Match Day Thread Slovakia vs England 8pm 20 June

Lewington normally walks around the training pitch with it on a clip board for them to photograph

 

If Hodgson changes things tonight, he really is more clueless than I previously thought.

 

I'll go for another 2-1. This has become my go to score because I can't see us keeping a clean sheet.

 

I'll probably be on here this evening relying on you lot to keep me up to date with the England score as I let you know of all the Wales goals

 

Hodgson is stupid though.

edit: Maybe not stupid, but his brain has been muddled by the pressure of the England job. Something that has happened to every manager since Venables.

 

Don't give it a time period. They've ALL done it. As far back as I can remember. Probably Ramsey didn't because he set the standard for England manager caution. He was the first England manager who had total control.

 

A lot of teams that are guaranteed (or virtually guaranteed to go through to the next round will rest players in this 3rd game.

It is just plain common sense. On one side there is of course the simple reason of giving the "first choices" some rest as well as avoiding any injuries but people are forgetting about suspensions and yellow cards will not be rescinded until you are through the QFs.

If Roy for example plays Rooney tonight and then he gets a yellow plus another in the last 16 or quarter final games then people would be calling Roy an idiot.

So it is sensible to make some changes.

As for the full backs it was reported in an article about Harry Kane being "burnt out" the number of games Kane has played over the last 2 years and it then went on to point out that Pochettino will rest full backs if they have played in the last week. Because of the running modern full backs need to do up and down the line it was saying that Pochetino will use different full backs whenever possible if there is a weekend match followed by a week match.

Of course we shouldn't risk putting out the 2nd 11 but we should try and hold a couple of those players that are more important just to avoid not being able to use them in a further game.

 

The only time a team in a tournament format should make changes is if you have injuries or you have already qualified and to rest players, like France last night to some degree.

Neither of those scenarios apply to us and we need the win, so to make 6 changes ( apparently) strikes me as madness! You play your best/form players and you go to win the game, simple!

 

Yep, agree with soton. We hardly came into this with a settled squad. Roy is taking a risk he does not need to take.

 

We struggle to keep clean sheets as it is , and that I would say is our best defence line up, so I can't understand why you would disrupt it even more.

 

It's brave (if true). If he makes changes and we lose, he will get slaughtered.

However, we have Vardy.

 

Vardy won't score tonight because I put him in my dream team!

 

Indeed. Pundits and so-called experts talk about the skill and goal scoring instincts of Sturridge, while defenders are absolutely **** scared of Vardy.

That's not to put down Sturridge. Very good player.

 

If there was an England player I'd back to score [and I never gamble] it would be Vardy. 1] his pace and tenacity is superb. 2] He's a far better all-round player than people give him credit for.

 

Picking the team by risk of suspension (Victor would never get a game)
So let's play Sterling in the hope he does get 2 yellows
I think we need to concentrate on winning this game and topping the group

Agree with the possibility of resting full backs though and we have a very able left back available

 

Agreed. Rooney doesn't have a yellow card against him and neither is he more likely to get one over someone else in his position. Besides, he could do with more time in his midfield role. He's spraying passes out to the wings, but as yet he's not made any passes through the centre to players like Vardy, and he could do with the practice against good opposition. I'd be playing a pretty strong team, but I'd be changing FBs, the GK, maybe Milner for Dier, to give him a rest, start with Vardy and Sturridge and make sure I used all my possible subs, on 50-60 minutes, to give them a run-out. Yes, even Wilshere.

 

So Hodgson has made all the changes expected, does he not like his job or something, just hope it pays off or he's going to lynched by the media !

 

It is indeed a risk, but with every risk comes a reward. If we win this then it will have paid off as we will have a fresher sqaud which is important, especially for rooney due to his age and the full backs because of the running we ask of them.
It's hard to say whether something is a good or bad decision until you see the consequences of the decision!

 

Team please someone?!? Still at work n can't wait half hour to find out!!