England

Might be in the bookies

It isn't the super dribblers and flash 'arry players you want, it's ones who can do a job within a plan. That was how Robson and Venables incorporated Gazza, by having a side to do the dirty work and let him be the one to play.  The Golden Generation never had a manager with a proper plan and several of those players could only fit in one position and were never in the same street as Gazza.

I remember the clamour for Beckham to be played as a "quarterback" for instance and he was played there (not at ManU though) until it was obvious the was a one trick pony - right foot diagonal bang over 40 yards. Opposition used to snuff him out in no time. Same with Gerrard who was touted as midfield general but his idea of that was a big wallop down the channel. He was able to run with the ball and beat the odd player when he got steam up, more than Beckham could.

Scholes was played on the left wing! Say no more about the cluelessness of it.

Quoted from pen penfras

How many in this squad would get into that team? Maybe Kane and Sterling. It's nowhere near as strong. The core of that team was incredible, but they never produced in the big games.

Due to the prevalence of 4-3-3 or its variants, I would probably take Sancho, Kane, Sterling and Rashford over Owen, Heskey, Trevor Sinclair, Fowler. Heskey was a decent player but the current four would clearly be an upgrade. Fowler wouldn’t survive in modern football and his legs had gone by 2002 anyway.

I know Owen won the Ballon d’Or in 2001 but in modern football, he couldn’t play wide and would struggle upfront on his own.

TAA, James and Kyle Walker would be a clear improvement on Danny Mills. A fit Gary Neville would supply some much needed defensive nous in the current squad.

Same old will happen, flatter to deceive in meaningless games, romp through the seeded stages and as soon as we meet decent opposition without the safety net of seeding we struggle and eventually fail.

Managers pick superstar players , not the players to suit the best system , Sir Alf had players in to do specific roles that they were good at, not shoe horned in to avoid getting flak for dropping them like just about every other manager has done since.

Look around the Premiership now....are the best players English ?  pick your way through the positions and think even in the Premier League, our top division , is the best keeper English ?  right back, left back...etc etc....i would think you would struggle to come up with 3 or 4 that are the best in our own back yard, thats without considering the rest of the world.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

Due to the prevalence of 4-3-3 or its variants, I would probably take Sancho, Kane, Sterling and Rashford over Owen, Heskey, Trevor Sinclair, Fowler. Heskey was a decent player but the current four would clearly be an upgrade. Fowler wouldn’t survive in modern football and his legs had gone by 2002 anyway.

I know Owen won the Ballon d’Or in 2001 but in modern football, he couldn’t play wide and would struggle upfront on his own.

TAA, James and Kyle Walker would be a clear improvement on Danny Mills. A fit Gary Neville would supply some much needed defensive nous in the current squad.

But you're picking the less impressive players from that era and comparing them to the best from this era.

Terry, Ferdinand, Cole, Neville, Campbell, King and Woodgate were all superior to our current defenders. TAA seems the only real world class defender we have right now, and he's almost a winger the way Liverpool play.

Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Scholes and Hargreaves could build a fantastic midfield. Again, there's not many real world class midfielders to choose from at the moment.

Owen, Rooney and Joe Cole could make a decent front three although I'll agree that the current choice for that formation is much better.

Still, the current squad is nowhere near as talented as what Sven had to pick from. We massively underperformed in that era.

Belgium vs England

England starting XI: Pickford, Walker, Trippier, Mings, Dier, Chilwell, Rice, Henderson, Mount, Grealish, Kane.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

Due to the prevalence of 4-3-3 or its variants, I would probably take Sancho, Kane, Sterling and Rashford over Owen, Heskey, Trevor Sinclair, Fowler. Heskey was a decent player but the current four would clearly be an upgrade. Fowler wouldn’t survive in modern football and his legs had gone by 2002 anyway.

I know Owen won the Ballon d’Or in 2001 but in modern football, he couldn’t play wide and would struggle upfront on his own.

TAA, James and Kyle Walker would be a clear improvement on Danny Mills. A fit Gary Neville would supply some much needed defensive nous in the current squad.

Owen was another example of bad management. He needed a team to play in that would build moves to set him free or 1 on 1 with the last defender.

Heskey was a worker and target man. He was not expected to score many and he didn’t disappoint. So much so that opponents could leave him with an open goal and set themselves for the goal kick to come.



Belgium 2 England 0 so far.

Just waiting for the “well they are number one in the world” posts!

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Belgium 2 England 0 so far.

Just waiting for the “well they are number one in the world” posts!

I think the scoreline has flattered Belgium tbh, could easily have been 2-2 at HT

Never been sure about Dier - what is so special about him to make him an automatic choice for England?  

Quoted from Heswall Mariner

Never been sure about Dier - what is so special about him to make him an automatic choice for England?  

Not sure he’s an automatic choice for Spurs, never mind England