Moving on to the Thomas Tuchel era in England, who is the most important player on the national team?
He's been Harry Kane for a long time, but he probably isn't anymore. There are arguments for Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer. But you could say it's actually Jordan Pickford.
Is it possible to win a World Cup without a top-level goalkeeper? Perhaps the only team to do so in the last 30 years was Brazil in 2002.
So Tuchel, the new England manager, will be better off hoping that Pickford stays fit. Pickford has become that excellent international goalkeeper we talked about. His form for Everton this season has been wonderful. Every time I turn on the football highlights, there it is. Save after save after save. He is still only 30 years old and should have two important tournaments left.
Beyond that, there is a drop in the quality of the backups and that is the point here. If not Pickford, who?
Newcastle's Nick Pope has distribution problems. Crystal Palace's Dean Henderson is a reliable Premier League goalkeeper who, however, has not trained since being appointed as David de Gea's successor at Manchester United. Aaron Ramsdale wasn't considered the best in his class at Arsenal, so why would he be in England? Currently, he is at Southampton, where he tends to finish most games as if he needs a rest.
You could argue that Three Lions number one Jordan Pickford is England's most key player.
Substitutes Nick Pope (left) and Dean Henderson (right) are not reassuring back-up options.
Aaron Ramsdale deemed surplus to requirements by Arsenal, giving England pause
If Pickford wasn't available for England, we'd notice and worry, and that's not healthy. It also raises the question of why this is so.
The standards of goalkeepers in the Premier League are exceptionally high, but most of the best are foreigners. So are, in general, their substitutes. There is simply no strength in depth in the only position in which English football was traditionally so well stocked.
Some believe the academic system has played a role in this. Goalkeepers are taught to be comfortable with the ball at their feet (coincidentally or not, Pope was never an academy player), but they don't always learn some of the basics of what first-team football really is.
“No one crosses the ball in the youth team's games,” an important scout for young talent tells me. “In the last 10 minutes in the Premier League, if a team needs a goal, everything goes into the penalty area.
'Look at Arsenal throwing corners under the crossbar with bodies everywhere. That doesn't happen in academy games. Never. The academies are training goalkeepers who know how to play with their feet and who are great blockers.
“But it doesn't produce goalkeepers prepared to play among men.”
Hopefully Tuchel is aware that there are a couple of goalkeepers who can still prove useful, one at each end of the age scale.
Brighton have high hopes for 20-year-old James Beadle, who is on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship and has played for England at all age group levels, from under-15s upwards. The previous time he was on loan at Oxford and Crewe.
Thomas Tuchel will have a difficult task fine-tuning England's plans if Pickford is unavailable
Brighton have high hopes for youngster James Beadle, on loan at Sheffield Wednesday
At 29 years old, Christian Walton bets on a place in the Ipswich Town first team
Meanwhile, at 29 years old, Christian Walton is bidding for a place in Ipswich's first team. After spending most of this season on the bench, he played in his team's 2-2 draw against Fulham last Sunday.
Ten years ago, Walton and Pickford were considered the best in their age range academically. Pickford at Sunderland and Walton at Brighton, having started at Charlton. Pickford developed quickly, as we know, and has been a first-team goalkeeper for as long as we can remember. He has now played in four major tournaments for England.
Walton's progress has been slower – he played on loan for six teams before joining Ipswich – but that is often the way. The great Peter Schmeichel, it should be remembered, did not sign for Manchester United until he was almost 28 years old.
Goalkeepers can mature late and Tuchel must hope that is the case, simply because the others we expected to become real competitors for Pickford with England (men like Rangers' Jack Butland) have tended to show promise and then fade.
Interestingly, Tuchel spent his time as Chelsea manager a few years ago hearing that Pickford wasn't good enough. The great Petr Cech, who was in goal when Chelsea conquered England and then Europe, was the club's manager and was not a big fan.
But Pickford has continued to grow since then. At least so far, no one else has.
How Jack Grealish lost his joy at Man City
When Jack Grealish spoke to Mail Sport towards the end of Manchester City's Treble season, he revealed one of Pep Guardiola's most recent playing instructions.
“Pep has made me continue to trust myself,” Grealish said.
“He's been telling me, 'Jack, get the ball, keep it, win fouls.'”
Jack Grealish is in the midst of a worrying period of form at Manchester City this season.
Under the guidance of Pep Guardiola (right), the once cheerful player has molded himself into the image of his coach.
And there, in a single sincere sentence, is the core of Guardiola. Possession, structure, control and, yes, fouls. Because fouls mean more possession, more control, more structure. And so it goes.
But this is not Grealiano. Not precisely. Guardiola brilliantly managed to mold Grealish from maverick to prop after City bought him from Aston Villa. It taught him things he didn't know. He made him grow, installed discipline in him and turned him into a winner. Seven trophies at last count.
But that was never Grealish. It was never its essence. And now as we watch the 29-year-old decline to the point of no goals, no assists and no real playing, we wonder if this part of his career is coming to a natural end. .
Grealish – growing and getting ahead – was always related to joy. It was about instinct, expression, freedom and all the good and less good things that can come with that on a football field. And now it might be time to get back to all that somewhere else.
All football careers go through phases. Grealish introduced a new version of himself to the world as City conquered Europe. He fit into Guardiola's structure. It worked for Guardiola and City and for a while it worked for him too.
But now that it's no longer working, now that Grealish seems stifled and bored like a bird in a cage, perhaps it's the right time to move on. It's time to rediscover joy. Because Jack without joy is not really Jack.
The 'enigma' of Brighton's penalties was not such
In the modern game, a player who takes part of the ball in a challenge but continues to make dangerous contact with an opponent tends to be penalized. Normally that contact is boot to shin or boot to knee.
Last weekend, when Arsenal's William Saliba exposed Brighton's Joao Pedro, the contact was face to face and as such many people seem to think different laws should apply. Because?
William Saliba (centre, jumping) and Joao Pedro clashed heads while chasing the ball during the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Brighton, and the Seagulls were awarded a penalty.
Pedro's penalty equalized the tie but there were doubts about whether it should have been called
Stoke's sad financial reality is common
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes Championship side Stoke City have been losing £675,000 a week since being relegated from the Premier League six-and-a-half years ago.
Stoke, who owe much of their previous top-flight success to owners the Coates family, are not the worst-run club in the EFL. The truth is that they are not atypical in an environment where so much is spent on salaries in a desperate attempt to reach the top flight.
And this is one of the reasons many Premier League clubs give when asked if they are unsure about allowing some of their own revenue streams to flow down the pyramid.
If we give them, what are they going to do with it?