Agreed. Shall flick around to SSN as there a few FAC replays. Tom Cleverley starting for England is a joke. Keep going Tom Huddlestone lad. Many seats on the plane still available.
Team according to BBC: Hart Walker, Smalling, Jagielka, Cole, Gerrard (capt), Cleverley, Townsend, Rooney, Lallana Sturridge. Not sure I like that. I wanted to see a full first XI play against Germany. We only seem to play our best team in qualifiers and they're always a bit drab with the smaller nations scrapping for a draw. Now we've got a rare friendly where we can just let the shackles off and play against another good side and see how good we are yet we play an unnecessarily weakened team. I'm not a big Cleverley knocker but I can't see why he'd start this game. We know what he offers, he plays all the time and he surely isn't first choice with everyone fit and available? Particularly at CM with Lampard and Wilshere on the bench. Wilshere and Walcott should be starting for me. I want us to give them a real game.
Germany have rested a load of their best players too, so it might not be great. Both teams are experimenting, which is understandable now.
Fair enough, I'd still like us to give it our best though. If we lose no one will remember that we started Smalling, Cleverley and Lallana they'll just remember that we lost, and it'll be used as ammo for the anti-England brigade.
Germany do seem to have a load of players missing actually: Ozil, Neuer and Lahm have gone back to their clubs while Khedira, Schweinsteiger and Gundogan are all injured.
The players who come into the side in their place are good enough to be in our starting XI. For example - Ozil is out, but Gotze and Reus just come into the side. Neuer is out, Germany have 4 or 5 class keepers for backup...
On his current form, Cleverley shouldn't be anywhere near an England squad. Not for a qualifier, a friendly, an U21 game, or a ladies game.
Tom Cleverley gets a lot of stick for being a small fish in a big pond. You could bet your life that if he played for Norwich everyone would want him to play for England.
That's not me saying that on current form he should be in the side. But he's a better player than people give him credit. He's got a Heskey type reputation and for similar reasons.
"Identical twin bender brothers in centre midfield". Best thing Chiles has ever said. Which doesn't say much, I admit.
I thought he was pretty poor at Wigan personally. Like their squad at the time. I've never seen anything him do impress me whatsoever.
I don't get all the cleverley hate. He's not the flashiest player agreed but he's a tidy little player nonetheless and a good engine to have in midfield. I'm saddened that both sides aren't at full strength, friendly or not England v Germany is a huge fixture and deserves both sides to give it their all just for the spectacle. It might make me a **** Hull City supporter, but when we draw Germany in a competitive game I get more excited over it than any other fixture world football can throw out. I bloody hope we draw them in Brazil, preferably late in the tournament but any time will do.
