How do we think Roy will line them up tomorrow in what promises to be a tense and exciting night for all Sains fans. I think starting XI will be: Hart Johnson Cahill Jones Cole Henderson Wilshere Lallana Rooney Welbeck Sturridge Expect Shaw to come on 2nd half and Rodriguez to get 30mins. If he's decided lambert is definitely going he may not look at him at all. Predictions? Very hard lineup to call but lots of suggestions that gerrard won't play. Tried to fit Ox in there but just wasn't sure how!
Gah who knows! Massive waste of time this match. This, however, is my England line up for the WC 1. Hart 2. Clyne 3. Baines 4. Cahill 5. Shawcross 6. Cork 7. Oxlaide Chamberlin 8. Lallana 9. Rodriguez 10. Lambert 11. Barkley Obviously this would never happen...
Forster, Johnson, Cahill, Smalling, Baines, Henderson, Gerrard, Chamberlain, Lallana, Rodriguez, Sturridge That's how I would start things. Experimenting is key. That is what these games are for.
Unlikely, given that Cork isn't even in the squad. However, I don't think its a waste of time. Its the last chance to get together before the squad is finalised. Its a very important game for a lot of players.
Rooney seems to upset the team spirit. Sturridge just seems selfish when playing for England. Lambert scores with his first touch! I would almost play Welbeck ahead of Rooney and Sturridge, just because some players seem different when playing for England.
I'll stick with my original point. Thank goodness you're not in charge! I mean that nicely, of course, but surely you pick players in form. That was always the frustration in the early 90s with Tiss never getting a shot. If you're going with form, Sturridge walks into the team, and unfortunately Rickie gets nowhere near.
I was thinking less about picking players in form, more about picking players that play well for England. My inspiration coming from Podolski, and the German national team.
I have my doubts over whether club form actually affects international form. We often see players playing crap for their clubs and well for England, and vice versa. Can't explain it, but I think the manager just has to pick a system, pick the players who fit that system, and trust his gut that they will perform to the best of their abilities. Sturridge is yet to perform for England, which may be because England don't play like Liverpool.
I can see all 4 saints players being on the pitch at the same time in the second half that has to be a first?
Leighton Baines to start, and be replaced by Shaw in the second half I reckon. Roy already knows all about Cole. No idea what the midfield will look like, but I do expect Lallana, Wilshire and Townsend all to feature at some point.
Apparently Baines is being rested, so it will be both Cole and Shaw playing. I reckon Luke will start!
Of our four, I'm only expecting Lallana to start. As for the purpose of this game, it will be interesting if Roy uses this to primarily help him in deciding who those five or six 'fringe' players will be, or if he uses it to try out his preferred XI (subject to availability) in his preferred system. Whatever that system might be.
Roy has apparently told Baines that he is first choice (barring accidents), so it is between Cole and Shaw for the second berth. Both will play in tonight's match, but will he play Luke first? Interestingly, Hodgson said that a goal won't necessarily get someone on the plane if he wasn't being considered before and a poor game won't make him drop someone if he was in his thoughts. He added that you don't pick a team for Brazil based on one game. Quite a few fans on football forums want a player dropped based on one bad game
Interesting article on the Mirror site about this debate. At the moment 62% of those voting thing Luke should go to Brazil ahead of Ashley Cole: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ashley-cole-vs-luke-shaw-3208890
I voted on Mirror poll for Luke (obviously)...now 62% in favour of Luke. I suspect some people are voting against Ashley more than for Luke. Logically Cole should be ahead of Shaw, though Luke should at least be considered (unless he becomes a rabbit in headlights tonight). A separate point is should we discount the WC and try and give some youngsters experience for the European Cup (the FA have said something recently about targeting the EC).
I've just listened to the creator of the anti- Tom Cleverly petition on TalkSport. Thought he talked more sense than 99% of pundits! Did anyone else hear it? He basically said that if he had known it would get so much attention (15,000+) signatures, that he probably would have worded it more diplomatically, but that he is glad it is out there as he feels there is still a big-club bias and that Cleverly shouldn't be anywhere near the squad. When they accused him of bullying, he replied saying that no-one is immune from criticism and that he hopes any negativity willl inspire Cleverly to kick on like Henderson has after Alex Ferguson's bullying! Brilliant bit of radio!
I honestly never thought Jordan Henderson was that bad. I really rated him at Sunderland and his stats (I hear CBK groaning) were good enough in his first season at LFC. However, the approach of Rodgers differs from Dalglish greatly and Henderson has benefited.
