England Senior Team General Discussion Thread

There's not much movement off the ball, to be fair, and they're a decent enough side and well-drilled to close people down but, yeah... I saw that as well.

Still... at least we can be satisfied we're not France, eh?!

 

They showed a bit on the highlights show on ITV and, tbh, it did look like he was having an 'exchange' with Walker. I thought Walker was telling him to calm down and he was 'providing some feedback', (as the saying goes), but I might be wrong.

 

poor. can't see us getting out of the group stages next summer if Southgate doesn't make some radical changes. Henderson 25 % pass completion in the first 25, 70 % at half time. the pairing with Dier is a nightmare. 6 defenders + two strikers means there's no link between the lines. Let's just hope than one or two of Hughes Winks or RLC can make the team before this summer. Besides I don't think Alli should be an automatic starter, doesn't deserve it on the basis on his performances for England. Barkley and Lallana would be more effective in this role.

 

On of the most frustrating things yesterday was that almost all English attacking players were ricidulously selfish: Rashford, Ox, Alli, all of them brainlessly shot even from 30-40 yards, while a teammate was in a much better position. Especially in the 1st half.

Still think Rashford shouldn't be an automatic starter, he is too raw, but I'm afraid he will be the new Rooney who couldn't get out of the starting XI regardless his form.

 

Lallana, Sterling, Alli, Kane is really balanced and would work well. With Rashford off the bench. Would throw Welbeck into the mix too if he can have a sustained run this year. Lallana and Sterling like getting on the ball and coming deep and finding space well, leaves Alli to drift further forward and get on the shoulder of defenders. Barkley + RLC the wildcards depending on how their seasons pan out. There's loads of options there anyway, I do think we are a bit short on Lallana types, but these two games were us at our thinnest for various reasons.

I wouldn't overreact to Alli's England performances so far. He still deserves his spot in the side.

 

I agree that Rashford is still raw, but the thing I like about him is that he doesn't disappear during games, because after his mistake which led to there goal, it would have been easy for him to go missing but he didn't, but we did miss Lallana's creativity because without him in the team we are no where near as good

 

Every goal Joe Hart lets in now will be under intense scrutiny. I wouldn't blame him for the goal, but as the pundits said last night, if he is coming out he needs to be taking everything and making himself big. Good save in the second half to keep it at 2-1, but it was straight at him and it is a save you would expect him to make.

Kyle Walker has no final ball. Countless times his cross hit the first man, or are over hit and miss everyone.

Gary Cahill is awful. Well, when he played at Chelsea/England alongside John Terry he looked really good. However since Terry's retirement he appears lost. I think he needs to play alongside a strong leader, which we don't have. Much rather see Stones/Keane with Jones. He also has far too many touches on the ball before releasing it. But it appears he has become another "undroppable" because he he's played well in the past and plays for Chelsea.

Eric Dier couldn't seem to pass to a player in an England shirt. Lucky not to have been sent off for a second yellow late on.

Marcus Rashford did brilliantly. Gave away the ball for the goal, didn't shy away kept wanting the ball, set up the first, scored the second. He may still be raw, but that's a bit of what we need. How many of our "senior" players shrink under the pressure.

Overall I thought we played well, it did us good to go behind, I think before tonight the only time we were behind in qualifying was against Scotland for about 3 minutes? Nice to see a team actually attack us, and we looked good on the counter, just need to work on final decision making/final ball delivery.

 

we didnt look great last night. i just dont see it with henderson. what does he offer ? he can't tackle, doesnt score/assist. i wouldn't mind seeing someone like drink water in the team tbh. ox is the same, i wouldn't start him. id much rather see stones or keane at the back as well. i thought jones looked pretty good tbf and hes been playing well for united.

we need to start looking at teams like wales. you dont need 11 world class players. what we need to start doing is to play as a team and fight for the shirt, putting in 100% every game.

 

Harsh. He completed 57 of the 62 passes he attempted - 92%.

 

I like these four too but if Rashford continues to be our strongest attacking force as he was yesterday, I don't think it'll be a question of whether he starts but of which of the four drops out. Currently Sterling and Alli look most vulnerable to me, and I certainly don't think it should be Sterling by default.

 

Is this really true, by the way? Terry barely played last season and Cahill captained Chelsea to the title. Not to suggest that he was their best defender by any means, but you can't do that while looking "lost".

 

Cahill is a solid defender at any level in the World. If you look back at the defences that have gone deep in the Euros/World Cups of recent years, he'd easily slot into most of them. Trusted by Ancelotti, Conte + Jose and a part of multiple title winning sides for a reason.

 

I thought they were really good in the second half, they lacked a bit of quality but hopefully that should arrive with experience plus there are players like Lallana and Wilshere to come in. But off the ball in terms of movement and pressing I was quite impressed, also there was not a lot of hoofing, which used to drive me mad.

 

That's my view too. He's not world class and he can make the odd mistake, but he's by no means a bad player and he's also one of very few experienced heads that we have left. If we're going with a back four, I'd be happy with any two of him, Jones, and Keane right now.

 

we need to start looking at wales imo. players that are trained in the same clubs, the same way and often at a lower level. wales work as a team and show fight. something england dont do. we arent going to out pass a team, so i think we should just use what we have more. i.e. be physical and show fight. work on set pieces. even if we end up playing like stoke did. lets just get a system and a way of playing that suits our players and style.

 

Let's not pretend Wales are some pinnacle we have to reach just cause they won a couple of games at the right time in one tournament.

 

If we end up playing like Stoke or rather the old Stoke, think most of us on here will have a breakdown

 

All we need is another creative midfielder as we have ok forwards

Lallana is missed and hopefully rlc keeps improving. Where is jwp? He starting for Southampton still?

 

Classic American narrative.

 

Thank Gawd for the two good strikes last night, because we were unacceptably poor in so much that we attempted other than that. Players seemingly not knowing how to shoot correctly to get a bit of "kick" into their shots (I thought we had specialist kicking coaches now) - all too tame and timid. Dier looked laboured from the start. In general there seemed a lack of sharpness and clearly a shortage of "finesse". Chamberlain came in for the consistently disappointing Sterling and was very poor. I've been saying for years, like Sterling, he seems permanently distracted. I wonder if they hang out at the same parties. Best stick to alcohol. The sooner Jadon Sancho moves up to the seniors the better. Surely Hart could have done more for the conceded goal than just standing there hoping the ball hit him?

 

If we're gonna play him anywhere it has to be on the left side where can cut in on his right. Very skillful player and blessed with athleticism. IMO he does a better job than Sterling with taking on defenders, which is why he should start if in-form and fit.

 

And he scored a tidy goal that anybody would be proud of. Perfect placement.

 

I don't think Dele should automatically start. Based on his performances so far in qualifying he's been average. I wouldn't mind at all seeing Barkley start one of the last two games next month in the No. 10 role.

 

We need someone like RLC or Hughes to be the one midfielder who will join up in attacks and be the linkup in the midfield. Henderson is not as bad as what some of you are saying, but he's not the supposed linkup that Southgate thinks he is.

 

I think we'll have to wait and see whether he'll be in the Everton team first.