I agree that Townsend isn't the finished article, but I thought he was good again tonight and his shot that hit the post beat the keeper all ends up. Sturridge and Rooney doesn't work for me, but Roy seems besotted with this partnership. We need two wide players in a three behind the forward to get forward to help Rooney. The pace of Townsend and Walcott would scare a lot of teams to death imo. Barkley looks a good player and I'd take him ahead of Cleverley or Henderson.
I think the pace of Walcott and Townsend could scare some teams to death. Also, with our dodgy centre backs we need to attack and score more than the opposition.
Perhaps I was being a bout harsh on gomes but you'd be pissing yourself at hart if he was the scum or jock goalie. England will never win a WC or EC with hart playing. Mind you they have no chance anyway with or without him for years.
As I understand it, these are the 8 seeded sides: Brazil (hosts) Spain (champions) Germany Argentina Colombia Belgium Uruguay Switzerland
You did hear right Col, maybe just getting out of the group stage may be seen as a decent performance!!!!!
Belgium and Switzerland? Very strange. I can't believe that Italy and Holland are behind these sides in the rankings.
How the hell do they seed Colombia and Switzerland higher than Holland ? Who actually gets paid for doing these things.
Belgium, Switzerland and Colombia have been winning and doing well in U17 to U21 championships the past ten years and now they have a lot of players coming through their senior sides. They have won more games and won more FIFA points than Portugal, Italy, England and Holland the last three years. That is why they are so high on the FIFA rankings. Norway was as high as 2nd in the FIFA world rankings in 1995, only Brazil in front of us. Didn't mean we were the second best side in the world, only that we had beaten what was in front of us the last couple of years at the time.
Townsend and Walcott are fast in England but there are many faster in the world ... Much faster No point in thinking that way England have more of a chance being the underdog rather than the bulldog
Roy Hodgson: "Don't forget Steven Gerrard wasn't at his best after recovering so recently, Jack [Wilshere]is still finding his best form" Then why the **** did you play them?! International football is about playing whos fit AND in form. It isn't a practice arena ffs. Test someone else instead, who is fit and in form. I guarantee you would have got more answers that way.
What do you think of Joey's 11 for the WC Col? Joseph Barton ‏@Joey7Barton 45m My starting 11 for WC would be, Hart. Walker. Jones. Cahill. Shaw. Wilshere. Ward-Prowse. Townsend. Welbeck. Rooney. Sturridge. #future
That team wouldnt mame it out of the groups unless we got the easiest draw possible. Wellbeck and sturridge = lol
England ratings tonight: Hart 7 Made some great saves, but you could tell he had lost a bit of match sharpness, didn't appear to command his area like he normally does. No chance for the goal. Cole 7 usual solid stuff from him. It's a coin-toss for me at the moment between him and Baines, with the added goal threat posed by Baines maybe giving the Everton man the edge. Jagielka 7.5 Our best defender, some solid clearances and pretty much always aware of the threats. Smalling 5 At fault for the goal, letting Mertesacker steal half a yard on him and get to the ball first. Doesn't look comfortable in an England shirt. Walker 6 Pushed forward well at pace and tracked back with some telling tackles, but gave the ball away a little too often, and missed playing a few early, telling passes. Gerrard 6 Willing worker, but little end result today. Looked a yard short of pace. Cleverly 4 Not international class by a mile. He never provides any real end result, and gave the ball away far too often. One or two good passes were not enough to warrant an all-round disappointing display. Townshend 7.5 Worked very hard, and needed to, because the Germans had done their homework and double-teamed him whenever he had the ball. Great effort on goal that deserved more. Our main threat axis. Lallana 7 Good game from the Southampton player, even though his lack of experience showed a few times. Certainly worthy of his place next time round based on this performance. Rooney 6.5 Lots of effort, lots of huffing and puffing, but mostly without the ball, as he made countless runs into the channels only to see the ball cut out. Sturridge 6 Disappointing from the Liverpool striker, who ran well but didn't manage a single effort on goal from memory. Subs: Henderson 5 Got in the way more than he contributed after coming on for Gerrard. Gibbs 5 Some good runs forward, but not really tested in defence - and when he was, the Germans nearly always got a shot away. Wilshire - 5 Ineffective and nowhere near his club form. Barkley 6.5 Not much time to impress, but showed plenty of enthusiasm and added a bit of impetus up front. Lambert 5 Again, didn't do much that was noticable after coming on.
Great shot. But it was his first for over two hours of play for England. Barkley can become very good, like him a lot.
Same for about half a dozen other players which isn't why england will never get anywhere. Saints don't have any players in the squad, they have a dozen good games and their whole front line is playing for england. This is the worst group of players in my lifetime. We had three good players in the whole team, Rooney, Cole and Townsend Germany, Spain, Brazil, etc will have 11 of that standard or better playing in every game.
Can't disagree with much of that Willy. For me, out of those that played tonight, Smalling, Cleverly, Gibbs, Lallana and Lambert will never be international class players. If Smalling and Cleverly weren't at United they wouldn't be in the squad. Walker is still left wanting when it comes to defending but is good going forward. Townsend looked good again but still needs a lot of work with his decision making. Wilshere is a quality player but not on good form, Gerrard is class, Cole is class, Rooney is playing well, Sturridge I struggle with, if he had a right foot he'd have been clean through tonight. Barkley looks good, Henderson is average. Of the players that weren't available, I've never rated Walcott that highly, take away his 3 against Croatia and what's he ever done? He's fast but what else? Oxlade-Chamberlain is a much better player, Jones looks like a decent prospect but what's his best position? I think what Joey Barton is saying, as he has in the past, forget the World Cup, use it as a learning experience for the younger generation coming though. Not a bad shout, we aren't going to win it anyway, why not concentrate on Euro 2016 and blood the next generation now.
