Ireland v England

[BlueBee]

England could be a decent team under the right management. Hodgson is taking them backwards.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

That was thrilling.

 

[Mustard]

One of the worst games of football I've ever seen. Fucking hell.

 

[RKP]

What a bore of a draw. Neither team really didn't look like they wanted to win.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Utterly pointless. What on earth could Roy have gained or learned from today that'll help us next summer?

 

[Leewilson]

England have no identity. We watch teams on the continent and try to replicate their style of play nationally when for club the players play a far quicker in your face brand of football. We should be trying to perfect what we're good at. Pace, power and dynamism.

You can't seriously play Henderson, Wilshere, Lallana and Milner all together. They are far too one paced and not good enough collectively to be effective without pace. We just need to keep it simple. Play a 4-5-1 and have a front 4 not afraid to rotate positions and run at players.

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

Clyne-------(whoever grabs it)------Cahill------Bertrand

----------------------Henderson--------Wilshere-------------

Walcott------------------------Ox--------------------Welbeck

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


That would have a far greater dynamic approach than the sluggish 5-10 yard sideways passes that we've seen today.

Sturridge, Sterling, Townsend are all capable of challenging for the front 4 spots as well. Play those in form. Sterling should never have been out there today.

Milner, Carrick, Lallana and co should all be pushing for a central role along Henderson.

 

[RKP]

Waste of a friendly really - the football on show was diabolical and lacklustre. Can't wait for Euro 2016 on this performance.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

England have no identity. We watch teams on the continent and try to replicate their style of play nationally when for club the players play a far quicker in your face brand of football. We should be trying to perfect what we're good at. Pace, power and dynamism.

You can't seriously play Henderson, Wilshere, Lallana and Milner all together. They are far too one paced and not good enough collectively to be effective without pace. We just need to keep it simple. Play a 4-5-1 and have a front 4 not afraid to rotate positions and run at players.

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

Clyne-------(whoever grabs it)------Cahill------Bertrand

----------------------Henderson--------Wilshere-------------

Walcott------------------------Ox--------------------Welbeck

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


That would have a far greater dynamic approach than the sluggish 5-10 yard sideways passes that we've seen today.

Sturridge, Sterling, Townsend are all capable of challenging for the front 4 spots as well. Play those in form. Sterling should never have been out there today.

Milner, Carrick, Lallana and co should all be pushing for a central role along Henderson.

We'd never try anything so adventurous or risky as that under Roy sadly. Sideways 10 yard passes ended by a daft cross to an isolated front man it is.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Waste of a friendly really - the football on show was diabolical and lacklustre. Can't wait for Euro 2016 on this performance.

 

[markwwfc1992]

Leon Clarke is officially better than Wayne Rooney...

 

[sl1k]

The way Scholes dropped "was a waste of an afternoon really"

 

[Leewilson]

We'd never try anything so adventurous or risky as that under Roy sadly. Sideways 10 yard passes ended by a daft cross to an isolated front man it is.

Occasionally though, I feel that he's getting it. Like when we play in Switzerland. Good counter attacking football with a front 3 of Welbeck, Rooney and Sterling unafraid to run with a solid midfield trio. But then we revert back to this slow shit. I like Milner, Lallana, Henderson and Wilshere as individuals but playing them all together is a recipe for disaster. It's essentially as stupid as playing all of Townsend, Walcott, Sterling, Ox and Welbeck in a team. You just get the opposite end of the skill set. There needs to be a mix and no more of this square pegs in round holes stuff. Versatility is a word of the devil.

 

[Red]

It's not a cumfest though is it? The only reason anybody said anything was because some idiot said 'Jack Wilshere has been nothing short of abysmal', which is a laughable statement.

Wilshere has completely run the show for England in his last several performances, what are you talking about?

