England National Team Talk/News/Rumours

Harry Palmr

Rashers with his goal, Aussies growing into the game now

HT 1-0 dull enough half overall.

Harry Palmr

Rooney > Sterling

Lovely Bloke

Marcus The Rash Rashers Rashford is in!

irishguitarlad

Strange decision picking henderson over drinkwater.

Harry Palmr

Last warm up v Ronaldo free Portugal


England: Hart, Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose, Dier, Alli, Milner, Rooney, Kane, Vardy.

Subs: Forster, Sterling, Lallana, Clyne, Henderson, Sturridge, Stones, Wilshere, Barkley,
Rashford, Heaton.

Portugal: Rui Patricio, Vieirinha, Bruno Alves, Carvalho, Eliseu, João Moutinho, João Mário, Danilo Pereira, Nani, Rafa, Adrien Silva.

Subs: Lopes, Fonte, Guerreiro, Eder, William Carvalho, Andre Gomes, Renato Sanches, Quaresma, Cedric, Eduardo.

SantryRed

That England line up is all kinds of terrible and is probably their 1st 11 for the game against Russia. Smacks of Hodgson bottling making the big call and dropping Rooney, and Vardy for that matter!

Scorpion Sting

I had to laugh when I heard Nani was captain.

Bounty Hunter

Wonder how Roy will react is this formation doesn't work. Alli is actually an AM and would suit the Rooney role so it'll be interesting to see how the midfield do defensively with both he and Rooney in midfield, a lot of work for Dier to do.

I'd say they are disappointing there is no Ronaldo against them, surely Portugal w/Ronaldo would be the best way to prep for Wales w/Bale

Harry Palmr

Bruno Alves off for a lunatic kung fu challenge

The Backwards Man

Wee bit high alright

Fratton Fred

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Bruno Alves off for a lunatic kung fu challenge

That was crazy bad stuff from Alves.

Beefy78

Jesus, that was a shocker!

Cypher_sounds

Mad man hope he misses a few games on the euros for that.

Harry Palmr

Alberto Moreno wouldn't have tried that!

By the way had that been the other way round the Portuguese would still be seeking medical attention. Harry Kane was straight up and attacking goal.

Techniques07

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Bruno Alves off for a lunatic kung fu challenge

If Pepe got kicked like that he'd be in the obituaries next week. Kane gets straight up and on with the football.

The Backwards Man

I dunno, I'd say it took him a wee minute to get over the shock of it to be able to make a meal of it.

Cypher_sounds

Alves in the dressing room before the game

SantryRed

If England play this formation, I don't see anything than an uninspiring tournament with the inevitable QF exit. I genuinely think they'd have an opportunity to win it outright if Hodgson had the balls to drop Rooney and have Vardy fresh off the bench after 60/70 mins in each game.

dfx-

I'm surprised Wilshere hasn't played from the start. Wenger said he needed game time, everyone knows it and he's only played a game and a half of the two and a half so far.

Especially as this is almost certainly Hodgson's preferred set up. Two holding midfielders and wedging Rooney in anywhere.

ERG89

Pulsating game here. Been impressed by Carvalho. With Quaresma I'm expecting Fernando Couto & Sergio Conceicao on in a sec.

Fratton Fred

This has to be one of, if not the worst England kits of all time. The away kit being unbelievably worse than the home kit.

England in anything other than umbro is just wrong.

Beefy78

Brilliant performance. Bring on the tournament!

Skylinehead

dfx- wrote: »

I'm surprised Wilshere hasn't played from the start. Wenger said he needed game time, everyone knows it and he's only played a game and a half of the two and a half so far.

Especially as this is almost certainly Hodgson's preferred set up. Two holding midfielders and wedging Rooney in anywhere.

Clearly their best midfielder too. People being outraged at Hodgson picking him over the clogger that is Danny Drinkwater is pretty funny.

SlickRic

Wilshere's cameo was just about the only positive. The only midfielder they have that can take the ball in close quarters, often on the half turn, and dribble into pockets of space, often making space for others while he's at it.

His awareness of space is better than any of the rest of them.

The rest of them just look laboured.

~Rebel~

Skylinehead wrote: »

Clearly their best midfielder too. People being outraged at Hodgson picking him over the clogger that is Danny Drinkwater is pretty funny.

I would've brought Drinkwater over Dier or Henderson alright though.

Amirani

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I would've brought Drinkwater over Dier or Henderson alright though.

Dier is their only real holding midfield player, sort of had to go I think. Also, leaving him out would necessitate an additional centre back regardless.

Skylinehead

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I would've brought Drinkwater over Dier or Henderson alright though.

Dier is class. Far better player than Drinkwater, and is more versatile too as the comment above me says.

Henderson hasn't ever done anything for England, but he's a better player I think.

~Rebel~

Skylinehead wrote: »

Henderson hasn't ever done anything for England, but he's a better player I think.

Henderson's definitely the better player, but hasn't played much over the past few months, and has 6 months of poor form behind him, and could really do with a proper break from football for the summer.

AllGunsBlazing

Fratton Fred wrote: »

England in anything other than umbro is just wrong.

Admiral did the best England shirts - back when Keegan was doing his bit to muddle England manager's team selections in the same way Rooney is now.

NIMAN

If England insist on playing Rooney they may forget about it. Again.

