Ronaldo is out of the game tonight which for Roy is a bit of a bitch as the whole point of playing Portugal was because they are like Wales who also can rely heavily on 1player.
Ronaldo is out of the game tonight which for Roy is a bit of a bitch as the whole point of playing Portugal was because they are like Wales who also can rely heavily on 1player.
Its a shame but its one thing I like about Roy... We're not always about the big Friendlies these days, instead he always tries to find an opposition to play because of a purpose, like Portugal because of Bale.
I always thought until he mentioned it yesterday that we were playing Portugal because it was a big match
Algarveaddick, May 28th, England v Australia thread: "I doubt Ronaldo will feature on Thursday - as a one man team they need to wrap him in cotton wool until the finals".
Not that I am against the England manager, but I guessed it, why didn't Roy?
(I know - even a stopped clock is right twice a day...)
Can't believe that Henderson and Sturridge are going ahead of Drinkwater. Insane. I understand Wilshere going because he offers something that no other English midfielder does but Henderson is just coming back from injury and has had an inferior season doing a very similar job to Drinkwater. Add to that Drinkwater's excellent understanding with Vardy who is currently our best attacking threat and it's just Roy's Liverpool obsession coming forward again. Sturridge has been a sulky, unfit waste all season and he's probably hardly going to feature. Did we really need five strikers?
Drinkwater's 'excellent understanding' with Vardy is mostly ''Jamie, get up there, I will pass it to Mahrez and he will give you the service.'' Sturridge on the other hand is a natural goalscorer, even when not totally fit, and a striker besides so dropping him for A.N. Other midfielder would have left us pretty light up front - we probably DO need five strikers, going with four is a real gamble that none of them get injured or suspended to me.
Honestly, if anyone SHOULD have been dropped for Drinkwater it should be Henderson, who has nothing that Drinkwater doesn't except a bigger price tag. But I really don't think Drinkwater is all that much better. He functioned very well as a cog in the Leicester machine and that does him credit. But put the same cog in a totally different machine and you won't get the same results. England don't play like Leicester did. England don't have the same players he built up an understanding with. Take that away from his game and he's pretty average, frankly.
That's an incredibly short-sighted assessment of Drinkwater. I do find it extremely amusing that as soon as we've got a few weeks away from the Premier League season people have started reverting to their pre-title notions of Leicester. People were saying they couldn't maintain the title charge in January because they just didn't have the players, then they did it and people couldn't get enough of Drinkwater and Vardy, and now they're average players reliant on Mahrez or Kante or luck. Drinkwater is just a water-carrier, Vardy is just an impact sub. Never mind that they blew through international goalkeepers, defences and midfields in the Premier League this season.
Drinkwater is a defensive midfielder who brings pace to everything he does. When he wins the ball back in a dangerous area he moves it on to a better placed player and he does it incredibly quickly. When that player takes the ball Drinkwater makes sure he goes with the attack as far as he needs to in support. He's always there as an outball if the team need to rebuild. When he wins the ball further up the pitch he looks for a quick, accurate pass up to the wingers or the strikers which catches teams in transition and means his team get in behind before they can regroup and crowd the attack out. Roy likes us to be a speedy counter-attacking team, which doesn't work with our current line-up because Milner and Henderson are ponderous in the transition. We have electric pace in attack with Vardy, Kane and Sterling, and Drinkwater would have helped us get service up to them quickly, rather than the slow build-up we've seen in the friendlies that negates all that speed. I really don't think Roy knows what he wants to do with this squad still so he played it safe with players he trusts, but it's a mistake.
Ronaldo is out of the game tonight which for Roy is a bit of a bitch as the whole point of playing Portugal was because they are like Wales who also can rely heavily on 1player.
I imagine that's more down to him playing in the CL final than an attempt to wrap him up in cotton wool.
Let's look at history. 1) fans have some guarded optimism coming off latest big tournament flop swearing we have some players developing into stars (sterling/Barkley going into the last World Cup, Kane/vardy this time) 2) optimism hits a high as we qualify against weak opposition and player x is going to be the next star 3) we perform poorly in the tournament and the "future stars" prove they are rather pedestrian on the big stage 4) we realize that our youth development system is poor and we are nowhere near as good as we think we are or the Fifa world rankings. Rinse repeat. Let's be honest here. Is this year any different?
Hodgson is a manager whose priority is safety first and setting up not to lose games - England to limp out of the group stage before being eliminated in the first knockout round
Can I just be the first to say.... Told you so. Predictable as fuck
Rose and Kane are big losses alongside experience of Henderson and Rooney.
After our famous win in Berlin last season I don't have any expectations for Germany next week, bar hoping the atmosphere will be amazing in one of the greatest stadiums in modern football, drinking loads of German beer.
Need players like Walker, Sterling, Lallana and Dele to step up and show their experiences. Hopefully an easy win against Lithuania.
