I'm not commenting on england anymore But basically the squad picks itself sagbo or graham.. the only decider?
that you will be lucky to qualify and flop as usual? i suppose i have but forget it, it's a city forum! chelsea here we come
Gerrard's been brilliant for England since Roy took over although I agree with what you've put about him there. Him and Wilshere were clearly a cut above everyone else the other night. Those two wanted the ball more than anyone else and were comfortable on it. The others were too 'English', just wanting rid of the ball as soon as they got it and trying to force the issue too much, Rooney included. I'm starting to agree with those who moan about Rooney now, he seems to be just average in most England games now.
I think the problem with Rooney is he's quite a link man, but we play him as our main striker, and no one really seems to be working on the same radio length as him. He does some exquisite flicks and cheeky short through balls behind tight defences but he seems to see passes that the person he's passing to hasn't even thought about half the time. I still think he's currently England's best player by a mile, certainly the most talented, but he's playing the wrong way and were effectively playing with Spain's 4-6-0 most the time. If he'd lead the line and play as a poacher rather than always trying to lay it off to someone else to walk into the goal all the time, he'd be far more effective, but I suspect that's under Roy's instruction rather than his own. Saying that, I think he'd shine in the Spain team. He's that perfect midfielder/striker hybrid that Spain/Barcelona seem to love playing in the central spot, and he definitely has the talent and footballing intelligence.
I agree. The difference is Spain/Barca always have someone in the box when the ball goes in there. In English football we're yet to figure this out. When a striker drops deep you have no one in the box. I really don't understand what Rooney's role is in the England team. It's spot on what you said really, he needs a proper position. Either make him the spearhead or make him play in behind another striker but trying to have him do two roles at once isn't working.
I don;t think Chelsea should buy Rooney. It could well be another Torres episode for them. Clearly Rooney is still a great player but in his early 20's it looked like he had the potential to be a world-beater. He does not seem be able to regain the form he had the season after Ronaldo left.
Rooney's form really dropped the last time he made a big fuss about leaving United. He brings all this attention on himself and puts pressure on himself which affects his game. Same with Torres moving for £50m, as soon as that happened people are waiting for him to fail. Andy Carroll was another one, everyone rated him until Liverpool grossly overpaid for him and now people love to hate him. Rooney is being stupid with this. Being second fiddle to Van Persie is probably the best thing for his game.
I can understand the logic of the comparison, but I think you're talking about three very different players... Rooney, yes, lets off-pitch issues affect his form. He seems very flaky mentally. Torres never got over his injuries and was shot before he left Liverpool (though he's slowly getting some form back). He was a great player a few years ago but was a shocking buy when Abramovich paid out for him. Carroll seems like a decent player to me - he's just been slowed by injuries. It's not so much Carroll or his form that has fluctuated - it's the media/public perception of him. He wasn't as good as Dalglish/Liverpool's chequebook made him out to be, and he wasn't as bad as the backlash suggested. If you step back and think of him as a good young player who is still fine-tuning his game, there's not much wrong there.
