England Squad

[jim5000]

To be fair, if Wilshere is fit, a midfield of Alli, Drinkwater and Wilshere, with Vardy and Kane in front of them would be pretty good. Shame ROoney has to play :-\

 

You would have two club relationships between midfield and the forwards, with both effectively topping the league this season.

[Gubbins]

I heard Wilshire has pulled out of the squad. Injured himself falling out of his chair when he saw he'd been included.

[Les-TA-Jon]

Drinkwater unsure of England place...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36310556 

 

he faces competition from fellow midfielders Fabian Delph, Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson.

 

All of which he's had a better season than...trust Roy to leave him behind then!

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Fun Fact: when England face Russia (Sat. 11 June), Jack Wilshere be the first footballer to ever be stretchered onto the pitch

[Haydos]

Noble said he's better than drinky. I feel he should have been in the squad but he's a **** for stating

this.

 

Whooooooosh

[davieG]

Why Delph, Not Drinkwater, Is In Pole Position For An England Euro 2016 Spot

Sam Tighe | May 17, 2016 | 0 Comments

 

 

The two most fiercely debated topics arising from Roy Hodgson’s England squad announcement for Euro 2016 are the fact there’s only three centre-backs, and the fact Fabian Delph is included in the 26-man party. The former is begrudgingly understandable—you’re all patently aware of the lack of quality centre-backs eligible for England—but the latter is something many fans fail to wrap their heads around.

On the face of it, the detractors have a point. Since swapping Aston Villa for Manchester City last summer Delph hasn’t played much football; he’s been haunted by injuries and could not beat a path into the first XI due to the presence of Fernando and Fernandinho. He only played three more Premier League minutes (756) this season, measured by WhoScored.com, than Kelechi Iheanacho (753), and made one more start. He managed two goals, but no assists.

The last time he played 90 minutes was January 30, against Aston Villa in the FA Cup. The closest he came to managing that again between then and the end of the season was in mid-April when he played 68 minutes against Newcastle United. This does not paint the picture of a sharp, match-fit footballer who is physically ready for a tournament. With that being the case, the same arguments applied to Jack Wilshere all season long can be readily applied to Delph.

If you took a straw poll on the street, at least 80 percent of fans would opt to take Danny Drinkwater to France over Delph if it was their decision. The Leicester City man has been in blistering form and played a key role in a title-winning side this season, influencing every game in every third and emerging as a leader in the middle. These are all things Delph’s seasonal C.V. lacks.

But it’s worth remembering Delph’s performances in an England shirt (if you can, as the last one was in November), and recalling how well he fits Hodgson’s preferred style of play. Whether the Three Lions opt for the 4-3-3 or the midfield diamond, Delph has the elastic legs, fearless dribbling and athletic ability to play a vital role for his nation. This is the reason—and make no mistake about this—Hodgson really likes him.

Don’t be sucked in by the rave reviews by fans and talkSPORT’s Stan Collymore following Drinkwater’s sole England appearance against the Netherlands in March; the official feedback was far more realistic and simple: they weren’t stunned by his performance; it wasn’t as good as it was made out to be over the radio waves or on Twitter. That mass wavering at the knees has started a domino effect, with the belief in England now not only that Drinkwater deserves to go, but that he will go, and that Delph is on the edge of the cliff with one foot dangling down.

The reality is it’s the other way around.

Hodgson likes the players he likes, and he really likes Delph. Just like he really likes Wilshere, and he really likes Danny Welbeck. He is not a man who picks solely on form—that much was established when he continually chose Andros Townsend despite not playing regularly for Tottenham Hotspur, and once again in his selection on Monday now he’s cobbled together a few games for Newcastle United.

If there’s a player heading into these pre-tournament friendlies with the most to prove, it’s Drinkwater, not Delph. Despite a poor season the former Villa man is in a surprisingly good spot, and it’s the league winner who has been given the task of proving his worth.

[fuchsntf]

Drinkwater will go, because Roy couldnt take the backlash of only taking one player

from the English PL Champions.

[whetstonefox]

With England's defence being dodgy he'd be mad not to take Drinky, Although Dier plays a similar role, Dier can also play in defence which he may need to if there is an issue with the centre halfs

And if you add his form, work rate , winning mentality and reliability be a complete fool not to take him

[biggs]

BBC Sports and some of the pundits picks for the starting 11 are shocking. Rooney but no Drinkwater??? Drinkwater currently in the top 4 selections by fans for midfield.

