England Team Thread

[EJG1980]

Six goals in the Germany v Argentina game, was much more exciting. Sterling aside really.

It was an excellent match. Di Maria ran the show, a brilliant display from him, and as a Spurs fan it was great to see Lamela play well and get his first international goal (beautiful finish too). I watched about two minutes of the England match at half time, that was enough

[Nu-Eclipse]

Sums him up.

[VR46]

Only watched the second half tonight and really enjoyed it, don't know if it was because we could have scored every 90 seconds or what really. Was as one-sided as expected.

[fallenangle]

Good to see our Spurs man, Andros Townsend, contribute well last night including an excellent goal. But San Marino were utterly outclassed in every department so England had no excuse for not winning it big. They did but I'm still not convinced by RH's team choice. Against the better opposition they are still going to struggle methinks.

[EJG1980]

I guess this is probably the best thread for this:

FIFA get a lawyer to investigate claims of corruption during the 2018/2022 world cup bidding process.

FIFA publish their own report of his investigation and say it completely clears Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing (and as an added bonus accuses the English FA of flouting the rules of the bidding process).

Four hours later, that very same lawyer says that FIFA's report on his investigation "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations," and he will be appealing for them to withdraw their report.

FIFA are not only corrupt but they must be bloody thick as well; did they really think they could misrepresent his investigation and he'd say nothing about it??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30037729

[fallenangle]

Agreed ^.

FIFA need to be purged or replaced ASAP.

Quite a good match aaginst Solvenia with a rather different look and feel to the team. Some very decent quick passing at times, not making as much of the chances they did have as they should and occasional defensive lapses aside, not much to complain about.

Pitch looked pretty crappy after the American football, in fact I can't think of a time the new Wembley pitch has looked as bad since its early days.

[EJG1980]

Ha ha, 80 seconds on the pitch and he gets a goal Nice one, Harry!

[VR46]

Ha, wonder how many scouts Real Madrid had in the crowd....

[EJG1980]

None. They've already made up their minds to buy Sterling and don't need to watch him anymore

[fallenangle]

I wish they weren't hyping HK as much as they are because no way can he regularly live up to his current reputation. He didn't help by scoring that goal so quickly yseterday either, not that I'm complaining. I'm just worried they're setting him up and when at some stage he goes through a lean period, as all strikers do, it'll all come tumbling down just as fast.

We have to remember that a year ago he was virtually unknown to anybody except Spurs supporters. He was slow and often awkward on the ball. I was even saying here long before that I wouldn't be bothered if Spurs sold him just to be able to keep hold of Bale. It seems that it was only under Pochettino's extreme fitness training regime he introduced at Spurs that HK has unexpectedly blossomed into the player he is now. I just hope Spurs and England can develop his talent further. But that must be at a slower pace and with as much protection from the pressures and unrealistic expectations that have been created for him as possible.

[nakamura]

They don't learn. Remember all that fuss over Adnan J being a possible England player? He has vanished since.
Idiot media.

[EJG1980]

I wish they weren't hyping HK as much as they are because no way can he regularly live up to his current reputation..... I'm just worried they're setting him up and when at some stage he goes through a lean period, as all strikers do, it'll all come tumbling down just as fast..... I just hope Spurs and England can develop his talent further. But that must be at a slower pace and with as much protection from the pressures and unrealistic expectations that have been created for him as possible.

I think it'll help that he has two sensible managers looking after him. Hodgson seems to be handling him well, thus far. He could have bowed to the media pressure and put him straight in the starting line up but he stuck with the team and formation that has served him well in previous qualifiers.

I think Hodgson might mirror the way Poch kept him out of the league starting line up for Spurs for a few months despite calls for him to be chucked straight in after his good cup performances, and let him prove himself in friendlies before he gets into the starting line up for qualifiers.

Kane seems like a sensible, level headed chap, so hopefully he won't let the hype go to his head, and equally won't let any lean spells (and no doubt instant sniping from the twattish British press) derail him. I'm sure his managers will help with that too.

[Mayhem]

Good going from the U21 team tonight

[fallenangle]

Good result today and on balance of opportunities I think England deserved the draw. First half was rather poor but come the second we slowly got more into the game and could easily have grabbed a win too.

Excellent Andros Townsend goal and none of the Spurs guys disgraced themselves. I was worried about Kyle Walker as he's been far from his best since his return from injury but, apart from one casual moment when he lost the ball in a dangerous situation, nothing to complain about.

[EJG1980]

Yup, spot on, England definitely second best in the first half but gradually got better as the second half wore on and deserved the equaliser.

I really enjoyed it when England scored and we got the camera shot of all four Spurs players celebrating together

I hope Townsend can replicate his England form for Spurs for the rest of the season. Poch showed faith in him with run of starts recently, now the boost of a superb goal for England, hopefully he can use the confidence from that to push his club form up a level.

What would you rather happen with Harry Kane this summer? Time off to rest, or go to the Euro U21s with England?

Edit: to answer my own question, I was erring on the side of hoping that he has the whole summer off to rest, don't want the kid to be burned out.

However it would be a brilliant experience for him to help in his development, and he didn't start a PL game until November, so his less strenuous start to the season hopefully means a summer tournament shouldn't hit him quite as hard as it normally would.

It'd be nice to see England win one of these youth tournaments, so in the end I've come down on the side of hoping that he goes (and that England send the strongest possible squad).