another plus point for sir Rickie is that he's rather good at penalties. This is a very useful skill, sadly lacking in many England players!
When will some fans realise that being picked for England is no longer a yard-stick for the quality of a player. If anything, it ruins some players, interferes with their relationship with their club and increases the chances of picking up injuries. Is Rickie "good enough" to play for England? DUH!!! of course he ****ing is. Do I want Rickie to play for England? NO!!!!!!!!! I want him to play for Southampton Football Club. End of.
Cleverly is a bit pants really. He's only where he is at Man U because Anderson can't find form and Giggs/Scholes are both ancient. If United signed the top class midfielder in his prime that they've been crying out for for yonks, Cleverly wouldn't be in the team. The only thing that separates him from others is his reasonable off the ball movement. England has better passers, but most of them just wander around aimlessly once they move the ball on. If a bookie gave me the odds that Parker, Carrick or Barry would never score an open-play goal for England again (has it ever happened?), I'd take it in a flash. Cleverly goes lookng for the ball again when he passes it on. Seems an obvious thing to do, but so many English players don't do it and that's how we ended up with an average player in the team. If Hodgson has watched Lambert and believes in him, I'm all for it. Replacing my Saints tinted specs with my England tinted specs, England won't gain anything if the call is just for Lambert's personal benefit. Lambert could rip holes in San Marino, but it would prove nothing we didn't know already. If Hodgson genuinely thinks that Lambert has something to offer then great, but Hodgson needs to be the one making the decision, otherwise it's just pointless.
The only things stopping him are age, not playing for a big club and the fact that his fitness isn't great.
Pretty sure that people want him to play for England because it's an honour for any player and we feel Lambert deserves it.
I am sure Roy will be thinking about resting some of his bigger names against San Marino so they will be ready for the Poland game or to keep Sir Alex, Roberto, Brendan etc happy. So that could count in his favour. If you asked me if I think he had much of a hope, I would say no. But I have been known to be wrong before* *pretty much the whole time
New-look England team: Hart Walker, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines Lennon, Ward-Prowse, Cleverley, Lallana Lambert, Defoe I like it. Me for manager.
The amount of people in this thread who thinks Rooney should be in the England squad is somewhat worrying. No offense meant of course. Look past the hype, and what's left? **** all, that's what.
Lets not forget how many goals Beattie scored for saints in the prem and how long he was overlooked for..... Big club bias went it comes to England I'm afraid.
Overrated and dreadful are not synonymous. Plus, how many of those goals were were it mattered (in tournament finals) and how many were against top teams?
According to Wikipedia, if we exclude Euro 2004 as that's bloody ages ago: 5 in friendlies 5 against teams who have recently qualified for the World Cup and/or Euros 10 against teams which haven't qualified in this time, including 2 against Andorra, 1 against Estonia, 2 against Belarus and 3 against Kazakhstan. 1 in a tournament finals which was literally a tap in
Absolutely Joe. His form for ManU almost goes without saying. His form for England WAS superb, but he has fallen from a high, and he hasn't played consistently well in a tournament for a long time. As he is injured and/or struggling for fitness, now would seem to be the time to see if England can stop depending upon him. It might actually take the pressure off him too.
