The Three Lions

he's 19, pls go with this to much football

hate games against San Mourinho. Absolutely useless

good to see you made it out to support your country RG

Spoiler:

Ffs I have lost weight

An expectedly straightforward 5-0 win.

Seems like the diamond is here to stay, for now. Going by the second half, Wilshere will continue to be the base/pivot player. He really shone their tonight, albeit against very poor opposition.

First half was very meh but Chamberlain and Lallana changed the game when they came on at half-time. Added much needed flair and creativity to the team that Henderson and Sterling weren't providing. I read that Henderson managed just a 66% passing accuracy; pretty shit for a game against San Marino.

Rooney was disappointing. Had several attempts on goal but could only score from a penalty. Thought he made very little impact on the game. Wilshere would've had about two or three assists if he were more clinical.

Hope to see Wilshere, Chamberlain and Lallana play against Estonia. Toss up between Milner and Henderson for the other midfield spot. Would like Clyne to get a start at right back, too.

Thoughts on Roy-Sterling saga?

Think Hodgson was a bit foolish to leak the news out. There was no point to it. Sterling has been tired for weeks and it was apparent to everyone. Just use the other players who were fresher and would perform better. He did the same with Wilshere 2 years ago as well. The camp is obviously going to side Sterling with this, specially the younger players. Interesting to see what happens now.

I really wonder why it is such a big issue in England when a 19 year old kid needs some time to recuperate and can't be at 100% each and every game. Has no one heard anything about bringing the kids slowly into a team on the island?

The answer is simple.

Roy Hodgson is an awful human being. Us Liverpool fans have been saying it for 4.5 years...forget being a bad manager, he is a terrible person.

I think Hodgson is right to say it is not his job to give Raheem a rest tho...if he is playing for Liverpool and is called in to the England team (which liverpool should be expecting) it is not always on Roy to give him a rest while on international duty.

That's true B-Mac, however he shouldn't have made it public. If there is a problem then handle it inside.

It's difficult for National team managers not just him to balance the injuries and all that but he didn't handle the situation well at all.

Doesn't have your NT coach a sensible relationship with the club coaches so that he will try to take care if players are overplayed on club level and then mayhap leave them out for a game in between? o_O

You can say what you want of Jogi Löw, but he usually talks to the club coaches and sometimes decides to call-up players that are more on the fringes of the selection,  both to take a look at what they can do and to have a chance to rest other players.

B-Mac wrote:I think Hodgson is right to say it is not his job to give Raheem a rest tho...if he is playing for Liverpool and is called in to the England team (which liverpool should be expecting) it is not always on Roy to give him a rest while on international duty.

There was no need for Sterling to start vs. San Marino. You could have played instead of him and England still would have won. Hodgson could have easily rested him, and then played him in the tougher game vs. Estonia (in which sterling came on and won the free kick that led to the winner)..

Now hodgson is criticizing Liverpool's training regime...despite the fact that the last 4 times an English Liverpool player has gotten injured, it's been under Hodgson's England camp, and not at Melwood.

The man is a senile horse-shite and will go to hell (If such thing exists of course)

Natalie Portman wrote:The answer is simple.

Roy Hodgson is an awful human being. Us Liverpool fans have been saying it for 4.5 years...forget being a bad manager, he is a terrible person.

This is sure . He is even worse as man than as manager.
 He is the only person to have made angry Javier Zanetti in 40 years.

England squad to play Slovenia and Scotland:

Keepers:
Joe Hart (Man City), Fraser Forster (Southampton), Ben Foster (West Brom)

Defenders:
Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Chris Smalling (Man Utd), Calum Chambers (Arsenal), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), Leighton Baines (Everton), Luke Shaw (Man Utd), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal)

Midfielders:
Michael Carrick (Man Utd), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), James Milner (Man City), Ross Barkley (Everton), Stewart Downing (West Ham), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Andros Townsend (Spurs)

Forwards:
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Saido Berahino (West Brom), Rickie Lambert (Liverpool)

Why is he keep calling out Lambert?

No one else I guess.

Strange to call Walcott up.

NO Sturridge

England U21's face Italy, Portugal and Sweden in group B of Euro final tournament in June.

England team:

Hart; Clyne, Cahill, Jagielka, Gibbs; Sterling, Henderson, Wilshere, Lallana; Rooney, Welbeck

Looks like a 4-2-3-1

GoonerJay29 wrote:England team:

Hart; Clyne, Cahill, Jagielka, Gibbs; Sterling, Henderson, Wilshere, Lallana; Rooney, Welbeck

Still no joy for Raheem .

what's the use of exclusively playing international games in the hallowed Wembley stadium when you can't do better than that embarrasingly terrible pitch if there's one home match every few months. Seriously wtf. Whole country is full of excellent football stadiums.

No wonder Wilshere aka English Xavi has trouble controlling a ball.

Simple answer: Money.

But yeah, sensible option would have been to arrange the game to another stadium - Emirates, Old Trafford, Anfield, take your pick - so we can play on a pitch that hasn't been damaged.

I literally have no idea what direction this team is going in.................... and I live in the country.

Can someone inform me about what England are doing? In General?

In short, we're breezing through qualifying because we've got a piss-easy group. Won all our games, have yet to concede a goal.

Hodgson is now playing a diamond formation, with Wilshere at the base and Sterling (usually) at the tip. Has worked well, though still has its issues.

Rooney is captain and starts every game regardless of how crap he's playing at the time.

We've not played anyone decent since the World Cup so it's hard to judge where the team is at in terms of quality.

Wele double