Quite a boring 90 minutes

 

It's great being hard to beat, but surely we should be doing more against the likes of Norway. A little more attacking threat and being able to put together a few passes would have been nice

 

 

Gareth Barry injured and out of squad. Phil Jagielka called up instead

 

Guessing Phil Jones will be seen as a defensive midfielder instead now ? Seems odd to call up Jagielka otherwise instead of a midfielder

Gareth Barry injured and out of squad. Phil Jagielka called up instead

 

Guessing Phil Jones will be seen as a defensive midfielder instead now ? Seems odd to call up Jagielka otherwise instead of a midfielder

I believe that is the plan. I would prefer Jagielka as the right back if we're not going to have another proper right back tbh.

Squad numbers have been announced:

 

Goalkeepers: 1. Joe Hart, 13. Robert Green, 23. Jack Butland Defenders: 2. Glen Johnson, 3. Ashley Cole, 5. Gary Cahill, 6. John Terry, 12. Leighton Baines, 14, Phil Jones, 15. Joleon Lescott. 18 Phil Jagielka Midfielders: 4. Steven Gerrard, 7. Theo Walcott, 8. Frank Lampard, 11. Ashley Young, 16. James Milner, 17. Scott Parker, 19. Stewart Downing, 20. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Strikers: 9. Andy Carroll, 10. Wayne Rooney, 21. Jermain Defoe, 22. Danny Welbeck

I got Germany in my sweepy at work! C'mon Deutchland!

Team to play Belgium:

 

Hart Johnson Cahill Terry Cole Milner Gerrard Parker Oxlade-Chamberlain Young Welbeck

So that's two Hodgson England matches I've nearly fallen asleep in and more injury problems :nocheer:

 

Team I'd play vs. France (assuming Cahill and Terry are available): Hart Johnson Terry Cahill Cole Parker Gerrard Walcott Milner Young Welbeck

At least people now probably realise why everybody at Liverpool hated Roy. Playing that type of football should never be allowed at clubs like Liverpool, it's boring and painful to watch.

 

Bit shit really that we won both the two friendly games, I'd have liked to have seen what happened if we ever went a goal down. I used to know with Liverpool if we ever conceded first there was a 99% chance we'd lose!

I can't say the last two friendlies have been any more boring than the average England friendly in the past 10 years to be honest.

Bet Richards is wishing he wasn't a moron now...

 

Cahill out injured. Kelly called-up.

 

The amount of injuries is alarming. Bad training methods, or just a long hard season?

Oh christ, WHY Richards? That's three distinctly average Liverpool players that are now being inflicted upon us.

 

Any chance that the Belgian moron who pushed Cahill into Hart can be suspended?

Bet Richards is wishing he wasn't a moron now...

 

Cahill out injured. Kelly called-up.

 

The amount of injuries is alarming. Bad training methods, or just a long hard season?

I don't think you can blame Cahill's injury on anything other than the moronic Belgian forward Dries Martens .

 

 

Wish Carrick and Richards were in the squad but I have no sympathy with them whatsoever.

Oh christ, WHY Richards? That's three distinctly average Liverpool players that are now being inflicted upon us.

 

Any chance that the Belgian moron who pushed Cahill into Hart can be suspended?

 

Kelly and Henderson will be class in 2/3 years time. Kelly will be a better player than Kyle Walker will ever be in the future. No hope for Downing mind.

 

Richards obviously must not be favoured/must be more than meets the eye. Attitude problems perhaps.

From the players available I would have picked:

GK: Hart Green Butland

DF: Terry Lescott Jagielka Richards Johnson Cole Baines

MF: Gerrard Parker Carrick Milner Oxlaide-Chamberlain Young A.Johnson Walcott

FW: Rooney Carroll Defoe Welbeck Sturridge

 

Our current defence isn't too much of a problem. With Cahill ruled out I'd be tempted to leave Terry out and go for a Jagielka Lescott partnership instead

 

I would have picked another striker, but we should be able to cope with Young and Walcott being able to play in forward positions

 

But in central midfield we are very reliant on Gerrard and Parker. Parker has only just returned from an achilles injury and I'd be very surprised if Gerrard doesn't pick up an injury during the tournament

 

Wish Carrick and Richards were in the squad but I have no sympathy with them whatsoever.