For some reason i have a strong dislike of Lingard. Take your pick from the fact he plays for United, that he's not actually very good and shouldn't be anywhere near the England team, and most importantly the dabbing nonsense. He did stop Palace winning the cup though... Nope still dislike him
Lingard/ Livermore/ Ox - all ahead of Walcott, in the past i can see Theo has been inconsistent but he has had his best season and watching him play has alot more to his game these days (pressuring opposition and tracking back)
The old adage of who you play for counting for more than how you play is still prevalent unfortunately, Rashford and Lingard in particular haven't pulled up many trees for United this season
Harry Winks after a good performance against League 1 Milwall has been dubbed the new Modric - talk about a lot of pressure. This expectation lumped onto young English talent is a small part of the reason that we haven't had a true world class player in many years.
Cannot stress enough that this is a friendly 15 months out from a major tournament. If now isn't the time to give a run-out to players in their early-mid 20s, then when is?
Also, who is fit and streets ahead of Lingard? I'm not the biggest fan of Lingard but I don't think that Theo Walcott is the long term answer to anything beyond "impact sub." He looked very poor against Bayern, and time and again at international level we've seen that when he doesn't have space in behind a defense, he's not effective.
To be fair, in the wide forward position I think Sterling, Lallana, Antonio, Vardy, and possibly Redmond are ahead of Lingard. But this is where England is, beyond maybe 18-20 players there is a dip in quality.
Lingard scored the winner in Cup Final against Palace last year, and as such should be carried shoulder high onto the pitch before starting every England game for the rest of his career.
Id probably even go as far as saying Junior Stanislas would deserve to be in the England Squad over Lingard, if he wasn't injured since end of Jan. 4 goals & 6 assists in the Prem this season. But he plays for Bournemouth so he's got no chance.
One of the poorest England squads i've ever seen, although we'll obviously beat Lithuania.
Then you look at the French squad announced today and they've got the likes of Kante, Griezmann, Pogba, Dembele, plus Mbappe and 3 of his Monaco team mates all aged 25 or under.
One of the poorest England squads i've ever seen, although we'll obviously beat Lithuania.
Then you look at the French squad announced today and they've got the likes of Kante, Griezmann, Pogba, Dembele, plus Mbappe and 3 of his Monaco team mates all aged 25 or under.
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Been saying this for years yet reckon its John Stones' turn this year to face the backlash
I always thought until he mentioned it yesterday that we were playing Portugal because it was a big match
Not that I am against the England manager, but I guessed it, why didn't Roy?
(I know - even a stopped clock is right twice a day...)
Drinkwater is a defensive midfielder who brings pace to everything he does. When he wins the ball back in a dangerous area he moves it on to a better placed player and he does it incredibly quickly. When that player takes the ball Drinkwater makes sure he goes with the attack as far as he needs to in support. He's always there as an outball if the team need to rebuild. When he wins the ball further up the pitch he looks for a quick, accurate pass up to the wingers or the strikers which catches teams in transition and means his team get in behind before they can regroup and crowd the attack out. Roy likes us to be a speedy counter-attacking team, which doesn't work with our current line-up because Milner and Henderson are ponderous in the transition. We have electric pace in attack with Vardy, Kane and Sterling, and Drinkwater would have helped us get service up to them quickly, rather than the slow build-up we've seen in the friendlies that negates all that speed. I really don't think Roy knows what he wants to do with this squad still so he played it safe with players he trusts, but it's a mistake.
So he's got the ability to be in the right place and the right time
Rashford hardly plays it seems (he did last night I know) and Vardy has just started to get better as with the rest of the Leicester team.
Kane is injured of course which maybe shows how we might be relying on him for the future up front...
Seem to have lots of options in defence and midfield though.
Probably win next week as per last year and the media will be in the happy camp.
After our famous win in Berlin last season I don't have any expectations for Germany next week, bar hoping the atmosphere will be amazing in one of the greatest stadiums in modern football, drinking loads of German beer.
Need players like Walker, Sterling, Lallana and Dele to step up and show their experiences. Hopefully an easy win against Lithuania.
He did stop Palace winning the cup though... Nope still dislike him
Looks one of the worse squads in a while on paper
Also, who is fit and streets ahead of Lingard? I'm not the biggest fan of Lingard but I don't think that Theo Walcott is the long term answer to anything beyond "impact sub." He looked very poor against Bayern, and time and again at international level we've seen that when he doesn't have space in behind a defense, he's not effective.
To be fair, in the wide forward position I think Sterling, Lallana, Antonio, Vardy, and possibly Redmond are ahead of Lingard. But this is where England is, beyond maybe 18-20 players there is a dip in quality.
Then you look at the French squad announced today and they've got the likes of Kante, Griezmann, Pogba, Dembele, plus Mbappe and 3 of his Monaco team mates all aged 25 or under.