England 2018 World Cup

[chipdawg]

12 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

i don't see what others see in rashford, I thought Tammy and Solankie did more and were more dangerous when they came on then him

I think Rashford has the potential to be the best player in that side. I've seen him live and he's one of those players that just seems to be a threat whenever he gets the ball. Also, i don't think Tammy would be a threat from wide positions and Solanke has barely played. I was impressed with Solanke especially when they came on though

[phantom]

2 minutes ago, chipdawg said:

 i don't think Tammy would be a threat from wife positions

Love a good typo to lighten the day @chipdawg 

[chipdawg]

2 minutes ago, phantom said:

Love a good typo to lighten the day @chipdawg 

I CHANGED IT ALREADY!!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!

It does somewhat change the 'thrust' of my post though

[chipdawg]

24 minutes ago, RUSSEL85 said:

I thought the youngsters played well last night, Gomez and Rashford were the stars for me. I wish GS would just chuck the kiddies in the tournament next year, but we all no that is not going to happen. These "injuries" to our main squad will miraculously disappear by Saturday. 

I don't see that it matters that they do. What are we going to learn about Sterling or Kane or Alli now? And why bother risking them aggravating a niggle for a friendly. It was a great opportunity to play some young kids and it worked out pretty well I would say. Just remains to be seen whether the kids who did well will retain their place. Gomez especially should stay in the line up- he reads the game really well and provides balance to the back three

[MichaelRobartes]

15 minutes ago, chipdawg said:

I CHANGED IT ALREADY!!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!

It does somewhat change the 'thrust' of my post though

He obviously spent some time around John Terry.

[MarcusX]

8 hours ago, hodge said:

Judging by the friendlies we're looking at a back 5 for the World Cup, hardly inspiring but the logic appears that it makes us harder to beat.

It’s a back 3 with wingbacks. Against lesser teams they’ll have more chance to get forward 

[Vincent Vega]

1 hour ago, downendcity said:

After failure at whichever WC it was, Germany went back to the drawing board .

 

 

 

Ironically it was the 5-1 defeat to us in 2001 under Sven.

[MarcusX]

Part of the problem was evident from the two friendlies - how many premier league players pulled out from Germany/Brazil squads?

infact how many players withdrew from the Brazil squad from any league? Playing for their country is incredibly important to them even in friendlies.

They’ll go to Russia having played several friendlies with the majority of their squad available, we’ll head over there still not knowing our best 11 and probably start the first game with 4/5 players who haven’t played together in certain positions and formations.

that said, I thought a number of players have given GS a headache now after these 2 games.

pickfords distribution is quick and pinpoint, and last season we seen he had quality saving Sunderland from a hammering quite often.

maguire looks very good, solid and great on the ball. I was impressed by the amount of times he brought the Ball forwards from the back, or played forward/positive passes rather than Cahills sideward style.

gomez just kept the most expensive player in the world relatively quiet

loftus-cheek unlucky last night but made a fool of several German players Friday with his skill and positive play

rashford again another one who is just a positive player, not scared to take someone on and he’s showed in the recent qualifier? that he can make a mistake but bounce back from it

thete we’re a few players in these friendlies that I don’t think are good enough, But it was slim pickings from who was “available”

 If we go to Russia with some youngsters and a bit of freshness about the squad then I’ll be happy to dream and be optimistic. If we head into the first game with the usual 11 then maybe not so

 

[Super]

2 hours ago, marshy said:

I know many will disagree with me but that Iceland debacle was totally down to the manager, Hodgson, and his 'rabbit in the headlights' performance.

Go back and look at his starting line-up and the eleven that finished the game and ponder how anyone can arrive at anything approaching a decent formation from that bunch. I firmly believe that the players were dispirited by the manager's incompetence.

The fact he didn't play Lallana in that game proved he was clueless.

[BS4 on Tour...]

2 hours ago, Vincent Vega said:

England have won six games at Knockout tournaments since 1966..

That's not true though is it?

Just looking at the World Cups - we won two games at Mexico 1970, we won three games at Spain 1982, we won two games at Mexico 1986, we won three games at Italy 1990, we won two games at France 1998, we won two games at South Korea/Japan 2002, we won three games at Germany 2006 and we won one game at South Africa 2010 - so that's 18 games England has won at Knockout tournaments since 1966 and that's before any European Championships Finals tournaments are considered....how did you arrive at just six victories?!

[Lack of Action Man]

3 hours ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

25 years ago we were a shambles under Graham Taylor with Carlton Palmer and Andy Sinton in the side and being knocked out of the Euros without winning a game 

Just saying 

Ok so my maths was off. I was referring to the Italia '90 side. 

