As our season is coming to a disappointing end I am trying to focus all of my football enthusiasm now onto England and Euro 2016 as frankly the state of Charlton makes me rather depressed.
I know there are a few threads floating about re the Euros but mainly on tickets or the striker debate, so thought I would create a thread about the actual squad and our general chances for the tournament as I am meant to be revising for my Uni exams.
Roy Hodgson announces his squad in just under a week, 11th May and I am curious as to who people would select as there are definitely still a lot of players who divide opinion, whether that be due to fitness or just their quality.
This is my 23 man squad and then ideal line up for our first qualifier match against Russia, which i was fortunate enough to get a ticket for :-).
GK: Joe Hart, Fraser Forster, Ben Foster,
DEF: Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Nathaniel Clyne, Ryan Bertrand, John Stones, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling,
MID: Ross Barkley, Dele Ali, Jack Wilshere, Eric Dier, Raheem Sterling, Wayne Rooney (c), Adam Lallana, James Milner, Danny Drinkwater
STR: Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane
The only spot that I realistically think is up for grabs is Drinkwater's and that will depend on the fitness of Jordan Henderson as he is currently out with an injury and looks very doubtful.
I have tried to be realistic with the squad as although I understand the argument against Wilshere I just think he is too good to leave out, whether he has played this season or not and to be honest there is hardly an abundance of centre midfielders around at the moment, the only fit player in with a shout is Mark Noble and after Roy compared him to Grant Holt a few months back I would put money on him not being in his plans. As for Rooney, he's captain so there is just no way he will be staying at home, past it or not.
Starting XIAs for the line up in the first game against Russia I would play a Diamond formation
---------------------------------Hart----------------------------
---------Clyne-----------Cahill---------Smalling---------Rose------
--------------------------------Dier-----------------------------
------------------------Rooney--------Wilshere--------------------
--------------------------------Ali-------------------------------
---------------------------Kane-------Vardy----------------------
I genuinely think we have a good chance of doing well in this tournament. I make our group the third 'easiest' out of the 6, after group A and F. Also the format of the tournament means that as we are in group B, if we end up winning it, which we should, we play one of the best 3rd place teams from either group A or group D. Here is a link to the groups
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2016/standings/. So we could have a nice tie with Romania/Albania or possibly a more difficult one with Turkey or Czech Republic for example. Either way they are matches we should be winning if we want to do well!
Note also that if we end up finishing 2nd in our group, because of so many teams advancing to the last 16, we play another team that finishes 2nd. Which would be against a team from group f, wouldn't mind Austria/Iceland in the ro16 tbh.
With the seasons that some of the spurs players have had as well as Vardy I think we have a good chance if we go for it and players like Dele Ali and Kane do what they have been all year. We also have potential match winners like Sturridge and Welbeck (not quite Sturridges' level but always seems to fire for England) on the bench. Anyway international tournaments aren't as fun unless you get hyped up about England beforehand however bad our team is, I almost love being let down by them!
Sorry if I sound like a right Z in this post but its been more fun than doing an essay.
Comments
There's no way Wilshere deserves a place, barely back from injury at the expense of Noble, but manager's have their favourites...
Hope Rooney goes, and I'm sure he will. Seems to have become fashionable recently to slag him off - possibly the most extreme example ever of our wonderful media building a player up at the start of his career and then spending the rest of it knocking him down. Anyway, he contributes a lot more than goals and I don't see anyone else in the squad at the moment who has the aura of a captain.
If it was up to me, I'd take Andros Townsend and Andy Carroll in place of Lallana and Sturridge. Being a fan of pace, I would probably also find a space for the inconsistent and thoroughly unreliable Theo Walcott - an excellent option off the bench despite his many shortcomings.
It's a good squad, there are 18 or 19 good outfield players in there. The problems as I see it, are as follows:
1) How and where will Roy try to shove the talismen into the side--particularly Sterling and Rooney, and will he drop them if they are not on form or if they are not part of the best 11 (regardless of their ability as individuals)?
2) After a long season, how knackered are the players? It's a young squad, which will hopefully help, but the Premier League, plus European commitments for many, make it an incredibly taxing season.
Ever is it thus.
