Gareth Southgate is set to announce his 23-man England squad for the World Cup later on Wednesday as football's most prestigious tournament draws ever closer.A few surprises have already emerged in regards to his team selection.Joe Hart was told he would be in the squad March, but Southgate has since performed a U-turn and the English stopper is set to miss out.Jack Wilshere is another high profile name that has not made it in Southgate's 23-man squad.The midfielder has suffered a plethora of injury problems in his career, but has been on the pitch for the majority of this season.Nevertheless, it seems Southgate does not trust his fitness problems and has left him out.

GARETH SOUTHGATE ENRAGES FANS

As always, England fans are quietly optimistic about their chances in Russia.

Given that this is the biggest tournament in world football, and the fact that it comes around once every four years, England fans want the 47-year-old and his 23-man squad to give it their all in Russia.

But, Southgate's comments prior to announcing his squad suggest otherwise, and have not gone down well with England fans at all.

Southgate has stated that he would rather pick youngsters over some more experienced, better players.

He also hints that he is looking to the future rather than the present, and that he is simply writing off this summer's tournament.

"I could sit here and say this round or that round but it doesn't mean anything, really, because we have to keep improving as a team," he admitted.

"We're trying to change the style of play, we have our young players developing with better technical ability with the ball. We know these players and we believe that, in the long term, some of them can be world class players.

"Maybe there are other players a bit older playing in the league who might be better now or more experienced, but we don't think we could win a World Cup with them in future and would rather invest time and show belief in young players we think could be world class.

"For a long time, we have worried about what might go wrong but we have to look at how far can we go and how far can we progress."

That is just not on.

England fans wait every four years for the most eagerly anticipated competition in world football.

The fact that Southgate does not even seem concerned about winning the trophy is just unacceptable.

Looking to the future is all well and good, but you cannot do that in a World Cup finals.

There is no doubt that he should be picking the best squad available to him.

His comments have gone down very badly with England fans, and they have every right to be upset.

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