp is a winner no doubt.<\/p>\n
Liam: Would you have sold Mane?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> Sometimes when a player wants to leave the club, then it’s very hard to stand in his way. For me, Mane in that trio alongside Salah and Firmino was absolutely fantastic with Jota coming in rotation. They\u2019ve brought in Nunez,\u00a0and that takes time. Regardless, they will be up there, Liverpool, they are too good not to be up there. They need to get their players back in midfield because they have lost a few, and there’s a little period\u00a0 of change happening at the moment.<\/p>\nLiam: Here<\/strong>\u2019s an easy one, who would you prefer, Nunez or Haaland?<\/strong><\/p>\nI’ll take both of them to be honest!<\/p>\n
I think Haaland\u2019s incredible. I think to get him at the price they paid for him was, great bit of business. I really, really do. He’s probably a world class player already and at such a young age.<\/p>\n
Nunez will take a little bit of time – it didn’t really help when he got sent off against Palace, that kind of stopped his progression in playing week in, week out for Liverpool particularly after scoring against Fulham.<\/p>\n
He is still young and it’s a massive change for him. But, yeah, I think you have to take Haaland all day long.<\/p>\n
Liam: Going back to Trent, do you think his lapse in form and lack of assists this season is a bit of a worry for him, especially with the World Cup coming up?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> No, no. For me, I mean, every player goes through different patches of form. I had plenty, but when you look at his quality, you know, no one can put crosses in like he does, he’s from a different planet.<\/p>\nJust because Liverpool are out of form that doesn’t necessarily mean Trent is out of form. No one’s mentioned Van Dijk or anyone else. Liverpool had a slow start and that’s all it is –\u00a0 these players are world class players<\/p>\n
I’ve always liked Trent, I think he’s a wonderful, wonderful player. He gives England something that they don’t have. No one can put balls into the box like he does. It\u2019s a long season, anything can happen and as I said, Liverpool will be up there, in my opinion anyway.<\/p>\n
Liam: How bad would results have to get for Liverpool for Klopp to start worrying about his job, or do you think that they should stick with him through the hard times? If Liverpool were in the bottom half of the table at Christmas, is that bad enough?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> Klopp is a world class manager. For me, you don’t sack world class managers.<\/p>\nI think Klopp will decide when he wants to leave. He’s earned that right in what he has given Liverpool in terms of football and as a city. I hate it when people try to say \u2018if he keeps losing his job might be in trouble\u2019, it winds me up big time.<\/p>\n
World class managers, people like Pep, they decide when to move on to different adventures.<\/p>\n
Liam: I want to ask you about Reading – what do you think has been your biggest challenge since taking the role?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> Obviously we’ve got this embargo – it’s been a tough transfer window. Cause all we can do is get loanees or free transfers. You know, we haven’t been fishing from the same river or shopping from the same shops like the rest of the rest of the championship teams.<\/p>\nThat’s been tough because, you know, a lot of the targets that you look at, they want to come but then are being snapped up by clubs who have got more money than us.<\/p>\n
I do enjoy the challenge of putting a team together that way, we have got a great spirit, good players, great togetherness, no bad eggs.<\/p>\n
It’s a great place to be at, and when you’ve got that feeling where you wanna come into work every day and work with these players. They do their work to the best they possibly can, and then they come back in, they do it day after day and, you know, go out on a Saturday or midweek and give you everything they’ve got.<\/p>\n
As a manager, that’s all you can ask for. What we’re trying to build here, you know, it’s gonna take time because but we\u2019ve got an owner who is very understanding.<\/p>\n
Sir Alex Ferguson always said to me, if you are going to manage a football club,\u00a0\u201cmake sure you pick the owner, not the football club\u201d. I’ve been very fortunate that we’ve got an owner who lets us get on with it. We\u2019ve also got Mark Bowes now who\u2019s football director. So we have a great relationship. We understand where we are as a club this moment at time.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, the fans understand it. The remit for this year has to be to stay in the league. Yes. We’ve had a good start. But yeah, the remit is stay in this league because then once the embargo is lifted, we can start planning for the future.<\/p>\n
Liam: I think you had an amazing start – is it one of those things that you’re thinking potentially it could be Premier League in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\nPaul Ince:<\/strong> I never have because I look at where we are. As I said, we have a small squads, so we lose two or three players to injury like we did at Blackpool and all of a sudden you start losing games. But the Championship’s so tough, it’s so hard.<\/p>\nYeah, people get a bit excited when you start off well, so yeah, we’ve had a good start and you know, it’s been great, but the fans, the owner and the director know where we are at the moment in time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reading Manager & ex-Manchester United legend Paul Ince spoke exclusively to Fair Betting Sites and is convinced that Jude Bellingham has the potential to be England\u2019s next world class talent. In his interview, the former England international also urged young English talent to seek moves abroad to guarantee first team football. Ince is also convinced … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":2321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Interview exclusive: Paul Ince gives his take on Bellingham, Haaland & World Cup predictions - Fairbettingsites.co.uk<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n