Agreed - I would personally start Kyle ahead of Clyne, especially if Danny is playing on the other flank. All I was saying is given what we know about Roy, added to this the fact that Clyne wears a Liverpool shirt, and I was surprised that he wasn't first choice. I will however not budge from my opinion that he does still have a tendency to panic and misread situations. This tendency is mitigated enormously when Lamela is protecting him but whenever Son played there I felt we looked vulnerable down that flank. For me, Danny had the better season of the two overall. Redefined 'immense' time and again last year.
Ben Davies has looked very much at home as part of a 3 for Wales,as well. He was very good today despite having magnetic hands that attracted the ball regularly.
Germany really don't look good at anything other than keeping the ball. Poland had some great chances!
It's hard to be too critical of the World Champions, but they clearly have too many quarterbacks and too few runners off the ball and the false no 9 Gotze offers nothing in that position. Their problems are compounded by having two full backs who are sound defensively, but do not get forward instinctively and do not cross well. As you say, great at keeping the ball.
One thing I really liked about Walker was that everytime he came back from injury he always spoke about how he'd been watching matches and thinking what areas of the game he needed to improve. Better than Wilshere who takes the opportunity to sample different brands of cigarettes amongst other substances
They push the opposition back too far and they do it too slowly. The Polish players didn't look tired at all at the end of the game when they should have been run ragged. I completely agree about Gotze, I'm not sure he's even good enough to start in that German side at all.
The two players sorely missed from their 2014 triumph are probably Lahm and Klose. Lahm gave them that creativity and crossing ability from the FB position at the same time as being a simply class player, whilst Klose may not have been a headline grabber but he gave them that focal point up front that they clearly currently lack.
Kyle Walker though. Some boy considering he looked like he'd ****ed it after being injured a while back. Best RB around? Lads ****ing superb.
Not good enough for the BBC. The Beeb scored Kyle's -performance as a 7. That score equals Lallana (really?), Eric Dier, Joe Allen (who was good), Gareth Bale and James Chester. However, it leaves him trailing in the wake of Wayne Rooney (predictable and hopelessly wrong), Aaron Ramsey (FFS!) and Sturridge who blazed high and wide and into defenders before the final minute. They all scored 8. Okay, subjectivity comes into it but worse than Aaron '****ing' Ramsey?
I thought yet again he was outstanding. Always there, always driving forward. I love players like him, complete and utter determination, wants to win. I thought he was a 9 v Russia and I thought he was a solid 8 and best on park again tonight, although I did personally think Rooney was excellent and in control tonight. Like I said he looked shot 18 months back but he's been superb, wipes the floor with Clyne. Lallana is ****ing pointless.
Totally agree with you. Carried us forward for the whole game. Took on his man and used the ball really well. Would walk (sorry!) into just about any other team in the tournament.
Couldn't agree more. Quality Right backs are rare, him and Hysaj of Albania have been stand out. Hysaj hasn't done a 38 game title chase in the toughest league in the world though.
Another N Ireland fan dies, this time of a heart attack - in the middle of the game too apparently. Terrible stuff, I can't remember an international tournament causing this many injuries and deaths.
Was about to post something similar. Don't know why anyone bothers with the BBC ratings, never sure which match it is they have just watched. Yes, credit for Sturridge for keeping going to the end but it took him 45mins to figure out, that maybe, shooting blindly at goal (or in the vague direction of it) every single time was maybe not actually doing anything. And as for Sterling..... Well at least he can be dropped for Townsend.... Oh wait! Ummmmm..... Milner or Rooney? Shoe-horning Harry in over there? Shunting Hart up to his position and playing Forster in goal would be better than what those two are serving up at the moment.
It's funny how with our new great midfielder orchestrating things (well he must be with that rating), the midfield has hardly been supplying the strikers with an abundance of chances. There does seem to be a "Rooney +1" factor, which seems that just because he does a serviceable central midfield performance, because its him he must be rated higher. Rather than just look at the good things he appears to be doing, look also on what a midfield is supposed to be doing, and ours isn't doing that. And however well we do with Rooney in midfield, I think we'd be better with a specialist midfielder playing in midfield. I really don't think Moan-i-ho will play him there next season if he can get a better central midfielder.
There was one moment in yesterday's game that made me laugh and this was it: I don't think that that sort of thing is allowed at Spurs anymore, thankfully. Walker's performance was very impressive, but he seemed to either have people in his way or no support at all. There was no middle ground and he often had to check back when he wanted to cross it, as there wasn't anyone in the box. It was better in the second half, but the overload of strikers seemed to confuse them, especially when Rashford was introduced. Vardy and Sturridge kept drifting wide and dropping deep, as they didn't seem to know what everyone's roles were. Lineups for the last group game? It'll be interesting to see what Hodgson does now.
Alli's facial expression couldn't have looked more shocked at Sturridge's lack of closing down if Sturridge had put on a dress and heels and started to sing "I will survive" right there and then. This is the conundrum with Sturridge - "How can you get enough out of a player who won't help his team mates press the ball or work back when needed?" Personally,at international level, I'd start him on the bench. At club level? On the transfer list, for me.
He's a dangerous striker, but his attitude and fitness leave a lot to be desired. Some of his bizarre runs with the ball away from the Welsh goal were rather perplexing yesterday, too. Might be down to a rather injury-ravaged season, though.
People are amazing result merchants about this sort of stuff. Vardy is standing miles offside and gets the ball headed straight to him by an offender doesn't make his selection correct. And the fact that Sturridge accidentally dribbled past a few people doesn't make his a good performance either. He wasn't any better than Sterling up until that point.
The change of system definitely helped the team, though. Kane looked knackered, as he has for a while and going with two fresh strikers put Wales into complete defensive mode. They simply never looked like getting out of their own half after the break.
