I do agree Sterling should probably be going but this is the most absurd. At least at LW there was a plenty of other talent, maybe not as in form but by euros one of the other LWs could easily usurp him.

JWP is a very obvious fill in at the 8 for me. Hendo needs to be done, and with Rice and Bellingham, 2 of the midfield trio look really promising. JWP seems like the obvious best choice to round out that trio and also has one of the best skill sets that is counter to Jude and Declan. Rice and Jude have the defensive and driving runs aspect to dominate the midfield, imagine those 2 breaking midfield lines and putting the defense on their heels, just to drop the ball to JWP for one of his patented pinpoint services to the box.

Where do you play Ward-Prowse though?

Obviously Bellingham & Rice are the two starters in the middle. If you put someone like Ward-Prowse in there with them, Bellingham can’t take up the advanced positions he does, Rice doesn’t have the freedom to make the surging runs that he does, or both.

I know people don’t like seeing Henderson & Phillips in the squad, but honestly they’re the only two midfielders with the defensive mentality to allow Bellingham & Rice to play to their strengths.

We’ve got set piece takers in the team, Ward-Prowse doesn’t offer us anything that we don’t already have. He’s not going to offer as much going forward as either Bellingham or Rice, and he’s not going to offer as much defensively as Phillips or Henderson. Even Gallagher offers more defensively.

Surely it makes more sense to have Henderson or Phillips doing Bellingham & Rice’s dirty work than Bellingham & Rice doing Ward-Prowse’s.