England National football team thread

[Haarithan]

Forster is absolute quality. Hope he keeps gloves at some point of time against Sweden.

 

[Auwais]

Aye, difficult to gauge the quality of SPL players but CL performances are normally a good indicator and he's been outstanding.

 

[War]

Forster is absolute quality. Hope he keeps gloves at some point of time against Sweden.

Ye Hart should rest against Sweden with both Forster & Ruddy get a run in both halves. Similarly for Walker/Jenkinson @ rb, Baines/Bertrand @ lb, Wilshire on half & Walcott as a striker. All in a 4-3-1-2 formaiton, which really should be the main formation going forward.

--------------------------Forster/Ruddy------------------------

Walker/Jenkinson------Caulker---------Cahill--------Baines/Bertrand

----------------Shelvey/Cleverley-Gerrard---Wilshire/Osman---------

----------------------------------Rooney--------------------------

--------------------Walcott--------------Welbeck-------------------

 

[War]

English talent pool is merely a drop in the Premier League ocean - Premier League - Football - The Independent

We all know this, but it can be depressing reading even when you read it.

 

[War]

Roberto Martinez: Victor Moses could have starred for England - ESPN FC

Would have to agree.

 

[War]

Wilfried Zaha and Carl Jenkinson have been added to the England squad for the friendly against Sweden | England Football Team News, Fixtures, Results | Sky Sports

Story just broke on skynews. They say Drogba has been personally trying to tempt him to play for Ivory Coast, so it makes sense to bring him in with the injury withdraws i guess.

 

[thedon5]

He's OK but seems to lack end product. Surprised to see him turn out for England, don't think he's good enough yet. Must just be the Ivory Coast thing.

 

[War]

Sam Wallace: Check the facts Ars?ne, playing Sweden is far from a gimmick - News & Comment - Football - The Independent

Good research here & he is right about Wenger. Managers have a right to irk @ August friendlies, but November friendlies & any friendly in a season is legitimate.

International managers just like club managers have to test their squads in actual matches before the significant world cup qualifiers, to what their best xi is.

 

[shravi]

Haha, love James Corden.

 

[War]

Haha if you didn't see this game, just see the highlights to view Ibrahimovic's 4th goal, that's has to be one of the best goals i've ever seen.

On England well this is what i took from the game:

- Osman was pretty good. Looks like the type of mid-fielder who could aid in England continuing the pass the ball better in mid-field. Once he keeps this up for Everton, i'd start him in the qualifiers next march, alongside Gerrard & Wilshire.

- Caulker & Cahill were a much livelier defensive combo than Jaigelka/Lescott pairing from the Poland game . But Ibra exposed their inexperience as a pairing. It also highest why Ferdinand really has to be recalled. Those two young talented defenders, plus other talented younger defenders like Smalling, Richards who will come into the reckoning as well, need an experience center half beside them as England continue build to brazil 2014. Simply put: BRING BACK FERDINAND!

- Back to back games where Hart has made bad mistakes. Its not much of an issue, but he has quality competition now in Forster & Ruddy, so he needs to eradicate those mistakes in the future.

- Welbeck continues to impress in an England shirt.

Best England XI for the next official matches once all are fit:

----------------------------Hart----------------------------

Johnson--Cahill/Richards/Caulker/Smalling--Ferdinand------A Cole

------------Osman--------Gerrard------Wilshire---------------

----------------------------Rooney---------------------------

------------------Welbeck-----------Defoe---------------------

 

[puddleduck]

How can you say that Ferdinand is so essential? Man U have leaked goals all season! Cahill and Caulker were fine, it was only when they took off Caulker that we conceded three more goals.

Shawcross got a harsh introduction to top level football. It's one thing defending deep and dealing with crosses, it's another trying to step up against strikers with good movement.

I think Hart desperately needs a rest. It's these sort of friendlies he doesn't need to play in, and can be given some time to refocus, was disappointed he was left on for the full 45 and Forster wasn't given a run-out.

Also annoyed Zaha was given a cursory 5 mins at the end. Smacked of just making sure he was now tied into being an England player. Just no point giving him 5 minutes.

 

[War]

This may be clash of opinion, but the only reasons United have leaked goals season most of the time in my view is because of the soft mid-field in-front of the defence, which is leaving them horribly exposed. A much bigger issue than any serious fault of Ferdinand himself.

