International Break Thread

I don`t get the Henderson interest, he is no better than what we already have and would be more expensive wages wise. He`s a fairly ordinary player in my opinion, runs around like a headless chicken, worth no where near £20m and only plays for England because he is Roy`s love child, we should be looking at way better than him if we are to keep improving.
 
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Ryan Bertrand has withdrawn from the England squad and Hodgson hasn't replaced him.
Looks like Danny Rose is going to be playing the whole of both games, then. Cheers, Woy. <doh>

I wouldn't mind, but it's not exactly a position that England either have locked down or lack options in.
Nobody's made it their own and you've got someone like Aaron Cresswell having a good season and being ignored.
Stupid decision.
 
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Since there's bugger all else to talk about, the Standard has put together an all-time Spurs XI for England
Paul Robinson; Alf Ramsey, Ledley King, Nobody, Cyril Knowles; Glenn Hoddle, Paul Gascoigne, Martin Peters, Chrs Waddle; Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker
 
humanbeingincroydon said:
Since there's bugger all else to talk about, the Standard has put together an all-time Spurs XI for England
Paul Robinson; Alf Ramsey, Ledley King, Nobody, Cyril Knowles; Glenn Hoddle, Paul Gascoigne, Martin Peters, Chrs Waddle; Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker
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And three of those players never got the number of caps they truly deserved. Hoddle and Cyril as a result of a managerial bias and Ledders for similar reasons plus his dodgy knees plated a part in latter years.
 
humanbeingincroydon said:
Since there's bugger all else to talk about, the Standard has put together an all-time Spurs XI for England
Paul Robinson; Alf Ramsey, Ledley King, Nobody, Cyril Knowles; Glenn Hoddle, Paul Gascoigne, Martin Peters, Chrs Waddle; Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker
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Surely they could have filled nobodies place with one of Mabbutt, Stevens, Roberts, Gardner, Dawson, Woodgate or even Dier. ......I now realise who nobody was!
 
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I’m absolutely ****ing furious.

Between that and deciding not to get another left back (meaning one of our key players will play 90 twice) it certainly looks like he’s doing everything p̱ossible to help Leicester to the title. Who does Hodgson support, anyway?
 
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Citizen Kane said:
I can see similarities between the two in the sense that - at first glance - neither player is a 'natural' fit in Poch's system. This was always my feeling about Dembele; an outrageously gifted player who couldn't quite make up his mind what his strongest position actually was. It is telling that even before he came here, he had already played in two different positions (ST and AM) for significant lengths of time. Neither of them are quite good enough defensively to be a true DM, neither are quite creative enough to be a deep-lying CM. Neither score or create enough to play further forward...and yet...Dembele somehow 'clicked' this season, and appears equally comfortable next to Dier as he is further forward in the '3'. I've no idea how or why this happened, as he remains a superb player who doesn't really have one outstanding quality for the Poch system, but it has worked out brilliantly.

The flipside of all this is that the absolute key to a player finding their place in the side is consistency. It is ironic but one of the main reasons Dembele has had such a great season is that, unlike last year where he barely strung 2 matches together, he benefited from injuries to Bentaleb, Mason and Eriksen earlier on in the season. Credit to him though - he seized the opportunity and has forced 2 of those 3 out of the side. Will Bentaleb get the same opportunity? I doubt it.
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I’ll quibble that Dembélé does have a strength: he may be the best player in the league to help win the midfield battle. He has the combination of being as good at keeping the ball from other players as anyone, and one of the best at taking it from them. The funny thing is he can also shoot fairly well with both feet, but almost never does.


Spurlock said:
As for Henderson....exactly the kind of potential the General would bring onto another level. Henderson would be very good for us and would play the kind of game he had in the season they finished 2nd. He was decent with Suarez on the pitch allowing Henderson to find spaces in the last third. Kane does a lot of this too, where he takes players out wide with him creating holes got other players to exploit. Alli is prospering from this well currently.
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Pochettino has helped Dembélé and Walker improve markedly by correcting their biggest faults: Dembélés tendency to go sideways, and Walker’s to pause or hesitate when he gets the ball on the wing. But they are in both cases gifted players.

I don’t see Henderson as a flawed but gifted player. I see him as a good player who’s done well developing himself. I don’t quite see why we would buy him. He’s not as good as either Dier or Dembélé, he’s too expensive, and he’s too vital for Liverpool and wouldn’t be vital enough for us. I’d much rather we get another real DM to give Dier a rest. Don’t get me wrong. I’d quite like him for 10 million or so, and see him as the first, or one of the first, players off the bench.

Bentaleb is a fine player who, like Mason, lost a starting spot because two players at an even better level emerged. At this point the team is doing so well that players need to be either a nearly perfect fit for the system, a rare talent, or both, to start. I think Bentaleb has it in him to be a top DM, but in his heart he likes getting forward and passing. I still think his best spot may be left back, but we’re nearly as well stocked there as in box to box players.
 
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redwhiteandermblue said:
I’m absolutely ****ing furious.

Between that and deciding not to get another left back (meaning one of our key players will play 90 twice) it certainly looks like he’s doing everything p̱ossible to help Leicester to the title. Who does Hodgson support, anyway?
Click to expand...

I am hoping that this means our boys are playing Saturday and that they will get rested on Tuesday (although will Walker most probably play then) and that Roy will play Clyne at left back as a trial (I believe he's being playing there since Kellys return at the mousers) and Vardy and Drinkwater must surely be given 90 mins in the 2nd match too.
 
The RDBD said:
Given the starting XI tonight, I take it that England will be playing in the traditional white
shirt + navy blue shorts kit.
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That's one thing I really don't like about modern international kits: somebody has decided that the whole ensemble should be one colour, even though the teams have spent decades wearing a clearly identifiable set of colours.

Nike in particular are guilty of this, as their current England kit is all white (although, to be fair, so was the last Umbro one) while they've also decided that Brazil's kit should be all yellow while Portugal should be all red/crimson/whatever the hell colour their kit is. Adidas also caught some flak in 2014 when they dictated Spain should wear all red and Germany should wear all white, but in both cases they've switched back to the traditional colours for their Euro 2016 kit.
 
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Strong German starting XI.
They are so afraid of Kane they have decided to play Krautrock in their back four.
 
So many Spurs players in that line up. The FA should really pay us royalties and the national anthem should be replaced with 'Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur'.
 
Lee Dixon saying he has never seen the England team pressing like that.
Matthaus saying one England MF might be the best on the pitch at the moment.
Ian Wright saying the England LB has been bombing forward.

Think I am seeing a pattern here ...
 
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