[Lack of Action Man]

8 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

That's not true though is it?

Just looking at the World Cups - we won two games at Mexico 1970, we won three games at Spain 1982, we won two games at Mexico 1986, we won three games at Italy 1990, we won two games at France 1998, we won two games at South Korea/Japan 2002, we won three games at Germany 2006 and we won one game at South Africa 2010 - so that's 18 games England has won at Knockout tournaments since 1966 and that's before any European Championships Finals tournaments are considered....how did you arrive at just six victories?!

Maybe he's referring to literal knock out games and not the group stages?

[Roger Red Hat]

9 hours ago, OddBallJim said:

We are crap. This team is crap and it is truly depressing to think of the team we had 25 years ago compared to this current pile of horse manure.

Would that be the team that was about to fail to qualify for the '94 World Cup, under Graham Taylor?

[Vincent Vega]

55 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

That's not true though is it?

Just looking at the World Cups - we won two games at Mexico 1970, we won three games at Spain 1982, we won two games at Mexico 1986, we won three games at Italy 1990, we won two games at France 1998, we won two games at South Korea/Japan 2002, we won three games at Germany 2006 and we won one game at South Africa 2010 - so that's 18 games England has won at Knockout tournaments since 1966 and that's before any European Championships Finals tournaments are considered....how did you arrive at just six victories?!

Knockout games , not Group natches

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/englands-only-won-six-knockout-8299223

[Bris Red]

 

3 hours ago, Coxy27 said:

Every time the national side are mentioned on here we get the same tirade of posts saying "I don't care", "The players don't care", "don't even watch anymore", "We're rubbish"

If you don't care: BORE OFF AND DON'T COMMENT?

I'm looking forward to the World Cup, and to seeing how England get on. I'm not expecting miracles, but it's my nation and I'm not going to give up before the tournament has even started.

The blanket negativity is infuriating sometimes.

Haha. Whats 'infuriating' is the constant poor tournament showings from our national set up, dont you think? Do you think getting knocked out by Iceland was acceptable? Baffled that you England happy clappers can't see where we are coming from.. anyway lets see what happens, i might start watching if we get out the group 

 

[Monkeh]

1 hour ago, bris red said:

 

Haha. Whats 'infuriating' is the constant poor tournament showings from our national set up, dont you think? Do you think getting knocked out by Iceland was acceptable? Baffled that you England happy clappers can't see where we are coming from.. anyway lets see what happens, i might start watching if we get out the group 

 

it's not happy clapping it's called support,

The problem with England is the are built up as world class players and world beaters when in fact they are about 10th best in the world, hence they normally get out of the group but after that don't go much further, 

[Coxy27]

1 hour ago, bris red said:

 

Haha. Whats 'infuriating' is the constant poor tournament showings from our national set up, dont you think? Do you think getting knocked out by Iceland was acceptable? Baffled that you England happy clappers can't see where we are coming from.. anyway lets see what happens, i might start watching if we get out the group 

 

So did you give up on City last year, but come back now that we're doing alright?

[Iron Acton Red]

19 hours ago, freezer said:

So now we know the final teams that have qualified for the World Cup 2018. I find it a bit strange that England are still getting flak from some people. We've qualified, and who else from the British Isles has done that?

Maybe it's time to get behind our national team and for our fellow home nations to support us?

At least we've got there.

I really cant see the other home nations supporting us,Wales and Scotland will want us to fail miserably.

[Gazred]

I love the World Cup. It's not the same if England aren't there, regardless of how crap we will usually be. I'll try and catch as many games as i can. I find the random group games just as enjoyable to watch as the later matches.

[Harry]

Remove Hart, Jones, Cahill, Bertrand & Henderson from the regular squad and we might start seeing fans more interested. 

Still, flights booked for Holland in March. So on we go. 

[Carey 6]

24 minutes ago, Harry said:

Remove Hart, Jones, Cahill, Bertrand & Henderson from the regular squad and we might start seeing fans more interested. 

Still, flights booked for Holland in March. So on we go. 

Bertrands surely got to be in the squad as back up to Rose, nobody else even close to the two.

Jones has been good this season, not his biggest fan but he'd definitely have a place in my squad as a back up. Far far better than Smalling. 

[Bryans Left Peg]

2 minutes ago, Carey 6 said:

Bertrands surely got to be in the squad as back up to Rose, nobody else even close to the two.

Jones has been good this season, not his biggest fan but he'd definitely have a place in my squad as a back up. Far far better than Smalling. 

Rose as a backup to Joey IMO. No space for Bertrand.

