Being just over a week away from the World Cup would normally see my excitement levels reach fever pitch, but one thing to sour the mood is seeing such a mediocre England squad announcement.
Waistcoat aficionado and uninspiring football boss Gareth Southgate has picked his 26-man squad for Qatar, which leaves some of the most in-form players at home and takes others who can't get a game for their clubs.
Perhaps the most perplexing omission from this writer's point of view is the one of Brentford striker Ivan Toney.
The 26-year-old's career only really took off a few years ago at League One Peterborough, but he has quickly established himself as a leading Premier League centre-forward capable of bringing others into play.
Toney's fine record from penalties alone should have guaranteed him a spot on the plane, and that's before we even consider the fact he's bagged eight league goals already this season.
To take injury-prone Newcastle man Callum Wilson – although a fine striker in his own right – over Toney could come back to haunt England. Do we really want to make a potential penalty shoot-out any more nerve-racking?
Something that also seems to have been glossed over is the inclusion of just the one left-back, Manchester United's Luke Shaw. An injury to Ben Chilwell is unfortunate as he would have been a dead cert for the squad. I say let's just hope Shaw's leg doesn't bend the wrong way or something in this weekend's round of games.
And can someone please tell me why we are taking Conor Gallagher? He's a promising young player but we definitely did not need a fifth central midfielder. Will he even get on the pitch?
To give Southgate credit, he seems to have finally seen the light and realised James Maddison is actually quite good at football and deserved to be brought back into the England fold. A broken clock can be right twice a day.
Southgate seems a nice enough guy and a safe pair of hands for the FA as England boss, but we all know his selections never get pulses racing.
Saying all that, I'm sure I'll be as pumped as anyone for the opener against Iran. Just don't lose to Wales, boys.
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