Last 16: England v Iceland 27th June, 8pm

[Vale on Trent]

Starting positive, on the front foot is vital (as we have the previous 3 games I must say). However, scoring an early goal or taking the lead into half time is absolutely key. Really don't want us to be chasing that elusive goal all game again.

 

[The Unbeliever]

Games like this are the reason I would have taken Carrol, I read today they are thinking of playing Vardy on the left again, I'm a huge fan of his but he is not a wide man. They have got to play Kane up front and tell him to get physical (something he lacks), get plenty of balls into the box and look to create a bit of chaos and unsettle there defence. Tapping balls around in front of them plays right into their hands.

 

[SALTIRE]

England nick it late, 2 - 1

 

[T.A]

Hart

Walker Cahil Smalling Rose
Dier
Lallana Rooney Ali
Kane Vardy/Sturridge

Like it's been said we need an early goal to calm ourselves. 2-1 England...

 

[johnnytodd]

i wish a 1FF advert could block the view of this team.......awful.

 

[T.A]

What's your team Johnny?

 

[johnnytodd]

What's your team Johnny?

Albania

 

[Jarv]

Sturridge should start as central striker. he shouldn't be in the team otherwise he's useless at the wide striker role for England. Vardy and Kane have both had a crack there so let sturridge have a go. Give Rashford a go as one of the wide players he has the pace and ability to actually take players on

 

[CEngelbrecht]

Iceland v. England: Five - nill.

 

[JoshBCFC]

Can see us scraping a 1-0 in extra-time after peppering Iceland for 120 mins.

 

[Blitzballer]

this cracked me up earlier

"England players chilling before Iceland game"

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1992127267599462

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

That video...

 

[Benji]

Can we refer to this as the Kerry Katona Derby?

 

[JJH]

Not Vardy's sort of game this, he won't be finding any space in behind a side like Iceland who are happy to sit on the edge of their 18 with 10 behind the ball.

Need to play with some width - Hodgson has to make the best of what he has given he chose not to bring more than one winger, but if he's going to stick with the 4-3-3, at least have two wingers who stick to the byline and will offer an overlap. I watched Germany against Slovakia yesterday, and they were causing absolute havoc out wide - a complete difference compared to when England faced Slovakia last Monday, where everything went through the middle because of the lack of an overlap out wide.

Hart

Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose;

Alli, Dier, Rooney;

Lallana, Kane, Rashford.
​

If I was Roy, I'd possibly be tempted to stick Sturridge on the right instead of Lallana, or even put Rashford out there and Sterling on the left. That's not a reflection of how Lallana's played in the first three group games, but he's not a quick player who's going to skin the full back for 90 minutes.

Reckon England will win this in extra time, expecting an absolute shitfest of a match though with the way Iceland set up.

 

[JJ1532]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-raheem-sterling-recalled-iceland-roy-hodgson

 

[TractorBoys]

Cannot see the logic there. Worrying.

 

[Big Bird]

Lallana has been playing well and is less likely to be bullied out of it tonight than Sterling. He's also more suited to unlocking a tight defence with Sterling offering raw pace which he'll find difficult to utilise with Iceland sitting so deep. Bizarre decision.

 

[Stevencc]

Apparently Guardiola had a phone call with Sterling to give him some guarantees ahead of next season so we needn't worry, he's had a..........................

.....................pep talk.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Apparently Guardiola had a phone call with Sterling to give him some guarantees ahead of next season so we needn't worry, he's had a..........................

.....................pep talk.

Get out and never come back.

 

[Stevencc]

 

[The Unbeliever]

Sterling !. Jesus what is he on, picks players with no form and plays in form ones out of position. He has got to play a central front two, Kane and Sturidge, Ali Rooney central, drop Dier, Lallana left, Cylne right, Rose and Walker.
Going to get the beers in and pop into the church and ask him for a favour.
Looking forward to a much better game against France.

 

[JimJams]

He's not going to drop Dier. He's our top goalscorer.

 

[Skinner]

Don't drop Dier, he's our biggest threat in the air

 

[The Unbeliever]

Don't drop Dier, he's our biggest threat in the air

Sadly that's true, but I don't think we a going to need a great defensive midfielder in this game Rooney can do it. I've said before Carol should have been in the squad, he picks Rooney as a striker then plays him in midfield, he should have picked him as a midfielder dumped any one of four and had Carrol as his fifth striker. There is no chance he will pick the side I mentioned it's just a opinion based on the shit squad he took in the first place. I think he will go with the starting 11 he played against Russia. However nice the guy is, he is a useless manager.

 

[The Unbeliever]

Don't drop Dier, he's our biggest threat in the air

Plus there is little point having a good header of the ball, when we seem incapable of delivering decent crosses.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Don't drop Dier, he's the fastest player we have!

 

[SamScfc]

And he's been our best player so far, he allows our full backs to bomb on.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Expected line-up (according to the BBC, who got it spot on for the Slovakia game): Hart, Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose, Alli, Dier, Rooney, Sterling, Kane, Sturridge

 

[Abertawe]

Good team

 

[PoolieTom]

Not Vardy's sort of game this, he won't be finding any space in behind a side like Iceland who are happy to sit on the edge of their 18 with 10 behind the ball.

Need to play with some width - Hodgson has to make the best of what he has given he chose not to bring more than one winger, but if he's going to stick with the 4-3-3, at least have two wingers who stick to the byline and will offer an overlap. I watched Germany against Slovakia yesterday, and they were causing absolute havoc out wide - a complete difference compared to when England faced Slovakia last Monday, where everything went through the middle because of the lack of an overlap out wide.

Hart

Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose;

Alli, Dier, Rooney;

Lallana, Kane, Rashford.
​

If I was Roy, I'd possibly be tempted to stick Sturridge on the right instead of Lallana, or even put Rashford out there and Sterling on the left. That's not a reflection of how Lallana's played in the first three group games, but he's not a quick player who's going to skin the full back for 90 minutes.

Reckon England will win this in extra time, expecting an absolute shitfest of a match though with the way Iceland set up.

The first half of this post is the most sensible thing I've read about England on this forum. Then you let yourself down with the rest.....

Good team

I despair. It's fucking awful.