Might be controversial but I would take the England squad over France's. (although am a big fan of Griezmann)
Tbh i didn't even realise he was on the bench against Spurs! Good to have him back though. Hopefully he can get some game time and confidence for Columbia
I didn't realise as well that Ospina was on the bench. But that's good news, Arteta was back too, he's not the best player, but with all the injuries we have, doesn't hurt to have as many players available. After the break we should be having Bellerin, Walcott, and Ramsey back, so that's 5 players back in the squad, if OXO too, then 6, and that's a big boost. Gives us options again.
I think Arteta can slow our play down, which can kill our impetus at times, but other than that he doesn't really put a foot wrong and is a really valuable squad member.
Hmm Maybe not actually but I do think France have a lot of average over-rated players in their squad. Lloris, Schneiderlin, Matuidi, Ben Arfa, Mangala Gignac, Remy and I am still unconvinced about Lacazette. I also think Hogdsons selection of English players has been pretty awful.
Some of those are quality players. They have some brilliant young players who already play and star for some of the top teams around Europe, the likes of Pogba,Varane,Griezman and Coman, England simply do not have players to match that sort of talent. Then you have the likes of Zouma,Imbula,Laporte,Coquelin, Rabiot,Fekir,Kurzawa,Martial and Kondogbia who are talented players, but most of these players are not even going to make their squad for Euro 2016. England are still picking our second choice LB, ffs. Also look at someone like Payet, he has come to England this season and has easily been one of the best players in the league, but he is another player who will be lucky to make the French squad for Euro 2016.
This just highlights how limited our talent pool is. I can only imagine that wilshere will get fast tracked into the side despite playing any games and not being totally convincing. Only England player I'd say that is worthy of a recall from us is Walcott, the rest have been average.
Considering that the French league is much weaker than the Top 4 leagues in Europe, it really goes to show how important it is for your countries players to travel and play in lots of different leagues/cultures, giving you a wider and stronger pool of players.
France do have some quality thats for sure (they always have) but I do think people are overlooking England. I'm not convinced about Hodgson he's like a manager from the early 90's but I do think there's more quality in the England side than many realise. (whereas traditionally we over-rate our sides) Stones, Sturridge, Sterling, Butland, Warde-Prose, Barkley, Shaw and Harry Kane are all young quality players.
Of this list the only players I really rate as up there are Sturridge, Sterling, Butland and Kane. Stones is good on the ball but questionable defensively. The rest are hit or miss imo.
This is a big problem for English players. Only the very best get to play for the top teams but how many of them are there? Only a handful really and when you look at our team, not one English player has cemented their position, yet they all walk into the English set up. Also, you rarely see any of our top English players going abroad, let alone the lesser players. How are we suppose to get better when the players don't get a chance. How many young talented Chelsea players have had to move due to lack of opportunities. The pressure is too great sometimes and managers rarely have the time to invest the appropriate time in these players so that they can develop further. Even we are seeing less and less youth players coming through the ranks, after our financial restriction were lifted. Wenger had no choice but to play them, now he doesn't have to and we rarely see any on show. Why play an English player when you have a better foreign one? Nothing highlights this more than shipping Jenkinson out and replacing him with Bellerin. Unfortunately money is king and there is little to no incentive for the powers at be to shake things up. We are just too short sighted.
I'm surprised I really rate Stones. Would love him at Arsenal to be honest. You don't rate Shaw? But of course they ar'nt all going to turn into World Class players. But I think that youth mixed with Rooney, Walcott, Hart, Cahill etc.. is a better side than most are currently suggesting. We don't have the midfield options of the likes of Spain/Germany but we tend to look on at other sides with more envy than we should. The thing I find most interesting of late Englands forwards.. It was only a few years ago that all we had was Rooney. (and players like Crouch/Defoe as inadequate backup) 1. Harry Kane. Hate to say it but he is absolutely Top Class. 2. Sturridge. Injury prone but his strike rate is superb. He has like 40% conversion rate. 3. Rooney. Like him or not the guy has 5 x EPL trophies and over 300 career goals. Can play in a variety of roles. 4. Walcott. Seems to have adapted to the CF position well. One of the quickest players in Europe and a good finisher. 5. Sterling. Not so much a CF as a SS/WF. Will create and score goals.
I like Shaw but he's not done anything to be in the convo imo. I am not English, and I think that allows me to look at this with some objectivity. For me, the reality is that England is not producing WC quality. A lot of these guys are overhyped and have no real incentive to improve due to them being paid hefty sums too early and valued at ridiculous prices. This has been happening for a long time with young English prospects. They are placed on a pedestal far too soon. Only special talents can survive and live up to the pressure that comes with that. Players need to go to other leagues to master their game as mentioned above. They need to make better decisions in terms of transfers. They want to go to these big clubs way too early. I feared Sterling would be a victim, be he comes as dedicating to improving as a player. He's special. I don't rate Rooney tbh. He's a good player, not WC. Stats do nothing for me. I am a real admire of Harry Kane. I think he can become something special if he keeps his focus and stays at Spurs until he's mastered his game before making the big move.
Honestly, I can't really take anyone seriously who thinks this. It's become weirdly polar to hate on any English player but Rooney in particular gets a lot of flak. He may sleep with Grannies but Rooney is World Class. instrumental in 5 x EPL titles. Champions League Winner. Has played half his career as a No.10/WF and yet has scored over 300 goals. Aside from Winning a World Cup he can't do much more.
Fair enough. I really don't care much for how decorated a player is. Arbeloa has won everything, does that make him WC? I look at players on merit and the feeling they give me. Medals don't come into it imo. Riquelme, JJ Okocha, Le Tissier, etc. These guys are WC and all time greats regardless of what they won or who they played for. It's how I see football, if you wanna assess individual players as it is a team sport after all.
What I find really strange about England, particularly in the last WC was how many players they have who want to play in the 10/playmaker role (they've had Gerrard, Lampard, Lallana, Wilshere, Sterling, Rooney, Barkley... the list goes on), yet how poor their passing is. It's shocking, even against very average opposition. As for Rooney, he has been consistently poor - he has little positional sense, even when he's playing upfront on his own he spends large amounts of the game dropping deep or coming to the edge of his own box to take the ball, thus leaving the team with no 'out ball', he drifts out of the game for large stretches with little impact. I'd very much argue about him being instrumental. There has been stretches of his career where he has been very, very good and very instrumental, but generally he's been wavering between good and average and anonymous. Not to mention the petulance that has littered the majority of his career until he was made England captain.
These are are all past achievements, I mean Xavi has won every single trophy going and he is still playing, but nobody in their right mind would still call him world class. Rooney at his peak was arguably a world class player, but these days he is nowhere near world class when you compare him to the likes of Suarez,Aguero and Lewandowkski. Maybe the problem is your definition of a world class player, because you seem to play fast and loose with this term, when in truth only the truly elite footballers who are still performing at a high level can be called world class. Rooney has been utterly dreadful at times this season, has the touch of a donkey and can't pass for ****, Man Utd fans were begging LVG to drop Rooney and they wanted to see Martial play through the middle. From 11 league starts the bloke has scored 2 goals this season, that is dreadful. Last season he scored 12 league goals from 33 starts. World class indeed.
