The England thread

[TCO]

Yeah Albrighton and Zaha immediately stick out as two that should be in ahead of him.

If Yannick Bolasie had waited on his international career he'd probably be near first choice at this point too.

[MDK]

16 hours ago, brenchill said:

Mark Draper would have been a staple in the middle of the park for England if he played today.

Draper was a staple of my Merlin PL sticker book dream team.  Most likely with Steve 'brittle' Stone 

[Hobo]

19 hours ago, Gazz said:

And if we're giving out caps for English players in good form, Marc Albrighton is more deserving, but he doesn't play for Man Utd

It's this, in part, that makes me think international football isn't worth bothering with.

 

 

 

[Jimmy]

I always get the feeling someone like Lingaard is brought in at this stage so that Hodgson and co can get a better look him in training, and see how he plays with other internationals. Being called up to the squad is pretty different to being capped. He's been a part of the Under 21's set-up for a long time, it's not the worst thing ever. 

[Jimmy]

Ryan Mason's also been added to the squad, which makes 5 Spurs players in total. 

Make of that what you will  

[Chris2K]

This match is getting a bit uncomfortable with the French football president saying the players unanimously wanted to play, and Hugo Lloris making it very obvious that it wasn't unanimous, maybe not even the majority.

[Lineker]

Roy Hodgson makes seven changes to the England team. Spurs duo Dele Alli and Eric Dier start together in midfield.

England Team:

1 Hart
2 Clyne
3 Gibbs
4 Dier
5 Cahill
6 Stones
7 Alli
8 Barkley
9 Kane
10 Rooney © 
11 Sterling  

France make five changes from the side which beat Germany on Friday night. Crystal Palace's Yohan Cabaye, Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and former Newcastle winger Hatem Ben Arfa all start. Lassana Diarra - whose cousin was killed in the attacks in Paris on Friday - misses out, as does Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann. Griezmann's sister was in the Bataclan theatre but escaped the attack there.

[Dan]

I feel a little... uncomfortable with this game. It's just a bit strange. Not sure why :/

[Lineker]

Yeah. I get the showing solidarity and all but not one person cares about the game of football. If I was one of the French players I would just want to be at home with my family.

[Lineker]

DELE FUCKING ALLI, BOOM!

[Lineker]

France make two changes at the break - on come Paul Pogba of Juventus and Kingsley Coman of Bayern Munich. England put Jack Butland in goal for the second half. 

This is actually a decent game, amazingly.

2-0; Rooney.

[Bobfoc]

I'm quite enjoying this. It's an all-too-rare treat for me not to be bored during an England match.

[Lineker]

Nice reception for Lassana Diarra coming on.

[MDK]

2 hours ago, Lineker said:

Yeah. I get the showing solidarity and all but not one person cares about the game of football. If I was one of the French players I would just want to be at home with my family.

 

1 hour ago, Lineker said:

DELE FUCKING ALLI, BOOM!

You changed script fairly sharpish 

[Lineker]

 what can I say, it was a stonking goal.

[Lineker]

[Lineker]

The FA have formally confirmed Roy will remain in charge for the upcoming World Cup campaign, barring a monumental fuck-up in France this summer.

[The Lusophone]

Fuck sake.

[Bobfoc]

That seems like an odd thing to announce right now. Wouldn't it be better to wait until after the tournament to assess his performance, or are they just aware that they probably can't attract anyone better?

[Adam]

What they basically said is he'll stay if we don't get knocked out in the groups at the Euros, which is fair isn't it? Unless Albania or Hungary beat us in the last 16, anyway.