Shelvey for England finally?

He is the perfect foil for Dier and Alli in the center of the park for the national team. Better than Henderson at passing and vision, probably on par defensively and fair enough his work rate may lack in comparison but he doesn't need to do all the running because he can play the killer balls blindfolded, on one leg, from our own box better than that donkey or someone like Drinkwater could from the edge of the oppositions box.

Livermore, Cork, are poor in comparison but tbh Shelvey has no one to blame but himself as it is his attitude that has held him back and that has been since day dot and he hasn't learnt thus far from past mistakes.

 

This.

If Shelvey can avoid being a dick between now and May, and if there are a few injuries in midfield, he could get the nod. If he carries on being a knob, a few good passes aren't going to get him in the team

 

Have to say Shelvey is massively overrated by our fans. I think he has been and is very average. He plays the odd ball where look and think “that is pure quality”. Generally though he is lazy, wasteful in possession and has a terrible temperament. I advocate us using him - we have to. He should be nowhere near the England squad. To be honest if Drinkwater was fit I think he is a far better footballer. Can also pick a ball from deep but is tidy in possession and works his socks off. I’m not sure what Shelvey is? He seems to do what Emre did here and sit playing quarter back - but the lazy bastards version. It is not like when Pirlo or Beckham did it. Full of energy and moving the game the whole time. He literally saunters about doing **** all. The only time he livens up is to waste our dead balls.

England have dogshit midfielders and the sooner these youngsters from the recent youth success get first xi experience the better (if they do of course!)

Shelvey, Livermore, Henderson, Cleverley? **** me it’s desperate.

Wilshere, Ox and Barkley want shot with **** for losing their way. They should be locked in on talent but they’ve bollocksed their careers up.

 

Missed the Germany game on Friday but we looked reasonably solid against Brazil last night in the new 3-5-2 formation but think we could have done with someone to pick that pass to unlock one of the worlds best teams defenses. Livermore ran around as much as Henderson but what impact did he have on the game?Think if you've got, Alli>Loftus Cheek and Kane up top in that team we could be quite potent going forwards and with a runner like Vardy or Rashford looking to get in behind next to him we could do with a bit more creativity in the center of the park.

2 clean sheets against the 2 best teams in the world isn't bad going though but we still look impotent going forwards but with the team out on the pitch that was a good performance last night and 2 good results - although we'd end up going on on pens without goals.

 

We basically sat back in both games and watched the other team play. Under pressure in a tournament situation we'd crack eventually. Our ball retention last night was absolutely appalling. I was glad when Loftus Cheek went off just so he'd stop mis-controlling it and passing it to yellow shirts. Livermore ran about a bit but I didn't know he was on the pitch for long periods. Brazil lacked a cutting edge and didn't really create much. Brazil applied high tempo pressing and we just crumbled and couldn't retain the ball. On the plus side Maguire, Gomez and Stones were superb. Walker looked like a world class performer bar the last third. Never got too worried under pressure like the rest. Rashford impressed too, another who didn't look overawed.

I love South American fans so the more of these games the better though...

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/la...-wembley-bikinis-football-team-news-world-cup

 

Thought we weren't crap in either game. Draws were fair results and we were farther below strength than the opposition.

All those things Loftus Cheek tried and failed to do last night came off when he did them against Germany, where he was a serious attacking threat.

 

Tough to use friendlies as a barometer, Brazil and Germany know to show up for tournaments as opposed to glorified kickabouts. The defence may have been staunch but big teams aren't just guna huff and puff in a competitive game.
Suppose anything that builds some form of confidence. Obviously with our public it'll go the other way and you'll have all the know it alls in the pub seeing us as a shoo-in for the final. Then, under the palpable weight of expectation, we'll proceed to sideways-pass ourselves out of the group stages

 

No they weren't crap, playing very defensively is a strategy, and certainly a sensible one when playing sides who have much better players. My doubt comes from them having the mental strength to carry out such a defensive strategy in tournament football, or it being successful. Certainly not impossible as Greece and Portugal have shown in the past at Euros.

Loftus Cheek is young. As good as he was against Germany, he was equally as poor against Brazil. The Brazilians exposed technique in a way Germany didn't. They played at a far higher tempo when not in possession and Loftus Cheek just found himself with no time. Time is always the factor I look for when looking at the class of a player. Good players always have time. He wasn't the only one. Livermore was massively out of his depth. And Dier who is decent also gave the ball away carelessly. Bertrand got exposed quite badly. Whereas the centre backs showed a real coolness under the high tempo to remain calm, step into space and find teammates. So did Walker.

Loftus Cheek is young enough to get better but I don't he'll ever be good enough to compete with the best teams personally. He is an option for England in a very weak area - however that says more about us than him.

I wouldn't read too much into a couple of friendlies, we as England fans should know better to be honest. We are always decent come this time of year in meaningless games. When it matters and Brazil/Germany are at full strength going full tilt, we'd get our arse handed to us. This has been proven time and again, this current crop is no different in my opinion (I'd love to be wrong!).

I think we probably have 1 world class player and 1 world class finisher. I think Kyle Walker would get into a lot of the worlds best sides. Harry Kane is an outstanding goalscorer. After that England have glaring issues all round the park. Its not all doom and gloom though. Pickford looks a real talent. We found some new centre half options in Gomez and Maguire who didn't look as stiff as the previous incumbents. Stones looks ready to become the defender everyone hoped a year or two ago.