ENGLAND will they get past the group stage? if luck is on their side although I have forcast a win against Russia I am being patriotic! I think the team is that of a manager who is unable to move away from a formula/squad that has done well but is now lacking in a couple of those key positions and has chosen to use what he had, in previous squads, instead of what he has to replace them... to win by the odd late goal against 10 men shows how weak we are really .. I am a great fan of Rooney is good for the team but should be used as an impact player or to settle things when winning and need to play out the last 10 -15 minutes ... I think we could finish with 3 draws at best 5 points
I wouldn't call Gareth a serious issue but he does girly hair do's very well.. please log in to view this image
No, our defence is the big problem and to be fair that is not our Woys fault, we have gone from having some great CH in recent years to some very ordinary ones currently. What Woy does need to figure out, is how to harness the attacking talent better, if he insists on playing Rooney it has to be either up top with either Vardy,Kane or Sturridge,or wide right. Alli in the hole between the top 2 cannot be sacrificed for Rooney as it just doesn't work.
I think it will be a mistake if we build the formation around Rooney. I can't wait to see what Rashford will do - the opposition will know all about Sturridge Kane and Rooney so they will be able to plan how to contain them, but they won't know anything about Rashford - and comparatively little about Vardy, so they won't know how to deal with them. I agree with Supcon about the weak defence not being Hodgson's fault - we just need to be like Brazil and always score 1 more than the opposition!!!
Or play 5 at the back, with Stones in the sweeper position, much like we did in 1990 with Mark Wright. It worked quite well then, and now we have Ali instead of Gazza, Kane for Lineker, Sterling for Waddle. Not saying the new players are better than the originals, but 1990 is the only reasonably successful template for our national side that we have. The '66 side is maybe too far back in the past to be relevant, or maybe not but we don't have anyone close to Bobby Moore or Bobby Charlton (or for that matter, the most underrated of that side, Nobby Styles)
Noticed that when Wiltshire and Sterling came on against Portugal it made a difference. Would play Kane to start and Vardy as an impact striker 60 minutes in
I would start with Wilshere and Sterling as well. If we both win our Groups and get through the last 16 round then we will meet Portugal in the Quarter Final I've backed Belgium at 11-1
Nah - England will win the Euros and City will romp the Championship next season and get to the Prem as champions.......
I would play….. -------------------------------------HART -------------------------------------Stones -----------Walker------Smalling--------Cahill------Rose --------------------------------------Dier -------------------------Wilshere---------Sterling ---------------------------------------Alli -----------------------------Vardy---------Kane To me this line-up is obvious with the kind of player we have. Rooney would be a replacement for Alli if he has one of his quiet days (or for Vardi or Kane when Alli gets himself sent off). The problem with us at finals is Hodgson likes to sacrifice flair and attacking creativity for high-up defending and pressing. That is why he picked Welbeck instead of Lalana and Gerard instead of Wilshere at the world cup, and why he will almost certainly go for Rooney in Alli's position. And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why we will not see the best from our players in France
although he "brushed it off" smalling had a very ice pack on his knee! after todays training stint ...
Just down to hours to go before the big kick off, We need to be on the Welsh side FOR AT LEAST 2 GAMES.. ENGLAND v Russia ENGLAND v Wales England v Slovakia Wales v Russia Wales v Slovakia Russia v Slovakia When you isolate the fixtures it does not look like any room for error. DID I READ England have never won a first group game !!! so put us down for a draw! Wales will be trying to have something going into our game a win would be nice a draw imperative so 1 played and table could look like this Wales 3pts England 1 pt Russia 1 pt Slovakia 0 pt second round the fierce rivalry of England and Wales COULD GO EITHER WAY.. but we have to hope for a England win Russia and Slovakia well here we hope Slovakia wins England 4 pts Wales 3 pts Slovakia 3 pts Russia 1 point then to the crunch A draw with Slovakia would see us through but Wales or Russia would need to win..... England 5 pts..then ?? who else. France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Hungary/Portugal topping other groups?
well the first group is shaping up with the 2 favourites both ..narrowly winning. Noticed on the compo board we mostly thought there would be loads of goals 2-0 3-0 differences.. so far a total of 4 goals scored .. tonight is group B ..us lot, Wales and England WINNING would make the beer go down nicely
I have given up on predicting what England will do but if their last game was anything to go by I fear the worst. Have England players lost the art of at least trying to look good or is it just my imagination thinking they play the most boring predictable football anywhere in the world. Completely embarrassing most of the time and boring for all the rest of eternity. Thank goodness I was at Wembley on that magic day in 1966 when we won it all with a team that wasn't necessarily great but they all wore the shirt with pride and conviction - a non-existent quality in today's all about me world. But you never know and it will be interesting to watch today's match vs Russia to see what's up this time around.
