I think our best England squad is probably Hart RICHARDS Cahill Lescott Cole Johnson Wilshere Gerrard Young Rooney Welbeck With a bench of Carrick Lampard Parker Oxo Walcott Carrol Defoe Ferdinand Terry Walker Baines I don't understand why people rate Walker over Richards. Positionally, Airily and defensively Richards is far better. While they both offer roughly the same going forward. Walker is so inept positionally it's just his pace that gets him back in time. He's similar to fox in that respect gets caught out of position but manages to leg it just in time to make a block and have the whole stadium (country) think he's gods gift to defending.
If England get out of the group in pole postion then it's possible France have to play Spain and they have the capacity to put Spain out. If that happens then Engalnd's likely opponents are Croatia as I can't see Italy getting three against Ireland. Besides the Italians are not that great at present - so a winnable game there. Which takes us to the semis! If that is the case perhaps we should replace the BBC pundits who en masse predicted Germany, Spain, Holland and France to reach the semis. Could be two of them won't make it thus making some of the forecasters on here more knowledge.
4-2-3-1 for the next game IMO. Same defence - Parker Gerrard deep - Walcott Rooney Oxo - Welbeck. Got to be positive and take the game to Ukraine, and this team would be balanced and brimming with attacking talent, plus playing Rooney in the no 10 position that is actually his strongest
Interesting reading the last few pages, especially the discussion about Rooney. The Swedes definitely showed up our weaknesses to the rest of the world that is for sure. The game last night reminded me of a game between a middle order premier team and a championship team. Sweden being the championship team harrying and closing down just that bit quicker not allowing the England team time on the ball. That was evident by the number of times England players were caught in possession, Milner and young probably the most guilty followed by of all people Gerrard. Also our passing was not particularly good, strangely, until we went behind. Yes Walcott took their defence apart with his pace as they had been made to work very hard already during the game, so were distinctly tired. His goal and his surge into the box is what we all know he can do well. (one in the eye for the pundits that's for sure) I had the feeling the players thought they would win the game without too much effort and were conserving their energy. Until of course they let in that second stupid goal. Then they woke up. England cannot afford to play like they did again in the first 60 minutes. As they will be crucified including the next game against Ukraine. They cannot afford to be so sloppy. It is difficult to decide who to play up front as all our strikers have done their job to date. Sadly it may have to be Welbeck who drops to the bench for this one with maybe a Cameo later in the game. Carroll deserves another go as he was one of the few in my opinion that was able to keep hold of the ball well. I am not sure about Milner, was it just a bad game for him, or does he not have the stomach for internationals? Young I would most certainly replace.
It is better to say we defended badly and won rather than we defended badly and lost, so there is a nice change. I am surprised so many people would drop Johnson from right back and still pick Ashley Young in their strongest England XI. Personally I think all England's right back are defensively suspect, however Johnson has been defending well recently. Secondly, I think Young is massively overrated and he does not offer us width, which we needed last night if we were going to supply Carroll. Young always cuts inside and against strong opposition or when it is congested in the middle this is little use. I have said for a while that England's future could be a 4-2-3-1 with Welbeck at the head using his pace and strength with Rooney deeper behind him and then Sturridge and one of Walcott/Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left and right. As Sturridge has suffered in recent months perhaps he is not ready yet, but that front four offers you plenty of pace, guile and strength.
Depends if by "the future" you mean 2014, or beyond that. Lescott preumably will go to 2014 and ofter that, someone else will have matured into an international class player. The defence isn't a problem. We have attackers with pace, power and technique too. I don't think that's too much of a problem either. The pressure is really on the derth of young players who can link up play, retain possession and produce a moment of magic when the game is going flat. I'm a bit disappointed that it took Sweden getting it to 2-1 before we woke up again. I think we could have avoided the tension by sticking Walcott/Chamberlain on at half time and going out positively to seal the game. Their left back was awfully slow and we could have torn him up sooner than we did. Players these days are faster ans clevere than they used to be and refs let a lot less go, so relentlessly defending a 1-0 lead isn't really viable these days. The best form of defence is not letting the opposition have the ball.
I don't think 4-4-2 works for us at all tbh, Gerrard and Parker are far to slow.They can't get forward then be expected to run back, that's why I think 4-2-3-1 would work better
It's fine if Parker sits deep Makelele style. We don't want him messing up our attacks and need him back as cover
Sky reporting that Rooney will start next game. I personally hope he doesn't as the team if performing very well, we shouldn't change that!
Since when has narrowly beating a team they were expected to stomp on been performing very well? Rooney is leaps and bounds ahead of Danny Welbeck.
It's just an opinion. The team played well last night and I think both Carroll and Welbeck shouldn't be shifted given that they played very well.
Didn't say he did. Was definitely better than Welbeck though. I just can't see how people can be so happy with the way this England side are playing??
I know you didn't I was just stating none of our forwards are playing well. So no harm in bringing in Rooney, I would also change the formation but that's just me.
I think Welbeck has done fairly well in the last two games, considering the delivery to him has been so poor.
