We've looked better without Gerrard and Rooney, will that cause Roy to drop them? Very unlikely.
The main aims tonight were always to keep fit, stay injury-free and acclimatise to the weather. Job done. Look at other teams in their friendlies, no one is taking them seriously.
Serious question here - is Jack Wilshere's role in the team to give the ball away?
A frustrating player. Clearly has talent but STILL can't seem to release the ball at the correct time. However you notice he commits 3-4 players once he goes on a run, when he learns how to release it he could be a world class midfielder. However we were saying that when he was 19...
We've looked better without Gerrard and Rooney, will that cause Roy to drop them? Very unlikely.
The main aims tonight were always to keep fit, stay injury-free and acclimatise to the weather. Job done. Look at other teams in their friendlies, no one is taking them seriously.
Thank God someone has been watching the same game as me.
i'm pretty sure by playing his 'strongest' team Roy wasn't trying to lose/draw/build up fitness levels...he was trying to win that. It doesn't make me an 'england sniper' for pointing out the fact that being unable to beat 10 man Honduras is poor....it is pretty shit if you think about it!
They shouldn't even televise these games. They really aren't meaningful contests. Tonight was basically like a training session, except against the inmates of a prison.
i'm pretty sure by playing his 'strongest' team Roy wasn't trying to lose/draw/build up fitness levels...he was trying to win that. It doesn't make me an 'england sniper' for pointing out the fact that being unable to beat 10 man Honduras is poor....it is pretty shit if you think about it!
Or get the lads used to playing in a match situation with each other
We've looked better without Gerrard and Rooney, will that cause Roy to drop them? Very unlikely.
The main aims tonight were always to keep fit, stay injury-free and acclimatise to the weather. Job done. Look at other teams in their friendlies, no one is taking them seriously.
Thank God someone has been watching the same game as me.
Completely agree with both of you. Honduras were filthy, glad we've come out injury free.
1) The right side of the defense is a huge weakness. 2) As was already known, we lack the guile to create lots of guilt edged chances 3) Our strikers need too many chances to score. 4) Our most dynamic players lack experience. 5) Practice, practice, practice penalties.
Not read the whole thread, so it's probably been said before, but in a competitive game I think Honduras might have had three red cards?
Whoever chose Honduras as our last opponents might have some apologies to make this morning. All well and good saying we need to play competitive sides and recreate the conditions but we were very lucky to come through without any injuries last night.
After all is said and done, this is probably my preferred starting 11 for Italy:
Hart
Johnson Jagielka Cahill Baines
Wilshere Gerrard
Sterling/OX Rooney Lallana
Sturridge
Barkley comes on for Rooney with 30 mins to go if things aren't going well. Henderson on for Wilshere if we're ahead.
Only picking Rooney because of the added experience needed to pick up Pirlo in the midfield.
Whats the bets we just let Pirlo run the midfield again, rather than doing what England (maybe English) are good at, and doing a Honduras, giving him a clump early doors to let him know that he aint gonna have any time on the ball.
Against Italy in the extreme heat, we should not be playing players like Sterling who's game is about sprinting. That will be easy to defend against as he will tire, that should be bought on near the end to try and nick a goal.
We should be playing players who are comfortable on the ball and who can ensure we do not concede. I would go with 4-5-1 and flood the midfield to stop Pirlo, Verratti and Marchisio running the show.
Hart
Johnson Cahill Jagielka Baines
Milner Henderson Gerrard Wilshere Lallana
Sturridge
We are not good enough to pick our best players. We need to pick a team who are capable of getting a result. We need to be clever with tactics and not pick our best individuals.
Comments
We are hard to beat though and can force draws - just a shame we are so shit at penalties.
If the game has been like the last half hr then it must've been a shocker
We've looked better without Gerrard and Rooney, will that cause Roy to drop them? Very unlikely.
The main aims tonight were always to keep fit, stay injury-free and acclimatise to the weather. Job done. Look at other teams in their friendlies, no one is taking them seriously.
Completely agree with both of you. Honduras were filthy, glad we've come out injury free.
1) The right side of the defense is a huge weakness.
2) As was already known, we lack the guile to create lots of guilt edged chances
3) Our strikers need too many chances to score.
4) Our most dynamic players lack experience.
5) Practice, practice, practice penalties.
Sturridge had bottle of water thrown at him from England crowd ?
Hart
Johnson Jagielka Cahill Baines
Wilshere Gerrard
Sterling/OX Rooney Lallana
Sturridge
Barkley comes on for Rooney with 30 mins to go if things aren't going well. Henderson on for Wilshere if we're ahead.
Only picking Rooney because of the added experience needed to pick up Pirlo in the midfield.
We should be playing players who are comfortable on the ball and who can ensure we do not concede. I would go with 4-5-1 and flood the midfield to stop Pirlo, Verratti and Marchisio running the show.
Hart
Johnson
Cahill
Jagielka
Baines
Milner
Henderson
Gerrard
Wilshere
Lallana
Sturridge
We are not good enough to pick our best players. We need to pick a team who are capable of getting a result. We need to be clever with tactics and not pick our best individuals.