The Official *England's Passage to Paris 2016* Thread

[FootballLight]

First topic message reminder :

Sorry 24, I'm thinking of the World Cup again.

[GSC]

Harsh I think. Sterling in general looks bright, but France have 2 excellent CBs and are sitting deep. Patience required.

[Duty281]

Any logical reason why Jack Butland hasn't been given a game in either of these friendlies?

He's only been the best keeper in the prem so far this season

Probably because of Hart's tremendous distribution abilities.

[GSC]

I'd always play my first choice keeper at International Level. Gelling is key

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I agree. Gelling. How does Hart get a relationship if hes dropped when we play good teams in friendlies? He is first choice and its less of a "run out and see" position.

[GSC]

Take your chance. What a goal Delle Alli

[GSC]

Slight deflection from Koscielny which takes it over Lloris. But take nothing away from the teenager.

[Duty281]

Wonderful, wonderful goal. Excellent challenge, tremendous hit.

[GSC]

On reflection, England have been the better side without quite putting it together in the final third.

[Duty281]

Indeed. Where's Owen? I daresay he would have been enjoying this tippy-tappy stuff England have been playing. And I daresay England have had more possession.

[GSC]

Probably not wise to draw too many conclusions long term from this game given the circumstances.

But accomplished is the word I'd use for the first half performance. They haven't quite threatened regularly, but they've been probing, France have struggling to get into position to mount any serious attacks. Alli and Dier playing well in CM so far.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I can't wait until the euros when it's Milner and Henderson in midfield....

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Rooney has been passing the ball around lovely. Been a good performance from Wayne, possibly standout. Saying that, Stones is your typical Rolls Royce defender

[Guest]

Let's not get carried away, the French don't want to be here tonight & it's a pretty b rate French side. Think we needed this confidence booster after Spain & the French are giving to us. Great hit by Alli though

[GSC]

I suspect you're right, Henderson perhaps the safer choice given prior tournament and international experience, Milner on current form shouldn't make the squad.

[GSC]

I'm not convinced by the Rooney, Kane and Barkley trio. Not sure where any of them are playing, perhaps by design, but none of the 3 getting on the ball.

[GSC]

In todays #punditwatch.

Scholes, might be a bit too boring in delivery. Usually has some interesting opinion pieces but his delivery on TV is dull.

[GSC]

Very good goal that.

Fine tackle and pass from Alli, good cross from Sterling and a very good finish from Rooney. Not easy that

[GSC]

Look at all those empty seats. Punished for once.

[Guest]

Poor from Lloris. French will probably just fall over now & go home

[GSC]

"You can add the likes of Benzema and Valbuena to that team"

You probably can't.

[GSC]

Eh, close range, decent amount of power on it.

Not sure there was a great deal Lloris could do.

[Guest]

"You can add the likes of Benzema and Valbuena to that team".

Thauvin & Cabella are big misses tonight for the French.

[GSC]

French heads obviously not entirely into this, but an accomplished performance nonetheless.

The team and fans have carried themselves well in an awkward circumstance

[Guest]

French never showed anything tonight, which was hardly surprising. We wanted a real rest & we didn't really get it, given the circumstances, so it was a slight waste of a high profile match up. Guess we will learn more from the Holland game.

Alli MOTM

[NickisBHAFC]

Fantastic win and great performance. Dier and Ali giving themselves a big chance of remaining in the team and making themselves known. Tottenham deserve a lot of credit, giving young English talent a chance!

Shame about the idiot fans in the first half, but I suppose to that has to be expected.

[Duty281]

Shame about the idiot fans in the first half, but I suppose to that has to be expected.

Eh? What happened?

[Guest]

I wouldn't go a far as stating it was a fantastic performance & this & that, if anything, France played to the level of some of our opponents in the dire qualifying campaign. Martial got injured & left on crutches, to make matters worse for France.

As for idiot fans at Wembley, I didn't see anything either. You might want to of watched the Slovenia game, the minute's silence was stopped after 26 seconds & the game was stopped for flares & missiles being thrown in he second half.

[Fernando]

Pot 1: Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, Belgium & France

Pot 2: Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Ukraine

Pot 3: Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary

Pot 4: Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Wales, Albania, Northern Ireland

[Stella]

Would this be best?

ukraine?
hungary?
albania?

[VTR]

Good to see the moving goalposts are alive and well. England win a match its because:

a) The opposition were poor
b) The opposition weren't trying
c) The opposition's best players weren't playing
d) All of the above

I don't make us anything but outsiders at the Euros, but it annoys me that England only ever win with mitigating circumstances attached, not just in football either

[Hero]

The opposition players being involved in one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in Western Europe in recent times only 4 days earlier I would suggest counts under 'mitigating circumstances'.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

The point is that we should also give our players some credit

[VTR]

The opposition players being involved in one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in Western Europe in recent times only 4 days earlier I would suggest counts under 'mitigating circumstances'.

