Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I'm much more looking forward to seeing how the Welsh get on. I think Bale could really light up the tournament. However, being English I'm going to be optimistic as we normally are when tournaments come around and say we'll make it as far as the semis. I've got a semi on just thinking about that.


And another thing - James Milner has 60 caps. That's more than Jimmy Greaves, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Hudson and Gazza. He's a very good player but that can't be right can it?

That's the point. Maybe you should give it a go AM.


Otta. If either Irish team gets out of the group it would be a surprise but maybe NI are underrated after a long unbeaten run and could squeeze into the knockout stages.


England. I just can't get optimistic. I didn't think it was a good managerial appointment and found England difficult to watch against Portugal. They seem to have no real drive.

They do however have very good strikers and the goals could come given a chance.

Have we compared preferred starting XIs for the first games?


Mine for England, with rationale.


The defence more or less picks itself with right back the only exception.


Hart


Rose

Cahill

Smalling

Walker/Clyne


Dier

Wilshere


Rooney

Alli

Barkley


Kane



Walker/Clyne is a tough call. Before the Portugal game I would've plumped for Clyne as I think he's better defensively. But there's been a fair bit of talk about setting this team up the Tottenham way (more on that to come) and Walker is better for me going forward.


I don't think we need width up front as we have two full backs who bomb forward and get on the overlap. We do need two intelligent players playing left and right (not necessarily wide left and right) that can hold the play up, pick a pass and slip the full backs in on the overlaps. Rooney (left) and Barkley (right) fit the bill perfectly for me.


Rooney HAS to start in my opinion. A lot was made about him disrupting Kane/Vardy/Alli. Possibly Alli because he played Alli left, but not Kane and Vardy. I don't think those two should play together. The Tottenham set up is one up top with Alli behind.


Rooney has played well from that attacking left midfield position before, but there are many other reasons he has to start. He's captain. He has extensive major competition experience but the most important reason for me is to keep an eye on and keep in check Alli and Wilshere. Rooney was that young player with talent to spare and a questionable temperament- Alli and Wilshere will benefit no end from having Rooney on the pitch for guidance. Also, Rooney is still a brilliant passer of the ball and still scores (7 in 10 qualifiers).


Wilshere is approaching a decent level of fitness and has to also start for me alongside Dier, with the mandate to move forward, linking defence and attack. A la Dembele at Spurs. I love the thought of Alli and Wilshere in the same team- bundles of talent and a bit of bite.


No-one is talking about Barkley, but for me, on his day he's as good as anyone in the England team and he edges that right attacking midfield spot for me ahead of Lallana (what does he do?) and Sterling (one trick pony that decent defenders know how to play against).


Sterling and Vardy as imnpact subs with pace to burn late in the game and Rashford might just become important too. Kane looks knackered to me.

I'm with you on the formation and not playing Kane and Vardy together, hopefully Roy will not try to accommodate them and Rooney, it just doesn't work, and as you say, we definitely need Rooney's experience, leadership and guile.

I think Smalling has had the best season out of the 3 centre backs, so him and either of Cahill/Stones.

I don't have a strong leaning for the full backs, Rose and Walker are more attack minded, and as we have no natural width up front their selection makes sense. But I'd go for Rose and Clyne as I thing Walker always has a mistake in him.

The only other difference I'd make is having Sterling in for Barkley, in fact I wouldn't have picked Barkley for the squad. Yes, on his day he's very good, but his form in the second half of the season has been poor. He looked over-muscled and very laboured in the friendly against Australia, needs some conditioning training. Dfensively we are suspect as a tots of exciting attacking options to come of the bench

I'm with you on the formation and not playing Kane and Vardy together, hopefully Roy will not try to accommodate them and Rooney, it just doesn't work, and as you say, we definitely need Rooney's experience, leadership and guile.

I think Smalling has had the best season out of the 3 centre backs, so him and either of Cahill/Stones.

I don't have a strong leaning for the full backs, Rose and Walker are more attack minded, and as we have no natural width up front their selection makes sense. But I'd go for Rose and Clyne as I thing Walker always has a mistake in him.

The only other difference I'd make is having Sterling in for Barkley, in fact I wouldn't have picked Barkley for the squad. Yes, on his day he's very good, but his form in the second half of the season has been poor. He looked over-muscled and very laboured in the friendly against Australia, needs some conditioning training. Defensively we are suspect as a team, but we have lots of exciting attacking options to come off the bench, so hopefully we'll see an England team that at some point in the games takes the handbrake off and just goes for it...

I think Barkley's late season form is more symptomatic of Everton's. Stones suffered because of it too (and Lukaku with Belgium in mind).


Agree with you about Walker- he's always prone to a gaff.


I just think Sterling offers little more than Andros Townsend (i don't think either of them are good enough). Both with pace, can beat a man, but bad decision making and (especially recently in Sterling's case) little end product. Both are found out when playing against a decent defence.


But, there aren't many decent options there. Perhaps Milner?

That's all a bit harsh on Saints. It's very hard to keep a player if he wants to go, likewise a manager. Koeman strikes me as a very ambitious, and probably covets the Barca job, and sees Everton as a stepping stone towards that. Don't be surprised if he does well at Goodison, for a couple of seasons, he then moves again...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Hi  I really thought I'd seen a more recent post on the forum about home education meet ups. I can't find it though. Hope some of these might provide leads. https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/137603-home-schooling-advice-anyone-wants-to-do-it-together/#comment-1092093 Very old post but group seems still to exist: https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/92044-home-education-local-group/#comment-954837 You could try contacting this forum member: https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/325368-classroom-support-for-home-education-community/#comment-1621064 Two of these left for right now: https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/events/event/1025-🌟-teens-11-try-painting-sculpture-street-art-at-holiday-workshops/
    • Thanks for your reply. I’ve subscribed to Ancestry a few times in the past but felt I wasn’t using it enough to warrant keeping up the subscription.    
    • Hi, I saw your post and just wanted to say that the incident you’re referring to did happen in the late 1980s at Dawson’s Heights. The person involved was named Carl Salawa, and he had just turned 18 years old at the time. Like you, I haven’t been able to find any news articles or official reports about it, If anyone remembers anything more about that time or incident, I’d really appreciate hearing about it. Thanks for sharing what you were told—it means a lot to know others remember.
    • Was anyone else disturbed last night/early hours this morning by the party going on in someone’s garden on Crystal Palace road. Can’t see what house exactly but it’s around number 43 - 41… it was happening quite frequently last year. Seems it’s starting again! Very inconsiderate.  
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...