I don't know who said Wilshere was abysmal today but he wasn't and in the first half he probably was the best player for England. That's not saying much though and I don't think he was better by a mile. I like Wilshere, don't get me wrong. I like how he drives forward with the ball, can smoke a 20 deck of Benson's in a day, plays penetrating passes and links up with other players. However, I'm not sure how you think he ran the show in his last several games, most of which he spent the time falling over himself and other players.

 

[Avatar]

The state of that midfield. A midfield 3 of Milner, Henderson and Barkley .... with Townsend and Jamie Vardy.... We expect chances from that? That was the worst game I have ever seen.

It really boggles my mind. I know its a friendly, but that was terrible, especially the second half. Awful.

Play an attacking 4, with one holding midfielder and one linking midfielder. Use players who will actually take responsibility and try to do something with the ball, instead of picking the "stable" players who do a job for their teams on rotation. Get Wilshere on the ball, and make Rooney the focal point of the team, he needs to be closer to the midfield because our CBs are terrified of the ball. The wide players we have that beat their men are Sterling, Welbeck and The Ox. The goalscorers we have are Rooney, Sturridge and Walcott. Everyone else can fuck off. We should play on the break with pace.

For the qualifier:
-------------Hart
Clyne-----Cahill---Smalling----Gibbs
-------Henderson---Wilshere
Ox------------Rooney---------Sterling
-----------------Walcott

 

[Jarv]

What an absolutely stupid time for an international Lunch time on a Sunday. UEFA naffing about with international kick off times is shit. should be Saturday or Wednesday night and only those times unless it's a championships

still doesn't sound like i missed much

 

[SC49]

I don't know who said Wilshere was abysmal today but he wasn't and in the first half he probably was the best player for England. That's not saying much though and I don't think he was better by a mile. I like Wilshere, don't get me wrong. I like how he drives forward with the ball, can smoke a 20 deck of Benson's in a day, plays penetrating passes and links up with other players. However, I'm not sure how you think he ran the show in his last several games, most of which he spent the time falling over himself and other players.

Go back and watch his performances. He was England's best player in all but one of them if I remember correctly and he got awarded MOTM 3 or 4 games on the bounce.

 

[mistermagic]

The state of that midfield. A midfield 3 of Milner, Henderson and Barkley .... with Townsend and Jamie Vardy.... We expect chances from that? That was the worst game I have ever seen.

It really boggles my mind. I know its a friendly, but that was terrible, especially the second half. Awful.

Play an attacking 4, with one holding midfielder and one linking midfielder. Use players who will actually take responsibility and try to do something with the ball, instead of picking the "stable" players who do a job for their teams on rotation. Get Wilshere on the ball, and make Rooney the focal point of the team, he needs to be closer to the midfield because our CBs are terrified of the ball. The wide players we have that beat their men are Sterling, Welbeck and The Ox. The goalscorers we have are Rooney, Sturridge and Walcott. Everyone else can fuck off. We should play on the break with pace.

For the qualifier:
-------------Hart
Clyne-----Cahill---Smalling----Gibbs
-------Henderson---Wilshere
Ox------------Rooney---------Sterling
-----------------Walcott

Good post although I'd probably swap Walcott for Sturridge when he's fit.

Still of the opinion that Rooney really isn't that good a CF and needs to be playing second striker. Walcott coming on as an impact sub would work I reckon.

What an absolutely stupid time for an international Lunch time on a Sunday. UEFA naffing about with international kick off times is shit. should be Saturday or Wednesday night and only those times unless it's a championships

still doesn't sound like i missed much

Yeah same. Find it quite early although given the risk of trouble between both sets of fans (has there been any trouble?) I can understand. Bit annoyed I didn't watch it but it sounds like it was shit.

 

[Jarv]

Good post although I'd probably swap Walcott for Sturridge when he's fit.

Why should Sturridge get back in He's been largely England's worst player when ever he pulls on the national shirt. Some players just don't get International football and perform better for their Clubs Sturridge is definitely one of those so far.

