| The England squad - Keep or bin 14:40 - Jul 19 with 1190 views | PJK1972 |
England had a good World Cup in my opinion. The only tarnish on it was 40mins of abject surrender of possesion & territory to Argentina in the Semi's, which caused our own downfall. They played a wonderful 3rd Place game with France yesterday,showing when the pressure is off, we have the players to do damage to the worlds best teams.
It's now time to reflect on the playing squad and see who you want to lead England to glory in the Euro Championships in a few years time.
Goalkeepers :
Pickford (6) - Blew very hot and cold this World Cup. I still don't feel safe with him in goal and sometimes the distribution is dodgy. Mad some great saves, but also messed up a few (1 in the Semi, he should have got to at least)
Henderson (6) - Played the 1 game, didn't look amazing, shipped 4 goals. No better than Pickford, despite making a few good saves.
Trafford - DNP - Needs to be given his chance now.
Conclusion : Pickford (Bin), Henderson (keep for now), Trafford (Keep and give him some games)
Defence :
Konza (6) : Had some good games and some forgettable games. I think in the main he's quite assured.
Quansah (4) : Really not an international footballer for me. Can make some good tackles, but casught out of position too often.
Stones (6) : Still reads the game better than any defender inthe squad, but severly lacking in pace now and unlike in previous years prone to dreadful errors.
Guehi (7) : He's England most reliable defender. There where you need him, decent amount of pace, ok in the air, but sides have got in behind him (normally when he's trying to cover gaps)
Dan Burn (6) : Not given many minutes and used as a closer by Tuchel. We know he's Englands best man marker, so I think he's a useful squad player to have, especially when defending set plays.
Reece James (6) : A good right back who has many good attacking qualities. Best deployed as a wing back. Had a few good moments in the world cup but tempered by injuries.
Nico O'Reilly (6) : Promising ball playing full back/midfielder. His star shone breifly , but his time will come. Quality we need.
Djed Spence (7): Looked awful in his first few matches, but really grew into the tournement and in the knockout rounds was influential at both ends of the pitch. A decent penalty shout v Mexico and a last ditch tackle in the Argentina game.
Chalabah (DNP) - One for the future I guess.
Conclusion : Quansah & Stones (Bin), James, Konsa, Guehi, O'reilly, Spence, Burn, Chalabah (Keep)
Midfielders :
Rice (6) : Not a great world cup for Rice, but that was down to him getting ill and not regaining his fitness until the 3rd place match. Showed what he can do when he's on it. Needed better delivery from him overall though.
Anderson (7) : Really does get through some work in midfield. Wins a lot of 50:50 balls and keeps England going. I was really impressed, although looked cooked in the sem.
Bellingham (9) : Englands best player in the tournement by far. at both ends of the field he had influence. His running with the ball to score against France summed up his world cup. Almost unstoppable. only reason he isn't a 10/10 is that he went missing too much vs Argentina, but then most of the England team did in the 2nd half.
J Henderson (3) - Any idea what he was doing at this World Cup, apart from demonstrating that he can't leap over advertising hordings without coming a cropper?
Mainoo -DNP - Criminal that he wasn't used in the Semi when Rice/Anderson had run out of legs. Manager decided to go to 4 Centre backs instead. Lost us the game.
Eze (4) - Really didn't do anything when he came on. No spark.
Rogers (6) - At least prepared to have ago, whch lead to Bellingham scoring. We need more offensive minded midfielders like him.
Conclusion : Eze, &J Henderson (Bin), Rogers, Rice, Anderson, Mainoo, Bellingham (keep)
Forwards :
Kane (7) : Would have been heading for an 8 or 9, but like many tournements we have seen Kane in, he plays well for a while then has a stinker of a game. Terrible against Argentina, when it really mattered. Got our goals to get us to the semi's so no complaints about his overall contributution.
Madueke (3) : Very poor world cup. Surprised Tuchel didn't bin him for the knoackout stages. Just runs down blind alleys. Not much service provided to the forwards. Saka is miles better even when unfit.
Saka (7) - Showed his class in the French game. only snippets of this before as he was used sparingly by Tuchel
Gordon (7) - Great work rate from Gordon and at times he looked dangerous. Took his goal v Argentina very well
Rashford (6) - Very much a moments player and had some good shots and assists as well as his goal in this world cup. Really does not do enough, consisering he's so talented. Would keep him as an impact player though.
Watkins (5) - Really didn't show anything when he came on but to be fair wasn't given much time.
Toney (4) -Managed to play the game against France that was full of goals not getting onthe scoresheet. Really not much of a threat.
In summary : Madueke & Toney (Bin), Watkins, Gordon, Saka, Kane, Rashford (Keep)
Looking forward to England putting things right in the Euros!
[Post edited 19 Jul 14:45]
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| The England squad - Keep or bin on 20:09 - Jul 19 with 1000 views | solent_toffee |
Pickford has played in four semi finals now’s in the past five tournaments and yet some people go to the lazy line that Pickfords not good enough, prone to mistakes etc. The last four times England have conceded three goals or more, have one thing in common.
Pickford wasn’t playing.
He’s head and shoulders above all of his challengers. |  | | |
| The England squad - Keep or bin on 20:22 - Jul 19 with 985 views | 1885_SFC |
| The England squad - Keep or bin on 20:09 - Jul 19 by solent_toffee |
Pickford has played in four semi finals now’s in the past five tournaments and yet some people go to the lazy line that Pickfords not good enough, prone to mistakes etc. The last four times England have conceded three goals or more, have one thing in common.
Pickford wasn’t playing.
He’s head and shoulders above all of his challengers. |
I actually agree with you Toffs. Show me a keeper who doesn't make the odd error.
England don't have an abundance of top keepers and Pickford's the best of the bunch in my opinion.
You also have to look at the defence in front of Pickford. He can only do so much between the sticks when opposition players are left unmarked! |  |
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| The England squad - Keep or bin on 21:04 - Jul 19 with 949 views | Ifonly |
| The England squad - Keep or bin on 20:09 - Jul 19 by solent_toffee |
Pickford has played in four semi finals now’s in the past five tournaments and yet some people go to the lazy line that Pickfords not good enough, prone to mistakes etc. The last four times England have conceded three goals or more, have one thing in common.
Pickford wasn’t playing.
He’s head and shoulders above all of his challengers. |
He's a good keeper but its OTT to say he's head and shoulders above the others. If he was injured, Henderson would be a perfectly good replacement, he's a good keeper too. You couldn't really say that the goals yesterday were his fault, or that Pickford would have stopped them. I doubt that Trafford is really ready yet. | | | |
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