I know Rickie isn't with us any more but I still have great respect for him, what did annoy me was the total lack of credit given to him for the assist for Welbecks second goal, Rickie had barely been on the pitch a couple of minutes, but his impact was immediate, and went totally unmentioned by those numbnuts on ITV.
True. I still get a buzz from Rickie playing for England. He did after all give me one of my top ten footy moments when powering in that header against Scotland. As annoying was the commentators using Delph as an example to players with non top 6 PL clubs of how you could make the England team. Went on to list amongst others West Brom and Hull. No mention of Saints. Sigh.
I noticed that...it is like Saints have been airbrushed from history. Unless it is because Saints are now too big to be a good example of a lower side I watched a long discussion on Sky about academies and players not getting into first teams and the implications of that...I was very patient and waited for them to get round to us. We were not mentioned from beginning to end and yet we were a prime example of a team that has done it...are we invisible or something?
Out of all the players that have left, I hold Rickie with the highest regard. He will always be a Saints legend, none of the others that left will ever be considered that mantle.
Now Fran, according to the media we've had a terminal meltdown. We should not even exist if you read some of the boyocks written a few weeks ago. It reminds me of the Sex Pistols on TOTP. Remember when (even if No 1) they wouldn't mention them by name, just said something like "and another record is the highest new entry". Keeps my paranoia healthy though.
Saints going back under the radar is probably a good thing. We've all seen what happens when our players get really noticed.
Absolutely. Add to this, that opposing teams start to take extra notice too when they play us if we are high profile.
Under the radar is best. A lot of commentators are saying that England players NEED to play in the champions league if they are to fully develop as an international player. This gives most teams little chance of keeping their players once they get picked for England. Basically they want to avoid any blame being laid at the door of the EPL and SKY/BT.
That must mean that the England players that have experienced champions league would be worse without it. Well, thank goodness for the champions league then. Where would England be without it?
But this means we'll have to sell all of our English players and buy cheap, better, foreign players. Oh wait...
Two things still bother me about the game. 1. Stones playing Arab is an insult to Clyne. 2. Wilshere is probable the worst link between defence and midfield I have ever seen.
Great predictive fail! In reply to earlier posts: there's no Saints in the England line up! Lambert doesn't play for us anymore. Were any even on the bench? I thought I saw Forster sitting there.
That was a weird predictive error. Apologies for the inadvertent racial slur! I didn't know my iPad was racist.
Neither did Gerrard...........or Lampard..........Pattern emerging here Get Barry, Cork, Carrick or someone who can play DM in there. Still don't get the hate for Rooney. He hasn't been as explosive as he was as a youngster since Jorge Andrade stamped on his foot all those years ago but he is still far and away our best striker. Roy should just put him up front tell him to be disciplined and not come back to fetch the ball and **** the greedy Sturridge off to the bench. Then Wilshere needs ****ing off to the 'learn to play football' school. He could do with a year at our academy to learn how to pass to teammates, choose the right time to take a player on and most definitely not try to run through 3 players as if they are holograms. Sterling needs time to mature IMO. He isn't a starter or 90 minute player (yet) at this level. He could start for games against weaker opposition to gain experience but against top teams no. Welbeck is a good shout for left forward JayRod style and if he keeps this form up may be a viable option to replace Rooney up front. As for the defensive midfielder/Anchor job we have got to stop trying to shoehorn players in there. Forget how old a player is or how unfashionable a player is. PUT A DM IN THE DM ROLE. Right back has to be Clyne or Chambers for me. Jones is obviously favoured by Roy but I still think he is worse than Jagielka. Cahill is obviously first CB on the teamsheet and rightly so. LB will be Shaws just off the hype but he is nowhere near as good as the hype. International left backs need to provide extra width and supply which is why Baines is ahead of him in the pecking order. I didn't really feel much when Lambert scored either. Liverpool were a bunch of smug bastards last year just like their manager and was great to see their fans mouths slammed shut when they ****ed it up. I think it is more because he went there with twtbeard that I lost interest in him. So in summary, none of the above will happen and England will get through to the finals. On paper it will have looked like they were great whereas anyone who viewed all of their qualification games will have watched 1 game where they looked really good and 9 games of sheer dross where we win or draw but the rest of the game look dire. Then we will reach the championships and it will show that we are crap............again.
"Then Wilshere needs f**ing off to the 'learn to play football' school" Another option my careers master failed to inform me about! Jones selection ahead of Clyne or Chambers is just weird though and is the only real thing I have against Roy. Silk purse/sows ears always applying with the national team.
This has happened since the start of the Premier League. Players that are hyped up as the next best thing carry that hype with them even when their form/progress is so bad. The first 11 tends to be a 'written in stone' affair seperated from any form guide where if they are all available they play. The form players that aren't part of that hype get on the subs bench and the manager proclaims he is picking the form players. Jones will be there even if Man U (and him) do badly this season because he was hyped up as part of the future. I expect the starting 11 if everybody is fit to be the following no matter what their form is like: Hart Walker--Cahill--Jones--Baines Wilshere--Henderson--Lallana Walcott--Sturridge--Rooney The ones in red are the ones whose form should really be looked at which is alarming. Rooney just needs instruction to stop coming back. If he maintains that discipline he is a much better option than anyone else up front. Walcott will be in as soon as he gets a couple of minutes on as sub for Arsenal as will Walker. Other notable additions in the squad. Chamberlain will be in even if he only plays an accumulated total of 180 minutes for Arsenal this season. Townsend will be guaranteed a place for the next 5 years because he scored a good goal once. Milner will be guaranteed a place for 5 years because there is no other option and he does exactly what he is asked to do (which might I add is more than a lot of the starters.) Lallana will be in off last season's form even if he does crap this season. Wilshere is still 'the future of England': http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/england-want-jack-wilshere-become-4190629
Surely we can be a threat as a national side with options going forward from the following: Rooney Sturridge Welbeck Walcott Chamberlain Sterling Lallana That has pace and skill all over it..... yet we never seem to get it right.