 

No surprise Waddle has all 5 Spurs players and no Leicester player

[st albans fox]

With England's defence being dodgy he'd be mad not to take Drinky, Although Dier plays a similar role, Dier can also play in defence which he may need to if there is an issue with the centre halfs

And if you add his form, work rate , winning mentality and reliability be a complete fool not to take him

 

but if wilshere proves his fitness over the next fortnight, roy has two players for his base of the diamond - dier and wilshere.  I imagine we will see DD get some game time over the friendlies but not in his favoured position so he can easily by left behind on the basis that he isn't up to it.

[norwichfox]

I've never had much regard for Roy, and it's a great deal less now. but this really is picking to suit the money and instructions of others rather than picking a squad capable of winning the tournament.  It's crazy picking any Tottenham players after they folded in such a feeble manner, we need players with Heart and Spirit to progress. Bitterly disappointed with this lot we'll win fcuk all. He'll already have his team sheet written out for him, just hope it's not in joined up writing otherwise he'll have to bring in a reader for 1/2 million a year.  Delph??? what's that about???

[TeamRocket]

Aint he already picked

[TJB-fox]

Obviously I want Drinkwater to go, and I'm getting a lot of flack from England fans (non supporting Leicester fans). They think it's my bias towards Leicester that makes me want him to go. Obviously I love Drinky cos of his time here, but the main reason I want him to go is because I genuinely think he is the best man for the job and I hope Roy agrees. Such a fantastic midfielder and hope we not only take him but start him too.

[ealingfox]

Why Delph, Not Drinkwater, Is In Pole Position For An England Euro 2016 Spot

Sam Tighe | May 17, 2016 | 0 Comments

The two most fiercely debated topics arising from Roy Hodgson’s England squad announcement for Euro 2016 are the fact there’s only three centre-backs, and the fact Fabian Delph is included in the 26-man party. The former is begrudgingly understandable—you’re all patently aware of the lack of quality centre-backs eligible for England—but the latter is something many fans fail to wrap their heads around.

On the face of it, the detractors have a point. Since swapping Aston Villa for Manchester City last summer Delph hasn’t played much football; he’s been haunted by injuries and could not beat a path into the first XI due to the presence of Fernando and Fernandinho. He only played three more Premier League minutes (756) this season, measured by WhoScored.com, than Kelechi Iheanacho (753), and made one more start. He managed two goals, but no assists.

The last time he played 90 minutes was January 30, against Aston Villa in the FA Cup. The closest he came to managing that again between then and the end of the season was in mid-April when he played 68 minutes against Newcastle United. This does not paint the picture of a sharp, match-fit footballer who is physically ready for a tournament. With that being the case, the same arguments applied to Jack Wilshere all season long can be readily applied to Delph.

If you took a straw poll on the street, at least 80 percent of fans would opt to take Danny Drinkwater to France over Delph if it was their decision. The Leicester City man has been in blistering form and played a key role in a title-winning side this season, influencing every game in every third and emerging as a leader in the middle. These are all things Delph’s seasonal C.V. lacks.

But it’s worth remembering Delph’s performances in an England shirt (if you can, as the last one was in November), and recalling how well he fits Hodgson’s preferred style of play. Whether the Three Lions opt for the 4-3-3 or the midfield diamond, Delph has the elastic legs, fearless dribbling and athletic ability to play a vital role for his nation. This is the reason—and make no mistake about this—Hodgson really likes him.

Don’t be sucked in by the rave reviews by fans and talkSPORT’s Stan Collymore following Drinkwater’s sole England appearance against the Netherlands in March; the official feedback was far more realistic and simple: they weren’t stunned by his performance; it wasn’t as good as it was made out to be over the radio waves or on Twitter. That mass wavering at the knees has started a domino effect, with the belief in England now not only that Drinkwater deserves to go, but that he will go, and that Delph is on the edge of the cliff with one foot dangling down.

The reality is it’s the other way around.

Hodgson likes the players he likes, and he really likes Delph. Just like he really likes Wilshere, and he really likes Danny Welbeck. He is not a man who picks solely on form—that much was established when he continually chose Andros Townsend despite not playing regularly for Tottenham Hotspur, and once again in his selection on Monday now he’s cobbled together a few games for Newcastle United.

