After Tuesdays debacle should Cleverly and Milner play for England again? Milner does the same run every time he gets the ball and Cleverly can't pass to his own team at all. There are a couple more but these two- Oh dear!
Somebody put Charles' missing g back! I agree about Milner, I was on here before the game saying that sometimes you need a bit more than somebody running up and down the line like a tram. Cleverley is Englands version of Marney, he must be there for a reason, if not then maybe a few of us off the board should try out for England too
Cole should be dropped aswell, watching him is like watching Dawson for City. He used to take his man on but now he just slows play down and passes back to a centre back or defensive midfielder. Get Baines in now Hodgson.
Modern full/wingback is one of the hardest positions on the field these days, they are expected to take players on, rush forward, wip in crosses yet defend against pacy wingers, i agree about Cole tho, he's got his 100 caps, been a terrific servant and probably our best player consistently for a decade, but it's baines turn fulltime for me now
He still makes the runs he used to but there not often enough, age has caught up with him and as you say that position is hard to play. Managers expect more from the full back position these days, they need to be able to get up and down much the same as a midfielder more or less. Cole has had his time - same with Lampard and Gerrard. How many times the other night did Gerrard look fo a decent long pass but it was cut out or poor? Playing him that deep is not helping anyone out.
The England team is the proverbial 'Curate's Egg', it seems to be going backwards, but giving us the odd glimpse of what might have been.
No doubt we'll qualify, and build the country's hopes up then **** it all up in the finals. We should drop all the players over 25 and start fresh. Why didn't he bring Oxo Cube on the other night???
Why didn't sturridge get a go, can't stand the bloke but he seems to have transformed in the last year, asuming he was even in the squad i dont particularly pay much attention to england apart from the games
Rooney as one of the experienced players went missing in that second half, we miss a Beckham type player who along with the technical ability he also had the desire to win for his country. But they can't be arsed, Lampard, Gerrard, Cole, Rooney at least Terry had the passion to win and give his all. There is no leader for us on that pitch at the minute, and I don't see where we can get one. Terry butcher, Bryan Robson, Lineker in his own way, David Platt, Shearer,Beckham, Terry and who now??? Scott Parker isn't good enough and he's probably the best we could hope for.
I’ve been quite critical of Milner, and he wasn’t brilliant, but he put a few fantastic balls into the box. Unfortunately, that oaf Hodgson’s negative tactics meant there was nobody there to get on the end of them Welbeck’s ****. He actually didn’t do too badly against Montenegro in my opinion, but he was nothing special. I’d take Sturridge over him any day, and he's not exactly Pele himself This idiot Hodgson thinks he’s still managing bloody Fulham or West Brom. As a City fan I know what it’s like to have fans of so-called ‘big name’ teams looking down at you, no matter how bad they are… Let’s be honest though. This is a country with a smaller population than Leeds and that’s had just seven years to get together an FA and a national team. We’re no better than them. I heard Tyldesley say during commentary that they had about five or six players either suspended or injured who would otherwise probably have featured. How can you concede 18 shots in a game and expect to win? I don’t have much respect for Del Boy Redknapp, but at least we’d attempt to win matches if he was in charge. Hodgson does the same as he did at Fulham – set up defensively and play hoofball, and only attempt to pass the ball when you’re one or two goals-up. We did this against San Marino – THE WORST TEAM IN THE WORLD PS. I noticed on LFCTV when I watched their youth team in the FA Youth Cup against Leeds that they brought on some young Danish guy who they’d paid millions for. How are young English players supposed to develop when they’re being displaced by foreign kids even at youth level? In City’s game against them I think nine of our players were born in Hull/East Yorkshire
Gerrard was our best player on Tuesday. His passing was quality. In fact since Roy took over Gerrard has been great for England. He was one of very few players who had a really good Euros. It amazes me how different football fans can be when they're talking about England as opposed to club stuff. Everyone's quite sensible talking about City but with England people start foaming because we got an away draw ffs. Everyone needs a scapegoat and there's an obsession with blaming the 'old guard' as we like to call them. Gerrard, Lampard and Cole still get in the team because they're still bloody ace that's why. You didn't hear the commentator state that only Spain and Germany have completed more passes than us in Qualifying then?
There's no point in even pointing out the flaws of the current England squads. Our younger talents aren't being developed as much as they should/could be due to the foreign influx of players in top academies and development squads. It pains me to say it, but SAF actually plays the English players, Cleverley, Welbeck, Rooney, Smalling, Young etc and he's now taken on Zaha in an attempt to properly make the most of his talents and grow him as a player. Sterling and Oxlade-Chamberlain look very promising. How Baines doesn't get in the squad ahead of Ashley Cole is beyond me. I can't stand Glen Johnson, he just seems to have a good 10 minute spell then turns ****e for the rest of the match. Kyle Walker and Micah Richards are much better than Johnson who really is a winger. Milner is a donkey, I'd much rather see someone like Adam Johnson given a go. I think Hodgson is playing to England's strengths though. Gerrard has been excellent since Woy has come into the hotseat and I think we've been attacking and defending a lot better than we have in the past. We just need to wait for the younger, more exciting prospects to gain the necessary Club and Country experience needed to cement themselves in the squad. Players such as Sterling, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Zaha, Welbeck, Walker will be key to our future; fast, attack-minded, clever, skillful and the hunger to succeed. We need players who want to play for the shirt, not just expecting to walk into the starting 11 every International call-up.
Baines for Cole. Wilshere for Cleverley. (I know, he probably would've been anyways) Lampard for Carrick. Cahill and/or Jagielka for Smalling and/or Lescott. Walcott, Chamberlain or Lennon for Milner. And..... Jenkinson for Johnson. There, I said it. Give it a try! If it fails, we have Kyle Walker. Most of our players dont care about the national side, we need young players who will take pride in wearing the Three Lions.
I'd play Walker too, don't have your confidence he would play Wilshere instead of Cleverley, think he'd play Cleverley no matter what. I'm not sure Cleverley is going to get better than he is already, if he could add a few killer passes and goals to his game then I could see his worth really but you don't get that for England off him. Anybody quoting games v San Marino and other nobodies, I don't count stats from those matches. I actually would play Milner in his position as I think you'd get more invention and goals centrally off him, but I stick to what I said about Milner the tram out wide, no, no, no!
