A late Sturridge goal wrapped up a fairly unconvincing win over Denmark for England, with Southampton duo, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw, shining amongst the squad.
With this evening’s friendly against Denmark being the last opportunity for Hodgson to field a team prior to the world cup, England were looking to try and fill the vacant roles in the team, with the main area of discussion being who will fill the replacement role for Leighton Baines, who unless injury hindered by injury or an awful dip in form, looks to command the left-back jersey. However, the midfield is a mess, but not for the usual reason England have faced in the past of seeing the same tired old faces filling the same roles month-in, month-out, but there are no players, aside from Gerrard, who have made the role their own. Hodgson has a great dilemma of who he is going to play with Gerrard, with players available such as Carrick, Cleverley, Wilshere, Lallana, Barkley, Henderson, and Oxlade-Chamberlain who has even shown he can play centre-midfield for Arsenal of late. The problem is, none of them have truly staked their claim for the role. We haven’t seen enough of Barkley, Carrick and Cleverley are woefully out of form, Chamberlain has just come back from injury, and Wilshere’s glass ankles look set to break at any given moment.
It isn’t all doom and gloom however. In fact, it is pleasant to see that there are a wealth of candidates for England places, which is not the privilege that England managers have enjoyed in recent years. The problem is that the World Cup is in less than 100 days and Hodgson does not have a settled first XI; suffice to say, when the squad of 22 is announced, there will inevitably be great disappointment.
My questions would be the following: Who is going to partner Cahill at centre-back, if indeed Cahill makes the squad? Who will play in the centre of midfield with Gerrard? And how will Roy accommodate Sturridge, Rooney and the wealth of attacking options England also possess without upsetting the balance of the team, as seen tonight? Also, are there any players who may make the final squad who are not in contention at the moment, such as messrs Kevin Nolan, Steven Caulker and Michael Dawson?
My first eleven, form and injury depending are as follows. Let me know your thoughts on the first XI in the comments below, or on the Facebook page.
- Hart
- Johnson
- Cahill
- Dawson*
- Baines
- Sterling
- Gerrard
- Wilshere
- Lallana
- Rooney
- Sturridge
*If they F.A ended their spat with John Terry, I would pick him. He’s the best English centre-back by a country mile.
Baseline Sport 