England

[Nastro]

15 minutes ago, JakeSAFC said:

 

Bang average side. England always do well in meaningless friendlies.

They'll get out their group and get knocked out in the last 16.

 

Ok, fair point from you but, reaching the last 16 is still purely a pipe dream for Scotland and will not improve under the imperious guidance of the ginger sheep.

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Hoping for a round of 16 exit to Poland, The Brexiteers would love that.

[accies1874]

1 hour ago, Bishop Briggs said:

Dier's natural position is central defence. Stones is nowhere near top quality and rightly behind Kompany and Otamendi.

Alli is having poor season as refs have realised that he's a diving cheat. Spurs are better with Eriksen as playmaker with Lamela or Moura replacing Alli.

Lallana has been injured most of the season.  He's had little game time since he recovered.

Wilshire is just a squad a player at Arsenal who won't meet his pay demands. He thinks that he's better than he is and will move, hopefully to obscurity. 

England's biggest handicap is Southgate who has achieved little in management. A humiliating exit at the group stage is a real possibility.

I do agree with pretty much all of this other than the Stones comment; he was outstanding before his injury but struggled since.

The point I was making was they only have a few real quality players when at the very top of their game, their best midfielder is a defender and what creativity they do have comes from players who have hardly been excelling at their clubs. 

[Bishop Briggs]

1 hour ago, Mayor Wilkins III said:

Alli is a strange one. He was very good for Spurs and not exactly reliant on the cheating. He seems to just have gotten more and more petulant, and has regressed.

I think there was a time he'd have been useful for England. I think that time has passed.

Very true. Alli's over-inflated ego has affected his performance. Diving, showboating and posing seems to be addictions. Pochettino should have dealt with his issues by now. 

England's problem is that there are not many international quality midfielders to compete with him. The fact that Livermore, dire in a dreadful team,  can make the squad only highlights that problem. 

Oxlade-Chamberlain was poor on Friday. Henderson lacks quality at this level too. Most of the alternatives have been injured e.g. (Lallana, Loftus-Cheek) or played out of position (e.g. Delph). Others are struggling to get off the bench, e.g. Drinkwater. Winks can't even get on it.

[Bishop Briggs]

1 minute ago, accies1874 said:

I do agree with pretty much all of this other than the Stones comment; he was outstanding before his injury but struggled since.

The point I was making was they only have a few real quality players when at the very top of their game, their best midfielder is a defender and what creativity they do have comes from players who have hardly been excelling at their clubs. 

Stones has had his bombscare moments before his injury, both for England and Man City. Tbf, Guardiola has worked hard on his deficiencies and he has improved as a result. He does, however, still make errors. They can go unpunished by lesser teams but better teams score from them.

Before his injury last season, Lallana had impressed in the sort of role that De Bruyne plays for City. Loftus-Cheek impressed at Palace before his injury. If they can get fully match fit and perform at their best, they could make a big difference.  

If the midfield options are Dier, Henderson, Livermore, Wilshire and Oxlade-Chamberlain, England will struggle, especially if Alli is stuck on the left-wing. 

[DanMc99]

can't wait for panama to take a point off them

[Bobby Skidmarks]

England could potentially make the quarters but thankfully their fans and media are the worstcunts and they’ll shite it and tumble out at the group stages thanks to a late Panama winner. 

 

[senorsoupe]

England are predictable at any majour tournament.  The media there will w**k themselves into a frenzy about how they are going to do well and how great the squad is, they will get through the group stages and then lose in either the second round or quarter final and the same media who were praising the team will issue scathing character assassinations of the manager and players.

[Bully Wee Villa]

I think it's become a bit of a myth that England are over-hyped. They used to be, certainly, but most England fans seem to think they're shite these days.

 

 

[senorsoupe]

14 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I think it's become a bit of a myth that England are over-hyped. They used to be, certainly, but most England fans seem to think they're shite these days.

 

 

It's more the media who hype up England than the fans, most England fans have accepted the inevitability of England being poor but the newspapers still go a bit nuts. 

[Nastro]

Still think this England team will do quite well.

Kane is key.

[Rab B Nesbit]

2 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I think it's become a bit of a myth that England are over-hyped. They used to be, certainly, but most England fans seem to think they're shite these days.

My impression too BWV. 

[Bishop Briggs]

2 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I think it's become a bit of a myth that England are over-hyped. They used to be, certainly, but most England fans seem to think they're shite these days.

Agreed but they have the "Engerlund" lunatics who form a large proportion of the travelling "support". 

The sensible fans have realised that the managerial team is pretty poor.  

[jagfox]

Good result for England on Friday night. The Netherlands currently 3-0 up away to Portugal perhaps franks the form of that result despite the games being friendlies. I wouldn’t be shocked to see England reach the quarter final stage in Russia. All depends on the luck of the draw from there on in as there are obviously better teams lying in wait. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

5 minutes ago, jagfox99 said:

Good result for England on Friday night. The Netherlands currently 3-0 up away to Portugal perhaps franks the form of that result despite the games being friendlies. I wouldn’t be shocked to see England reach the quarter final stage in Russia. All depends on the luck of the draw from there on in as there are obviously better teams lying in wait. 

You're fùcking kidding me, I bet Portugal.

[Bishop Briggs]

I'm wondering what nasty surprises Vladimir Putin has in store the for the England team. 

 

[ah-dee]

Still think this England team will do quite well.
Kane is key.

couldn't disagree more. this is by far the worst england side of my lifetime, born 87. kane is the only quality player in that squad. the rest are very mediocre.

plus in the weeks before the tournament kane will likely break something very minor thus commencing the newspaper wankathon about if he will make it culminating in them dropping out in the last 16.

[The_Kincardine]

2 hours ago, senorsoupe said:

It's more the media who hype up England than the fans, most England fans have accepted the inevitability of England being poor but the newspapers still go a bit nuts. 

You are half right here.  The biggest issue, though, isn't the papers but the BBC.  They pay screeds of commentators to express views on football in England and they all have to earn their corn.  For example, there's a list of BBC Sport pundits picking their EPL champions and it runs to 40 (forty).  I bet they could have added a few more.  Article is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40856491

So when you have the national broadcaster shelling out money for an admix of journos, ex players and ex managers to comment of matters football then you get the hysteric drivel we've become used to.

Makes me feel happy with Chic Young, Richard Gordon and Derek Ferguson.  Now there's a sentence no one has ever said before.

 

 

[senorsoupe]

16 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

You are half right here.  The biggest issue, though, isn't the papers but the BBC.  They pay screeds of commentators to express views on football in England and they all have to earn their corn.  For example, there's a list of BBC Sport pundits picking their EPL champions and it runs to 40 (forty).  I bet they could have added a few more.  Article is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40856491

So when you have the national broadcaster shelling out money for an admix of journos, ex players and ex managers to comment of matters football then you get the hysteric drivel we've become used to.

Makes me feel happy with Chic Young, Richard Gordon and Derek Ferguson.  Now there's a sentence no one has ever said before.

 

 

I don't know if Sky is that much better with their panel of "experts" that includes such clods as Paul Merson, Phil Thompson et al.

[Nastro]

1 hour ago, Bishop Briggs said:

I'm wondering what nasty surprises Vladimir Putin has in store the for the England team. 

 

None I hope.