17 Nov 2015 20:15:00
Must say this England team looks a lot better than normal, bring in baines/shaw, wilshere/hendo and maybe sturridge/ox for gibbs, dier and Barkley amd you've got a half decent side, young with a bit of experience and an actual holding midfielder.
On another note, I can't think of another of a better co-commentator than hoddle.
17 Nov 2015 21:11:34
You will actually have the normal team with all those changes.
17 Nov 2015 22:19:58
Knowing hodgson he will just bring back in lallana, Milner, jagielka, and take the like of Kane, dier, stones out. Not exactly the usual team.
18 Nov 2015 01:26:06
I think our CB pair for the Euros has got to be Stones - Smalling.
18 Nov 2015 01:59:24
We should just pick a completely fresh hungry and young team, the old guard have proved they can't win, but maybe this lot might, and if not, in 2 years, the abundance of decent young players we have, we will have a shot. Butland, clyne, smalling, stones, shaw, dier, alli, Barkley, sterling, Kane, oxlade, wilshere will all be there for a while, let them build as a squad without the likes of milner, Carrick etc, not that they're bad players but for the future.
18 Nov 2015 08:25:19
I'm not convinced of smalling, both time Schneiderlin hasn't sat in front of him, UTD have been hammered (Arsenal and PSV) and a third time they played very poorly vs Southampton (who themselves were in a rut)
Schneiderlin is the one resposible for SmallingS huge up turn in fortune for me. He sits and protects that back 4 very well, and quite frankly most of the challenges smalling makes are standard within the game.
Smalling still looks shakey in England for me, who don't have a strong choice of defensive midfielders, and for me Carrick aside the best of those is Mason who's out injured.
It wouldbe really interesting to see how Utd and smalling cope without Schneiderlin sat in front of the back 4.
18 Nov 2015 13:20:46
Who would you have as the 2 cbs, Bob? You do raise a good point.
18 Nov 2015 14:29:55
Dier is probably the only actually defensive minded midfielder we have, if he keeps playing there for Spurs i'd say he should start at the euros. May not be the best, but he's big strong and quick, and we literally have no other players bar like Gareth Barry that play as a defensive midfielder.
18 Nov 2015 14:37:58
1st off I'd have taken the time of stupid friendlies to try out other options if I were England manager, why Phil Jones still gets near that squad highlights Woy's imbicillic choices.
This was a time for him to try out Dann, Kelly, Shawcross, Dawson, Cresswell All of whom are better than Phil Jones, and see what partnerships work best. (I REALLY don't rate Phil)
If I was to pick 2 centrbacks currently, I'd go Stones, Dann.
In the next friendlies it would be nice to see Woy try out other players, Smalling doesn't fill me with confidence as I'm yet to be convinced for the reasons stated previously) and Cahill I just don't think is good enough, and never have thought he was.
18 Nov 2015 15:00:52
dann over smalling, really? you have to give smalling some credit, the guy has really improved. schneiderlin didn't play against Liverpool, but smalling still managed to keep benteke quite for large part of the game. stones and smalling is the best possible partnership for england now.
{Ed001's Note - has he improved or is he just enjoying more protection from the midfield this season?}
18 Nov 2015 16:02:47
Dann is a. unusual choice hehe.
18 Nov 2015 17:57:39
Smalling has been brilliant for 18 months now and is still improving.
right now he is England's best defender imo and fully deserves the praise he is getting.
he is getting more protection this season granted but he still has to perform and he is week in week out.
BOB, to suggest we got battered by PSV is laughable and question marks have to be asked if u watched the game which you obviously did not. if u had u would of seen it was a very one sided game marred by the horrific injury to Shaw. However it was a game where we smashed them and they had 2 chances and took them. Darmian being at fault for at least one goal.
the CB pairing for England for me has to be Smalling and Stones.
I agree it's laughable Jones is still getting a chance and I can only guess it's because of his versatility, likewise how Lallana gets anywhere near the side shows how bad English players are atm.
Ward-Prowse should be somewhere in there for me.
{Ed001's Note - seriously? Smalling was average last season, he was destroyed in the game against Arsenal this season, when he wasn't given protection by the midfield. He has shown nothing to suggest he is a quality defender. You are falling victim to the same failing in judgement that saw Liverpool spunk 20+m on Lovren. Lovren was given the same protection at Southampton and also looked top class. Smalling is the same, an average defender working in a system that provides him with cover. As for England's best defender, if that is true then England are a lost cause.