Scholes/Carrick may pass the ball beautifully, but they are woeful defending, which any team on the counter has been able to exploit vs United this season in the league & in europe. United's being the masters of coming from behind and their superb attack force is to date making up for this alarming deficiency.

Plus this has been a season of poor defending so far throughout the league. All of Cahill, Shawcross, Caulker have been guilty poor defensive moments for their clubs just like Ferdinand & the teams they play for tend to have mid-fielders with much more steel than United.

Ferdinand would be a great organizer and calming experience next to any of these talented youngsters & Hart in goal, which is what Terry was even though he had zero pace. Cahill & Caulker twice in this game in the first half & the 4th Ibra goal, it was clear poor communication between defence & keeper, which if occurred in a official qualifier could be catastrophic for us.

England don't have time in these remaining qualifiers in my view to be figuring out which two out of Cahill, Caulker, Smalling, Shawcross, Richards is the best young center half pairing, given how tight the group will become. Let one of them play next to Rio for safety & assurance to aid in securing qualification - don't see how this is could not be unanimously agreeable approach & reason why not to recall Ferdinand.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

This may be clash of opinion, but the only reasons United have leaked goals season most of the time in my view is because of the soft mid-field in-front of the defence, which is leaving them horribly exposed. A much bigger issue than any serious fault of Ferdinand himself.

Scholes/Carrick may pass the ball beautifully, but they are woeful defending, which any team on the counter has been able to exploit vs United this season in the league & in europe. United's being the masters of coming from behind and their superb attack force is to date making up for this alarming deficiency.

Plus this has been a season of poor defending so far throughout the league. All of Cahill, Shawcross, Caulker have been guilty poor defensive moments for their clubs just like Ferdinand & the teams they play for tend to have mid-fielders with much more steel than United.

Ferdinand would be a great organizer and calming experience next to any of these talented youngsters & Hart in goal, which is what Terry was even though he had zero pace. Cahill & Caulker twice in this game in the first half & the 4th Ibra goal, it was clear poor communication between defence & keeper, which if occurred in a official qualifier could be catastrophic for us.

England don't have time in these remaining qualifiers in my view to be figuring out which two out of Cahill, Caulker, Smalling, Shawcross, Richards is the best young center half pairing, given how tight the group will become. Let one of them play next to Rio for safety & assurance to aid in securing qualification - don't see how this is could not be unanimously agreeable approach & reason why not to recall Ferdinand.

Agreed with all of that. I didn't think we did too badly tonight - we played far better football than when we actually beat Sweden in the Euros. Ibra was inspired tonight, simple as that. Without such an amazing late burst, allied to some godawful keeping by Joe Hart, we would've got away with a draw at least. After all, one goal was a freekick that Hart would save in his sleep if on form, and the second was a freakish goal - Ibra could try that a hundred times and only get it right once. Here's to Joe Hart retaining that form when he goes back to City. All our goals were soft though - an experienced head like Ferdinand is sorely lacking right now.

As for Utd's midfield, if Sir Alex doesn't bring in at least one decent ballwinner, then I think he's lost the plot. It's clear as day that our midfield has not one bit of steel in it!

 

[puddleduck]

The goal we conceded when Caulker was on would almost certainly have been conceded with Ferdinand on. Except he probably wouldn't have kept up with Ibra on the initial break when Sterling lost possession. Caulker actually did well to block the initial shot but was unlucky it went back to an in-form and instinctive Ibra.

I also can think of only one mistake Caulker has made this season, which was merely getting turned by Aguero where one of Huddlestone or Gallas should have been throwing themselves in to block the attempt anyway.

Main thing was how we played for 70minutes when the team was setup as Hodgson wanted, and they did look pretty decent. The result most certainly isn't important, whilst the performance was.

Hart definitely needs a rest. It happens to all keepers, especially when they're young and so much rests on them every week.

----------

The point is, bringing in Rio still means having to get a new partnership settled, so really they may as well go with the younger pairings and start building for future tournaments. We won't forge a solid pairing if one of them is potentially going to be injured on a fairly regular basis, and isn't even 100% they'll be signing a new contract at Utd at the end of his current one.

 

[Epic]

Just saw that 4th goal from Zlatan, un-tweaking-real.