But are they good enough? Stones was struggling at City, Sterling forgot his shooting boots. Not sure about the rest!
Ha. Yes. Good question. We shall soon see. They may both regain their form. It will be interesting to see how England deal with Nigeria and what form the team will take in the two warm up matches.
And not forgetting the pace that England has in the team. (We probably have the fastest right sided centre back back in the world ) Pat Nevin puts the case: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44331299 He notes the point about using Hurst instead of Greavsie and that England could use Vardy instead of Kane against Belgium (sluggish Belgian defence) and points out that Southgate could indeed emulate Ramsey in that way.
There is no way Southgate will leave Kane out , especially after making him captain . It's true there is pace in the team , but we lack quality at the top level ,in midfield to create the chances for the forwards . I expect , players like Henderson , plus Jones and Delph will struggle to make any impact at this level . I hope I'm wrong , but the squad doesn't look that strong to me .
I think you are right. There is a gap in creativity in the middle. Loftus Cheek looks like he can fill that role but he isn’t proven at that level yet. I thought Shelvey at Newcastle was a better fit in that creative midfield role but Southgate passed him up. Pat Nevin suggests that they can simply bypass the midfield with pace and more pace. I think this squad that has been selected can deal better with teams that park the bus.
Yes I agree , Shelvey would have been a better option ,but maybe considered too much of a risk re .temperament
He's a very good player , who I watched many times when he was younger . I think he definitely has the ability to play for England , and maybe gets overlooked purely for his indiscretions in the past .
Shelvey, England class your having a laugh he is a second class ill tempered cart horse! Southgate is right to omit him.
All about opinions I guess , for me he has more about him than Henderson .You don't agree , that's fine . Hurst was chosen over Greaves , who made his feelings about it quite clear btw
I sat next to him and Andy Hinchcliffe in the stands once and he wasn't too happy at not getting games. He has always been negative about Everton since.
Other players have had suspect temperaments, that have played for England in the past. And let the team down. Perhaps on balance though he wasn’t worth the risk.
So...in this World Cup year, how about Bobby Moore for a posthumous knighthood? There has been some strong petitioning for it, including the making of the movie Bo66y. Geof Hurst says he has never been replaced in an England shirt. The only England captain to lift the World Cup. “We as a country were the founders of Association football. We as a country have only won the world cup once. The Captain who lead us to victory, Bobby Moore should have been recognised more when he was alive; but he wasn't. He deserves a Posthumous Knighthood more than any sporting person who has ever lived. What a great tribute this would be to a great man.” Extracted from an earlier petition to the government.
Nah nah nah. Greaves has been on the juice and fell down the stairs, gashing his leg open, earlier on in the tournament. So he missed a few games. He was fit for the final but Hurst was deemed more suited to Alf’s “wingless wonders” formation.
I believe he played the 3 group games,the group game against Uruguay he got injured and missed the Argentina and Portugal gamesand as he states in the article below he understood why Sir Alf would not change a winning team and as it turned out he was right not too! Maybe if Greaves had played England would of won in normal time maybe they would of lost who knows. I have always liked Jimmy Greaves and it is to his great credit that he is still held in such high esteem by football fans across the world, more so than some of the so called here today gone tomorrow stars of today. What could the likes of Jimmy Greaves, George Best,Bobby Moore and some of the other greats of world football achieve in today's footballing climate? Something very remarkable I guess! https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2420411/Greaves-puts-World-Cup-snub-into-perspective.html
