Hodgson claims Adam Lallana has been "a major find" ahead of the World Cup: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2013...lallana-as-he-bursts-into-world-cup-thoughts/
Its really scary that Shaw is closer to the full England squad by not being included and the poor games by Cole and Baines. Clyne if he carries on the way he has been playing must be included in the next friendlies. To get the best out of Clyne and to actually get the ball into threatening areas JWP could sneak a place on the plane but will not play. Townsend is a flash in the pan, one good performance he he thinks he is a superstar, he did work hard but pretty ineffective. Lallana should be played in the no10 role, however this will go to Rooney so he should keep the lefthand spot infront of Welbeck. Lambert is the man to lead the attack not that greedy shyte Sturridge. walcott will reclaim his righthand spot, he has more competition at Arsenal than he does for England. Hart in goal, Cahill and Jagielka CBs. All we need now is 2 ball winning midfielders that can actually pass. Would play 4213
Hart did well most of the time...barring one hairy decision making mistake. I was willing him to do well...because we have little choice really.
I haven't seen a thread about the under 21 game and JWP so apologies if I've missed it, but once again, albeit against poor opposition, he was immense. As well as being compared to Beckham, he is also now being compared to Scholes and rightly so. Whether or not he is ready to step up to the full England team, I don't know but 'spacedsaint' is right, he is exactly the type of player England need. He does nothing flash, he gets the ball, one touch, moves it on. Then the occasional searching pass that inevitably sets up a chance and of course his free kicks. What struck me in both the recent games is that he simply doesn't do anything wrong.
I was disappointed that Rooney went off before Lambert came on...wanted to see them together. Think a lot of you are being too negative. England looked a lot better against Germany and they kept them to one goal. It could have gone one goal the other way easily...wouldn't have made us a better team, but would keep the media quiet. Germany had more real quality and I would prefer England to snuff out the danger earlier rather than go for last ditch stuff, but hey ho. Adam fouled when he had to in the middle of the park (which we all know is dirty when done by foreigners, but professional when done by Saints players). Hodgson would no doubt have preferred a win, but he gave people a run out and no doubt learnt a lot about some players....whether he will have the nerve to drop some is another matter.
A lot of fans criticised JWP initially...thought it was all hype and looked unexciting (because he is never going to burst down the wing and put in a telling cross). I thought then: but he scarcely makes a mistake. In fact, it so rare that I remember remarking after one match that James had missed a cross. He fits beautifully into Saints and England U21s...the question is, does he fit into the hurley burley of England? Imagine the shock of England players finding the ball coming to their feet or landing in front of them when they are making a run...the shock could kill them.
I think I might have been a bit guilty of that myself. When I used to watch him in the under 21's I thought it would be Reeves who would step up before him. The question you ask is a good one. The last few England under 21's have been dreadfully one-sided and for Saints he knows that firstly, he always gets good protection and secondly, there is always someone in space for the quick pass. For England he'd have to force things a lot more to create situations. Is he good enough to do that? Evidence suggests………maybe!
He seems to have come on a bundle this season. Confidence must be sky high. If he starts against Arsenal it will be a good test against Ozil etc.
I see what you mean, his industry might be useful, but JWP plays on the right more often than not. If I were MP, I would stick with JRod - Lallana - JWP. Adam and JWP are simply undroppable at the moment.
Me too. Plus Davis is a very versatile sub. He's very good at closing down if we are defending a lead but he's also capable of popping up in the opposition's penalty area and snatching a goal if required.
I think we should get all of our players that are under 23 to wear different shirts so Arsene can't steal them. JWP can wear Guly's shirt, Shaw can wear Fox, and Clyne can wear Barnard's.
Serious question. Do you think he is better that Lambert at free kicks? I have a feeling that he gets more swerve/dip than Lambert but that Lambert's are more powerful.
Agreed. I think his delivery is better for others to convert but if it's a direct effort I'd go with Rickie's power.
I was thinking maybe (for direct free kicks) JWP 18-25 yards. Anything longer, Lambert. For free kicks into the box for someone else to score then JWP is no-brainer, very hard to defend against.
I thought that Adam did ok and certainly didn't let himself or anbody down but there is a lot more to come from him at International level. He looked a bit restricted to the left side and a large percentage of attacks were coming down the right through Townsend, perhaps the team were taking Roy's advice to feed him the ball to the detriment of the rest of the team. Hodgson definately missed a trick by not giving Adam and Rickie time together on the pitch as their link up play has been finely honed for 4 years and is almost telepathic. Two of Adam's best and most creative moments were when he beat his man with skillfull trickery before instinctivly standing up a perfect ball to the far post only to find that nobody had read his cross, if Rickie had been on the pitch that would've led to an attempt on goal or a set up for someone else. I think that Adam has done enough to be included in the next England squad, lets hope that he gets more of the ball in a position to hurt the opposition, preferably with Rickie playing too.
