Good. A win was exactly what should have been expected and credit to them, they delivered. Still worryingly shaky at the back but I don't think the likes of San Marino, Estonia & Lithuania will have England's back four quaking in their boots.

England team to play San Marino tonight:

 

Hart, Chambers, Cahill, Jagielka, Gibbs, Henderson, Wilshere, Milner, Sterling, Welbeck, Rooney

England's performance seemed to be more about getting the three points without over-exerting themselves and without risking any injuries. The win over Switzerland - which made qualification as near certain as it can be after one game - probably exacerbated that.

And with Switzerland losing again, if we beat Estonia on Sunday we should stretch our lead ahead of the rest of the group. England will sail through to the finals but I think their gameplay is poor, I would have thought they score more goals against San Marino last night. Plus that goal that was disallowed was clearly not off side, anyway they got a win from it, its not as if they were playing Germany.

Thing is, while I'm sure we would all have liked to have seen a cricket score (and I've not watched the game), I'm sure England will have been under strict instructions to play a low-intensity match. Fact is we have a more difficult game on Sunday, and I don't think any managers will be best pleased if players come back injured from careless mismanagement against European minnows.

Roy Hodgson is a joke

 

Got to applaud him though for the way he's managed to divert attention away from a poor performance vs. 10 man Estonia to Sterling/Sturridge and the club vs. country debate

 

Great man management to put one of your most important and also youngest players under huge criticism because of something said in what should have been a private conversation

 

Some of the views coming out of this from the public are ridiculous too. "Who cares if he's tired? Look at how much he's getting paid"

 

Honestly he should probably be applauded for even mentioning it to Hodgson. He's intelligently thinking about the long term effects on his career.. Unless everyone wants another Michael Owen on their hands?

He just threw Raheem Sterling under a bus, awful management skills. I can't believe you would air a private conversation like that in public, just not on. I'd expect nothing less from the guy though. How he is still England manager beckons me.

beckons?

I know England don't play till tomorrow night, but can we just basc in the glory of Faroe Islands winning 1-0 in Greece tonight, putting them ahead of Greece who are now bottom of the group.

I know England don't play till tomorrow night, but can we just basc in the glory of Faroe Islands winning 1-0 in Greece tonight, putting them ahead of Greece who are now bottom of the group.

 

Greece are in turmoil. Northern Ireland have got a great chance of qualifying.

 

Scotland winning in their group throws qualification right open too! Would be nice to see an extra home nation or two / Ireland in the Euros.

 

Meanwhile tonight San Marino got a POINT in a 0-0 draw with Estonia.

 

And fellow minnow Liechtenstein won in Moldova. Are we going to see a dominance from these teams? I can only hope so.

Makes us look a bit silly for only beating Estonia 1-0. Got there eventually last night, Welbeck took both goals well.

The squad for the qualifier with Lithuania and the friendly with Italy:

 

Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Southampton), Joe Hart (Manchester City).

 

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).

 

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Fabian Delph (Aston Villa), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Manchester City), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Andros Townsend (Tottenham Hotspur), Theo Walcott (Arsenal).

 

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).

 

 

Good to see Harry Kane has been called up.

 

What do people make of the squad?

 

 

Very poor squad imo. No Bertrand or Stones? Madness.

 

Was obvious Kane was going to get called up, and he deserves it. I think he might be 4th choice for a while yet though.

It should be Kane & Sturridge up front with Rooney behind. Yes, I know Rooney is best as striker bla bla (and he must play there for United) but it's really the only way to accommodate all 3. Rooney is still very capable in MF don't forget and hey ppl it's Lithuania.

 

Welbeck to play as "impact" sub...

Edited March 19, 201510 yr by Dobbo

Looking at that squad, our defence is so weak compared to everywhere else. Cannot play Jagielka as he's declined at Everton and there's no obvious replacement for him.

 

Its sad compared to 10 years ago when we had Terry, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carragher, King and Woodgate all around the squad. What we would give for riches like that now :(

Agree our defence is horrible. Main reason is because there's an emphasis on ball playing centre backs now, which we lack, massively.

Agree our defence is horrible. Main reason is because there's an emphasis on ball playing centre backs now, which we lack, massively.

 

A young Rio Ferdinand or Ledley King is exactly what we need right now!

 

A young Rio Ferdinand or Ledley King is exactly what we need right now!

 

Agree, but like you said earlier, it was crazy in 2004-2006, so many good central defenders who could not get an international game, yet all of them right now would walk in to this current England team.

Looking at that squad, our defence is so weak compared to everywhere else. Cannot play Jagielka as he's declined at Everton and there's no obvious replacement for him.

 

Its sad compared to 10 years ago when we had Terry, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carragher, King and Woodgate all around the squad. What we would give for riches like that now :(

For the qualifiers, that is unlikely to be much of a problem. England could well qualify with a 100% record. Unfortunately, that will lead to a lot of our more deluded supporters thinking we have a chance of winning the thing. However, we will go into the tournament with a lack of games against serious opposition in competitive matches since the World Cup. We all know how that worked out.