England v Ecuador

[Ray78]

Barkley looks like he could be a useful option coming from the bench although he is still too raw to be used as a starter for me. Defensively there are a few worries for Hodgson even if the players were the second string. A major blow if the injury to Ox is as serious as it first looked, he was a few bright spots in the England performance.

 

[sam-caddick]

I still question whether Rooney should be a starter in this team.

Barkley looked good in moments but I think he will be a player that grows into the tournament, you have to remember he only has a few caps and most of them are from sun appearances so his knowledge of the players around him in proper games is still almost non-existent.

Wilshire wasn't great but he still is the only central midfielder who can actually carry the ball up the pitch.

My England team after watching the Peru and Ecuador games would be:

Sterling----Sturridge----Lallana
-------Wilshire--Henderson------
----------------Gerrard---------------
Baines-Jagielka-Cahill-Johnson
-------------------Hart----------------

 

[r.soleofsalford]

41 pages of England abuse.

Wish people behind keyboards would just chill and watch the footie especially over a England friendly. Loads of kids out there running there heart out deserve a lot of credit.

If you actually bothered to read all 41 pages there is some constructive criticism in there but even so would 41 pages of fanboy dross be any better?

Read from 28 and there was very little

"Lampard should be nowhere near international "

"Wilshere losing the ball going down and getting injured , nothing new there "

" Luke Shaw completely out of his depth "

" Smalling is shit "

"Wilshere is fucking shite. As usual the commentators are crap and biased to any of the media darlings"

" Wilshere ,Hardly a big loss. Not nearly as good as he thinks he is."

" Milner won't be seeing anymore game time in the WC now. One of his worst that."

" Wilshere was awful. Rooney is stealing a living. Lampard is past it. "

And so on ! Will be even worse when the World Cup starts. All forums are the same for any team.

We are a nation of negative moaners

england football team is made up of average to poor players with an average manager

sorry if the truth hurts. the only sparks came from ox and sterling.

 

[BlueHammer85]

We'll be lucky to get out of the group stage if we can't even beat Ecuador.

Italy 1-1 Luxembourg

 

[another generation]

Obligatory "England superstar ruled out of world cup" coming up...

You said it! Guardian headline: World Cup hopes hang in the balance.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/04/alex-oxlade-chamberlain-england-world-cup-hopes-injured-roy-hodgson" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... oy-hodgson</a>

 

[Blue Til Death]

I still question whether Rooney should be a starter in this team.

Barkley looked good in moments but I think he will be a player that grows into the tournament, you have to remember he only has a few caps and most of them are from sun appearances so his knowledge of the players around him in proper games is still almost non-existent.

Wilshire wasn't great but he still is the only central midfielder who can actually carry the ball up the pitch.

My England team after watching the Peru and Ecuador games would be:

Sterling----Sturridge----Lallana
-------Wilshire--Henderson------
----------------Gerrard---------------
Baines-Jagielka-Cahill-Johnson
-------------------Hart----------------

Wilshire..?? He spends more time on the floor than the grass, completely useless as demonstrated last night.. Each to their own I suppose..!

 

[dancity19]

I still question whether Rooney should be a starter in this team.

Barkley looked good in moments but I think he will be a player that grows into the tournament, you have to remember he only has a few caps and most of them are from sun appearances so his knowledge of the players around him in proper games is still almost non-existent.

Wilshire wasn't great but he still is the only central midfielder who can actually carry the ball up the pitch.

My England team after watching the Peru and Ecuador games would be:

Sterling----Sturridge----Lallana
-------Wilshire--Henderson------
----------------Gerrard---------------
Baines-Jagielka-Cahill-Johnson
-------------------Hart----------------

The Rooney one is a really difficult situation for Hodgson to be in.

Rooneys best tournament was his first one- when he played with no fear (to use an awful cliche).

He clearly crumbles under the pressure of being Englands most 'talented' player, and rarely performs well for England.

Realistically we aren't going to go that far in this tournament; I would rather see is put on exciting players, who, because of their lack of fear may actually cause some problems.

Hodgson will get a lot more respect if he goes there with the younger players and loses, rather than the standard ones.

I would start Barkley; our main threat last night came from a Barkley/Oxlade Chamberlain run. Real disappointment after his performance last night that Oxlade Chamberlain is potentially out for the world cup.

We should build a team around creating goals for Sturridge, rather than getting Rooney in there. Yes, he is our best player, but never plays well for England. It is a bit of a Tevez situation; where he was our best player, but often slowed the play down and didn't fit in with what the team was trying to do. You can afford to fit a player in who is going to do something- Rooney has that ability, but just doesn't ever seem to do it for England.

It's a catch 22- play him and lose you get the argument I have presented above. Don't play him and lose, you have left out the most talented player.

I'd imagine we will see how the first game goes. I would love to see Barkley get a good run out though- he would be great behind sturridge.

 

[levets]

This Luke Shaw would fit right in at United.

What a fucking fraud this kid is.

Takes up terrible defensive positions and so indecisive.

Making Valencia look like Ronaldo.

Not worth half the money being quoted.

An absolute disgrace he is in ahead of Ashley Cole.

100% with you on this...
And to think some bells reckon he is better than Kolarov FFS!

Limited and well over rated.

 

[supercity88]

We'll be lucky to get out of the group stage if we can't even beat Ecuador.

Italy 1-1 Luxembourg

Totally with you Mark. The shit that is posted on this forum that with City expects 5-0 wins every game and with England doesn't seem to understand the context.

It was a totally new defence in which Shaw and Smalling struggled, Milner was played out of position and Jones actually came through pretty well. Friendlies are for experimenting. When so many different players are thrown in, all trying to impress, the performance isn't going to be consistent or to a high level. Barkley, Wilshere, Oxlade, Rooney, Lambert, Jones all showed glimpses of what they can do. You can see from results elsewhere that other teams are also having mixed performances. You don't want to play at 100% and over do it. You don't want to get injured. You want to prove yourself to the manager and also you need to acclimatise. We have a decent squad. A mix of youth and experience. If we keep the ball better we have enough pace to cause problems, particular to the likes of Italy and Uruguay who have slower, older players. Our previous World Cup teams have had a lot of poor players involved. I said before, Darius Vassell? Danny Mills? Trevor Sinclair? Kieron Dyer? Alan Smith (leeds/rags)? Phil Neville?! You could question a lot of the players who have played but they all were the best to form that squad.

Who would you replace Smalling, Jones, Lampard etc with? They will not start, they are there for backup. Smalling whilst not the best has some experience at that level. Stones looks a prospect but you need a bit more than that when covering defensively. Under Cahill/Jags leadership Smalling could just about cope. Lampard? Well he is one of the best English midfielders of all time. His league record over the past decade is incredible and having him around is only a good thing. He will end up in coaching and I am happy he is there. It is a World Cup - bollocks to playing young players to get them set for the Euro's and future - we have to play the best available which is a mix. This is the first time I can remember since the 90s, where very few people pick the same England team. What does that tell you? We have a lot of players competing for places. We are in a good place. Hodgson whilst tactically not the best in my opinion, is very good at man management and overall approach to games. I am excited for the World Cup and who knows what can happen.

 

[waspish]

I predict we won't even win a game at the World Cup but Rooney will break duck and score a goal