Quite surprised how many negative comments there are on here. I thought we played really well yesterday, and credit to Roy for gambling with Townsend. If we start a central pair of gerrard and lampard against a good side we will get smashed though. We only got away with it last night because the ball was in montenegros half for the whole game.
Apologies if posted elsewhere, but I see that Tom Cleverley is injured and Raheem Sterling has been drafted in to replace him. Bit of a kick in the teeth for Adam Lallana, if you ask me. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24439799
I am highly unconvinced about Sterling. Not necessarily saying that Lallana should be in there...yet. (Clyne should be though)
I'm inclined to agree, though as he's been called up several times before and played, he seems more established in the England setup than Lallana. Sterling has a long way to go to recapture the form he had when he first came into the Liverpool first team though. Lallana for me has to play like he has in the last few games on a more consistent basis. If he is able to do that then I think it's only a matter of time before he plays for England. To be fair, Seamus Coleman is a decent player I agree with you that Clyne would be a better option than Jones or Smalling (though not as versatile in that he's not able to play centrally).
We were playing Montenegro. We were flattered by the scoreline and if Gerrard, Lampard & Sturridge had put that performance in against a Germany or Italy we would've had 10% possession and been beaten 5-0. After only 10 minutes Rooney was already having to come to the half way line to get the ball with Gerrard and Lampard bumping into each other. After 20 minutes it was already clear that Sturridge wasn't going to pass to anyone if he was within 30 yards of goal. In Sturridge's case it is all about him rather than being a team member. He sacrifices nothing and is solely intent on making sure he doesn't let anyone else take any glory. Then we come to Walker who people will say had a better game than previous BUT he was not tested at all as with Lampard and Gerrard saying excuse me to each other non stop all their attacks came straight through the middle. Walker did do better than previous however he is a terrible defender. Andros Townsend did OK for a debut but nothing that special really. TBH I don't understand the constant dismissal of Rooney's abilities on this and other forums. He is a fool as a person but as a footballer he must be one of the fittest players around because he is doing striker, AMC and CM due to others failings. His workrate is unbelieveable, he is unselfish compared to other strikers around him in a similar way that Rickie is. People focus on him shooting instead of passing in the first half. It was the right decision just poorly executed. Why not then say he should have shot in the second half instead of passing to Gerrard? The guy is world class which is why a lot of the top clubs want him. If Man U put him up now then Real, PSG, Barca would all be enquiring. If it weren't for the fact he is worth so much then every top club in every league in Europe would be bidding for him. All in all it was a professional display where 4-1 was flattering to say the least and 1-0 was a more realistic score when you look at how we played. Other top nations will be looking at us at the moment and will not need to take too long to plan their demolition of us in Rio. Simple tactic. Press England's midfield of Lampard, Gerrard or Wilshere. That is England's midfield gone. Attack the right back area because Gerrard and Lampard have a tendancy to cover the central to left back area of the pitch and England's biggest strength is at left back. The pressuring of Gerrard and Lampard takes Rooney into midfield which then minimises England's main threat. That isolates Welbeck and Sturridge, neither of which is particularly creative and neither of which can shoot from distance unless you count Row Z contributions. Pochettino's Southampton would walk over last nights England team / performance / tactics. Not just Roy's fault as I think there are few options for England at the mo without going the 'foreign manager route'. I am not like the rest of this forum where 'they don't care about England' I get disappointed with England displays and I get disappointed by the growing disaffection for the national team as the club game eats away at National Pride. I am a very passionate England supporter and feel pride when they do well, disappointment when they don't do well, and embarrassment when a country that does have a good side on paper is dismissed by it's own countrymen as overated. After Rio the squad needs sorting out fully. Old guard that can't hack it like Gerrard and by then probably Lampard, Cole need to be given their golden thanks yous. Average players that are put on pedestals at the moment like Sturridge (how many clubs? does that not tell us something), Milner, Walker, Welbeck (who is excellent in a Rodriguez nuisance value way but not an international footballer) Youngsters as well as any other player should not be near the full squad unless they have at least shown they consistently perform at the top level. Yes there are some that aren't being played at their clubs so that doesn't necessarily mean they are good enough but many Liverpool fans want Sterling loaned out yet he is called up. Milner is nothing more than an option from the bench. Like Pochettino used Davis or Ward-Prowse to close out a game. Zaha was rubbish even at U21 level. Stopping writing because I'm boring people now. Just wish I could be confident of going into a tournament a doing well. quarters or semis whilst playing well and being proud to say we played well and all our team are great.
Were you even watching the game? He was the most effective player on the pitch by quite a distance and scored a wonderful goal.
Which didn't take much He was OK but yes better than most of the others. Do you think he would've got any change against a top side? He was pretty good going forward apart from the couple of times he lost the ball and that left us very exposed. He is no Lallana in terms of defensive duties though. I would think that against a top side he would struggle. And yes I think Lallana would struggle too against a top side.
You're being very negative tbh. I think we played OK. If we were playing against a good side then Hodgson would have picked a different team. (Hopefully.) You're also forgetting that England aren't very good anymore
Bizarre that anyone could think we did less than play well. We bossed the game and won 4-1. In what universe is that poor or lucky? I thought the team played well and broke down a defensive side effectively. Townsend was superb in the way he attacked with the ball.
Good analysis by ImpsSaint apart from the Rooney thing. I still think that Rooney is one of the most over-hyped players of all time. I wouldn't have him anywhere near an England team.
He's our best option, which doesn't say a lot. He is a really good player, especially at the moment with the form he's in, he just hasn't done great in tournaments. Putting my neck on the line here, but I think he may end up our top scorer by the end of his career and maybe even our most capped player (until he is overtaken by Hart).
Rooney is a good player, just isn't clinical or disciplined enough to be a world class striker. By disciplined I mean he doesn't stick to his position, he wonders all over the place.
Tbf, I can easily see Poland getting a flukely early goal and then England spending the rest of the game trying to get past Boruc, only for Rickie to come on with a ridiculous 5 minutes to go and scoring once immediately. The game ending 1-1, and Boruc emulating his old predecessor. I can also see a reasonably comfortable England win, so I'll not get too wrapped up in the history.
Thought he was our best midfielder in that game. He looked very good towards the end when he dropped back next to Carrick.
