Steven Caulker scored a header from a free kick this evening in a 2-0 win (albeit Azerbaijan) and played well by all accounts. Hope to see him get his first PL start soon (I think? Don't remember him playing for us in the prem).
It would be his first Premier League start for us, though he's obviously played for Swansea in the division. 26 games in the last campaign, as he missed a chunk of it after picking up an injury against the Goons. The pitch tonight was an artificial surface, so it's good for him to get that experience under his belt in a competitive fixture. Avoiding injury on that stuff's always a bonus, too. Win or a draw on Monday and they're into the play-offs. EDIT: The Fail's report chooses to have several digs at Caulker for not scoring headers, of course, despite the fact that he's a defender who did score and kept a clean sheet. Utter ****e rag.
Of course, and he received rave reviews from their fans, I agree, he may play on a similar pitch in the EL so is good experience, and should they qualify it would be good tournament experience for the lad.
I probably should've added that Danny Rose notched up another 90 minutes at left-back in this game. Dawson also played, but not that Dawson!
I'm not far off changing my name to PleaseNotGallas at the moment. He's looked a bit hopeless so far. I hope he hasn't jumped the shark. I would put Caulker in. I know Daws is probably the percentage play but Caulker played this system all last year.
I don't think that Gallas has done too badly, but partnering him with Vertonghen leaves the back line without a serious aerial presence and someone who can mix it with physical strikers. Dawson and Kaboul can both do that job very well and while Caulker lacks the experience to deal with a Drogba or an Adebayor, he won't be facing either of them and Holt's out of the way for a while. Now that Carroll's injured for a while, Kevin Davies is out of the division and Heskey's out of contract, there'll be quite a dearth of big, powerful, old school frontmen, come to think of it. Crouch doesn't quite fit the profile, Kenwyne Jones has fallen out of favour (injured?), Lukaku and Dzeko are mainly subs, so I guess Zamora's left to lead the line.
Caulker played another 90 minutes alongside Danny Rose, helping to keep the England U21 team's 6th clean sheet in 8 qualifying games, as they won 1-0 against Norway. Connor Wickham, potentially a teammate of Rose for this season, scored the only goal. Nice finish after a defensive lapse. Only conceded 3 goals in the tournament so far, winning every game bar one, a 2-1 loss to Belgium in Mons. This result sees England finish top of the group and go into the pot for the draw as seeds. It'll be made on Friday to see who they have to beat to get to the Finals in Israel. [video=youtube;2S6AR2cih64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S6AR2cih64[/video] Looks like the team sat back in the second half after taking the lead. Can't argue with Pearce's results, but I'm still not convinced that he's the right man for the job.
Ince's face there is quality. 'He's not my son'. Caulker did well... our Jonjo Shelvey put it on a plate for him though
Caulker didn't score, Waghorn assisted Wickham's goal and Shelvey didn't play, but spot on apart from that!
Still seem to be playing Old school football from these clips. Not alot of ball retention (obviously this is a snap shot of the chances) but whilst they may be better than everyone (bar belgium) in their group at this age, when they get to the seniors they will suddenly be expected to play in a different way. As an aside, I think their is a middle ground to how Spain/Barca play, and how Mourinho lines up against them. Something more like Brazil play, fast dynamic football whilst still retaining the ball. I think this will be more in keeping with the English philosophy as I don't think that current players have the nerve, or the attention span to keep a game at 1-0 by keeping the ball. It is good to attack, but without resorting to long balls when you can't keep the ball.
I don't see why England can't play some decent stuff without 5 minute bore ball retention. Spurs have never kept the ball that well over the last few years but the fast, attacking play has been a joy to watch. England have a dogged and determined defence, they should sit back and absorb pressure (see 1-0 friendly win vs Spain) but then hit with PACE and purpose on the break.
You have to be very diciplined to play on the counter against teams like Spain and Italy. If you counter too often without success you open yourself up, and tire yourself out (like portugal did). I agree there are other options to the bore fest that Spain bring, but I am certain that from the lower ages we need to train players in: 1. Recieving the ball whilst in danger (nobody in the team can do this at the moment and is one of the sole reasons we cannot break teams down. Gerrard can collect the ball when he is free but does not have the touch or control to take a nearby player out as silva or modric might, from this a pass is usualy made to say iniesta/messi who will be one less marker down, they can then run at people either driving through, turning the defense to face their own goal, or drawing fouls.... either way it is how possesion is maintained and we are crap at it) 2. learning to pass and move (not just pass back to the CB's) 3. keep possesion on the edge of an opponants box without over commiting and leaving gaps
i agree guru. Its not easy to play on the counter but i think we would be more suited to playing like that than trying to emulate Spain. Plus, it can be great to watch which would no doubt relieve some of the "England can only play hoof ball" brigade. I wouldn't expect us to win anything like that but then i don't think many people expect us to win anything at the moment either. I think we could play decent counter-attacking stuff and still get to the quarters of tournaments which has surely gotta be better than the backs against the wall ****e and get to the quarters we watched in the summer.
I agree. I think if we are to play 4-4-2, we should do it properly (as we did in the group stage) and drop rooney. He is neither creative, or goalscoring enough to warrent a place in the team at the moment. I genuinly think we would be better off with two wingers (any of theo, young, milner, lennon, ox or johnson) with carrol and Defoe, or playing a proper 4-3-3 with Young - Rooney - Walcott ---------Gerrard-------- ------Carrick---Parker---- Something like that, but with Rooney staying in position. If he wonders anywhere but to swap with young or Walcott then bring him off. But that could work. Gerrard playing like he did with Torres. Long term though we need more Scholes/Carricks and less Barry/Milner types.
I'm a huge fan of Caulker, as I've said many a time, ever since I saw him in the FAYC game at the Lane a few years ago he was definitely one of the future. When he gets his chance (which I really hope is soon), he'll need to play alongside a more experienced head I think, wouldn't want to see him paired with Vertonghen just yet.
I agree, SoS. That's why I'd like to see Dawson reinstalled into the first XI, seeing Gallas paired Caulker for the Europa League and League Cup.