[Alex_BCFC]

Why do people say England are shit? Lithuania, for example, are shit. We aren't great to watch but even at our worst we haven't been outside the world top 20 and we generally make tournaments (except very rare occasions). Wales after one good tournament are back to being average or worse. 

We just ain't as good as Germany, Brazil etc. 

Sadly I really don't rate Southgate so don't see us doing to well in Russia. There's potential for the future with the coaching and giving our young players a chance but I don't see it under Southgate. 

Anyway, at least we are there and you never know...

[BS4 on Tour...]

23 hours ago, Vincent Vega said:

Knockout games , not Group natches

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/englands-only-won-six-knockout-8299223

Sorry, I misunderstood when you said only six victories at knockout tournaments...apologies

[phantom]

Not long until we know which group we will be in, some horrible and very nice groups potentially

[Coxy27]

6 minutes ago, phantom said:

Not long until we know which group we will be in, some horrible and very nice groups potentially

Bearing in mind that each group can only have one nation from each confederation in it, with the exception of UEFA, which may have two nations per group, I don't think there are really any horrible group options.

Based on Ranking the worst group we could get is:

Germany, England, Costa Rica, Nigeria.

Granted, Costa Rica went through at our expense last time, but should we really be frightened by them (Or Nigeria)? If we are, we might as well not get on the plane.

Going with a bit of common sense, you'd probably say the toughest group we could get would be:

Brazil, England, Sweden/Denmark, Japan.

That's fairly tough, but not as tough as our group from 2014, and we'd certainly be favourites to qualify.

[glynriley]

31 minutes ago, Coxy27 said:

Bearing in mind that each group can only have one nation from each confederation in it, with the exception of UEFA, which may have two nations per group, I don't think there are really any horrible group options.

Based on Ranking the worst group we could get is:

Germany, England, Costa Rica, Nigeria.

Granted, Costa Rica went through at our expense last time, but should we really be frightened by them (Or Nigeria)? If we are, we might as well not get on the plane.

Going with a bit of common sense, you'd probably say the toughest group we could get would be:

Brazil, England, Sweden/Denmark, Japan.

That's fairly tough, but not as tough as our group from 2014, and we'd certainly be favourites to qualify.

That increases our chances of being paired with Argentina or Brazil then.

[Vincent Vega]

1 hour ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Sorry, I misunderstood when you said only six victories at knockout tournaments...apologies

No need to apologise m8, it's a shocking stat though.

[gow2gooseya]

Very scathing about Southgate as manager, but he is slowly winning me round.  Of course, the acid test is the tournament itself, and he will be weighed in the balance on that one.

But I have been pleasantly surprised and begrudgingly impressed (in an LJ type of way) by his ideas and courage. It pays to have young managers it seems, and if you want a team to play without fear then you need a manger that picks a team without it.   My only gripe with Southgate so far has been about central midfield.  I feel he should have tried Jonjo Shelvey by now, and considered him for a playmaker position, because at the moment we still lack an engine.  Wilshere could have done the job but, and lets be fair to him, HE IS MADE OF GLASS !

Against that though Southgate has given us Loftus Cheek, and that is a serious piece of work waiting to happen. It may just be too early in his development to win us a world cup, but I would definitely take him because he is the future.

So a cautious thumbs up for England and for Southgate, and lets hope we dont make an arse of ourselves in 2018.

Because we sure did in 2016

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

Not really a fan of the 3-5-2 but it's better than 4-4-2.

Think 4-3-3 would suit us the best tbh, Though 3-5-2 does have its positives.

Anyway.

Hart or Pickford

Walker Stones Maguire or Smalling or Jones Rose

Henderson Dier Lallana

Rashford OR Sterling Kane Alli 

The front 3 though doesn't have to be static in fact that would be to its detriment...ideally those players can definitely be fluid, interchange, movement slick etc.

Unsure about a few tbh.

• Hart is obviously the incumbent but Pickford shows great promise.
• For me, Walker, Stones, Rose are set in stone. Maguire shows great promise but is he experienced enough to partner Stones at a WC yet?
• Midfield 3 I think has a nice balance. Dier obviously does what Dier does, Henderson lots of energy and I believe Lallana if he's fit in time, well he thrived somewhat in a midfield 3 with Liverpool last season. In a way oh for a fit and a firing Wilshere, he could show more creativity than Henderson. Dier would obviously be the deepest of the central 3 and then the others could rotate, alternate as and when necessary.
• Kane and Alli as part of the front 3 again set in stone for me. Unsure between Rashford and Sterling, perhaps pick whoever is in the best form by seasons end with the other first reserve (unless one of them collapses in form or is injured).