England v Ireland

[ozzie]

hodgson thinks england played very well yesterday,give me 6 pints of what ever he was drinking,:angry:,coz i had 6 pints of very strong german beer and i saw something very different:thumbdown:.like most germans,still dont understand this" lovein" with rooney!! he is so over rated...just to keep you happy,if england dont need a playoff (we may just go straight out), then the germans want to play-beat us at wembley...

 

[ozzie]

forgot to say, in november ( playoff date)

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Hodgson no better than the previous incumbents. Only picks players from the top teams. When did Rooney last play well for England? Wellbeck scored one goal last season. Oxlade had a forgettable season. Only when a manager comes in and picks players on merit will England improve. Same depressing names every squad-carrick,milner, cleverly. Doubt we will even get to the world cup and frankly who will care or miss us!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Hodgson no better than the previous incumbents. Only picks players from the top teams. When did Rooney last play well for England? Wellbeck scored one goal last season. Oxlade had a forgettable season. Only when a manager comes in and picks players on merit will England improve. Same depressing names every squad-carrick,milner, cleverly. Doubt we will even get to the world cup and frankly who will care or miss us!

Who should he have picked instead?

ps Wellback didn't play last night.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Hodgson no better than the previous incumbents. Only picks players from the top teams. When did Rooney last play well for England? Wellbeck scored one goal last season. Oxlade had a forgettable season. Only when a manager comes in and picks players on merit will England improve. Same depressing names every squad-carrick,milner, cleverly. Doubt we will even get to the world cup and frankly who will care or miss us!

I understand your point but to be fair, but who else is there to play? Wellbeck, although he didn't play last night, offers so much to the team that I can understand why he plays. Rooney needs a slap round the face, Milner needs shooting, but I do rate Carrick though.

Players that get picked on merit will be players like Osman, Holt, Lallana, players that although they are good players, will never be seen as England quality IMHO. By that I mean Rooney on his day is one of the best England have ever had, but on a consistency basis, is shocking. Would someone like Grant Holt offer us more consistency, but not as much quality? Would that work? It's a tough call for Roy IMO.

 

[Uncle Leo]

frankly who will care or miss us!

I'll care; international tournaments are great but England not being in it would leave a massive gap.

Who'll miss us? Anyone who owns a bar in Brazil.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Not saying England are much cop, but don't forget 24 teams will qualify for Euro 2016. Hell, even Scotland are hopeful of getting through to that one.

Incidentally, and I know we're going off topic here, but what plans are there to make? The hosts cities have been announced (Lille very much on my radar) but surely no dates have been confirmed?

Cities,dates and prices all confirmed already.All the cities in the South interest me plus Paris.Tickets go on sale from next year.I saw 7 matches in the French World Cup (six of them in Montpellier, which unfortunately,won't be hosting any games in Euro 2016)and plan to attend my first ever Euros in 2016.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Cities,dates and prices all confirmed already.All the cities in the South interest me plus Paris.Tickets go on sale from next year.I saw 7 matches in the French World Cup (six of them in Montpellier, which unfortunately,won't be hosting any games in Euro 2016)and plan to attend my first ever Euros in 2016.

I must be looking in the wrong place then; can't see anything about dates on that wiki page MK linked to, or on uefa.com.

Not massively bothered about seeing England - it's more about just wanting to be there for a game or two.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Sunday's game in doubt due to safety concerns at the Maracana!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22725420

 

[South Bank Hank]

Sunday's game in doubt due to safety concerns at the Maracana!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22725420

I think they should delay it by a week to be certain.*




* This comment has nothing AT ALL to do with me being in Rio the following week.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I must be looking in the wrong place then; can't see anything about dates on that wiki page MK linked to, or on uefa.com.

Not massively bothered about seeing England - it's more about just wanting to be there for a game or two.

You're quite right.The only dates available atm are from the opening match to the final ie 10thJune-10th July 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2016

Ps According to Wiki, Lille is not a host city though Lens is.

 

[Uncle Leo]

You're quite right.The only dates available atm are from the opening match to the final ie 10thJune-10th July 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2016

Ps According to Wiki, Lille is not a host city though Lens is.

Lille is according to UEFA though; I know who I'm going with http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/index.html

 

[EastStandBlue]

#BarnaBlueGetsItWrongAgainAgainAgainAgain

Back to the England squad though, and I'd say certain ingredients are there for a fairly promising future. Hart's a shoe-in between the sticks and, despite a poor season, is still a commanding and reliable 'keeper. Baines certainly looks capable of following on from Cole and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have the potential to be a very efficient pairing at the back, they just need to get game-time together at United. Wilshere's been nothing short of fantastic for Arsenal since his return, and Chalobah's one of the best English prospects I can remember coming through in that holding-midfielder position.

