England v Belgium Friendly

Should be a good 'un. I'll say 3-1 England. Be interesting to see how Hazard does.

2-1 belgium

If you're English, James, then that's lovely positivity.

im predicting a good young belgian side will beat our injury hit team in a friendly. gelgium dont have a tournament coming up and so will go for it where as we will be thinking ahead to next week and wont want to burn ourselves out even more or pick up any more injuries, norway beat us in that second half saturday and eveyrone will admit we didnt play well at all in that second 45

2-0 Belgium or 2-1. How strong a team will Roy put out if the squad members are dropping like flies?

Here's a list of Belgium players. If Mertens plays, keep an eye on him. He's meant to be quite good.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/belgium/startseite/nationalmannschaft_3382.html

Guessing:

Hart
Jones Terry Lescott Cole
Milner Gerrard Parker Downing
Young
Carroll

i know rooneys suspended but i think he should still play in this game. my dream 11 from the 23 would be..

Hart
Johnson Cahill Terry Cole
Gerrard Parker
ox rooney young
walcott

They've got some cracking players Belgium, little worried for Wales' chances in our first qualifier against them. I think if Belgium were going to Euro's they would be an outside bet to get as far as the 1/4 at least:

Kompany
Vermaelen
Vertonghen
Mertens
Witsel
Hazzard

That's a decent outfit. I think England will look to frustrate them and play nice and tight, then hit them on the counter. I think it will be either 2-1 England or 1-1.

I am predicting a goalfest. 3-3.

England's team is:

Hart

Johnson
Cahill
Terry
Cole

Milner
Gerrard
Parker
Chamberlain

Young
Welbeck

Possibly Chamberlain and Young swapped around.

That could very well be the team that starts against France, particularly if Chamberlain and Welbeck impress.

I still think Carroll will offer more than Welbeck, but it makes sense to give Welbeck the same opportunity as Carroll.

Good to see Roy has gone for a positive team selection. It's great to see the Ox and Welbeck (who I rate higher than Carroll) starting. If Steven Gerrard is reading this (doubtful to be fair) then keep the ball on the ground!

I hope England are a bit more attacking today as against Norway, Hodgson seemed to be trying to prove that the team will be hard to break down. I'm more confident that we'll be hard to break down than our attacking threat. Without Rooney, I'm only really confident that Ashley Young will provide an attacking threat and if he is off-form, I don't know where it will come from.

England should play attacking today to give a boost of confidence to the attacking players and more experience attacking together and putting the ball in the back of the net

Apparently Kompany has been injured in the pre-game warm up.

Kompany out for Timmy Simmons (Fa Twitter Account)

Nice to see the whole team singing the national anthem. Always bugs me when they dont

wow didnt realise belgiums record- only lost to germany in 16 internationals- just shows the stregth in europe and there dont even get into tournies!!

They have also started very well

First chance falls to ox unlucky.

I like young, think he could be the ma for us, this tournament.

Townsend: Think your better off hitting those first time, if you don't you can get your lines wrong like that

2 seconds later

Townsend: Should have taken a touch there, settle yourself then hit it

england have started to settle down and not just look to impatiantly go forward

England have no one who can settle down on the ball and play possession passing, keeping the rhythm of the game flowing.

Ox looking good, need to get Young and Welbeck in the game more often. Playing out as a I predicted however, England keeping it tight making themselves hard to break down, still can't more than 5 passes together.

i like oxlaide

matryr you are exagerating abit there pal, the players can keep the ball v belgium no dramas. there will never be a spain, but they can certainly string a few passes together

that beligium should be sent of for that in fairness- what the heck is he on about!!

Weirdly more long balls in this game than there were when Carroll was on the pitch.

Very naughty from the Belgian. Yellow fully deserved for that.

Mys, all they have done is pass it back and forth between the defence, then it breaks down in midfield. I suppose then you could say that they have put more than 5 passes together. Its pass pass pass to the full backs and centre backs, then to a cm, then a long ball then the move breaks down. Only Ox looking like doing anything.

