The General England Euro 2016 Thread

[Nath]

Lmao what? He's taking an 18-year-old with one cap. He can't do anything without people calling him dull/unadventurous etc.

Dropping Drinkwater was the easy solution because he doesn't bring anything to the table that England don't already have.

He's taking Rashford because he deserves to go. He's very talented and has already shown he's not fazed by big occasions. Could be a real option if England are chasing a game.

What does Henderson bring that Drinkwater doesn't? Hodgson didn't want to drop a supposed big name.

 

[smat]

He's taking Rashford because he deserves to go. He's very talented and has already shown he's not phased by big occasions. Could be a real option if England are chasing a game.

What does Henderson bring that Drinkwater doesn't? Hodgson didn't want to drop a supposed big name.

Henderson's a big name now?

 

[Nath]

Henderson's a big name now?

A Woy favourite.

You said it was an easy decision to drop Drinkwater. What does Henderson offer that Drinkwater doesn't? I'm struggling to think of anything.

Drinkwater is better defensively and also offered much more going forward last season. Played the best season of his life and wasn't injured.

 

[smat]

So is Henderson a big name or a 'Woy favourite'?

I'm not that arsed about Carrywater tbh, just enjoyed everyone's butthurt.

 

[mnb089mnb]

What does Henderson bring that Drinkwater doesn't?.

25 England caps and the experience of being at Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014.

 

[JimJams]

Those tournaments went well. The experience of being in a piss poor England side will serve him in good stead!

 

[JimJams]

Fucking hell Carvalhos 'tache has put about 20 years on him!

 

[JimJams]

Has Kane actually hit one decent free kick yet? Not just today but since he started?

Liverpool bOyZ on.

 

[mnb089mnb]

Those tournaments went well. The experience of being in a piss poor England side will serve him in good stead!

Was just answering the question of what Henderson has over Drinkwater.

Experience.

 

[Nath]

So is Henderson a big name or a 'Woy favourite'?

I'm not that arsed about Carrywater tbh, just enjoyed everyone's butthurt.

A big enough name considering the other midfielders at his disposal.

I couldn't care either. Just pointing out what a shit manager Hodgson is. He still doesn't know what he wants the team to do. But that's for another thread.

 

[Nath]

Was just answering the question of what Henderson has over Drinkwater.

Experience.

Plenty of experience in the squad. Not sure why bringing Henderson makes a difference.

As Jimmers said, experience of disappointment is all there is.

 

[Super_horns]

Good work by Sterling - nice cross.

 

[mnb089mnb]

Plenty of experience in the squad. Not sure why bringing Henderson makes a difference.

As Jimmers said, experience of disappointment is all there is.

Saw on twitter the other day it's the least experienced (in terms of caps) for England in the last four tournaments.

I think preferring Drinkwater over Henderson is fine, but pretending Henderson has no attributes over Drinkwater is pigheaded, and makes you look silly.

 

[Nath]

Saw on twitter the other day it's the least experienced (in terms of caps) for England in the last four tournaments.

I think preferring Drinkwater over Henderson is fine, but pretending Henderson has no attributes over Drinkwater is pigheaded, and makes you look silly.

Experience had no influence on prior tournaments. Best to freshen things up.

I was clearly talking about footballing ability, not experience. In which Drinkwater has outshone Henderson (and a lot of other English midfielders this season). I'd have Wilshere and Barkley on the plane because they offer something in the final third, which Henderson does not. I just don't see what Henderson offers that Drinkwater doesn't in footballing terms. Each to their own though.

 

[Carver]

A win is a win but it was a disappointing performance from England tonight and a poor team selection and formation by the manager against a 10 man weakened Portugal side. I can see us struggling to get past the group stage with Wales and Slovakia being the ones to progress, we will have to be lucky to go up as a third placed team.

It's simple, they play better without Rooney!

 

[SamScfc]

Playing 150 minutes in the whole season is a pretty decent reason for him not to go, I'd have thought.

Why is it? It's not just about what he's done this season. Why does everyone have such a short memory?

He's fit now and is our best player, yes he's injury prone, but it's a 3 week tournament, possibly 2. He's worth the slight risk.

 

[SamScfc]

I agree on Sterling - I wouldn't have even took him either. But we literally have no other option. I wouldn't be too opposed to playing 4-4-2 as I do agree Vardy could be the key influential attacker rather than Alli. However, if Vardy plays and we go 4-4-2 I see no place for Alli.

I will definitely be disappointed you are right. Won't we all by the third week of the tournament? I would've taken Townsend and I also would've taken Antonio who would've been one of my first names on the team sheet.