Carrick I can understand as he's older and will want to prolong his club career and spend time with his family

 

Richards on the other hand is still young. Why refuse to be placed on standby? There'll always be injuries and a chance of making the squad. There must be more to it as Rooney pointed out

I don't know with Richards, there may well be something else to it. It's just so stupid though, fair enough he's pissed off but 4 of the 23 have now withdrawn, he'd have been the first one called into the squad if he was a sub. The decision does seem to have outraged people today but I'd rather someone less good who wanted to be there than a better player who'd sulked off because he didn't get his own way. No Kelly and Henderson probably shouldn't be in the squad but normally they wouldn't be, I don't see why it's Roy's fault and he's getting blamed for everything. Henderson could realistically be 10th choice behind Gerrard, Lampard, Parker, Barry, Carrick, Wilshere, Rodwell, Cleverley and Huddlestone and people would say 'about right' but due to no fault of either him or Roy Hodsgon 7 of those are unavailable so he has to go. Who else is there? Leon Osman? Bit too of an attacking central midfielder. Leon Britton? Maybe, but his main strength is ball retention and I don't think he'd fit in and have anywhere near as much influence with these players (managed by Hodgson or not) than he does at Swansea. Struggling to think of anyone else really...

 

And people say Richards is this amazing defender yet when the going got tough at the business end of the season he found himself warming the bench. Only 4 times did he play more than 45 minutes in Man City's last 14 games, and played 24 minutes of their last 5 games.

Richards is vastly overrated. Good player, but you'd think he was God's gift to football. He relies far too much on his power, and he isn't even first choice for Manchester City. I don't think he reads the game well, which is why Capello never tried him. Perhaps he doesn't follow tactics/instructions very well either. Feel Kelly's getting a lot of stick, he's not played a lot because he's been injured, and also because Johnson is a far better right-back than he is. I've only ever seen Kelly have 1/2 bad games.

 

And the Henderson argument is poo too. I don't think he suits 4-4-2 at all, nor is he a wide tucked in midfielder. Getting a lot of stick, he's been inconcistent this team, but been played out of position for 2/3rds of it. Like I said he'll be England's best central midfielder in 2/3 years time. The guy has got so much class about him it's unreal. Gets stick from Liverpool fans too, but these are the same morons that wanted Lucas Leiva to be sold. People just don't understand how much football has changed.

Ferdinand is going to be fuming beyond belief :lol: Imagine if Terry was found guilty, how is his selection going to go down then??

Predictions ?

 

I'm going with:

Group A: 1. Russia 2. Poland 3. Czech Republic 4. Greece

Group B: 1. Germany 2. Netherlands 3. Denmark 4. Portugal

Group C: 1. Spain 2. Croatia 3. Italy 4. Republic of Ireland

Group D: 1. France 2. England 3. Sweden 4. Ukraine

 

Quarter Final:

Russia vs. Netherlands

Spain vs. England

Germany vs. Poland

France vs. Croatia

 

Semi Final:

Netherlands vs. Germany

Spain vs. France

 

Final:

Germany vs. France

 

Germany win

Group A:

 

01 Russia

02 Czech Republic

03 Poland

04 Greece

 

 

Group B:

 

01 Netherlands

02 Germany

03 Portugal

04 Denmark

 

 

Group C:

 

01 Spain

02 Italy

03 Croatia

04 Ireland

 

 

Group D:

 

01 France

02 England

03 Ukraine

04 Sweden

 

 

Russia vs. Germany

Spain vs. England

Netherlands vs. Czech Republic

France vs. Italy

 

 

Germany vs. Netherlands

Spain vs. France

 

 

Germany vs. France

 

 

I could try:

 

Group A

1. Russia

2. Czech Republic

3. Greece

4. Poland

 

Group B

1. Germany

2. Portugal

3. Denmark

4. Netherlands

 

Group C

1. Italy

2. Spain

3. Ireland

4. Croatia

 

Group D

1. Sweden

2. England

3. France

4. Ukraine

 

Russia vs Portugal

Italy vs England

Germanyvs Czech Republic

Sweden vs Spain

 

Don't we have the first two going into a semi so Germany can't face say, the Netherlands again in the semis?

In that case:

Portugal vs Italy

Germany vs Sweden

 

Otherwise, just swap who defeats Portugal and Sweden round. :lol:

 

Germany vs Italy

 

I shall just put this out there, that I don't really have much of an idea of which teams are on form at all, and I've picked a team to do exceptionally well (Sweden) pretty much at random as I'm expecting (and want) one minnow team to pull an upset of some sort.