England Team for next game... | Vital Football

England Team for next game...

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Vital 1st Team Regular
So alot's been said about England's performance last night....what would your starting team be on Monday?

For me i'd be tempted with:

Walker Cahill Smalling Bertrand/Rose

Dier

Rooney

Alli Wilshire

Vardy Kane

I know this could look like a narrow team with little wide players, but this is on the basis that our wing backs will be tearing forward and Dier would be acting as a 3rd CB. For this reason I think I'd prefer Bertrand who will be better coming forward than Rose. I don't think we're blessed with many wide midfield players actually so maybe it's worth playing to our strengths.

I might also be tempted to keep Sturridge over Kane as regardless of how many goals he's got this year he just doesn't look good at the moment. Sturridge can also do some good work out wide too. He crossed for Vardy's goal the other day for example. I don't get the slating of Wilshire last night. I think he's a class player and played well. he gave the ball away because we had so much possession and we were trying things against a wall of 11 players! We definitely looked to be playing on the front foot. While Rooney has played well when he started the last 2, he looked awful when he came on last night. He just ran into players and/or slowed the ball down where we had been so good at moving it forward into dangerous areas (past their midfield) fairly fast when we had Sturridge and Wilshire on.
 
Hart
Walker Cahill Smalling Rose
Dier
Lallana Alli Rooney
Vardy Sturridge

But if we play Portugal i'd play Alli beind Vardy put rooney in the middle and bring Milner or Ashford in for Sturridge
 
Hart
Walker Cahill Smalling Rose
Dier
Alli Rooney
Lallana
Sturridge Vardy

Alli and Rooney have to be restored in my opinion because Henderson and Wilshere didn't impress me. Bertrand also didn't impress me to restore Rose. I reckon I would prefer Walker over Clyne although either way wouldn't fuss me too much. I'd keep Vardy and Sturridge though because Kane and Sterling have been big disappointments
 
Depends on who we play for me as Iceland and Hungary are probably just going to sit deep and try and beat us on the counter attack! Portugal will be more attacking meaning we can get down the sides and overlap!

Hart
Walker smalling Cahill rose
Dier
Barkley Rooney alli
Sturridge vardy
 
Hart

Walker Cahill Smalling Rose

Dier

Rooney Alli

Lallana. Vardy. Sturridge

Wilshere and Sterling should be nowhere near the team.
 
Completely see the criticism for Sterling. But I just don't get the seemingly widespread criticism of Wilshire and I feel like me, Woy Hodgeson and Arsehole Whinger seem to be the only ones that are a fan of him.

If we had just put in one of the 29 shots on goal we had last night I think the story would have been massively different. Everybody would have been praising a well deserved victory. Similarly if Sturridge's goal hadn't have fortunately gone in against Wales in the 92nd minute no doubt the whole country would have been all over the players back's and Rooney in particular who we all agree had a good game because we won would have been the latest public enemy number one. I agree with the players and the manager that we looked comfortably better than them throughout the match and just couldn't score unfortunately. We had more than enough chances, as did Spain today when they were 1-0 up against Croatia.

I just don't like the way the whole team is slated because of such small individual errors which had they been different the same players would have been praised. 29 shots, yet the whole midfield was awful yesterday apparently. For me we actually played relatively well again. I really don't think we could have done much more at all other than just get one of those 29 chances in the back of the net. I fail to see that when you have 29 chances it's the midfield's fault you've not scored. It was a million times more interesting to watch than nearly any of the qualifier games IMO. we played fast football which was attacking for the majority of the game. In fact the only time we looked like we couldn't create good chances was when Wilshire and Sturridge came off - the last 15 minutes was absolutely dismal compared to the first 45.

On his day I really think he is one of the best midfielders in the prem when fit. The only criticism most people would have on him is clearly he just cannot stay fit. But he is fit at the moment, and that didn't affect his ability last night and I really think he played okay. He creates things, has the balls to take the ball in tight spaces and has the technique required at international level.
 
It's simple AK. Wilshere is a decent player when he's fully match fit. But he isn't. The other night proved that. He's had 4-5 hours football in a season. He gave the ball away constantly. Far more than Henderson who gradually grew into the game.

It's one thing that has bugged me about England over the years. The amount of time we take injured or not match fit players to tournaments. It goes back to Keegan and Brooking in 82. Keegan played 30 minutes and Brooking not at all if I remember correctly. Germany didn't take Reus for these reasons.

It's stupid and a waste of a squad place. When we could have taken Townsend and had another option from the bench.
 
I think where we differ is that I think he played well. He gave the ball away sometimes because of how much possession we had and because he was trying to create things through a wall of slovakia players which was hard to break down. That's what happens when you try to create things through the middle as wilshire does. Compare that to other teams that had to play through big defensive displays and you'll see his stats werent that bad and we care just being unduly harsh/critical of him. Your favourite Rooney was even worse when he came on and constantly gave the ball away by running in to players and when he didn't, he did is classic of holding on to the ball for far too long. Not trying an attacking pass but resorting in a slow backwards sideways pass wasting any chance of getting behind their defence giving their defence a chance to get back into position in a wall of slovakians again. He just either ran into players or completely took any attacking impetus away from the team. That's why we looked so dire when he came on. But apparently it was Wiltshire everybody wants to blame.