If there’s a player heading into these pre-tournament friendlies with the most to prove, it’s Drinkwater, not Delph. Despite a poor season the former Villa man is in a surprisingly good spot, and it’s the league winner who has been given the task of proving his worth.

Just come across this on their website - the first comment nails it really.

"FootballFan says:

May 17, 2016 at 1:40 pm

And whilst we have this mentality, we will never come close to winning a tournament ever again.

In what other countries would the best players from the best team in the league have to prove more than a benchwarmer at a ‘bigger’ club? Absolutely none of them."

The fact that its even up for serious debate says a lot about the mentality of the England set-up. This isn't the same as Germany picking Schweinsteiger etc, this is Fabian fvcking Delph we're talking about. You look at the Spain squad and see call-ups for Saul Niguez, Bruno Soriano, Aritz Aduriz. Players from outside the big 2 who have been called up because they have had excellent domestic seasons and have earned it in proving their quality. Aduriz is 35 ffs.

They go into the squad at the expense of 'superstars' at global clubs like Torres, Costa, Mata, Cazorla, who have not had excellent domestic seasons. This does not happen with England unless there is little or no choice and it is part of why we will continue to fail.

[Dan]

I don't think he'll cut Drinkwater. I think Alli is about the only other English midfielder who's been nearly at his level this season.

[dylanlegend]

They should build the team around Drinky and Vardy, we are champions of England FFS. All this talk about Dier and Kane first names on the team sheet. They are bottlers!!

I do think Alli should be the first name on the team sheet though. I think a strike pairing of Rooney and Vardy would actually be better than Kane and Vardy. Kane is just a greedy motherfudger

[dylanlegend]

Hart

Walker Cahill Smalling Rose

Antonio Dier Drinkwater Alli

Vardy Rooney

[Stevosevic]

Drinkwater will only go due to injury.

[Voll Blau]

Spot on from Paul Hayward...

 

 

Only one of England’s potential Euro 2016 midfield starters spent Monday night being applauded by 240,000 revellers. Only one ran, passed and tackled from August to May with the intelligence and zeal of a Premier League title winner.

 

The champion’s medal round Danny Drinkwater’s neck will buy him no special privileges in international football, an entirely separate challenge to the one he and his odds-busting pals overcame at Leicester. But his ceaseless work alongside N’Golo Kanté ought to count for more than it probably will when Roy Hodgson trims his Euro 2016 squad from 26 to 23.

 

Hodgson has managed some unglamorous teams in his time – Neuchatel Xamax and IK Oddevold spring to mind – so to accuse him of big-club bias would make him steam. There is, though, another kind of preference working against Drinkwater. It is Hodgson’s loyalty to the players who transformed an embarrassing 2014 World Cup cameo into a flawless qualifying campaign for next month’s European Championship.

 

If you were part of the hardy band who cleared up the Brazilian debris, with 10 straight wins and 31 goals in Euro 2016 qualifying Group E, you might well feel entitled to a place in the final 23. Again and again Hodgson has referred to those who “did such a good job for us” in Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino.

 

This loyalty explains why Fabian Delph has made the provisional 26-man squad despite a season of near-invisibility at Manchester City. It also protects Raheem Sterling, whose form has fallen apart. One of the purposes of qualifying is to identify a core of players to carry through to the tournament. But time burned up in Estonia can never be an automatic pass.

 

nd by any measure Drinkwater should be in the party that leaves these shores on June 6.

 

“I’m just trying to do what I’m best at and if that doesn’t get me in then I’ll have to hold my hands up,” Drinkwater said on Monday night as most of Leicestershire appeared to descend on the city that grabbed the Premier League title away from Manchester and London. “There’s some real talent in the midfield, so if I miss out I’ll make it a target [to be included in a future England squad].”

 

The reason Drinkwater should be in the 23 is not that he has just won the Premier League. Euro 2016 is no awards ceremony. In fact you could argue that he exceeded all previous performance levels because he was in a perfectly synchronised team in which every player knew how the pattern of play operated. So when he looked up, he always knew where Jamie Vardy would run, where Marc Albrighton and Riyad Mahrez would be. Equally he knew Kanté would be tracking his every move to fill gaps and exploit counter-attacking opportunities.

 

No, the real reason Drinkwater should go is that England need his particular attributes when judged against the weakness at centre-back and the injury records of Delph, Jordan Henderson and Jack Wilshere.