My XI against Russia
..........Hart
Clyne.....Cahill....Smalling.....Rose
..........Dier........Wilshere
..................Alli
Sterling.........Kane......Welbz/Vardy
In many situations Wellbeck is nowhere near the player Vardy is at the moment, but as a left forward whose job it is to get up and back, win headers, press, and get in behind he's shown he's excellent. For all of his shortcomings, he understands the game and follows directions very well, which is why he's arguably (very arguably) been more successful than Sturrdige, who has about 10 times the ability. In my humble opinion, Sturridge is the most talented player in the squad, though not the most effective.
In addition to a strong first XI, you could have Vardy/Wellbeck, Sturridge, Barkley (who I don't rate as highly as some), Adam Lallana (who I rate more highly than many, especially as an impact sub), Wayne Rooney, and Danny Drinkwater (to start attacks) to come off the bench and change the game. Again, it's a good squad, it's just about getting balance right.
But let's be honest, Rooney is going to start isn't he? And as such, various players are going to be shoehorned into other positions to accommodate (namely Delli Alli).
As for the Wilshere doubters should be remembered that he won a string of MOTM's for England during qualifying and friendlies all be it against not so good teams. Also his 2 goals against Slovenia are worth a watch if you haven't seen them, pure class.
Good point in the goals, though unfortunately those still seem to be the exception to the rule. If he is to make the next step up in his career I think he needs to contribute more goals and/or assists.
That said, and what I think is so important for him, is that he's never really played with a natural defensive midfielder alongside him and a creative midfielder in front of him for England. He and Henderson seem to have had a bit of the "one holds, one goes," which never quite worked because both want to be that box-to-box midfielder and take up similar positions. The thought of him lurking behind Alli, Wellbeck, Kane, Sterling when pressing, looking to break up play/intercept the ball and start counter attacks is very enticing.
I personally think our midfield is very good, lots of pace & youthful talent. The defence is the concern.
Honestly think we could get to the semi finals & that would be a successful tournament in my opinion. Of course, we could just as easily get knocked out in the group stages!
Walker Smalling Cahill Rose
Dier Drinkwater
Rooney or Alli
Vardy Kane Welbeck
My starting line up.
Alli would have been a sure thing for me until Rooney had a brilliant game in that postion for United in the FA Cup Semi, showed he can still produce the magic.
The other question I had was Walker or Clyne, I went with Walker as I think he is a better player but having watched the last few Spurs games I do worry he could cost us by getting himself sent off doing something stupid in an important game.
Dont think anyone has to worry about the Spurs lads, they can look after themselves.
Going to England vs Russia, very excited. Surely we have to at least make the quarters...
Clyne Smalling Cahill Rose
Wilshere Dier
Sterling Alli Welbeck
Kane
Vardy coming off the bench
No thanks to Milner, got lots of assists recently but slows it down too much which doesn't suit the style of play I think we'd be best at. No Rooney in the starting 11 for me either for the same reason.
Going to Russia and Slovakia games, buzzing for it.
Heard a good point about why we shouldn't play Vardy on the wing. When he plays up top for Leicester his drifting onto the wings makes the centre backs not sure what to do cos they should be marking him, so they don't know whether to follow him or stay creating gaps which others can run into. If he goes to the wing it means the wingers can drift inside and take that space. If we start him on the wing they won't have that problem and will just leave him to the full backs.
Full squad:
GK - Hart, Forster, Foster
Defenders - Clyne, Smalling, Stones, Cahill, Jagielka, Rose, Bertrand
Midfielders - Dier, Alli, Wilshere, Lallana, Drinkwater, Sterling, Barkley
Forwards - Rooney, Kane, Vardy, Welbeck, Sturridge
------------Hart
Walker - Smalling - Cahill - Rose
------Dier ----- Drinkwater
Vardy ----- Alli ------ Welbeck
--------- Kane ----------
Alli sits quite deep allowing for a midfield 3 with Welbeck and Vardy playing as almost strikers up front with Kane.
Sterling hasn't played enough for me this season and looks like he's regressed. Wilshere is a good option off the bench for any of the 3 CM places. I'd leave out Walcott as he's been rubbish all season and doesn't deserve to go based on that.
Get your half day leave requests in.