England Euro Squad 2016

[Finnegan]

Michael Owen - Stones would walk in to Barcelona side lol

[Legend_in_blue]

Read this earlier today...

Everton's John Stones - one of only three recognised centre-backs in England's 23-man squad - has faced criticism for the way he plays the game, often preferring to dribble his way out of trouble rather than clear the ball.

But Owen has strongly defended the 22-year-old and said: "This kid could play for Barcelona.

"He's probably the only player in the England squad who could walk into Barcelona's team at the moment."

[AKCJ]

You have to laugh.

 

He's a very handsomely paid pundit and he thinks that someone who can pass it a bit could get into the biggest side in the world (probably the best an all) based only on the fact that he can pass it a bit.

[Ricey]

Hodgson in his interview yesterday drained any confidence I had in him.

 

In past tournaments we have failed, partly due to lack of quality, but also due to the pitfalls of picking unfit players (Beckham, Rooney, Owen), playing players out of position just to get them in the team and not having a system or style of play to deal with international football, instead hoping that picking the 11 biggest names will be enough.

 

Instead of lessons being learnt he has picked several unfit players (Wilshere, Sturridge, Henderson etc), clearly plans on playing strikers out wide and has admitted that he believes that systems don't win matches, players do. A quote not too dissimilar to ones uttered by Harry Redknapp and other old school managers who do not understand modern football.

 

Systems AND players win you matches. Going by his philosophy, how did we win the league? We clearly don't have the best football players in the league. Instead we had the most effective system.

[foxy boxing]

every one knows what woy will do in the first game against russia,he will be pragmatic,set us up not to lose he will play kane on his own upfront with rooney in behind who will also drop into midfield.he will do everything he can to get sicknote playing and crocked henderson too.he will have his favourite milner in their too. vardy will get 20 to 25 minutes after coming on as a sub with roy hoping his pace against tied defenders will be the key.he will hope to keep it itght for 60 minutes same old woy everyone can read him like an old novel it wont change

[Fox92]

can't wait to play this exact team

 

 

hart

clyne smalling cahill rose

milner henderson wilshere sterling

kane rooney

 

and then to see Roy's look of bemusement when slovakia play us off the park.

 

We won't play that though will we. Hodgson will play one up front like he always does.

 

The squad is so unbalanced it's unbelievable. The only winger we're taking spends more time on the floor than on his feet. I don't rate Townsend that much but once selected in the provisional squad he should have gone as we lack width. Lallana and Barkley, give me a break.

[ScouseFox]

tbf i could probably walk into barcelona's team at centre back

[Footballwipe]

To think it was only 2-3 weeks ago I was really, genuinely excited to see England in this tournament.

 

Now I'm buzzed for the feast of football, but a combination of uninspiring squad choices and more importantly Roy consistently talking absolute bilge has seen my enthusiasm for the team nosedive.

 

Also, massively average Euro 2012. Pathetic WC 2014, why should we have any confidence in his third tournament?

 

Start off setting up not to lose in game one, as someone said above. I bet Wales will be ultra pumped up for the combination of their first major tournament in 58 years and England in said tournament, so one set of players will be more motivated. Then you're looking to Slovakia to get through the group.

 

Second round exit, QF at best. All this pessimism I have has literally come from Hodgson's interviews. The realisation we're going to be crap has sucked the confidence out of me.

[AKCJ]

We won't play that though will we. Hodgson will play one up front like he always does.

 

The squad is so unbalanced it's unbelievable. The only winger we're taking spends more time on the floor than on his feet. I don't rate Townsend that much but once selected in the provisional squad he should have gone as we lack width. Lallana and Barkley, give me a break.

 

Sorry, you're right.

 

 

hart

clyne smalling cahill rose

henderson wilshere

sterling rooney lallana

kane

[filbertway]

We won't play that though will we. Hodgson will play one up front like he always does.

 

The squad is so unbalanced it's unbelievable. The only winger we're taking spends more time on the floor than on his feet. I don't rate Townsend that much but once selected in the provisional squad he should have gone as we lack width. Lallana and Barkley, give me a break.

 

That's exactly the team I got as well, with Rooney playing behind Kane in a 4 2 3 1.

 

Only rb and lb I'm not sure who he will go with.

 

Oh wait, I reckon it will be Vardy wide right, not Milner. Milner is probably a decent shout though.

[steflcfc]

We have much better players to pick from than the usual suspects that have underperformed before.

Half the 23 man squad have had an underwhelming season to put it politely.

Like has been said in an above post, the regulars are guaranteed starting spots because of name and reputation, other than form.

It's a sad state of affairs when we cannot get excited about watching our national team play..I'm one.

And rather follow our club players playing for their respective countries.

A lot has to change at international level for me, and I'm looking massively at the FA and the money grabbers.

I suspect a few others like myself, the ability to fall in love watching England again, drastic changes are needed top to bottom!