The problem is, probably as ever, in attack. Welbeck's hugely underrated in my opinion and is every bit the "modern forward" in the sense he's multifaceted, but he's not the natural born goalscorer that other countries have had like Inzaghi, Klose or Trezeguet. We've noone with that killer instinct, and no one coming through looks like taking that mantle so we're relying almost entirely on Rooney knocking the drink and fags on the head and buckling down to see if he can really do something with the twilight of his career.

Also, I've no idea why Stuart Pearce is still in a job. England's U17 and U19 squads play a fantastic brand of football whilst remaining supremely competitive, and have actually won competitions doing so, picking up some impressive scalps along the way. The U21 squad, however, are even blander than the seniors at times and there's little to no invention.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Lille is according to UEFA though; I know who I'm going with http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/index.html

Fair point.:blush:

 

[mrsblue]

England are an average team who always either choke or are easily beaten in tournament football.
Agree regarding Pearce,He does 2 things on the touch line which are scribbling in his notepad or scowling.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

#BarnaBlueGetsItWrongAgainAgainAgainAgain

Back to the England squad though, and I'd say certain ingredients are there for a fairly promising future. Hart's a shoe-in between the sticks and, despite a poor season, is still a commanding and reliable 'keeper. Baines certainly looks capable of following on from Cole and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have the potential to be a very efficient pairing at the back, they just need to get game-time together at United. Wilshere's been nothing short of fantastic for Arsenal since his return, and Chalobah's one of the best English prospects I can remember coming through in that holding-midfielder position.

The problem is, probably as ever, in attack. Welbeck's hugely underrated in my opinion and is every bit the "modern forward" in the sense he's multifaceted, but he's not the natural born goalscorer that other countries have had like Inzaghi, Klose or Trezeguet. We've noone with that killer instinct, and no one coming through looks like taking that mantle so we're relying almost entirely on Rooney knocking the drink and fags on the head and buckling down to see if he can really do something with the twilight of his career.

Also, I've no idea why Stuart Pearce is still in a job. England's U17 and U19 squads play a fantastic brand of football whilst remaining supremely competitive, and have actually won competitions doing so, picking up some impressive scalps along the way. The U21 squad, however, are even blander than the seniors at times and there's little to no invention.

Who?

I thought Sturridge was awful Wednesday. I know he was injured but he made wrong choice after wrong choice. Very disappointing. His performance raised Welbeck's stock no end.

How can you criticise Stuart Pearce, he scored that penalty in the penalty shoot-out (you know, not the one he missed). He's a certifiable national treasure. Shame on you.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Who?

I thought Sturridge was awful Wednesday. I know he was injured but he made wrong choice after wrong choice. Very disappointing. His performance raised Welbeck's stock no end.

How can you criticise Stuart Pearce, he scored that penalty in the penalty shoot-out (you know, not the one he missed). He's a certifiable national treasure. Shame on you.

Nathaniel Chalobah. 18-years old, centre-half-turned-central-midfielder who's at Chelsea, but has been on loan at Watford this past season. Captained pretty much every age group he's played for (Chelsea and England). Supremely talented footballer, perhaps similar to Rio Ferdinand in the sense that he's remarkably calm, composed and agile on the ball for a centre-half, and was shunted into midfield for that reason. Scorer of this scorcher:

[video=youtube;r4gJaS_jHpM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4gJaS_jHpM[/video]

And I don't get the fuss about Sturridge. I think he's technically ok, but his decision making is woeful for someone who purports to be a clinical striker. If Welbeck could somehow learn to be as greedy as Sturridge, we might be onto something.

 

[dloman]

To be fair Sturridge did set up the goal the other night. I do think all our forward players seem more suited to playing behind a front man or cutting in from wide positions, Wellbeck, Sturridge, Walcott and Zaha all seem better from this area and they all have pace to burn. Rooney isn't included in this as in all honesty he appears to have lost half a yard of pace and possibly his strength which before gave him the ability to make a bit of space, at times against Ireland he was unable to beat their full backs.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Rooney's one problem is his lifestyle. It's just not conducive to elite level professional football and it's clearly ruining him. Very similar to how Ricky Hatton came unstuck against elite opposition because of how unfit he allowed himself to become in between fights, Rooney's summer diet of takeaways, booze sessions and cigarettes puts him at an immediate disadvantage when the season starts, he spends most of the season playing catch-up, then he's blowing out of his arse when the season finishes. I don't think it's any coincidence that United aren't that fussed about Rooney staying or leaving, and they're desperate to land the non-smoking, non-drinking, devoutly catholic Robert Lewandowski.

 

[MK Shrimper]

and they're desperate to land the non-smoking, non-drinking, devoutly catholic Robert Lewandowski.

Be an issue for Sunday games!