England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Sinner. I think he was referring to Gibson rather than Southgate, but slightly baffling either way.

 

Hang on.

Cahill is suspended for Sunday?

Why the bloody hell was he playing on Wednesday? Am I missing something?

 

Smalling is injured.

 

Ah ok, sorry I missed that, thought someone called me a pleb somewhere, lol

 

Maguire benefited massively from having 3/4 televised games in a week or so v big sides. People got a little carried away about him.

 

I'd struggle to complain about anything there. Defoe isn't ideal, but there isn't an obviously preferable option.

 

Talk that Everton are lining up a 40m swoop on Pickford and Keane. They should go straight into the starting line-up there.

 

Keane apparently interests Liverpool and Man City too, both could do with him, though I don't think City would be a good idea for him. Liverpool or Everton would be fine.

 

Here it is – your #ThreeLions teamsheet! 🦁 pic.twitter.com/0aR8F8dsxu

— England (@England) March 26, 2017

 

Rashford, Wilson maybe?

 

Clive Tyldesley is incredibly tiresome. Three minutes into the game he was already complaining that "we can pass it around at the back all we want, but we have to draw Lithuania out". Following a single pass from one centre-back to the other.

 

Wilson? I'm not sure who you mean. Rashford - sure, maybe. He hasn't scored much this season though, so I guess Defoe is the pragmatic choice.

 

Who is Wilson? You surely don't mean James Wilson right?

 

Defoe won't play next year in the WC. Rashford regardless of form, can benefit and help England. Thinking about the future, Spain, Belgium and Germany are good at integrating uncapped players with teams early. World Cups start with players we may not have necessarily have heard of but they play so well with their teammates.

 

At this rate, he might make the squad.

Ok, but Rashford has 7 caps as it is and will get more before next summer. He's pretty well integrated, and the priority in this game is to score goals against a packed defence and get the win - which Defoe is already contributing to. And I don't think it's really true that, for instance, Spain are more inclined to integrate their young players than we are. They have far fewer under-21s in the average senior squad than we do.

 

How was that not offside? That was ridiculous

 

Just a bit. Hart will probably get criticised for not "playing to the whistle", which is possibly fair, but I don't suppose that he even entertained the possibility that the ball was still in play. Bit mad.

 

I'd like to see Barkley but I'm not sure who Redmond would come on for. Sterling and Lallana have done pretty well, haven't they?

 

Before the 2nd goal I was getting a bit worried we'd get nervy and slip up in the last few mins.

 

Yeah, it's almost like we never learn from these experiences! Dead rubber game like these they should get them on.

 

baffling that Barkley didn't get a minute, 1/ bc we clearly needed creativity 2/ bc Alli was having a very poor game. Alli should not be a guaranteed starter, doesn't deserve an untouchable status even if he scores goals in the PL.