As for Ward-Prowse, I like him, but he has not shown any signs of being ready this season. I am surprised you are even suggesting him, but that shows just how bad English players are I guess.}
18 Nov 2015 18:23:42
I would reaply, but ed001 has said pretty much everything I would have.
With regards to watching the game, yes I did watch the PSV game, he had no composure, struggled to pick out passes when Schneiderlin didn't show and was rash in challenges, because Morgan wasn't there. Your midfield was all over the place and over all you lacked any threat up front and you were wide open for the counter. I don't comment on matches i don't watch. many on here will tell you I admit when I don't see games instead of spouting trash.
Smalling as ED001 said didn't have a great 18 months either, he's played well for 10 or so games.
18 Nov 2015 18:24:37
p. s Jones and Versatility, should NEVER bee in the same sentence CTR :)
18 Nov 2015 18:56:20
midfield protection or not, its a team sport, so everybody plays his role. can you say koscienly is not a good defender because he has couqelin making tackles and interceptions in front of him, or thiago Silva because he has matuidi and Motta. smalling is playing his role as a defender well, though schneiderlin does a lot, take nothing away from smalling who IMO has improved.
18 Nov 2015 19:44:11
Smalling has shown a great deal of improvement in the last year or so, after the city game last season it looked over for him but after that he came back in and really performed and since has gone on, yes he got hammered at Arsenal but tbf the whole team were set up in a suicidle way imo, to blame one defender in a make shift back four with a cm pressing is a tad harsh, and yes without that protection he got caught in limbo to press the ball or drop off.
imo him and lovern are proactive defenders who look to read the play and intercept the ball rather than a terry type of reactive defender who looks to drop off and get into position to defend (now I'm rambling lol) .
as for ward-prose, it was a bit left field ed I'll admit and maybe it's my like for the player ruling my head, it happens lol but I see a lot of good things in the lad that could really excell at a higher level. he has great technique and his work rate is solid to, although I'm yet to figure out where in the midfield he plays. what do u think? for me he could really do a deep lying playmaking roll but equally u lose his delivery there.
18 Nov 2015 19:47:39
Bob he is versatile, he plays a number of positions awfully lol.
18 Nov 2015 19:58:30
Koscielny has proved over several seasons he's generally competent and a good player. Smalling has had 10 or so consistent games when he's not messed up and looked above average. but then the evidence has been when schneiderlin hasn't sat in front he's played poor and so have utd. This can not be said of Koscielny who played well before coquelin discovery even when arsenal were tanking and slow starting he often could hold his head high.
You need to realise there's a vast difference in the (playing well) sample size. Ones lasted 3+ years the other 1/3rd of a season.
18 Nov 2015 20:00:28
None of this is a simple lfc fan hating on utd players btw. I hope for England smalling turns out to be good, and for the lads career. I personally don't revel and get kicks in u5d player playing poorly. I'd rather lfcs play better. I'm just not convinced. But I won't apologise for that given the evidence I've witnessed over 4 or so years.
18 Nov 2015 20:27:44
kos is above average imo just. he gets caught out to many times. u can get down the side of him to easy imo resulting in him giving away silly fouls.
granted he has improved 10 fold on the player that first came to England but his ceiling was high.
19 Nov 2015 00:18:32
The pace and strength combination smalling has, he should be a beast for a centre back, but he just isn't, and he's not exactly young and inexperienced now. To me he always looks like on the edge of a card and doesn't make it look easy. I'm not saying he doesn't use his pace and strength well, because he does, but he relies on it, and doesn't really have much else to his game.
18 Nov 2015 23:03:33
Ed001, any center back will benefit from having a strong CM in front to protect him. That doesn't mean the CB hasn't improved tho does it? Smalling has come on leaps and bounds the past 18 months. Ever since his wreckless red against City, he has been brilliant. He's much more vocal and dominant, his positioning has improved massively, his timing of tackling is very good and he is very good in the air. He's comfortable on the ball, and chips in with 3 or 4 goals a season. A totally non biased opinion is that he's been the best CB in the league for the last 6 months.
{Ed001's Note - you are clearly biased, how has he been any better than say the Palace centre backs, who actually get little to no protection from their midfield? Smalling has shown none of the dominance of a top class centre half, his positioning was shown up against Arsenal, as the usual clueless running around. He has improved, I agree, but he is not anywhere near top class, nor close to being the best CB in the league. He is barely the best centre half at United, and you don't have any decent ones, which is why you play such negative football, to protect the weak links at the back.}
19 Nov 2015 08:33:44
Wow best CB in the league, is an unbiased sentiment? he's not even close to top 10 stand united.