I imagine the opening game of this world cup may turn out to be similar to the opening of England's identical fixture in the last one. A ground out win against Tunisia. Iran will be solid, physical, difficult to beat and will rely on set pieces. They will certainly play for a draw, using direct play and predominantly set pieces. England have sometimes struggled to break down teams with a low block, or parked bus, and equally have relied on set pieces to break the deadlock. If England manage to get the first goal and force Iran to play, England have shown in tournaments they can -albeit in finals- put teams away. I can see England winning by a fine margin. 3-0. Albeit A draw in the opening game isn't a disaster in a world cup, but should it happen, I imagine the Southgate out troup will be screaming from the rooftops donning James Maddison receding haircut. I hope for all our sakes we win and the negativity doesn't start after match one; '-insert club allegiance player here- not playing is the reason we lost' is so fucking unbearable.

I don't imagine Maddison will get near the starting line up unless the last group game is a dead rubber. Southgate trusts the players who got him into the Euro final, so I expect Mount to start, McGuire also and the only other attacking battle to be between Foden and Saka. Sterling and Kane starting. Southgate will rightly show loyalty too Harry M, who most people forget was in the team of the tournament in the Euros, which was last year btw. But untill McGuire commits the inevitable mistake which gets us knocked out, I too will stand by him. If he makes a huge gaff in the group games I imagine Dier comes in to tame the noise and we stay at a back three from then with Walker, if fit, White if not. Southgate is really not the type to put in players he doesn't know or trust regardless of their club form, so I think White, Trent, Maddison, Rashford and maybe again Grealish will be on the fringes. It will be interesting out of Rashford and Grealish whom his back up preference is. Luke Shaw is cemented for LB, but does love an injury. So we could end up seeing a completely new defence from one game to another with White probably ahead of Trent for RWB, for Southgate. Bellingham starts but I'm sure if Southgate could massage Philips into match fitness he would. Hopefully Bellinghams quality and willingness to break the lines, forces Southgates hand, so he has no choice but not to play a double defensive mid pivot.

Anyway I've said alot with nothing at all but just my thoughts. Looking forward to the first game. Come on England!