'Cos he's played about 14 minutes of football this season. He hasn't got 90 minutes in him, and he isn't very good to start with. Lots of fancy flicks and mazy runs. They look brilliants against your Charlie Adams and Gareth Barrys, but he gets found out against half decent teams/midfielders. He runs into people, falls over, dives in, and I have never seen a player out of position so consistently as he was on Friday night.

Yes Alli probably could play box to box - but why take him from being in a position where he was arguably one of the best players in the country, and put him into a position he probably hasn't played for 5 years? Just because you are good in one position does not mean you are good in another.

Agree on Rooney - I was very, very impressed.

Lallana, for me, HAS to start.

Are you serious?

You think Wilshere is shit but say Lallana, who has literally done NOTHING for England, has barely form anything for Liverpool, can't finish 90 minutes HAS to start?!

 

[JimJams]

Kane's a better player than Wilshere.

 

[SamScfc]

Kane's a better player than Wilshere.

Possibly but they're different players anyway.

 

[SamScfc]

Watching the highlights of the Portugal game now and once again Roy's tactics are wrong again, he plays the right formation but Vardy and Kane split and spend more time out wide, the only position Vardy can play is on the shoulder.

The guy is absolutely deluded. I'm not convinced well even get out of the group with him in charge.

 

[PoolieTom]

Are you serious?

You think Wilshere is shit but say Lallana, who has literally done NOTHING for England, has barely form anything for Liverpool, can't finish 90 minutes HAS to start?!

Each to their own. He was the best player on the pitch for 45 minutes last Friday. He is one of the most intelligent footballers in the team.

Watching the highlights of the Portugal game now and once again Roy's tactics are wrong again, he plays the right formation but Vardy and Kane split and spend more time out wide, the only position Vardy can play is on the shoulder.

The guy is absolutely deluded. I'm not convinced well even get out of the group with him in charge.

That's what you get when you play this shit diamond formation. It's so easy to play against. Get your full backs forward and it guarantees the strikers will drop back out wide. Vardy and Kane were doing that all night and it leaves a hole. Alli yet again wasted, Rooney playing just about anywhere in midfield when he should've been at the top of the diamond.

Roy has un-done all of the good work he did in 2015 in just 3 friendlies. He has defaulted to the English way.

 

[JimJams]

What's 'the English way'?

 

[PoolieTom]

Square pegs in round holes. Defensive minded. Don't get beat.

Etc.

 

[Veggie Legs]

Watching the highlights of the Portugal game now and once again Roy's tactics are wrong again, he plays the right formation but Vardy and Kane split and spend more time out wide, the only position Vardy can play is on the shoulder.

The guy is absolutely deluded. I'm not convinced well even get out of the group with him in charge.

The width in the team has to come from somewhere, and with a midfield diamond it has to come from the strikers. All this stuff about width coming from the full backs is bollocks - obviously they're going to get forward effectively, but they can't cover the whole flank alone.

Even if you decide the team doesn't need to play with any width, you still need to defend against the opposing full backs. That means either Kane and Vardy splitting wide, or the central midfielders (Alli and Wilshere, or whoever) moving wider and Rooney dropping back. I don't find either of those desirable.

The midfield diamond still feels to me like an attempt to shoehorn the best eleven players in, and that's not the way to create the best team.

 

[Stevencc]

The Daily Mail had a go at predicting the 2016 England team back in 2007...

 

[Leewilson]

The Daily Mail had a go at predicting the 2016 England team back in 2007...

It always irritates me in things like this how the so called 'media experts' always add 11 brand new players as opposed to keeping some of the old guard in there. Like, I reckon if they did one now for 2024, they wouldn't include the likes of Alli or Dier despite them being new and young.

 

[last request]

I used to be a massive Rooney fan years ago, and though it pains me to say it, I do not think Rooney merits a place in the squad, never mind the starting 11. I said the same thing before the last world cup. In 2012 he should have been involved, despite his suspension – but based on his performance against Ukraine (and how the other forwards were playing) I think he should have been dropped for the Italy quarter final. Roy just refuses to drop him. I know a lot of Man Utd fans have the same issue with his auto-place in their team.

I’ve heard rumours of sinister sponsorship reasons meaning that certain players have to be in the squad/team and to be honest sometimes you wonder if there is something to it.

Rashford – unlike Rooney, I’m not necessarily saying he doesn’t merit a place, but I have to question whether Roy would have selected him if he was at for example West Ham rather than Man Utd.

