Euro 2016 Qualifiers - The Road to France

[YoungWolf]

Terrible.

Belarus has done quite well up to that point too. Spain hadn't looked like scoring.

 

[slink]

Should be 1-1 but Bordachev knocks the ball with his standing foot as he swung his right foot at it and it goes well wide.

 

[jd1981]

Looks like England are about to get away with murder

England dominated that game and should have been out of sight before Slovenia took the lead, Cesar should also have been sent off for an elbow on Rooney. I think getting away with murder is a tad of an exaggeration.

 

[jd1981]

Doing the maths England could well qualify after the next game against San Marino, if Slovenia fail to beat the Swiss away.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Doing the maths England could well qualify after the next game against San Marino, if Slovenia fail to beat the Swiss away.

Qualifying from this group should have never been a question needing to be asked - what we do when we get there is another thing

 

[jd1981]

Qualifying from this group should have never been a question needing to be asked - what we do when we get there is another thing

Agreed I don't think anyone would deny that, a 100% record against week opposition is all you can ask for. England were always in a lose lose situation in this group.
To be fair to them they're making very light work of things.

 

[The Bear]

Wilshere's second goal was top class all round.

 

[Templeton Peck]

Need to settle on a regular back 4 now. Clyne, Cahill and Smalling are all worth their place for now. Not sure why Roy went for Gibbs over Bertrand who has a very good season and a regular starter. He wouldn't be my long term solution but the best we have in the absence of Shaw and Baines.

Everyone fit I'd go with

..............Hart
Clyne Cahill Smalling Baines
..........Milner Wilshere
....Walcott Lallana Sterling
..............Rooney

 

[Langers]

Need to settle on a regular back 4 now. Clyne, Cahill and Smalling are all worth their place for now. Not sure why Roy went for Gibbs over Bertrand who has a very good season and a regular starter. He wouldn't be my long term solution but the best we have in the absence of Shaw and Baines.

Everyone fit I'd go with

..............Hart
Clyne Cahill Smalling Baines
..........Milner Wilshere
....Walcott Lallana Sterling
..............Rooney

Yeah, I can't disagree with that line up. Luke Shaw looks to be the obvious long term solution at LB but needs to find some consistency at Man Utd before he can break in ahead of Baines.

 

[Templeton Peck]

Onto 48 England goals...

Soon he will be our record goalscorer and yet despite this his England career is (for me at least) one of unfulfilled potential. Only 4 goals against top international sides - friendlies all of them. When he first appeared on the scene he genuinely looked like he could be one of the greatest of all time. Two tournament goals since his debut in Euro 2004. I don't really know what happened to him but it all seemed to tail off around 2006. Shame.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Rooney may well overtake Sir Bobby Charlton in the goal scoring stakes, but in my opinion he is nowhere near to being the player that Sir Bobby was.

 

[The Bear]

I'd prefer Phil Jones at CB over Smalling as he always looked the better prospect there.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

I think I will reserve judgement on the current England team until we play decent opposition. England could not have asked to be put into an easier group, and qualification from this group was always going to be a certainty.

 

[Langers]

Rooney is still a superb player - I've never got the negativity towards him TBH. Fair enough, he's never become as amazing as we all thought he could be back in Euro 2004 but he's still been an excellent England player. 48 goals in 105 caps is still a great return. If he equals Charlton's record in the next game, I think they'll have identical goals and caps?

 

[Nando]

I don't think he's superb. He's on the decline and it's a pretty rapid decline too.

He's a good player who has far too many fluctuations in form to be considered amongst the best. He's been downright atrocious since March. It happens with him every season too.

 

[Kenny]

Rooney may well overtake Sir Bobby Charlton in the goal scoring stakes, but in my opinion he is nowhere near to being the player that Sir Bobby was.

Not sure you will find many that will say he is. Top goalscorer doesn't automatically mean the Greatest Player does it.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

I don't think he's superb. He's on the decline and it's a pretty rapid decline too.

He's a good player who has far too many fluctuations in form to be considered amongst the best. He's been downright atrocious since March. It happens with him every season too.

In my opinion Rooney can perform against lesser opposition, but he has just not done it when it matters, at major tournaments against the better teams.

 

[Alan]

Rooney may well overtake Sir Bobby Charlton in the goal scoring stakes, but in my opinion he is nowhere near to being the player that Sir Bobby was.

Incomparable really, the sport is too different now.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Onto 48 England goals...

Not the most relevant thread but just saw a stat on Twitter and this was the first thing I thought of.

After his goal the other night Neymar moved onto 44 for Brazil so far, how the fuck has he got that many already?! Doesn't even feel like he's been around that long but he's already on 64 caps!

 

[lemonjelly]

Interesting comments here by Hodgson:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/15/roy-hodgson-nathaniel-clyne-england

Jones was partly to blame for Slovenia’s first goal and has had an erratic season at Old Trafford but Hodgson gave him his backing after it was put to the England manager that Clyne had been the outstanding right-back in the Premier League last season with Southampton.

“Maybe,” Hodgson said, “but Jones is a top-quality player. We have great faith in him and we are very happy with him. We think Nathaniel Clyne is a very good player but I would be disappointed if anyone thought that on the basis of a good season with their clubs they can walk in and demand a place.

“If I were to play him and leave out Phil Jones there would have been a lot of questions about ‘Don’t you rate Phil Jones?’ and ‘Don’t you think he’s a man of the future?’ I didn’t notice Clyne walk off and you would have to ask him.

Do you think he's correct? I don't.