Crimey wrote:Weirdly more long balls in this game than there were when Carroll was on the pitch.

exactly.

yeah id agree with that is how the play has gone. but they certainly settled down abit more from the first 8 mins. This is the way england play on the whole, but they could play a more on the ground game- we do have the players to do that v this opposition

Belgian 20 spots behind Norway

belgium are a top 20 side in my mind

Final would be Ashley's 100th England cap if he plays every game. Its fate

Mehrtons pushes Cahill full speed into Joe Hart's shoulder and has the audacity to look shocked as hes booked.

Gets tackled behind and rolls into the England box.

I don't like him.

mystiroakey wrote:yeah id agree with that is how the play has gone. but they certainly settled down abit more from the first 8 mins. This is the way england play on the whole, but they could play a more on the ground game- we do have the players to do that v this opposition

That's my point though, you don't have the players to really play a passing game on the ground, they aren't technically good enough.

This Belgium side in a few years will be a real threat at majoy tournaments. They have a young, exiting side and their back four is as solid as it comes. Good test though for England going into the French game. They aren't all that different really.

Lol matyr the players are good enough to string more than 5 passes together blimey- they are no spain we all know that!!!- but as i said before you were exagerating on a ridiculas level

Looking frustrated because we can't get the ball.

Young needs to drop deeper, add some numbers into midfield.

mystiroakey wrote:Lol matyr the players are good enough to string more than 5 passes together blimey- they are no spain we all know that!!!- but as i said before you were exagerating on a ridiculas level

Yes ok 5 passes, but I mean holding onto possession for a sustained amount of time, making the opposition chase the ball, then hit them on the attack. That's what international football is all about Mys, possession football that wares the opponents down and then open them up when you can. Its not exaggerating. Exaggerating would be saying they're all crap and can't put one pass together.

Carroll and Walcott on at halftime please. Might as well have an actual targetman up there if our offense is going to consist of long balls. Milner is too slow to be any kind of a threat out wide.

You can win in international football by winning a war of attrition. Its been done.

Welbeck with what must've been his first touch haha

Great goal from England. Lovely link up play between Young and Welbeck, and a classy finish. All about taking your chances and Welbeck did exactly that. These two surely have to start vs France.

Well done Welbeck, when he gets in the right positions he is a good finisher.

Sexy finish from Welbeck

I wouldn't describe anyone for whom Carroll is a serious option as 'spoilt for choice'

martyr_94 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Lol matyr the players are good enough to string more than 5 passes together blimey- they are no spain we all know that!!!- but as i said before you were exagerating on a ridiculas level

Yes ok 5 passes, but I mean holding onto possession for a sustained amount of time, making the opposition chase the ball, then hit them on the attack. That's what international football is all about Mys, possession football that wares the opponents down and then open them up when you can. Its not exaggerating. Exaggerating would be saying they're all crap and can't put one pass together.

no exageratting would be saying anything for effect that is untrue but bassed on principality of truth(england do not play possesion football) . like saying england cant string 5 passes together- lets just drop it pal.

england 1-0 sweet

Hazard trying too hard to impress his new fans atm I think.

mystiroakey wrote:

martyr_94 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Lol matyr the players are good enough to string more than 5 passes together blimey- they are no spain we all know that!!!- but as i said before you were exagerating on a ridiculas level

Yes ok 5 passes, but I mean holding onto possession for a sustained amount of time, making the opposition chase the ball, then hit them on the attack. That's what international football is all about Mys, possession football that wares the opponents down and then open them up when you can. Its not exaggerating. Exaggerating would be saying they're all crap and can't put one pass together.

no exageratting would be saying anything for effect that is untrue but bassed on principality of truth(england do not play possesion football) . like saying england cant string 5 passes together- lets just drop it pal.

england 1-0 sweet

Its just a football saying though Mys isn't it, saying they haven't put 5 passes together as in they haven't been able to play a sustained period of possession football, but, if you want to take it literally and say they HAVE put 5 passes together, then I agree with you and I overly exaggerated. Excellent finish by Welbeck.

j

Who cares how we play as long as win, That's all am bothered about

Blade,

Your right but to win you obviously need a bit of luck but also the game plan to win.

Decent performance so far, I predicted that England would make themselves hard to beat by allowing Belgium to pass the ball back and forth as long as its not in the goal scoring positions. Solid at the back and have taken the chance presented to them. Can't ask much more than that.