Drinkwater was pretty poor against Australia. His reputation will improve by not being involved in this England team.
He was poor on the left of the diamond, but was very good when he was moved to the base - aka his proper position. I'm absolutely furious that he's not included. Time will tell, but I think we will regret it. Imagine if we are 1-0 up in a cagey game, needing to hold a lead. Who will we bring on?! Drinkwater is so reliable and consistent. Aaagghh
They sure are, but as I've found out, they are not very good when it comes to football. They just can't get it.
No surprise, but Graziano has made the final cut. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
That's got to be the worst italian side ever. Still, they'll end a few steps above England, I'm sure.
It sends such a terrible message though. I think the decision to leave him out has just tapped into the whole nations pent-up frustration. Time and again England do the same thing - we seem to be the only national side who don't have a system, we just chuck players together. Oh well. All we can do is get behind them
I'm with you on the frustration, however I should point out that if he had selected and played Drinkwater then he'd have been doing what you just said; just chucking players together.
In my mind drinkwater would be back up to dier. (Who has proven good enough to start for me). They are the exact type of midfielder we have been missing (except for Carrick, who was just ridiculously overlooked for years). An English midfielder with DEFENSIVE AWARENESS.
50 years of hurt will not end or continue on the inclusion or exclusion of drink water. Woy has improved the team since he has taken over and he sees what goes on in training and behind the scenes and I will back his judgment on this one. Fwiw, I would chose drinkwater over Wilshire all day long but that's just based on what I see on tv from time to time. For the first time for many a tournament I am optimistic about our chances. Looking forward to an exciting, intriguing and most importantly safe tournament.
I think it was a couple of competitions ago when the Italian side came into a tournament in lousy form and didn't raise their game at all, drawing every match, and going home early. Can't remember the competition, but certainly not like a typical Italian side. Usually what happens is that they are pretty damn useless, scraping through each match, looking very unimpressive, but doing just enough. Then, in the knock-out stage they finally get interested and make it all the way to a semi final or the final, where they are beaten by a truly decent team. Or they raise their game every further and win the damn thing. Contrast that with an England side, who often look impressive in every game during the build up to a tournament, but then fail miserably during the group stages and go home early. If, by some slim chance they actually manage to play to the sum of their parts, they get through and are beaten in the quarter/semi finals by a team who are merely their equal, but certainly not better, or England finally play very well, but can only draw and get beaten on penalties. Have I missed a scenario from the last 30-40 odd years there.? Oh yeah. There are the years when England don't qualify.
I don't think people are annoyed because the players left out were going to win us the euros. Like in any job, you perform well you get a pay rise, if you sell cars you get more comission. For Townsend and Drinkwater, it must feel like they've performed well all year and then the boss goes and gives the vacant managers job to the guy who's just come back off sick leave. I'd be ****ing fuming!
I don't meet many people who share my view on Carrick. For years and years we listened to the drivel of whether Lampard and Gerrad could play together or who should start if not, yet all along, the first name on the team sheet should have been Michael Carrick (in his prime).
True but I guess with the strikers we have putting in lots of crosses may not help, perhaps Championship football is evolving?
No other country picks solely form players, you need a team that have gelled and understand how to play together. On this argument Germany should never have taken Klose to any of the tournaments as he was not scoring consistently at club level!!
