England vs. Belgium, Friendly: Saturday 02/06/12, 17:15 Wembley, London [R]

Hear, hear!! Nice job Barry

 

Looking at our record v Belgium there..
Won 14 out of 20 and only lost 1. Not bad ,not bad.

 

Presumably every likely starter who didn't play against Norway, along the lines of:

--------------Hart

Johnson-Cahill-Terry-Cole

No idea about midfield

--------Rooney---Defoe (Welbeck if fit to play?)

 

You still have your Rednapp kit from that squad..

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the blue kit either

 

If Lampard is definitely out, maybe Roy could try reverting back to 3-5-2, we have the full backs to do it, and Jagielka can play as sweeper.

 

Maybe something like this:

-----------------------Hart

----------Terry---Jagielka---Cahill
Johnson------------------------------Cole
----------------Parker---Gerrard

----------------------Young

----------------Defoe------Carroll

 

That's a really good midfield 3.

 

Negative.. Do you recall the last time we played that formation, without a lot of time to get comfortable with it? I do, and it wasn't pretty..

 

-----------------Mignolet------------------
Odoi-----Kompany----Vermaelen---Gillet
-----------Fellaini-------Witsel-------------
Mirallas----------Hazard----------Dembelé
------------------Benteke--------------------

If I had to make a guess today about our line-up. Biggest question marks are if Kompany will start and who will be the left-back. Gillet appears the only real candidate, but he is a winger by trade who has stated he no longer wishes to play at the fullback position. But Wilmots is out of options due to injuries.

 

Amazing that a guy like Stefan Tanghe got games for our NT back then! He wouldn't get near the squad these days, let alone get into the first eleven!

 

Dembele! the player who crocked Kyle Walker and knocked him out of the tournie .

 

Thats a back 5 with 2 slow central midfielders . very close to what we played in the disastrous trip to Zagreb in 08 .

 

Doesn't Kompany often play in defensive mid?

Some very good Belgian players at the moment.

 

Play Terry in the middle and Jagielka on the right side.

Drop Defoe and bring in the Ox - pushing Young forward slightly.

What's the latest on Welbeck?

 

Or Phil Jones in midfield to eat up the ground. Regardless of the formation, I think Jones should be considered a midfield option given the personnel available.

 

Where is Vertonghen?

 

Not for the longest of time he hasn't.

 

He might slot in for Gillet. Either of them would be playing out of position.

 

He might slot in for Gillet.

 

I popped in to ask similar - is there a current "quote" on his condition - it seems vague - he is involved in training though.

 

Better than Vermaelen surely?

I could have sworn I read that Kompany played a defensive midfield role in a recent Belgium game. Sure he could do a job there too.