Off Topic International Break Thread

How the hell was Vardy man of the match, unless it was sponsored by Cockburns! (I might be showing my age there), yes he scored a goal, but the quality was in the cross not the finish, and as for the penalty,well lets just say that was not the first touch of a 'ballon d'or contender' and those 2 moments apart he did nothing of note.

 

Didn't watch the game but have read up about it, loved Dier's comments after getting elbowed by Herrera:
"I don't need him to apologise. I'll see him soon." .
What's the odds on Herrera being "unavailable" for our trip to Manchester?

 

If Toby is back, Dier will have to get him from the bench.

 

My thoughts exactly.
Isco did more in the few minutes he was on the pitch.
At the time I said to my wife, Rooney should have been MOTM as his absence was the biggest influence on the game.

 

I was thinking about Dier's role a few weeks back, I'm not so sure he'll be the one dropped when Toby returns. The attacking mids have really let us down of late, Son has been average since his September spell, Eriksen terrible, Lamela poor, while Alli has probably been the best but still not at last season's level.

Think we could see:

Dier, Wanyama
Lamela/Son, Dembele, Eriksen/ Alli
Kane

Or maybe go three banks of three with Dembele dropping deeper with the two DM's, allowing two of the attacking mids more freedom up top with Kane.

 

Man Utd fans' response has been predictably childish...

 

Listening to Southgate grovelling for the job is so cringeworthy. If he wasn't suitable 3 months ago when all we apparently had to choose from were two utterly uninspiring 'basement bargain' managers in Bruce and Allardyce, what has changed in the interim to make him so eminently qualified for the job?

Unless there literally isn't a single manager out there with a CV larger than a post-it note who is remotely interested in drinking from the poisoned chalice...

Putting my 'neutral' hat on for a moment, the FA should be moving mountains to land Wenger at the end of the season. Summer rumours of him signing a new contract at Arsenal have all but dried up - so much so that David Seaman of all people went on record a few weeks ago to tell Gazidis to get a move on. I reckon he'll leave that lot in May.

I think he's the best the FA can hope for. Plays good football, vastly experienced in the English game, and - most importantly - would have the respect and attention of the entire dressing room; infinitely more so than a bloke who looks and sounds like he's turned up to unclog the U-bend, or a young upstart with a big mouth who looks and sounds like he wants to sell you an insurance policy.

 

Not necessarily. If we stick with the three centre-half system that we had against Arsenal, then Wimmer might miss out.
That would allow Pochettino to pick a lot of his favourite players, in my opinion.

 

The alleged elbow:

Doesn't look good on that evidence, but it's not the best footage, is it?
I expect that we'll see a better view of it soon, due to Dier's comments.

 

Not sure what Lingard did wrong.

 

Drop the final word and I agree.

 

I'm not sure why Lingard's in the squad.
I don't dislike him or anything and I don't really want to slag him off, but what's he done to get picked?
He played under Southgate in the U21s and... nope, I'm out.

 

I agree,but having been picked, what did he do wrong? Plenty of energy and running - which is what England do. We don't have an abundance of skilful players. We run about a lot; Lingard fits the bill in this respect. He did OK v Spain and in the other games played so far.

Who is worthy of international selection by the standards of the teams England want to be competitive against?

 

Yeah, I'd agree with that. He did alright. Wasn't great, wasn't terrible.

There are various players that probably should be getting called up that aren't, but not many in his position.
Redmond would probably have an argument, but nobody else jumps out at me.

 

Shows you how much England need Rose.He has to be replaced and Spain score 2 goals started down their right wing.
Who was that replacement anyway?Must play for some awful team.........!

 

Scammer fans are convinced that Spurs fans are obsessed with their piddling little club based on Spurs fans commenting on how ****e Aaron Creswell was in his cameo against Spain last night

...so what about fans of every other club in world football who said the exact same thing?

 

I didn't mean to suggest he was bad, just that I don't think he's as good as the other options he's been picked ahead of.

 

Did anyone tell him if the men in the reddish shirts got the ball he was supposed to stop them,because if he didn't they could score goals.
Even our former Brazilian left back knew that,even if he couldn't!

 

It's in the news that the FA is going to investigate whether or not staff joined Rooney in a drinking binge.

Presumably, if the FA discovers any evidence, the said staff will be sacked, but not Rooney, who probably encouraged them to drink!

 

I never miss a chance to have a dig at Rooney but I can't get too excited about this one. Sounds more like the media blowing something out of proportion for their own ends (controversy, as usual).