Come anticipate Roy Hodgson's three months in charge og England with me.

the backlash against him is a bit over the top

he wouldn't get near the midfield of the best teams but as england's only midfielder with close control and dribbling ability, he has to play if he is fit

I'm assuming that Wilshere isn't going to be fit. He should go if he is.

he will be fit but probably not in form

----Ox---------Studge---------Raheem
--------------Lallana---------------
----------Gerrard--Delph------------
-Baines---Cahill--Jagielka----Johnson
--------------Hart------------------

that midfield would get exposed so badly vs anyone? delph and lallana have never played in europe or done anything outside of midtable epl

Carrick might be suffering from a Moyes-induced malaise but he's been pretty awful this season

how about old gareth barry instead?

any of our experienced midfielders can't run. Carrick/Gerrard axis too slow. Ox badly found out when playing centrally. Wilshere prob won't be in peak condition. Henderson can run but likes to go forward too much for an Eng CM.

counter attack with speed and hope for the best

England aren't getting out of that group whoever they play in CM.

gerrard isn't really slow, he has slowed but that is from being a player whose sprint times were better than michael owen, as a deep lying midfielder he's fine

barry lampard or carrick provide different varieties of slowness from geological time to the merely arthritic but the options are just so limited

delph lallana etc are just nowhere near good enough, even henderson can look very lightweight at times, but he is the only =< 25 y/o midfield runner who has experience of playing in a champions league level team

choice of naivete or immobility

Sturridge - Rooney
Oxlade-Chamberlain - Lampard - Gerrard - Townsend

God, imagine that.

could see that lineup being fielded this summer, give or take a james milner

Stick Carroll in there for Studge.

=<

Roy Hodgson has likened the pressure Wayne Rooney faces at the World Cup to the expectation on Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson to churn out Oscar-winning performances.

"You can only hope your attention to prepare him falls on soil which will enable the plant to grow and that when he gets on the field he will feel 'right, I am Wayne Rooney, I feel good, I am going to play, I am going to do all things that built me up to what I am'.

"I am sure it must be the same for Hollywood film stars. When you start off, you make your first film and no-one knows much about you. You might get a few good reviews, but one day you're going to be Al Pacino or be Jack Nicholson, and then suddenly you better make a f***ing good film.''

in the same way that Pacino and Nicholson's best work is a long way behind them maybe

its actually quite an apt comparison the way he says it. if you are treated as the best thing going, then you best back it up. if yr not going to live up to the hype, then buck the fuck up or be seen as a failure. as much shit as we give the white pele, we have all seen him be a world beater at times but its way more anne hathaway 'i loved this one film they were in so fuck the romcoms they do' and less matthew mcconghey 'hey every film this guy is in actually lives up to the hype these days' sorta shit.

was rather just expecting some crap movie puns tbh guys

Gerrard just quit as captain, apparently.

he's retired

quite clearly a red and a lengthy ban

Andy Townsend is confident that Wayne Rooney (29 next month) will improve

he might be really good at Crown Green Bowls

didn't watch this even though i could of

you have will not have missed much

bonzer

deeply tedious, wish i'd seen germany 2 - argentina 4 instead

makes u wonder what it was all about, really

loving hodgson for all this hilariously deflating media kerfuffle tbh

“Switzerland will need to beat us, if anything we might be Norway on Monday. We might be pushed back and can’t attack and dominate for long periods, as we did tonight."

"Although I risk being in a group of one, I have been watching football for a long time and nothing you say will change what I see.”

https://twitter.com/squires_david/status/508162250008326144

that is so shit

Iain Macintosh ‏@iainmacintosh 6h

@squires_david That's absolutely sensational.

^ this is the guardian writer who made a '99 problems' joke on twitter with reference to 50 cent

seems to have deleted that tweet though

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fighting-elements-pocket-money-recalling-4153790

Anyone read this article about Hodgson's time in Norway. Its Pretty funny.

“There are three categories of players. The first one are top class. You admire them. They will win you trophies. In the middle you find normal players. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. In the last category you find players you really dislike. They are shit and don't give you anything. And Bjørn Berland, you are in the last category.”

A friend of mine who works for Fulham remembers Hodgson being incredibly foul mouthed and ragey. One half time he just told the players DO WHAT YOU LIKE IN THE SECOND HALF THAT CUNT STEPHEN KELLY HAS FUCKED IT.

Lichtsteiner is such a wank.

DO WHAT YOU LIKE IN THE SECOND HALF THAT CUNT STEPHEN KELLY HAS FUCKED IT.

new board description?

"If you are an England player, you do have to accept you wear two hats," added the former Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom boss. "You have got to be prepared to leave one hat at home and put the other hat on. If you can't do that you are never going to be any good for me as an England player.

"We can't demand they wear those hats when they go back to their clubs. We have to quite happily accept when they have done their 10 days with us, they put that hat away and they put a new one on. This is about England and my job now is to do my job for England."

and by hat i mean fedora

dont they still give irl caps

gwan then who's 27

anyone....

Aaron Lennon?

Adam Johnson come on down

who woulda thunk it

ikr, £1.8m house in sunderland?

you'd want a whole Sunderland for that

his house is prob worth more than several of their first team

Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Southampton), Joe Hart (Manchester City).

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Fabian Delph (Aston Villa), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Manchester City), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Andros Townsend (Tottenham Hotspur), Theo Walcott (Arsenal).

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).

That collection of defenders in particular is laughable as is the paucity of alternatives.

don't know why Hodgson thinks that negging Alli is a good thing