On paper you would think so. But I would still recommend a side bet on Russian police not piling into any "local" support involved in such antics.
Given there were 100+ England fans arrested in Amsterdam for this weekend's friendly, my biggest fear is somehow any potential kicking off between England fans and the Russian police will be framed as the Russians being at fault for starting something with our poor, innocent lads who just wanted to watch some football. That's certainly how it was framed when England fans kicked off at the '98 World Cup and Euro 2000, and there was far less of a climate in the media to do so then than there is for this tournament. Of course, the biggest fear for the press right now is a complete lack of any incident, given how the Wail and Torygraph keep publishing articles that appear to relish the possibility of this happening...although with Poland qualifying that's unlikely, due to a combination of Polish hooligans being particularly scrap-happy, the history of the two countries being less than savoury, and it wouldn't surprise me if Russian hooligans wanted to get some payback for Euro 2012.
The lack of an Eriksen-type is a real issue and Lallana was the first name that occurred to me, too. Barkley would be another player that could possibly fill that role, but who's also ruled out due to inaction and injury. Pritchard would be a real wildcard and he hasn't played enough to warrant it, either. I suspect that Wilshere will make a return when the games are meaningful, but he plays a deeper role. It's a real issue with the squad and damages virtually any system.
There's plenty of other things missing to make England like-for-like with Spurs - namely centre backs who play like Alderweireld, Vertonghen or Sanchez instead of centre backs who model their game on either the standing stones at a neolithic shrine or David Luiz circa FIFA '13 when playing on the easiest difficulty setting, attacking midfielders capable of being something other than fast and nothing else, and striker options who aren't a one-season wonder from (at least) two seasons ago.
England are crap with or without the Spurs players. Kane has done well to take the few chances in front of goal created, but with such of lack of creativity in the team and opposing teams who are generally solid and organised at the back, the World Cup is a tough proposition. If England could send out the Spurs XI our chances would be significantly improved.
Stick Raheem Sterling in Crystal Palace's team and you've got Andros Townsend...and it's a similar story for too many of our team. We don't have a discernible national style of play, a great number of technically gifted players, a fierce national identity or a tactically astute or motivationally inspirational coach, any of which can lead to progress in international tournaments. Barring a miracle, we'll struggle to get out of the group and be home very soon after, if we do get out of the group. Will the Phil Fodens and Jadon Sanchos make a difference in a few years? Nah, we'll find a way to **** them up somehow. Probably by not playing them until they're 27 years old.
While I agree, I'd stick Lallana and Winks in the squad, maybe even Pritchard as well, and hope that one or two of those plus Dele could knit the team together and move the ball from back to front. I'd also seriously consider pairing Dele with Dier since the lack of creativity among CMs is even more glaring than the lack of creativity among AMs. And then I'd pray the CBs don't make a critical error early on, since it's useless to hope they won't make one eventually.. But what am I talking about? What I really want is a boycott, and short of that, as few minutes for Spurs as possible.
Apart from Kane, there is no England player who at PL/CL level this season has been game-changing for their club all by themselves. If you don't even sufficient of them backed up by at least competent players, then your only hope is to discard all pretences of being a great team and just go Greece 2004 or Iceland 2016.
I was debating this with a mate just yesterday. He was of the opinion that our biggest weakness is that out managers repeatedly try to play to strengths that don't exist. That if only we - the fans - would drop the arrogant pretence that we're a footballing juggernaut and instead turn up to major tournaments with a minor mentality, we might actually surprise a few people. To an extent, he's right. With the pace of Rashford, Lingard, Walker, Sterling and Vardy at our disposal, it does make a lot of sense to play ultra-conservative and look to hit teams on the break. Two glaring problems with this premise though: 1) Our defenders couldn't hold on to a narrow lead if you glued it to their hands. 2) There are too many players in the team to whom this style of play is totally alien. Basically anyone from City, Spurs or Pool. Rashford and Lingard do it every week but I can see the likes of Alli getting very frustrated very quickly. And there is no way Dier's concentration will hold if he's being asked to defend 80 out of the 90.
But that is the most attackingest football ... in the world. Ever. And only one club has players capable of playing that.
We don't have players who can retain the ball and dictate play. In international terms, we are like Palace. We have a bit of pace, we can hustle and bustle, but when we come up against quality players who can keep the ball, play a decent pass or two and take chances, we are always second best. Spain, Germany, Brazil (and a few more) are in a different class. Let's not forget - we couldn't beat Iceland. We can't break down well organised middle ranking teams and allegedly comparable teams like Croatia or Uruguay have players who can produce moments of quality to change the game. Success would be getting out of the group.
Sorry, I was distracted by The Sun splashing the word HYPOCRITES all over their back page rather than in their job description...
Oh you know Southgate would/will, if there is a vague chance that Kane can actually run around without collapsing in agony at the first step.
I was fuming at the reaction to Gomez getting injured against Holland. As soon as he pulled up it was clear what kind of injury it was and that he shouldn't continue, especially in a meaningless friendly. To let him run around on it was appalling, but it was even more reckless with such a young and inexperienced player with injury issues. Shameful stuff.
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli probably shouldn't head back to Argentina anytime soon in case Diego Maradona calls a fatwa on him that leads to Iglesia Maradoniana worshippers sacrificing him to make sure Lionel Messi has a fresh supply of hamstrings for the tournament. And why the lurid introduction, you ask? Because he said that he was not convinced that either Mauro Icardi or Paulo Dybala should be considered for Argentina's World Cup squad, and when (quite understandably) the entire of Argentina facepalmed in unison and caused a shockwave that displaced the River Plate half a mile into Montevideo he attempted to clarify his comments by saying he might consider them for the squad. Come on, Jorge, nobody expects Lucas Alario or Lautaro Martinez to make the squad ahead of Messi, Higuain, Aguero, Dybala or Icardi - and that included Alario and Martinez, who have no doubt accepted the only way they will get regular games for Argentina will be either when one of those aforementioned players retires or has a long-term injury, or if they learned to play at centre back.
Rahim sterling was on the radio today saying he feels the England squad needs some T L C from the fans is he having a laugh when we got humiliated by Iceland in the Euros the very next day he was tweeting pictures of his mansion and cars well he can feck right off.he didn't give a **** then so no sympathy from me.The only thing I am looking forward to is all our spurs players come back injury free.
Shades of Rooney's hissy fit in Cape Town because those mean England fans weren't praising the England team for a display of remarkable insipidness that it actually made those watching the match wish for someone to break the vuvuzelas out.
The weird thing about all this is for the first time for ages I think England fans now realise that we have no chance of winning it unlike before all the hype led to us fans kinda believing that we could win it we had the players but needed the luck and we could achieve it.now with the players we have we just are not good enough and the fans realise if we get out of the group it will be an achievement. After the last few tournaments anything would be a bonus.it's such a shame I used to look forward to euros and world cups but not anymore. Roll on the weekend and let's stuff the chavs
Are there any Chelski players in the Italian squad? If so, Harry might need to avoid coming into any contact on the pitch with them totally....... Or does Conte have any mates in the management team? If so, Harry might need to avoid coming into any contact on the pitch.