Overall, I think Roy is extremely fortunate to still have the job after the last World Cup and the fact that Rooney is a guaranteed starter is going to lessen England’s hopes of winning imo. He might go on to score the odd goal and the headlines will be the headlines but I severely doubt he will perform well enough to justify his place in the team when you look closely at the matches.

 

[DarkSithLord]

I used to be a massive Rooney fan years ago, and though it pains me to say it, I do not think Rooney merits a place in the squad, never mind the starting 11. I said the same thing before the last world cup. In 2012 he should have been involved, despite his suspension – but based on his performance against Ukraine (and how the other forwards were playing) I think he should have been dropped for the Italy quarter final. Roy just refuses to drop him. I know a lot of Man Utd fans have the same issue with his auto-place in their team.

I’ve heard rumours of sinister sponsorship reasons meaning that certain players have to be in the squad/team and to be honest sometimes you wonder if there is something to it.

Rashford – unlike Rooney, I’m not necessarily saying he doesn’t merit a place, but I have to question whether Roy would have selected him if he was at for example West Ham rather than Man Utd.

Overall, I think Roy is extremely fortunate to still have the job after the last World Cup and the fact that Rooney is a guaranteed starter is going to lessen England’s hopes of winning imo. He might go on to score the odd goal and the headlines will be the headlines but I severely doubt he will perform well enough to justify his place in the team when you look closely at the matches.

Excellent post sir.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Why is it? It's not just about what he's done this season. Why does everyone have such a short memory?

He's fit now and is our best player, yes he's injury prone, but it's a 3 week tournament, possibly 2. He's worth the slight risk.

Because you should be picking players on recent form, not on reputation, or what they did in qualifying and a couple of friendlies over a fucking year ago. He hasn't completed 90 minutes since something stupid like November 2014, it's ridiculous that people think the bloke should make the squad after a season like he's just had.

Why we keep taking crocked players to tournaments is beyond me, we did it with Rooney at the last world cup, and this time we're doing it with Wilshere and Henderson ffs. Players who are in form (Drinkwater for example....) should be going over players with a bit of a reputation. However, once again, we have a manager who doesn't have the bollocks to drop the players with a reputation over the players who are actually in form at the moment.

Yes, Wilshere had a lot of man of the matches in his last few England appearances, but these were over a year ago, I could understand it if he had been putting those man of the match performances in during the last season, but he hasn't. He's been sat on the treatment table all season, and does not deserve to be playing in an international tournament on the basis of how he played the season before last for England (because he wasn't even that great for Arsenal during that season).

 

[Leewilson]

Because you should be picking players on recent form, not on reputation, or what they did in qualifying and a couple of friendlies over a fucking year ago. He hasn't completed 90 minutes since something stupid like November 2014, it's ridiculous that people think the bloke should make the squad after a season like he's just had.

Why we keep taking crocked players to tournaments is beyond me, we did it with Rooney at the last world cup, and this time we're doing it with Wilshere and Henderson ffs. Players who are in form (Drinkwater for example....) should be going over players with a bit of a reputation. However, once again, we have a manager who doesn't have the bollocks to drop the players with a reputation over the players who are actually in form at the moment.

Yes, Wilshere had a lot of man of the matches in his last few England appearances, but these were over a year ago, I could understand it if he had been putting those man of the match performances in during the last season, but he hasn't. He's been sat on the treatment table all season, and does not deserve to be playing in an international tournament on the basis of how he played the season before last for England (because he wasn't even that great for Arsenal during that season).

Recent form is a big factor but an even bigger factor is choosing the best 'team'. Hodgson is actually one of the only managers going into the Euros who has publicly aired the fact he'll be choosing the best players instead of worrying about a system (systems don't win you football matches, the best players do). This is an opposing view to the likes of Joachim Lowe and Antonio Conte, both of whom are prioritising the team spirit and cohesion over 'stars' in their build up.

But then I never choose to listen that much to Hodgson. Before the 3 friendlies, he was asked about giving everybody a game and he was adament that these friendlies would be used to prepare the players he had in mind who could be starting the tournament. After yesterday, I think every member of the 23 has featured at some point, so that was bollocks.

Going back to the point, if we're going off recent form, Vardy should play. But I wouldn't pick Vardy. He's excelled in a specific system built to suit him. We're not going to play that way and his other attributes don't match up to others in the squad. What we've lacked in the last few games is cohesion and ball carriers. I do think we're going to miss Welbeck's ability to commit and run at players. Hopefully Sterling can recapture some of his old form as he'll definitely be needed. I would include Wilshere, maybe not in the starting line up but as a sub. The closest player we have to him is Lallana. I'd start Lallana and introduce Wilshere for him later on personally.

I'm sure Roy will cock it up though.