This isn't just about Leicester players not getting selected, this is an England problem in general

[davieG]

Not sure if true but seems like it.

 

 

Leeds United have had 6 managers since Jack Wilshere last completed a full 90 minutes for Arsenal.

[nnfox]

When Claudio arrived at Leicester he looked at the squad of 25-30 players and came up with a system that suited their strengths.

Surely an England manager can decide on a system and then select 23 players to play it from a pool of 60-70 available to him?

There is simply no excuse to play a single player out of position. Hodgson has been living off his sort of successful WC 1994 for way too long.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

When Claudio arrived at Leicester he looked at the squad of 25-30 players and came up with a system that suited their strengths.

Surely an England manager can decide on a system and then select 23 players to play it from a pool of 60-70 available to him?

There is simply no excuse to play a single player out of position. Hodgson has been living off his sort of successful WC 1994 for way too long.

This is spot on - you identify your key players and work a squad / formation around them (exactly what Coleman's done with Wales, Argentina do with Messi and Brazil have done for years).

Even Germany do this sort of thing to a degree - Klose was picked for years and years because he was the best striker for their system - a big difference to being Germany's best striker.

It's also clear that when England have been most sucessful, they've done the same - from the 1966 World Cup where Charlton was identified as our key player and Hurst found his way into the team over agree side because he complimented our play, to Italia 90 where a right hodgepodge of players were combined to great effect by Bobby Robson.

Euro 96 was built around Gazza and Shearer and getting the best out of them - with Sherringham as the support striker a key aspect in that. Even Sven had an idea that his key players were Becks and Owen, which is why Heskey got so many caps.

Now in a way I don't blame Roy from identifying Rooney as his key player at the start of this 2 year cycle - he was the main guy he had left after the World Cup, but he's not convinced me he knows what do with him (in a similar way to Van Gaal who went loopy with the problem). It will be very interesting to see what Mourhino does next season.

Now thing I would like to see is a pretty bog standard 4-4-2 with Vardy and Rooney up front, because that may just work better than Kane and Rooney - but we won't see that tonight.

[AKCJ]

what system are we playign tonight then lads?

 

genuinely frightening when we're down to our last warm up game and you can't actually tell which square pegs will be in which round hole.

[theessexfox]

Hopefully its:

 

Back 5 

 

-------------------------------------Dier-------------------------------------------------

 

--------------------------Rooney----------Milner-------------------------------------

 

-----------------------------------Alli----------------------------------------------

 

------------------------------Vardy---------Kane--------------------------------

[ScouseFox]

ain't you heard systems schmystems they don't matter we got da bestest players inglaaaand

[RowlattsFox]

Thought it would be Wilshere instead if Milner but other than that it's the team I expected. Rooney, Ali and vardy behind Kane.

[AKCJ]

ain't you heard systems schmystems they don't matter we got da bestest players inglaaaand

 

weird that joe hart is in ahead of are danny

 

reckon joe hart isn't as good at footie as dan personally

[Fox92]

Vardy will definitely be wide here.

 

The cynic in me sees :

 

Dier -- Milner 

 

Alli -- Rooney -- Vardy

 

Kane

[AKCJ]

absolute scenes when we arrange a friendly because one player is good in preparation for another team that has a good player and they drop the good player.

[davieG]

Roy Hodgson says Wayne Rooney will be mandatory starter at Euro 2016

 

Roy Hodgson said England will play with style in Euro 2016 and insisted it was a “good problem”, only a week before their opening game of the tournament, that he was still trying to find a system where Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy could flourish in the same team.

Hodgson’s tactic to use Kane and Vardy as split strikers, with Rooney operating in the No10 role, struggled to take off in the 1-0 win against Portugal on Thursday, and the England manager must decide whether to keep his midfield diamond or revert to a 4-3-3 formation against Russia on 11 June.

Kane and Vardy were asked to double up as wide players, marking the Portugal full-backs, when England did not have the ball and Rooney’s position at the forward tip of the diamond meant removing Dele Alli from his best role. Hodgson was irritated by questions about what he called “the Wayne Rooney show” and made it absolutely clear, yet again, that his captain would be a mandatory starter in France. “You’re talking about the player who has played 111 games forEngland and scored 52 goals, so perhaps his best position is anywhere on the field,” he said pointedly.

 

Read the rest here   https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/03/england-wayne-rooney-start-euro-2016-roy-hodgson

[GaelicFox]

Roy Hodgson says Wayne Rooney will be mandatory starter at Euro 2016

Roy Hodgson said England will play with style in Euro 2016 and insisted it was a “good problem”, only a week before their opening game of the tournament, that he was still trying to find a system where Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy could flourish in the same team.

Hodgson’s tactic to use Kane and Vardy as split strikers, with Rooney operating in the No10 role, struggled to take off in the 1-0 win against Portugal on Thursday, and the England manager must decide whether to keep his midfield diamond or revert to a 4-3-3 formation against Russia on 11 June.

