2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and International Friendlies ** Spoilers ** [31st August - 6th Septem
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
Scotland XI: Marshall; Paterson, Martin, Hanley, Robertson; Fletcher, Bannan; Burke, Snodgrass, Ritchie; Martin
Reasonable enough team for Scotland this evening.
Sad state of affairs when the Scotland starting lineup looks more exciting than an England one
Sad state of affairs when the Scotland starting lineup looks more exciting than an England one
So far the scoreline is equally as exciting
When i was in the pub last night i thought one of they guys made a good point with regard to the national team and i guess this could apply to any national squad.
Wipe out the team as we know it and start from scratch with a team of young promising players. For Scotland that would include both the Souttars, Ryan Gauld and Oliver Burke. You would basically write off the next World Cup / Euros (cos we all know you don't win anything with kids
) but keep the same squad and i guess management the same so you get a better team understanding which you would get at club level over the course of a season. National squads do it with the U19s, 21s etc but the senior squad always has a mix of younger / older players so there will be areas of weakness in terms of experience. If you have a base where all the players are of similar ages then the team with have a stronger level of experience throughout the squad and therefore should 'theoretically stronger as a whole.
Soldato
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I saw nothing wrong with that at all. I have no idea why we got a penalty there.
back to back hattricks against the might of Gibraltar (Fletcher) and now Malta (Snodgrass)Appalling from Sam. So wrong, it borders on the comical. His first act as manager is to reward an ageing player, one whose been generally shocking for years, an automatic starting position again. Then he decides his form merits a free reign and publicly concedes to not being fit to dare question anything said player does, because after all, who is Big Sam?
Nobody expected much from Sam but it's a disgraceful message to send to other players and I couldn't blame the likes of Rashford or Ali from just walking away.
The thing about Rooney is his positioning tells you he knows he's gone. Imo he's dropping so deep because he knows he needs the extra space and time. The whole situation is embarrassing.
Nobody expected much from Sam but it's a disgraceful message to send to other players and I couldn't blame the likes of Rashford or Ali from just walking away.
The thing about Rooney is his positioning tells you he knows he's gone. Imo he's dropping so deep because he knows he needs the extra space and time. The whole situation is embarrassing.
Caporegime
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People slate Rooney because you get one of two things from him now. He sometimes has the touch, control and passing of a retard and kills attacks that way. His other option is to slow down the attacking play, choose the wrong passes and generally kill any attacking threat 90% of the time.
Occasionally he will do something good but he is a player on £250k plus a week with top players around him who is either given a completely free role to do what he thinks will effect the game the most or he is in a vital position to drive attacks forwards.
People will point to games X,Y, and Z and say "look, he setup/scored the winner there". Yes he did, he eventually did something that lead to a goal after making a mess of things for 85 minutes. Would you have needed that 90th minute goal if he wasn't playing? Probably not.
You could stick Joe Hart in the no 10 role at Barcelona and he would score goals, he would assist goals. That doesn't mean he wouldn't be dragging the team down massively. That is what Rooney does.
You have to seriously question that statement about Rooney. Your job as manager is to manage the whole team. There is no player that is bigger than the team and certainly not one that isn't even in the top few performers. Why the FA didn't just make Rooney manager I don't know. Seems like he runs the place.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Here I was hoping Skrtel would actually damage Rooney somehow (not too seriously you understand, but enough to stop him playing for a while) - but he couldnt even manage that before being sent off ....belatedly
Maybe thats why Rooney was playing so deep
Im sure England (and Utd) would be a whole lot better once he isnt playing any more.....however long that takes.
Why oh why did you watch the highlights after watching such an awful game live?
(Can totally understand watching them after an entertaining game, but not that ****)
My biggest gripe from the last 10 England game has never been the players. It's the tactics, I cannot assume that the players are to fault for being played a certain way, although something puzzles me.
The players accept the balls like Netball players unable to then make a run, it seems to be pass. Stand still. Pass Stand still. Pass.
It's awful to watch as event the worst of teams can break you down your attacks in minutes, i.e Iceland.
Teams like Spain and Germany, play pass and move. We don't.
The players accept the balls like Netball players unable to then make a run, it seems to be pass. Stand still. Pass Stand still. Pass.
It's awful to watch as event the worst of teams can break you down your attacks in minutes, i.e Iceland.
Teams like Spain and Germany, play pass and move. We don't.
Soldato
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That Rooney quote from Allardyce is unbelievable, I had to check that he said it and he actually did. Doesn't bode well for England when the captain can't even play how the manager asked.
Soldato
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As long as you keep playing like that until the 12th November then I don't mind .
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