The England thread

[The Lusophone]

Rooney looks dead inside.

[Lineker]

Fifa has finally given Jack Grealish permission to play for England. However considering both his and Villa's form this season, I bet he wishes he went with Ireland!

Roy Hodgson: Wayne Rooney not a guaranteed England starter at Euro 2016 (this is of course bollocks)

[Jimmy]

19 hours ago, Lineker said:

Euro 2016 kits.

Onomah  

[Lineker]

Tom Heaton has replaced Joe Hart in the squad. No replacement for Sterling.

[Lineker]

Quote

Danny Rose is set to make his England debut in Saturday’s friendly against the world champions, Germany, after Ryan Bertrand withdrew from the squad and returned to Southampton for treatment on a calf injury.

Bertrand has been unable to train this week after suffering the complaint in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Liverpool at St Mary’s. The 25-year-old, whose form this season has thrust him into contention for a starting place at left-back at Euro 2016, was assessed by medical staff who determined he would not be able to feature in the friendly at Berlin’s Olympic stadium.

Roy Hodgson has decided against calling up a replacement, having originally chosen not to select either Leighton Baines or Kieran Gibbs in his party for the matches against Germany and Holland. Instead Rose will be offered a chance to feature following his impressive recent displays in Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League title pursuit. The 25-year-old has 29 under-21 caps and represented Great Britain at the London Olympics in 2012.

[Lineker]

Team to face Germany tomorrow: Butland, Clyne, Smalling, Cahill, Rose, Henderson, Dier, Alli, Lallana, Welbeck, Kane.

Fuck's sake Roy.

[Colly]

Two strikers, and one of them isn't Vardy?

[MDK]

Vardy clearly doesn't have the important European experience that he so desperately needs.

[Adam]

12 hours ago, Lineker said:

Team to face Germany tomorrow: Henderson, Lallana

[Lineker]

Noble is having his testimonial this weekend, he probably isn't too gutted.

[Adam]

Quote

'With all the speculation at one point it was a worry (his testimonial could be postponed), but we always said it would be a good worry to have. It wasn't meant to be,' said Noble

I disagree, he clearly would have liked to play for England. The testimonial could always be done another time. I will continue to champion Mark Noble until the inevitable Euro 2016 squad announcement that contains Jack Wilshere following his blistering 0 appearance season for Arsenal.

[Jimmy]

There is some logic in taking players who played very well during qualifying, but it's a bit of a mystery as to why Noble hasn't had the opportunity to feature. He's probably a little unlucky in some ways; Alli and Dier have emerged for a Tottenham team that would be the talk of the season if it wasn't for Leicester, who have Danny Drinkwater to thank as well, who has been rewarded with a call-up. Like, maybe any other season, Noble's efforts for an in-form West Ham would be harder to ignore, but it's not ridiculous to see how/why Noble isn't featuring. 

[TCO]

He should waltz ahead of Henderson in that team and I rate Henderson too. 

Welbeck over Vardy is a joke too.

[MDK]

Maybe Roy doesn't trust Vardy to not make WWII jokes and goosestepping around the pitch.

[The Lusophone]

I feel like we could be having this conversation about another West Ham player, namely Aaron Cresswell, but we do seem to have an embarrassment of riches in that position, even with Shaw injured...

[Adam]

See, on Welbeck's selection I agree with Roy, and I'm someone who really likes Jamie Vardy. Welbeck has come back in and been really good for Arsenal, he's always done well for England and he is suited to that role out wide in the England attack. Vardy plays in a 4-4-2 every week for Leicester and benefits from using his pace against defenders on the back foot. Welbeck is a sensible option against Germany, in this set-up, but I do hope Vardy gets some game time.

[Jimmy]

I mean, I think my ideal line-up would be something like this, with the front four all inter-changing, especially Kane and Vardy, because Kane does that for us anyway. I'd have Walker and Rose bomb on like they do for us, with Dier and Drinkwater to sit and protect the back four.  I mean, come on guys, it's nearly the end of May, we're dying for this kind of debate, right?  Then we have Sterling and Welbeck on the bench if we need width, Sturbridge (if fit) can easily find himself comfortable in that front three or four, and I'm sure Clyne would be most people's preference at right back. 

 

Hart

Walker Smalling Stones Rose

Drinkwater Dier 

Barkley Vardy Alli

Kane 

 

 

[DavidMarrio]

3 hours ago, Adam said:

I agree with you over Henderson. But I don't think you've seen Lallana much lately due to not being a Liverpool fan. Lallana fully deserves a call up and a chance to start, He's been fantastic and consistent for a while now. 

 

[Jimmy]

You can also easily see where he fits in, and you imagine he'd be pretty spot on linking up with Kane, Alli, Barkely etc. 

[Gazz]

3 hours ago, Jimmy said:

I mean, I think my ideal line-up would be something like this, with the front four all inter-changing, especially Kane and Vardy, because Kane does that for us anyway. I'd have Walker and Rose bomb on like they do for us, with Dier and Drinkwater to sit and protect the back four.  I mean, come on guys, it's nearly the end of May, we're dying for this kind of debate, right?  Then we have Sterling and Welbeck on the bench if we need width, Sturbridge (if fit) can easily find himself comfortable in that front three or four, and I'm sure Clyne would be most people's preference at right back. 

 

Hart

Walker Smalling Stones Rose

Drinkwater Dier 

Barkley Vardy Alli

Kane 

 

 

Playing Vardy anywhere but on the shoulder of the opposition defence is a waste of what he can do.