Thought Adam did better against Chile, just as much graft tonight but for every time he won the ball back he committed about 3 fouls, and had hardly an opportunity to put his attacking talents on show. By my count it took 50 minutes for him to get the ball to feet with room to square up the right-back and go at him, and whilst he did show his usual nice touches and put in a couple of decent balls he ultimately provided little (Which again was obviously not really his fault).
Lambert was more effective in 5 minutes than Sturridge in 85 minutes. I really want Rickie to teach Sturridge a thing or two, he could be so good but just needs to work the space more and learn to pass/shoot. Improvement tonight, but we just don't play like a team. So disjointed.
Lallana drifts inside and England need wide out balls as they struggle to play through the better teams as most of them have better defensive midfield shields than us.
I'll give you that one. But between him and Baines in reality. I can't realistically see that anyone else including Gibbs or Shaw 'should' take that position at the moment. so change it to Baines/Cole
Why on earth would any Saints fan want our players to have anything to do with the shambles that is England the horror players that stink up that squad of losers? Playing for England is NOT a step up from playing fro Saints. It's a step down. Now, can we get back to the serious stuff and a proper game of football on Saturday.
Adam needs to keep performing really well for us. With Walcott and the Ox to come back, along with Wellbeck, he really does need to maintain his current levels to get a chance. He's not done anything wrong and quite a bit right but hasn't burst onto the scene, so its hard to see if he could get ahead of those 3.
The thirty two qualifiers are: Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay and Switzerland (Pot 1) Italy, Netherlands, England, Bosnia, Russia, France, Portugal, Croatia and Greece (Pot 2) It will be a stipulation that the ninth European team goes in either Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay's group. Chile, Ecuador (probably not with Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay) and the five African teams: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Algeria (Pot 3) Costa Rica, USA, Honduras, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran (Pot 4)
My 23-man England squad would be... GK: Hart, Foster, Ruddy. DEF: Walker, Clyne, Jagielka, Jones, Cahill, Dawson, Baines, Cole. MID: Carrick, Gerrard, Lampard, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Townsend, Lallana. FWD: Rooney, Sturridge, Walcott, Welbeck, Lambert.
England manager Roy Hodgson on whether Adam Lallana has played himself into contention for the squad for Brazil: "Yes he has, there is no doubt about that. I was very happy with his two performances, he has shown he is comfortable on this stage and has a lot of skill. If I am optimistic we do have the quality, it is there, we have players to come back too but tonight we were just lacking the quality in those key areas."
Why? I was born in England. I am English. So I support English/British sports. Don't watch the sports that I am not into but I support them. I remember 1 night years ago in my local. Was about 1am in the morning and grown up football types as well as myself were shouting and cheering and then rejoicing 4 rowers winning an olympic medal. Like Saints. Win or Lose I am a Saints/England fan.
Sounds good on paper but we still haven't found a midfield pairing to protect the defence (dare I utter the word Barry?!). I also think Johnson is as good as Walker. Forster and Foster will get in ahead of Ruddy. Wilshere is the one I question, he still hasn't found his feet for England, almost quite literally. At least no-one has mentioned Ravel Morrison.
