The England National Team

Yeah Johnson was shit yesterday, never been great defensively but hopefully wont be a massive liability

Am I the only one who thinks our defence isnt that bad? Baines and Jagielka, even though they might not have international experience as such are top players, Cahill aswell along with the CL experience. Johnson is a bit of a weak point but all together its not the worst? I know say Brazil have likes of Marcelo and Alves, but then likes of Luiz dont look that much more stable?

We're short on right backs but the rest of the first XI is still bang average.

There's no world class talent there anymore.

2006 we had Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Rooney, Terry, Ferdinand and Cole all in the world class bracket.

I think we'll struggle to get out the group tbh.

If Rooney turns up we'll probably get to the quarters.

To be fair, the group could be a lot harder.

Suarez is really the only player in the group that should unduly worry us.

Balotelli and Pirlo are enough to damage England too.

Suarez is really the only player in the group that should unduly worry us.

Meh, I'm really not sure Balotelli is really a player we should be unduly worried about. Talented enough player on his day, but I've always thought he was vastly over-rated because of what he did off the pitch, more so than what he did on it.

As for Pirlo, undoubtedly a good player but I saw Welbeck do one of the best man marking jobs on a deep lying playmaker you're likely to see against Xabi Alonso, no reason why he couldn't repeat that feat against Pirlo (or similarly no reason why Sterling couldn't do it) and at 35 I'm not sure he has the mobility to get away from that sort of attention.

How about we actually have a go rather than worry about the opposition, people are far too scared of losing and it drives me mad. Lets see how Pirlo does up against Barkley or Sterling, rather than worry about what he can do when he's got the ball (Rooney can drop on him anyway), lets see what he can do when he hasn't as i'm quite certain the last thing he'll be wanting to do is chase around a couple of very quick and skillful teenagers in that heat and humidity.

And also if the only way Wellbeck can get into this side (lets not forget he's supposed to be a striker) is so he can man mark an aging defensive playmaker, rather than actually offer a threat to the oppositions goal then why the fuck is he even there?

*Welbeck

And because he's the third best English striker.

So good at that striker role you want him to man mark a defensive play maker, i'd also rate Lambert a lot better than him too.

Then you're an idiot.

Please bare in mind that Lambert would not be at the world cup right now if Rodriguez hadn't got injured.

Please bare in mind that Welbeck* is only there because of a couple of ok performances in the qualifiers, not because he actually performed better than Lambert (or Rodriguez for that matter) throughout the season.

10 in 36 including 5 in 8 as a forward and 11 substitute appearances.

vs

14 in 39 all as a forward and with only 6 substitute appearances

Had Moyes not bizarrely dropped his most in form player at the back end of December just to have his big names in the side Welbeck would have comfortably outscored Lambert last season.

He's also probably been England's best player over about 2 seasons, playing from the left, but everyone has such a bizarre hard on with hating on him.