I was always critical of Lallana playing because he doesn't score enough goals. Now he looks like he is improving that side of his game, he doesn't play!
He's injured at the moment, otherwise he'd be in the team
You're right that we have some decent attacking options, but the problem is they seem to freeze when they play their country in a major tournament. Kane has been brilliant for Spurs for 2 years, then turned up at the Euro's and played like a bloke who'd won a competition to be there. Same with Alli, great week in week out for Spurs, but what did he do in France? Sterling is looking like a world beater under Pep at City, but will he produce it for England? I think we probably know the answer.
The best option in my opinion would probably be a 4231 with Henderson and Dier as the holding 2, then a 3 of Lallana, Alli and Sterling behind Kane or maybe Sturridge (if he can remain fit for longer than 2 weeks).
I thought Alli looked alright in stretches, he just doesn't get the space at international level that he gets in the Premier League, especially when he was to start in one of a midfield three to accommodate you-know-who. He also looked knackered and it's worth remembering he's 21. Kane is 22 I think, and yes, he did look awful. Sterling looked like the pantomime villain people had turned him in to because he had the audacity to leave Liverpool. I do think there is a public/press complex that adds a lot of silly weight to the players. I don't think that's the only reason obviously, but it definitely doesn't help.
Also worth noting that when you look at the England team against Iceland, outside of Joe Hart and Wayne Rooney, the only players with tournament experience coming in to the Euros were: Cahill (2 matches), Smalling (1), Sterling (2 or 3), Sturridge (2). That's off the top of my head so sorry if I missed anyone. But yeah, that's also a really inexperienced squad and that definitely plays a part.
It is often about balance. But there is always one tactic and that is desperation. Hodgson played it in the second half against Wales to good effect, butfor some reason managers have a built in cautious default which they can't break out of. We certainly wouldn't have done worse if we had rolled the die for subsequent games!
You're right that we have some decent attacking options, but the problem is they seem to freeze when they play their country in a major tournament. Kane has been brilliant for Spurs for 2 years, then turned up at the Euro's and played like a bloke who'd won a competition to be there. Same with Alli, great week in week out for Spurs, but what did he do in France? Sterling is looking like a world beater under Pep at City, but will he produce it for England? I think we probably know the answer.
The best option in my opinion would probably be a 4231 with Henderson and Dier as the holding 2, then a 3 of Lallana, Alli and Sterling behind Kane or maybe Sturridge (if he can remain fit for longer than 2 weeks).
I thought Alli looked alright in stretches, he just doesn't get the space at international level that he gets in the Premier League, especially when he was to start in one of a midfield three to accommodate you-know-who. He also looked knackered and it's worth remembering he's 21. Kane is 22 I think, and yes, he did look awful. Sterling looked like the pantomime villain people had turned him in to because he had the audacity to leave Liverpool. I do think there is a public/press complex that adds a lot of silly weight to the players. I don't think that's the only reason obviously, but it definitely doesn't help.
Also worth noting that when you look at the England team against Iceland, outside of Joe Hart and Wayne Rooney, the only players with tournament experience coming in to the Euros were: Cahill (2 matches), Smalling (1), Sterling (2 or 3), Sturridge (2). That's off the top of my head so sorry if I missed anyone. But yeah, that's also a really inexperienced squad and that definitely plays a part.
Whilst i agree with some of your points that a lot of our players are young and have time ahead of them, i can't agree with the tournament experience point. How much tournament experience did Iceland have? Or Wales?
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Also worth noting that when you look at the England team against Iceland, outside of Joe Hart and Wayne Rooney, the only players with tournament experience coming in to the Euros were: Cahill (2 matches), Smalling (1), Sterling (2 or 3), Sturridge (2). That's off the top of my head so sorry if I missed anyone. But yeah, that's also a really inexperienced squad and that definitely plays a part.