We created 29 chances and about 5 very good chances that on another day would have gone in. I can't see that that's a bad performance. Are you saying we would have created more/better chances if Rooney had been on instead? I just don't think we would and therefore cannot find it in me to slate the lad.
 
It's not a case of wanting to blame Wilshere. He isn't match fit. He was never going to be. 2 hours football for Arsenal and probably similar for England before the tournament. He shouldn't be there.

If you call giving the ball away 6 times consecutively playing well, amongst the other times he did it, then we do have different ideas on what consitutes playing well. Especially when our completed pass rate was something like 90% in the first half.

I don't Roy should have taken him. Fit players in form is what we should be taking. But as I've said he isn't the only England manager to have done it. I

Sven was the worst for doing it. When he took 4 strikers, 2 of whom were injured (Rooney & Owen) I never tried (Walcott) and 1 fit (Crouch).
 
You talk about pass completion as if it's some sort of holy grail of football. Of course it's a useful bench mark, but I prefer to use stats like chances created for a midfielder like wilshire. We created a good number of chances with him on the pitch. More than enough to win the game.

I wonder what was Leicester's pass completion like this year? I do know that they won the Premier league with the lowest possession rate ever. Spain went out at the Group Stages of the World cup last time. They were awful but they played their brand of tiki taka which held onto the ball but never actually endangered the opposition defence. 6 years ago in South Africa we saw an England team who had clearly been told to hold on to the ball and don't give it away. Obviously following your holy grail tactic. Unsurprisingly it was an italian manager that made the team play like this. It was some of the worst football i've seen in my life and we were awful. We created minimal chances against some awful teams over there and it was just terrible. Yeh I bet the pass completion rate was brilliant. But unfortunately we created absolutely nothing barely turned their defence at all and played dire football. I'd rather my teams had some confidence to try different things when faced against a wall of 11 players parking the bus, and didn't worry about their pass completion rate too heavily.

You've not answered my question though - you've done the politician job of avoiding it and coming up with your own statistic about pass completion. Do you think we would have made more or better chances with out him on the pitch? do you not think that 29 chances are enough to warrant more going in?

 
So we created 29 of those chances with Wilshere on the pitch? Roy clearly saw the same issue with him, hence he was the first player substituted early in the 2nd half.

It's not all about stats agreed. It is however a useful indication. If our pass completion was 90%, what was his. Around 60% I would wager. What does he give us that Rooney, Alli and Lallana haven't been? And only you seem to want to start him.

You also conveniently don't address my point about match fitness. He isn't. What did he do last season to get picked for this team? Nothing. He got picked on past reputation not form. Now that's ok if you are Messi, Ronaldo or even Gareth Bale. Ie such an outstanding player that they are worth the risk. But he isn't. He offers us nothing that other players in the squad don't.

I think you are misreading what I think about him. When fully fit he is a decent player. There is no hate for him. Admittedly I do think he's a bit of a diver. But hey there's a lot of them about.

My point is purely down to fitness. He isn't fully match fit. He did not have a great season. He's not in form. There are players who had very good seasons. Townsend in particular. Who would have been a useful option from the bench. An option we do not have in another form.
 
I'm more or less with AK on this one but, seeing as Iceland will probably pack their defence, I'd put Rooney up front and have Rashford or Sturridge up front with Vardy to come on as an impact sub.
 
I think impact subs are what we lack. You would have to assume the starting line up is probably going to reflect the first 2 games. Other than up front.
 
In our last match, we seemed incapable of breaking down Slovakia's defence. OK, we nearly scored three or four but nearly is not good enough. When it was apparent that the aerial route was not working, my feeling is that Rooney should have gone up front and used his trickery in and around the box on the floor. Sturridge and or Rashford would have reacted favourably to that.
 
My preference would be to play a 4-4-2 diamond, but Woy won't play that and his 4-3-3 has worked well in the qualifiers and group stages to the extent that we've completely dominated games. So, I'd go 4-1-2-3 against Iceland (were we playing someone with more attacking threat I'd go 4-2-1-3 with Dier and Rooney sitting). So, I'd go:

Hart

Rose
Cahill
Smelling
Walker

Dier

Rooney
Alli

Vardy
Kane
Lallana

Also, have either Clyne or Walker played at left back? I think they are our best FBs by a long way and would be great to have them operating on both sides, but only if they've done it before and have been effective, otherwise Rose has done well and Bertrand is good back up.
 
Amazingly I agree with Mr Treacle for once. Wilshire proved against Slovakia that he isn't fit or ready enough to play and shouldn't even be in France ahead of Drinkwater.
 
As an eternal pessimist I'm fighting feelings of optimism.

Agree with the Wilshire bashing wholeheartedly.

I'd definitely start with Kane. He's a confidence player, Iceland game will be a great opportunity to springboard him into the remaining games and I'm confident we'll be able to break them down on at least a few occasions. Woy MUST have learned something from the last three games, shurely?
 
Hart
Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose
Dier
Alli, Rooney
Lallana, Sturridge, Vardy

From what I have seen from Iceland in the opening two group games, Iceland will play with two solid banks of four, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Birkir Bjarnason are the two players to watch out for, England's movement and quality in the final third needs to be very quick and precise break Iceland's defence down.
 
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