yes, not sure where this 'thug' idea came from - not really seen that myself. my issue is that he isn't very good! bang average, but then so are quite a few of the england squad.
I can only assume that Hodgson liked what he saw during his short tenure as our manager and feels hes good enough based on last season and so far this season, so Roy's either right or wrong but you cant blame Shelvey himself for getting picked.
fair point i do think there is a half decent player in there somewhere, but i haven't seem him produce anything good enough to warrant inclusion in the liverpool team, let alone get on the pitch for his country. not sure he'd have been included had the under 21s not had an important game on friday. some of those players are better than shelvey but i think they want to make sure the under 21s progress through so picked their best players at that age. shelvey wasn't one of them, so gets included in the full squad! i think that makes sense, in a twisted kind of way!
I think he's class, but I did used to live relatively near the valley and had a few charlton supporting friends so saw him regularly and even when they used to play him on the left wing he looked like he had something about him. Always seems to look to go forward with the ball at the right times and can pick a long pass out. He also puts a bit of a shift in and pressures defenders maybe that goes un noticed by the tv cameras. Think he warrants a place in the team really we need a variety of midfielders and he seems to have a spark about him which can get a move going. Wouldn't say he is going to be anywhere near gerrard which a few have but he does seem to be able to drive a team on and realistically England need to be playing some younger players now as Lampards going to be 36 at the world cup and Gerrard 34, heaven forbid some injuries we might as well find out about some players against san marino and see how they fit Roy's new system
Billy. That's very much how I see him too. Looks to drive the team forward in a Gerrard-like way and puts in a good shift closing down and trying to win the ball back. [Edit] Also, on loan at Blackpool in the first half of last season he made 10 appearances and scored 6 goals.
impossible to learn anything from that game anyway - san marino were like a non-league team. what amazed me was how naive some of our players were. constantly trying to play the perfect ball through a packed defence when on the two or three occasions they got the ball in good wide positions a chance was created. is it naivity due to age or more likely, there was a worrying lack of intelligence on the pitch. players seemed unable to understand how to break the weakest team in european football down. it was a little embarrassing to watch at times and you could see hodgson spitting feathers at times. 5-0 was probably the bare minimum required with regards the contrast in ability.
Quite right. I think this game cried out for Carroll to start. If there is a penalty area full of legs and feet and you don't have a Messi, Silva, Aguero or Suarez in your team, and we quite obviously don't. then why not put the ball in the air. Two wingers, hopefully, crossing the ball from the bye line toward one or two guys good in the air having pops at goal or at least causing mayhem. It doesn't have to be hoofball. Proper wingers with one sole objective in mind. Just a measured cross in the air instead of on the ground. I really don't understand International football where it is de rigueur to pick the same players irrespective of form.
Only comment I'd make is that I'm astonished you were amazed superman. It's been like that for years; the majority of English players don't understand the game, and can't think on the pitch. My abiding memory of Capello is the despair on his face as the players time and again proved incapable of seeing what was required and doing it. Matched only by the frustration on Rooney's face when, time and again, the ball he wants fails to materialise, and the ball he plays lands where he intended -- but no team mate made the run to receive it.
good point robbie!!! not thought of it like that. i suppose it was because it was SO obvious... and with them being a new generation of players, perhaps i'd hoped they'd been coached a little differently, to use their brain (if they have one)... no such luck!
Yep I would, when he played here a couple of weeks ago, he blatantly shouldered our right back into the hoardings beside the pitch even though the ball and Garrido were already out of play by a long way. He then stood there shoulders hunched arms out stretched in a "what I didn't do anything". Of course being Liverpool he was believed by the referee, and when Garrido came back on after treatment he even went over to him, not to shake hands, but to carry on complaining at him for some reason. I guess you're going to tell me that's ok, and Suarez doesn't dive!!
yes. skrtel was thuggish during that game. he sliced through jackson at one point too. not sure shelvey is a thug - no evidence for this from my point of view, but he is an average footballer.
Shelvey could play for the Wanderers I suppose. PS Could somebody tell Kyle Walker its OK to control the ball, it won't hurt your foot.
Since we all fancy we can spot talent or otherwise when we see it (), I suggest a thread where we each predict one current "youngster" who will be a nailed on first choice for England at Brazil 2014, and one currently in the England frame (including at under-19 and under-21) who definitely won't make the 2014 squad. When we've all made our predictions dave should close the thread and make it a sticky so that, come 2014, we can hand out the plaudits and wooden spoon.