Nesta99

NIMAN wrote: »

If England insist on playing Rooney they may forget about it. Again.

Why? The more he is written off by people in the England setup the more I think he will be the talisman he was lauded as in the past. There has to be some concern over the way Vardy's head will be with the transfer speculation. Hodgson has said he wanted players' club futures sorted before the big KO but that was always going to be a big ask. At a minimum Rooney (Hart & Milner) will be settled, experienced with the intensity of finals, being couped up in a hotel without family etc - the sort of stuff that Vardy, Kane, Rashford et al it is new to. In that alone Rooney could very important off the field if he isn't firing on field. He is Captain and the experience of 111 caps cant be sneezed at. Same sort of reason Keane is important in the camp for Ireland.

Beefy78

Rooney is also probably playing the best football currently that he has in a year or so.

SantryRed

Beefy78 wrote: »

Rooney is also probably playing the best football currently that he has in a year or so.

Not sure how much of an achievement that is to be fair....

eagle eye

SantryRed wrote: »

Not sure how much of an achievement that is to be fair....

He scored in all but one of the qualifiers for this Euros that he played in. I don't think all the criticism of him is fair.

Beefy78

His record under Hodgson is insane. 24 goals in 35 games or something like that.

EDIT - 24 in 37

Nesta99

Beefy78 wrote: »

Rooney is also probably playing the best football currently that he has in a year or so.

NIMAN wrote: »

If England insist on playing Rooney they may forget about it. Again.

He is certainly playing his part picking the ball up deep and pinging the passes wide and also the simple and sensible short ball. He may not be getting forward on the end of a cross but he is certainly not looking out of place in midfield!

Harry Palmr

Hodgson got what he deserved in a way - instead of going for the kill at 1-0 with Vardy/Sturridge he brings on two midfielders to "control" the game.

Sterling was pretty terrible, the much vaunted Kane/Alli axis never really happened either - Rooney did well though was aided by not being pressurised. This makes the Wales game very interesting.

Nesta99

The Wales win earlier could already see them through to the next round. I'd be very worried if I were an England fan as the derby like nature of the game means it will be no banker! If anything the pressure on England is now huge...

Harry Palmr

The crippling problem that England have had for 20 years now is that all the best coaches have bigger fish to fry than manage the national side so FA end up with foreigners (who may or may not be that arsed so long as they get paid) or mediocrities Hodgson, Keegan, McClaren

Meanwhile Englishman in the Premier League are Eddie Howe, Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce!

Harry Palmr

WE ARE FREE!

Who's next? :eek:

Harry Palmr

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/01/fa-leading-sports-figures-expert-panel-stuart-lancaster-st-georges-park

The Football Association is expected to approach other leading figures from sport and business to contribute to an informal panel of experts set up last month to inform its work at the national football centre in Burton on Trent.

The panel, chaired by David Sheepshanks, is not related to the search for a new England manager in the wake of Roy Hodgson’s departure but instead will advise on the development of young players, coaching and the high performance culture around the England set up.

The inclusion of former England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster on the expert panel, which met for the first time last month, has raised some eyebrows. But despite his high profile failure at last year’s Rugby World Cup, Lancaster remains well regarded for his work with youth development. There is also a feeling that his perspective on what went wrong at the Rugby World Cup could be instructive.

Other members of the panel include Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford, who was also the architect of British Cycling’s medal success in 2008 and 2012, and the former England left-back Graeme Le Saux.

England's only football playing intellectual gets the gig

Paully D

Big Sam's first squad announced:

https://twitter.com/England/status/769965307989467136

The same old boring, tired shite aside from Antonio. I know an international manager can hardly pick an entirely new squad, but it looks exactly like more of the same here. Not a promising start, though England will walk their qualifying group in any case.

Beefy78

Who would you have picked if not those players?

SlickRic

I think Antonio is a good pick to show form can get you in the squad.

I'd like to have seen Mark Noble given a shot.

But there aren't a huge amount of English players putting their hand up at the moment.

Rashford is the only other one I can honestly think of. But going back to underage is the absolute right decision for him.

Sam didn't have much of a choice.

Beefy78

If he can stay fit I'd love to see Britt Assombalonga get in the squad soon.

Nesta99

Money must be tight at ITV with 'European Qualifiers' in front of the desk of the pundits - have they not moved on from Euro 16 still!?!?!

Paully D

Staggering comments from Allardyce post-match:

https://twitter.com/tomwfootball/status/772504355014672384?lang=en

https://twitter.com/eaamalyon/status/772496473900580864?lang=en

rob316

^^^

Same cowardly **** just a different name. Rooney should be nowhere near the starting XI. FA got another yes man

eagle eye

Allardyce isn't a yes man and he is either taking the piss out of journalists there or he is sending a message so somebody.

I watched the game and I thought Rooney played very well. He would have been in contention for MoM for me.


Edit: All the papers are giving Rooney a bad rating. He really has become the focus of their hate in recent times. Lallana was probably England's best player, Kyle Walker had a good game too and after that Rooney was as good or better than anybody else. Harry Kane was terrible, Sterling really done nothing and Dier and Henderson were poor. Danny Rose had a bad game and the two central defenders didn't have much to do but they were solid.

Beefy78

Sam Out