Oh leave off, How many times have we played with Lampard and Barry in the middle and both have been totally ineffective ? They have both been given license to go forward and at times they have been told to hold at times - depending on personnel - either way they have been kack for England. Lazarus, have we not learned after all this time that Lampard/Gerrard does not work ? We need to move away from that dead combination. If you want a plan B then Carrol is the best choice, physically superior to anyone else out there and technically better than Holt. Why anyone would pick Holt over Carroll is beyond me, Carroll boy'd up Ivanovic and Terry. As for Walcott, if you are going to play him as a winger don't even bother bringing him to the tournament, Sturridge, OXO and Lennon are better in that role, but as a sort of inside forward - then yes, Walcott should be picked before Sturridge and Lennon.
Who else can we play as the attacking midfielder? The majority of our midfielder have no flair, or skilled enough to keep possession and play it around. I have suggested playing 2 defensive style mids (Carrick and Parker) which will hopefully stop better teams playing football. If you can suggest a better alternative then please give it. I hate to say it but playing negative football is our best chance.... As for Walcott, i agree. He will only be affective if we play to his strengths. He struggles to adapt and isn't a very good winger. As a support striker he has proved to be good with RVP. It's up to Woy to get the best out of our players....
To be fair, Holt "boy'd them up" too at the Bridge and Carrow Road. And held off Ferdinand and Smalling for his goal v Man U. Against Everton he turned Jagielka inside out. Ledley King found him a nightmare and I thought he gave Koscielny and Vermaelen a torrid time the other day. Of course, I could just be biased... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ngland-chance-says-Martin-Keown.html?ITO=1490 http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/may/07/hodgson-holt-england-football-tactics http://thattacklebymoore.com/2012/05/08/it-would-be-wrong-to-avoid-holt-for-euro-2012/ http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...presses-england-claims-at-double-7584853.html I think the one thing about Holt is that people underestimate his technical ability- did you see a couple of the lay-offs and touches he did against Arsenal? I'm not saying he's Cruyff, but it's easy to look at him and assume- big, slow and clumsy. Actually, he's got "a surprisingly cultured touch" and can put on "an impressive turn of speed". More importantly- from the Guardian article "no other [England] striker makes such intelligent runs"- offering something that Carroll doesn't. Even behind my yellow-tinted glasses I think these are slight exaggerations... But the fact remains he's likely to surprise simply because he'll be underestimated. He's better than you think On a slightly more hopeful note- if you haven't heard of him, look up Horst Hrubesch and you'll see it's written in the stars!
Maybe I am doing Holt a disservice, I mean, he certainly doesn't look a bad player - according to some Arsenal fans he was a bit dirty in the recent game against us, you'd worry he'd get sent off in the Euros.
He is certainly quite pushy- tends to get free kicks against him for little shoves, but it's very much part of his game to frustrate the other centre-backs and those rarely get yellow cards because it's not elbows in the face. On that level, he's exactly the same as Crouch and Carroll (Crouch has a terrible record for fouls in internationals I think, but is yet to get sent off). He's no more likely to get yellow cards than Carroll or Crouch. He got one red card this season because he got over-excited when on a hattrick and picked up a second yellow with a stupid challenge. Against you, I think things got a bit feisty between him and Song because Song pushed him a couple of times out of nowhere- very much six of one there. I think Norwich fans get more worked up about him going to ground to easily, but that should be OK on the continent... As for you doing Holt a disservice- don't get me wrong, he's not "world class"... if anything he shows how bad England is. However, he is a legend at club level and works harder than anyone else so can see him being a fan favourite (in contrast to the last World Cup). I really do think he is better than both Crouch and Carroll at the moment, both at the target man job (maybe Carroll has the edge there), but more importantly his all round game. - Aside from his pushing, what did you think of him in the match against you? It's difficult to take the yellow-tinted specs, but the commentators were waxing lyrical and he consistently gets good ratings on skysports etc
Exactly. How many times have either Lampard or Gerrard played up behind a striker, as they both play their best stuff for their clubs?
Lazarus, I dunno mate. I've been trying to work it out but I don't know a decent English AM. Maybe drop Ashley young back a little so he can run at defenders from the middle and/or slip players in .... PNP - Lampard plays box to box for Chelsea and Gerrard I am sure has been played further forward.
I'll save you the time and effort, there is none. Wilshere has just started off his career for club and he walks straight into this English team. Thats how bad this team really is. What's happened to all the flair in our players? At least we had some with Gazza, Hoddle etc, now we have these big powerful types that are perfect for the Premiership, but flop badly internationally. It's either big and strong, or fast. It's only now with some academies eg. Arsenal, Southampton etc, that actually teach technical skill. But have the FA got the guts to change things like the German's did?