 

Not in living memory have England entered an international tournament with so little strength at centre-back. John Stones’s season at Everton deteriorated from promise to ruin. Gary Cahill, a good pro, has been clinging on at Chelsea. Which leaves Chris Smalling as the only stopper you would feel reasonably confident about picking. With Phil Jagielka discarded, Hodgson says Eric Dier could be used as an emergency fourth central defender.

 

The knock-on effect of that? England would be left with three defensive midfielders who have been out for long spells (Delph, Henderson and Wilshere).

 

So with only three centre-backs, and Dier perhaps redeployed to central defence, Drinkwater, the best English screening player after Dier in a 38-game league campaign, could end up watching England in a quarter-final in a bar in Dubai when he is needed out there on the pitch.

 

Shout “James Milner” if you like, but only if you really think Milner is more deserving of a defensive midfield place than Drinkwater. Dele Alli, meanwhile, is not suitable to be England’s only screening player. His talents are best deployed further up the field.

 

Most other major countries would see Drinkwater, 26, as an ideal ‘terrier’ player to protect a weak central area. On his England debut, against Holland, he produced a man-of-the-match display. There is no mileage in casting him as the elevated journeyman who will watch helpless as international football goes on around him.

 

About the only reservation is his combative style, which produced 53 fouls, four cautions and one red card in Leicester’s league campaign.

 

 

Hodgson and his coaches, however, would surely fancy their chances of bringing those fires under control. Drinkwater should be in Chantilly not as a prize for winning the title but because England need him and could pay a price if they leave him back in Leicester.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/05/17/england-could-pay-a-heavy-price-if-roy-hodgson-leaves-danny-drin/

[foxile5]

Roy Hodgson hasn't really achieved anything with England and he never will.

 

Regardless of who goes, and I don't think that Drinkwater will purely because of his parent club, Roy will ensure we play negative, cautious football, following the same pattern we always do.

 

We will start with a shadow of a Wayne Rooney because...well, I don't really know why. The Premier League's second highest scorer, and player whose pace would terrify even the most seasoned of  center backs, will play out of position if he plays at all. The midfield will contain at least one person returning from a long term injury, with no frame of reference on how he will play, purely because 'he did alright when he played XX months ago'. One of our center backs will be injured either in the training camp before, or by the second game, leaving us the barest of bones and every sensible person in the country crying out 'WHY DID YOU ONLY TAKE THREE DEFENDERS?'. Rashford is as likely as not to go, not play a single minute but be there for the 'experience'.

 

And during the entirety of this tournament shambles that we're bound for, Roy will look the nation in its collective eye and patronise us. 'I bowt the best players available to me....I pick on merit...we were unlucky' and so on and so forth, never being man enough to admit what we supporters have known for decades, what he should actually say : 'The team isn't really picked by me, and I'm too terrified of the media to do anything too risky. Sorry, but my job pays too well for me to actually try and manage the team'.

 

For the above reasons Roy can go and **** himself.

[AKCJ]

I actually like Delph.

 

I wouldn't take Henderson over Drinkwater.

 

I'd take Wilshere because, although he's made of glass, he is our best midfielder.

[RowlattsFox]

We should be looking at utilising what has been great about us and Spurs this season and combining them.

Attacking full backs, but Dier dropping to make 3 centre backs, the industry and effectiveness of drinkwater, the attacking threat of Ali and use the strengths of Kane and vardy.

It should be Henderson and Delph that miss out for me. If Wilshere is fit he at least offers something, Henderson works hard but doesn't bring anything like what Drinkwater can.

I think the midfield diamond of Dier, Drinkwater, wilshere and Ali could work.

[Dan]

Said it a thousand times but anyone who thinks you're getting the best from Wilshere in a tournament where you'll play twice a week (assuming we go through) after a year of barely kicking a ball is deluded.

 

Also think people are gripping onto this form he showed for England a bit too much. It was over a year ago and it was against sides like Lithuania and Slovenia.

 

If Hodgson thinks he's fit enough then fair enough but I'd not be in the slightest bit surprised to see him limp off against Russia and not see him again. People sneer at Noble but they're just doing the usual English thing of missing the bigger picture.

[Guest seanfox778]

Not an England fan but I'll be fuming if Drinkwater doesn't make the cut! Would be an absolute joke if he was left at home whilst Wilshere goes. Roy is such a plonker.

[Stadt]