So the other night England secured a fairly uneventful 3-0 win vs Peru. After the belter from Sturridge we scored 2 further goals from set pieces (proving the worth of having Baines in the side) - but the concern I think was that Peru had a few very dangerous attacks that would surely have seen us conceding against a better striker line-up. We did however avoid the pre-tournament injury nightmare, perhaps saving that for the friendlies immediately prior to the big kick off.
Tonight it is Ecuador against England, from Miami - in front of what looks like a bumper crowd of at least 15 people! Obviously the side has been completely rotated, but the most interesting thing from my point of view is to see Milner lined up as a right back. Having watch Glen Johnson looking generally immobile and out of position against Peru, I wondered whether we might explore Milner as an option. As a Villa fan I've seen a bit of him play, and know he is very versatile and hard working and could definitely do a job there.
Seeing Rooney as the only survivor from the last game suggests a real determination from Hodgson to get him up to speed and match fit. This is good from my perspective; although it is easy to just wish him to be dropped, he remains one of our most accomplished players, so I hope he finds form.
The rest of the team is actually pretty exciting:
Foster, Milner, Smalling, Jones, Shaw, Wilshere, Lampard, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Barkley, Rooney, Lambert
What I see there is two progresive full backs, two average centre halves, a midfield that has a great mix of pace, power, experience and drive, and two decent strikers.
7 mins: England, as if just to prove me full of shit, just let in a goal.
I hope that Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner in particular shine and give themselves a chance of holding onto their places, as I think each of them could make a difference.
29 mins: Scrappy equaliser for England after good work from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner.
So after the first half, its fair to say that the game is infintiely more exciting than Friday's game. Whether that's the line up, the opposition of the tactical set up, god only knows. I think Oxlade-Chamberlain and Barkley make our midfield infinitely more penetrative, and Ecuador seem to not really bother with midfield either, soi I guess that helps.
51 minutes: Barkley does a great mazy run and sets up Lambert for a belting goal.
69 mins: cracking equaliser for Ecuador. Slightly slow marking from Milner and Wilshire, but what a hit. I wonder if they are using the World Cup ball, if so, it fliiiees.
In other news today:
1) I found some World Cup Babybel on sale today which was of course very exciting. I wonder if I will get excited about anything and everything that has some sort of World Cup link?
Tonight it is Ecuador against England, from Miami - in front of what looks like a bumper crowd of at least 15 people! Obviously the side has been completely rotated, but the most interesting thing from my point of view is to see Milner lined up as a right back. Having watch Glen Johnson looking generally immobile and out of position against Peru, I wondered whether we might explore Milner as an option. As a Villa fan I've seen a bit of him play, and know he is very versatile and hard working and could definitely do a job there.
Seeing Rooney as the only survivor from the last game suggests a real determination from Hodgson to get him up to speed and match fit. This is good from my perspective; although it is easy to just wish him to be dropped, he remains one of our most accomplished players, so I hope he finds form.
The rest of the team is actually pretty exciting:
Foster, Milner, Smalling, Jones, Shaw, Wilshere, Lampard, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Barkley, Rooney, Lambert
What I see there is two progresive full backs, two average centre halves, a midfield that has a great mix of pace, power, experience and drive, and two decent strikers.
7 mins: England, as if just to prove me full of shit, just let in a goal.
I hope that Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner in particular shine and give themselves a chance of holding onto their places, as I think each of them could make a difference.
29 mins: Scrappy equaliser for England after good work from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner.
So after the first half, its fair to say that the game is infintiely more exciting than Friday's game. Whether that's the line up, the opposition of the tactical set up, god only knows. I think Oxlade-Chamberlain and Barkley make our midfield infinitely more penetrative, and Ecuador seem to not really bother with midfield either, soi I guess that helps.
51 minutes: Barkley does a great mazy run and sets up Lambert for a belting goal.
69 mins: cracking equaliser for Ecuador. Slightly slow marking from Milner and Wilshire, but what a hit. I wonder if they are using the World Cup ball, if so, it fliiiees.
In other news today:
1) I found some World Cup Babybel on sale today which was of course very exciting. I wonder if I will get excited about anything and everything that has some sort of World Cup link?
2) No word from Stevey C yet, so the blog may still be a solo effort. If you know me and want to contribute, then just give me a shout and I''ll get you set up.
More soon.
Comments
Post a Comment