England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

Think he means Callum Wilson.

 

For someone that's comes across like he's on the ball and has superior knowledge about the team and guys there, one would think he's aware of the situation of dual nationality guys especially after losing Zaha.

 

Ah, cheers, I forgot about him

 

That's what I thought, but he isn't in the squad, and in fact he's out injured - not expected back until about October. Maybe Harold?

 

Rashford impressed again when he came on - lively, positive and always looking to come up with something.

 

we can't get so obsessed with getting players cap tied. Redmond is nowhere near going to play for someone else.

Zaha was off the scene for 4 years before he decided to go elsewhere.

 

Incidentally, Scotland have done us a favour by beating Slovenia. The closest team is now Slovakia, 4 points behind us.

 

It helps, but I don't think it's really needed. Win the next two and we'll be pretty much through.

 

We're playing Scotland and Malta next so that's highly unlikely (EDIT: in fact it's mathematically impossible that we'll qualify within two games). Maybe within three we'll have qualified, but it's kind of stating the obvious to say "if we don't drop any points then we'll be fine".

In any event, we're two points closer than we would otherwise have been.

 

I thought young Keane and Stones did well. Granted it's only Lithuania but, still... as the saying goes, you can only beat what's put in front of yer.

 

Not accurate though, is it. It's seven games but only two call-ups, and just one under this manager. The first five games are the Euros.

 

Do you really see Barkley competing for the role that Livermore played? He hasn't played there in years, and hardly ever.

 

Something they will later regret if we end up scraping by.

 

Got done watching the game on DVR:

- I think Rashford will be very useful as a sub for the forseeable future since he's so positive and sticks to his position.
- Alli didn't have as bad as a game as some have said, but could've been better and Lithuania deserves credit for that. They were well organized and made it difficult to break through.
- I like this Stones and Keane partnership. Didn't really commit any errors and well done by Stones to clear the ball off the line when it should've been offsides. My God that was a terrible decision ball the linesmen.
- Awesome to see Defoe score.
- Vardy again plays decent for England.
- I'm officially in favor of Walker being our #1 right-back. Incredibly athletic and picked off Lithuania a handful of times too.

Really I'm just glad we won and in the past I'd be concerned if we beat a side like Lithuania 2-0, but at this point in time we need W's and it doesn't matter much how we get them, though I prefer it this way by dominating possession.

 

Wales is in third place in their group and have to play Serbia in Belgrade for their next match.

Ireland are on track to qualify as they have 11 points and in second place behind Serbia.

With Scotland beating Slovenia it helps us out, but they really needed a win like that to boost their morale. That game in June has now gotten extra juicy. It'll be important to win because Slovakia and Slovenia will probably win both of their games, which also means Scotland may well go for the win.

 

I thought we did play pretty well against Germany in the 3-5-2, which is the relevant game if we're talking about playing Barkley instead of Livermore. To be clear, I agree that Livermore isn't the answer alongside Dier, but I really can't see that that position is suited to Barkley either. The two CMs in that formation have to provide something of a solid base, as the wing-backs are joining the front three in a five-man attack. Wilshere could do it, I'm sure. Maybe Lallana could, if we were willing to do without him further forward. In due course, I'd like to think that Winks or Hughes could too, and possible others. But Barkley? He's not the most combative, and he's struggled in deeper roles previously because he doesn't always seem to know which risks are worth taking. I'm not aware that he's demonstrated any progress on that front, so much as being moved far enough forward that it doesn't matter.

That isn't to say that I don't want to see Barkley play - I do, but I think he's in competition for the two or three spots supporting the front man, along with Sterling, Lallana, Dele, and maybe Rashford. Those aren't players lacking technical skills, less still bad players. Perhaps he should have been brought on for Dele tonight, but it's such a small criticism in a game that we won comfortably that I don't really think it needs to be made.

 

100% agree. 1/ Alli had a very poor game 2/ Barkley could easily play the deep role for England IMO, I remember him vs France he had a very good game and played quite deep with Alli and Dier in a midfield 3.

 

I thought almost everyone on here wanted to see Dele as a No. 10 or am I wrong?

 

Just realised that we've played Scotland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Malta and Lithuania and scored eight goals. That's a depression stat... On the upside we haven't conceded and the only team not to after today.