Kane and Vardy were asked to double up as wide players, marking the Portugal full-backs, when England did not have the ball and Rooney’s position at the forward tip of the diamond meant removing Dele Alli from his best role. Hodgson was irritated by questions about what he called “the Wayne Rooney show” and made it absolutely clear, yet again, that his captain would be a mandatory starter in France. “You’re talking about the player who has played 111 games forEngland and scored 52 goals, so perhaps his best position is anywhere on the field,” he said pointedly.

Read the rest here https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/03/england-wayne-rooney-start-euro-2016-roy-hodgson

Woy is a potty old man , long may he rule over England

[Guest ttfn]

Roy Hodgson says Wayne Rooney will be mandatory starter at Euro 2016

Roy Hodgson said England will play with style in Euro 2016 and insisted it was a “good problem”, only a week before their opening game of the tournament, that he was still trying to find a system where Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy could flourish in the same team.

Hodgson’s tactic to use Kane and Vardy as split strikers, with Rooney operating in the No10 role, struggled to take off in the 1-0 win against Portugal on Thursday, and the England manager must decide whether to keep his midfield diamond or revert to a 4-3-3 formation against Russia on 11 June.

Kane and Vardy were asked to double up as wide players, marking the Portugal full-backs, when England did not have the ball and Rooney’s position at the forward tip of the diamond meant removing Dele Alli from his best role. Hodgson was irritated by questions about what he called “the Wayne Rooney show” and made it absolutely clear, yet again, that his captain would be a mandatory starter in France. “You’re talking about the player who has played 111 games forEngland and scored 52 goals, so perhaps his best position is anywhere on the field,” he said pointedly.

Read the rest here https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/03/england-wayne-rooney-start-euro-2016-roy-hodgson

I am furious that he left Charlton and Lineker out

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Roy Hodgson says Wayne Rooney will be mandatory starter at Euro 2016

Roy Hodgson said England will play with style in Euro 2016 and insisted it was a “good problem”, only a week before their opening game of the tournament, that he was still trying to find a system where Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy could flourish in the same team.

Hodgson’s tactic to use Kane and Vardy as split strikers, with Rooney operating in the No10 role, struggled to take off in the 1-0 win against Portugal on Thursday, and the England manager must decide whether to keep his midfield diamond or revert to a 4-3-3 formation against Russia on 11 June.

Kane and Vardy were asked to double up as wide players, marking the Portugal full-backs, when England did not have the ball and Rooney’s position at the forward tip of the diamond meant removing Dele Alli from his best role. Hodgson was irritated by questions about what he called “the Wayne Rooney show” and made it absolutely clear, yet again, that his captain would be a mandatory starter in France. “You’re talking about the player who has played 111 games forEngland and scored 52 goals, so perhaps his best position is anywhere on the field,” he said pointedly.

Read the rest here https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/03/england-wayne-rooney-start-euro-2016-roy-hodgson

But the bizarre quotes continue to flow in that article....

Rooney’s preference when he is not starting as a striker is to operate on the left side of midfield, believing he can see more of the game and therefore exert a greater influence from that position than in the No10 role. “It’s a good problem to have, shoehorning in attacking players,” Hodgson said. “I don’t think I’ve had that for a long time – a lot of good attacking players to shoehorn in – so you won’t find me complaining.”

When the **** has shoehorning been a good word associated with football!

Yet he continues...

We do try to play with style,” he said. “We’ll always try to play with style. If you watch the game again, you will see some very good moments in our attacking play REALLY! Our strikers had 2 touches in the box between them .

We do it because we think it’s the best way of winning – pushing our full-backs forward, getting our width in that area, trying to get midfield players into the pockets, trying to get our front players behind the opposition’s back players. We don’t lump the ball into the box, hoping for the best. We try to recirculate the ball and that’s what we did [against Portugal] on many occasions. It gave me satisfaction.

At least Roy's wife will be in no doubt he's easily pleased.

“Would I have liked to have seen more goal chances? A little bit more success with the final passes? More composure in the final third? Of course I would. But this is 11 players playing against 11 others – 11 human beings. Some had good games and others didn’t have such good games, and that’s going to be my fate going to this tournament. We don’t have hindsight. We don’t know how well or badly each player, when we select the team, is going to play.”

What's that Roy - it's the players fault, they didn't play well? You've supposedly picked England's best players and for some reason they're not performing to a high standard - and you take no responsibility for that?

The guy drives me nuts - he was speaking this drivel during / after the World Cup where he should have been sacked on the spot. Even though expectations were low, there was no excuse for how badly prepared we looked (that is after all a key component of a managers job).

If someone has a video of Roy in full Nazi regalia, singing "Deutschland, Deutschland..." now is the time to release it... please... for the love of God!