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Dan
ENGLAND
ITALY
URUGUAY
FIXTURES
Saturday 14th June 2014 8pm ITV/11PM BBC1
Thursday 19th June 2014 8pm ITV
Friday 20th June 2014 5pm BBC1
Tuesday 24th June 2014 5pm ITV
Deano
Hart
Johnson - Jagielka - Cahill - Baines
Lampard - Gerrard
Barkley
Lallana/Sterling - Sturridge - Rooney
I'd just go for it, with a bang straight away. They would not expect it. Gerrard and Lampard have not got the legs anymore, they can sit back with the discipline and experience they possess and ping the ball about, clean up behind Barkley and let him do the running and attacking. Torn between Lallana and Sterling on the wing, think I'm swaying towards Sterling though. It'd never be this though, but it'd be nice to see going up against Italy not scared off them and willing to attack.
Sheriff Skacel
I'd have the same defence as you but I'd go;
Lallana
Sterling - Sturridge - Rooney
I don't want Sterling coming off the bench, I want him starting. If we want an impact player then I'd rather that was Welbeck, right now Sterling is playing better and offers more to this team than what Welbeck can. I also think its time to try something different with Rooney, the more I think about it the more I like him from LW. Not just for cutting inside but also for the quality of his passing, could set both Sterling and Sturridge on a lot of runs in behind from angled balls.
Ninja
Rooney's passing is horrific.
Sheriff Skacel
Ninja
His long range passing basically equates to nothing more than very slowly floating the ball out to the right wing. It's a waste of time and won't help Sterling or Sturridge because any half competent left back will cut it out.
As for the rest of his passing, if we're kind its hit and miss he routinely fucks up simple 5 yard passes more than I've ever seen a professional footballer fuck them up and I don't have much confidence of him being particularly incisive in tight areas, its basically the number one reason United fans don't want him to play as a number 10.
I'm not sure Rooney offers anything to England other than the fact he will score goals if given chances, playing him anywhere other than centrally negates that.
Sheriff Skacel
I think Rooney will have more say on the game from AML than he will from AMC or ST in this England team, even if we put him at AMC it means forcing Lallana out-wide and I'd rather give him every chance from AMC. We've tried Rooney at AMC and ST for England and its hardly set the world on fire, its time to give other guys a chance in that position but also still hold a modicum of faith in Rooney.
If he underperforms once more in this tournament I think its time to slowly reduce his influence. In the past we've tried to move away from the Beckham's, Campbell's and Owen's and just banished them from the team, leaving huge gaping holes and with that the players either end up getting called back up or we just suffer in their absence. We just need a slow process of reducing the importance of Rooney and trying new things.
It just reminds me of Raul and Spain, Raul was holding back the Spanish national team, once he got dropped, the team started to work a lot better. I'm not saying dropping Raul led to a golden era for Spanish football or that dropping Rooney will do the same or England, but I do believe slowly moving away from Rooney as a guaranteed starter will benefit the team. And its not like Raul was past it when he got phased out, heading into Euro 08 he was in fine form for Real.
Ninja
But I think people are being ridiculously over the top about him, the idea that Lallana or Barkley should be playing instead of him currently is frankly bizarre and I think Hodgson is completely correct to downplay expectations on the pair, I think its got to the stage where they could both actually have better tournaments than you could reasonably expect and people would slate them for not living up to the ridiculous hype surrounding them.
People are acting like Rooney is Heskey at the minute and its bizarre. He's scored 39 England goals, the vast majority of which have come in qualifying games. Yes, he hasn't got a world cup goal, but that was in a 2006 world cup where he was injured and a 2010 world cup where he was also not fully fit and actually did have Emile bloody Heskey to partner him. If what is being said is to be believed then he's fully fit this time round.
On an unrelated point, I wouldn't play Lallana in Maunaus, he can barely play 60 minutes in England, he'll struggle to make it to half time in that heat.
Dan
The Platypus
Yes.
Shedender
No.
England and Uruguay will advance with Italy being knocked out at the group stages, just like four years ago.
Sheriff Skacel
I'd personally love to see a strikeforce of Cassano / Immobile but that won't happen. As for Uruguay, beyond Suarez and Cavani they have very little to offer in my view, a lot of the squad are massively out of form.
VP.
Slashman X
Deano
Shedender
Lets hope for plenty of goals once again and hopefully Uruguay will be winning at half time/full time.
Telegram Sam
King Luis
EDIT:
Apparently this is the lineup now
Happy with that tbh
Telegram Sam
Ninja
King Luis
Bit of a fitness issue for him isn't there?
Will be a good player to have come on with 20 to go
Crane
Ninja
I think he's also the player the Italians would have most wanted us to pick, if that makes sense. He's a good player (although I think a lot of people go overboard because he's technical, and plays for a fashionable club) but we've got 3 good, quick players around Rooney and can be really direct and incisive, playing with real pace hopefully hitting them hard on the break. Lallana doesn't fit in there as easily as those picked.
Shola
Oh it's Gabriel Paletta, last time I checked he was a Liverpool reserve and Argentinian.
Crane
tmatthew
King Luis
Shola
Incredible finish that. Backspin header.
King Luis
SpinSwimScream