 

[Skinner]

The Irish are waiting around on concrete wagons on Saturdays

 

[BlueBee]

What an absolutely stupid time for an international Lunch time on a Sunday. UEFA naffing about with international kick off times is shit. should be Saturday or Wednesday night and only those times unless it's a championships

still doesn't sound like i missed much

Don't think it had anything to do with UEFA....think both nations agreed this was the best time to prevent any trouble from the fans. It was basically a move to make sure most fans were sober going into the ground.

 

[SamScfc]

Haha yeah I remember that well. It wasn't actually on the official website though. Donnelly was class for us a few years nefore hand and we didn't really know who Vardy was.

 

[Super_horns]

Not sure anyone expcted much of a game really...

 

[Madejski]

Less creative in midfield than Reading.. And that is saying something.

Always said that Milner is a decent player for England, Henderson is a decent player for England, but Milner AND Henderson playing together just doesn't work. They will work for you, give a good game, but never have that special something to unlock a defence. Wilshere was the only midfielder who can but then he is played as the furthest back.. Without Baines we don't really have a full back who can create a lot going forward. They shouldn't be anywhere near the squad on quality but at least Barkley and Townsend's introductions meant that we actually tried to attack.

Roy seems to focus too much on keeping possession now. I know it is an area of our game that we are behind most of the World on, but it's gone too far now. The players act as though keeping the ball is the most important part of the game. No one makes forward runs, no one makes forward balls. The amount of times we would switch it out wide in a bit of space and then cut back into the middle again. Aside from one or two players no one even tries to take their man on.

Amazing the similarities between my club and my countries teams of late. It's strange that I still bother to watch...

 

[Jarv]

Less creative in midfield than Reading.. And that is saying something.

Always said that Milner is a decent player for England, Henderson is a decent player for England, but Milner AND Henderson playing together just doesn't work.

Milner and Henderson are the new Gerrard and Lampard :jones:

 

[Greenacres]

Milner and Henderson are the new Gerrard and Lampard :jones:

By that I am guessing you mean that they are guaranteed to start for England, if only they had half the skill, drive and passion of the other two players you mentioned we might be on to something.

 

[DarkSithLord]

To be fair to Andros Townsend I thought he did more than Sterling did in his short appearance.

 

[Murphy]

Ay, wasn't much cop, then for a game that means literally nothing with very little edge to it what did we really expect? Still something a bit better than what we were served up I suppose!

Disappointed Austin didn't get his chance, unless he's ill or something which I've missed I have no idea why he didn't get on. Rooney looked a yard off the pace, Sterling was very disappointing on numerous occasions and really it was just all a bit rubbish. Most excitement I had all afternoon was seeing Arter come on, only sub that made me think something might happen, even if it was for Ireland.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

Just isn't any real class in the midfield to go alongside Wilshire. Carrick would be perfect along side him, but unfortunately he won't be around for much longer.
Henderson and Milner both put in shifts and sometimes pull off some decent passes, but they aren't good enough on the ball. When you look at other countries with players such as David Silva, Ozil and Iniesta who are quick mentally as well as physically, we don't have that.

I don't think we are doing too bad, we are unbeaten in 10 games and have a decent crop of youngsters coming through, but we need to develop a side.

If Welbeck was fit for next Sunday I would start him, if not I would go with..

Hart
Clyne-Smalling-Cahill-Gibbs

Henderson----Wilshire

Walcott---Lallana---Townsend

Rooney

I want to see more of Lallana behind Rooney being a bit more creative. Despite being average for Spurs, Townsend seems to do well for England and I would give him a start over Sterling.

 

[Stevencc]

Higgins and Rooney sharing a joke at Sterling's expense today...if looks could kill.

http://gfycat.com/SparklingIcyAmericanalligator

Lallana seemed to find it funny as well.

 

[TheArtfulDodger]

'Reckons he's good enough for the Champions League?'