ENGLISH TEAM SOARS

England gaffer made a couple of key points about the midfield that I think deserve further consideration – namely around the ‘balance’ of the side, and the ‘household names’ not being available.
Although this is apparently through Roy’s hand being forced by injury to others, I think we may have just stumbled upon the formula to build this team around over the next few years. 3 big, strong powerful lads, all 21 and under, all capable on the ball, strong in the tackle, and with dynamic and incisive running from Alli, dribbling and passing from Barkley and Dier as the positional glue to allow Alli and/or Barkley to get forward. They interchanged well, defended well, and dominated a near first-choice French midfield for the bulk of that match – imagine if they got a few games together!
The development side is key – you only have to look at Germany in recent years to watch how they discarded their under-achievers and put faith in a young, talented team to grow together, play together in friendlies, qualifiers and tournaments, to get to the level of success they see today. I’m not suggesting that this England team should be expected to deliver on that scale, but they may stand a better chance of doing so than their recent predecessors if they’re given a chance, and not discarded at the first sign of a Henderson/Wilshere midfield axis in a 4-4-2 *shudder*.
Blunders, CFC, London

Is this the non-c***iest England squad ever?
Older 365ers like me may remember the chronicles of the non-c&#$s 11 from 2006 (I think) with Jimmy Bullard as captain.  Reminiscing on this and watching the new generation of players in the England set-up it got me thinking that with Wayne Rooney now no longer assured of a start and Jack Wilshere permanently injured –  we may soon have the most non-c&#$*ish England team in more than twenty years.
Can anyone even begin to imagine Harry Kane screaming “I earn more in a day than you in a year” in the face of a Latvian defender ?  I’d wager Eric Dier doesn’t even have a Bentley, let alone park one in a disabled bay and as for the roasting,  I just feel sure that (unlike some of their big-name predecessors) John Stones and Chris Smalling would rather go home after a night out..
I always got the feeling that it was the arrogance and narcissistic sense of self-entitlement which led to the golden generation never really playing together as a unit, it was all about themselves and their personal glory.  I wonder if a bunch of lesser talented, more down to earth guys might have a huge advantage here.
So if we can get Danny Wellbeck and Jordan Henderson fit again and learn to forget about Jamie Vardy’s casino indiscretion, then by the time the Euros come round we could have the nicest, politest, most-unassuming,  clean-cut, hard-working  young men representing the national team that I can ever remember. And even if they aren’t as talented as some of their predecessors and they still crash out after a few dull performances I for one will still feel better about them, my country and myself.
Nick, Harlow  (I am aware that Raheem Sterling does’t really fit into this narrative).

Consistenly inconsistent
After reading the mailbox this morning, I count help but to ask myself which of these three groups are the most inconstant when it comes to the English national team?
1. English fans? Who a few days (in the mailbox) ago were talking about how bad the team has been and how they have no hope for the euros. Who didn’t agree with a mailboxer (hope that is right) that said he has chosen to be optimistic about the euros. To then suddenly rave and drool about England and their chances at the euros after seeing them beat France (I am not saying France isn’t a good team).
2. English press?: don’t even let me get started on the inconsistency of this group (if I do, this would probably be the only thing that would be published in the evening mail box because of its length)
3. English players?: who show glimpses of brilliance for their individual club sides and in the qualifying stages of most competitions to then go ahead to seem to have no clue when they get to the main tournament.
Other inconsistent groups include: English pundits, jobless managers (turn pundits), in some cases English weather.
If there were to be an award competition to choose which is most inconsistent in all the above listed groups, it’s going to be very very tough to decide.