Wayne Rooney is 8 months younger than Cristiano Ronaldo. He's been subbed off huffing and puffing before 60 mins in Everton's last two games. Ronaldo on the other hand... pic.twitter.com/v8r6n2lBfd— Paddy Power (@paddypower) April 7, 2018 thank god we dont have to carry rooney this world cup..
I honestly can’t believe how people blindly defended him so long He was shit for England every time it mattered after 04 regardless of his all time record, 99% of those goals in qualifying Less pressure now, I’m glad we are passed the ‘golden generation’ as we may have some chance with less expectation
Completely agree with this. The younger players were way too deferential to him as well. That playing in midfield thing in the Euros - WTF was that all about?
I was surprised at the start of the season how many people (and not just Everton fans) thought Rooney was a cracking signing and Everton could expect to have a very good season.
I'm wondering if anyone has ever told Sterling to get over the ********ing ball when the goal is gaping.
Well, I did screaming at the TV tonight!! Actually thought he had a pretty good game tbf, especially the first half but his finishing really needs some work. Having said that, I don't blame him for the loss, we were still 2-0 up when our defense went awol which I'm more pissed about and no one can blame John Stones tonight.
Surely Stones is better than Otamendi who seems to fall to pieces every time he is actually attacked.
4-0 would have been much better. I've long had the view that if you ******** up such clear cut chances, when the tide turns you will regret it.
Just making it to the quarterfinals with Southgate at the helm, will be a huge accomplishment. Still very worried about his lack of tactics and fielding the right squad for the opponents.
Well yeah course 4-0 would have been better but even so at 2-0, I would have thought our defense good enough to defend the lead. It wasn't as if our goal was being peppered by Utd. Can't really remember Ederson having a save to make other than pick the ball out of his net three times.
I wouldn't view it as a "huge accomplishment" but it might keep Southgate's critics at bay for a while. I never like it when the pundits say it will be a good achievement, as it feels as if they are creating a ceiling to what might be achieved given a bit of luck and sparky commitment.
Kyle Walker doesn't think we can win the World Cup without a miracle. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/18/winning-world-cup-miracle-kyle-walker-england
I think we'll do a better job of defending as a team simply because Rooney won't be in. He was always light at defending and was terrible at pressing.
Elsewhere in today’s news .. Fabio Capello might want to skip this story. 😂🙈 pic.twitter.com/oGY3gjfEoe— The Offside Rule (@OffsideRulePod) May 10, 2018 sums up Capello's world cup camp and how low morale wrecked the whole cup.
Squad gonna be named next wednesday. I just hope we dont see some stupid standby list and just call up individuals if someone pulls out. Standby lists have caused a load of bust-ups in the past ,with some players not wanting to be on the list after being snubbed.
All of the reports are suggesting that a standby list will be named at the same time as the 23-man squad. Have been for months.
I’m not entirely sure why we aren’t picking 30 options on Wednesday and then cutting later. Our standby options should primarily be young options that can use the call as a boost to break into the squad next season. If say he picks someone like Smalling on standby after the way he’s treated him I wouldn’t be surprised to see Smalling retire.
Southgate said something about it wanted to be a preparation for the tournament using the friendlies rather than a competition for places and feeling obligated to use them all in the friendlies.
Yeah but that's not actually the same as the standby list that's been mooted in reports. Southgate has to submit a 35-man list on Monday, as you say, which apparently won't be published. A few days later, Southgate is going to name the squad itself and apparently also a standby list, which will necessarily be drawn from the remainder of the 35 but presumably won't include all 12 players. Then the squad + standbys will go off to a training camp together.
But this is a guy that has always not been fussed about giving players chances from his squad. Even when we had qualified for the WC he only made two very late changes against Lithuania. He's never felt obligated to give an option a chance just because he's there. He's obviously decided on his options which is fair enough but 1.) I would be surprised if we don't have at least one pull out after he's picked this squad. 2.) We can't really have an intense build up after a long season anyway. So I don't really buy the reasoning for not just taking 30 players and delaying the squad confirmation for a while.