As I said its not just in football and not unique to this match either. I would imagine the England players were also affected by the traumatic events and emotion of the occasion too.

As mentioned already by another poster, they actually gelled and played quite well and deserve some credit for once

[Stella]

Sterling is yet to convince me that he should be starting, even with our injuries. Thought Rooney played well, which will annoy some on here!

[Duty281]

England have a chance at Euro 2016...as long as Rooney isn't in the squad!

Come on Roy, where's your bottle? Give England a chance.

[GSC]

Sterling was our best attacking player yesterday.

[Guest]

He really wasn't. Barely got anything out of Sagna. Seeing as Rooney would of been MOTM, behind Alli, also states otherwise.

I can't take anything out yesterday's game. Lloris has come out & said we didn't have any aggressiveness, intensity or concentration, so to start hyping the performance, against a team that wasn't mentally or physically up for the game, is just totally wrong. Is in any wonder, Rooney finally has a good game?

[jbeadlesbigrighthand]

Sterling was our best attacking player yesterday.

Really? I can't agree with that. He seemed to lose the ball more often than not, whether through bad passes or running up blind alleys. He'll always look a threat given his pace, but until he can find an end product, I think other players may be a better option.

For the first time in an England shirt, I was really impressed with Barkley. In a more advanced position, his lack of discipline doesn't hurt us as much. It's also great to see Stones looking so comfortable on the ball - it seems ages since we had a centre back who was anything than a good old-fashioned English trier (of greater or lesser quality).

I still don't rate Kieran Gibbs though. I can't see how he's international class, at least not as a footballer.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Thought Rooney was the best attacking player and second best player on the pitch.

[compelling and rich]

ha typical the one good game rooney has and i miss it!

[Hibbz]

I'm not really a fan of football these days and struggle to sit through a whole match but I do find the abuse Rooney is getting irritating.

He's scored more goals for England than anyone else. Ever. In history.

He's scored as many goals in European competition for Man Utd as anyone else. Ever. In history.

Yet he's only ever played one good game?

F@ck off.

[Duty281]

Abuse? Gentle criticism.

[compelling and rich]

hibbz the stats you throw around are purely through longevity of playing as a striker for such long periods, if crouch had played as many games for england he would be englands highest ever goal scorer.

rooney of course does deserve credit for being around that amount of time and for large parts deserving to be in the teams. for united his career in general has been a good one but that doesn't give him free reign for poor performances now. he's club captain and highest paid player at the club and for most parts been one of the worse players on the pitch, thats where the finally played one good game comment comes from.

as for England he's hasn't had a good tournament since 2012 yet has still been a shoe in for all the starting spot throughout that time.

[Hibbz]

hibbz the stats you throw around are purely through longevity of playing as a striker for such long periods, if crouch had played as many games for england he would be englands highest ever goal scorer.

rooney of course does deserve credit for being around that amount of time and for large parts deserving to be in the teams. for united his career in general has been a good one but that doesn't give him free reign for poor performances now. he's club captain and highest paid player at the club and for most parts been one of the worse players on the pitch, thats where the finally played one good game comment comes from.

as for England he's hasn't had a good tournament since 2012 yet has still been a shoe in for all the starting spot throughout that time.

Do you genuinely believe that?

[Dolphin Ziggler]

It is tiresome but people don't change their tune. Rooney ran the attacking from England yesterday, still getting criticism.

[compelling and rich]

its merely a stat throw back at those who use stats to justify rooneys place, as crouch has a better scoring record for England and that's without pens and freekicks.

crouch was very good for england, but club form didn't deserve his place in a england team yet rooneys exempt?

[compelling and rich]

It is tiresome but people don't change their tune. Rooney ran the attacking from England yesterday, still getting criticism.

i wont go over rooney with you again dolph we've done it to death, your his number 1 fan and i am certainly not. it is nice to see the majority are now seeing what ive been saying for a while though.

[BlueCoverman]

Crouch scored 22 goals in 42 England appearances at an average of 0.523 goals per game. If he played 109 times the same as Rooney has and maintained that average he would now be Englands highest ever goal scorer with 57  

[Hibbz]

I wasn't using stats to justify Rooney's place in the team I was using them to ridicule your statement that he's only had one good game.

If you can't see why Rooney played/plays for England and Crouch didn't/doesn't then so be it.

[Duty281]

Crouch scored 22 goals in 42 England appearances at an average of 0.523 goals per game. If he played 109 times the same as Rooney has and maintained that average he would now be Englands highest ever goal scorer with 57  

And, as well as that, if Crouchy was allowed to take penalties, he'd probably be on 70-odd goals by now!

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