Should Woy drop Wayne?

[hal9thou]

Forget the passing stats, half of them were to Rose/Walker..

Which kind of worked out, didn't it? His distribution has been excellent imo, not least in finding space for Alli. The only other person in the squad who can do the midfield general / deep 10 is Wilshere. I think that's why he went in the first place.

[Del]

Rooney's going to get badly exposed when we come up against a proper footballing side. He is so unimaginative on the ball, awful as a creative outlet despite what the media are trying to claim. Forget the passing stats, half of them were to Rose/Walker..

Ali and Wilshere are on a different wavelength to Wayne. Shame

Hmmm... right then. So clearly you don't think spreading the ball to the marauding full backs featured in the game plan then!

I'm not sure what you're actually watching if you think passes to Rose and Walker are negative, which is basically what you're saying. Our formation is designed with a narrow midfield and the width coming from those two. They are an integral component in making the system work, and bringing them into play and switching the play quickly when needed is what needs to happen. Rooney did that perfectly.

[nasser95]

Rooney's going to get badly exposed when we come up against a proper footballing side. He is so unimaginative on the ball, awful as a creative outlet despite what the media are trying to claim. Forget the passing stats, half of them were to Rose/Walker..

Ali and Wilshere are on a different wavelength to Wayne. Shame

If your team is creating most chances from their full backs running forward, is that an issue? Walker and Rose have been phenomenal going up and down the flanks and Rooney is taking advantage of that by releasing them. Just going to say, you want to ignore the stats because you believe that they suggest his accuracy has been down to playing to the full backs consistently. Here's something to maybe change that view. Whoscored.com define Key Passes as the final pass before a shot at goal is taken. Currently, Rooney is placed at joint 4th of all players with 2 appearances. The only players who have done it more are Rakitic, De Bruyne and Payet. I'd say his creativity is pretty good and adding the fact that you can see that when you watch him. He's the most game aware player on the pitch and he's done that consistently this season when playing in midfield. If you want a player who knows the pitch with his eyes closed, Rooney is the one for this Nation

[nanocopic]

The formation works perfectly with Rooney switching the play to either fullback and then Dier dropping back and creating a three man defence.

[Kevin Mcleod]

Let's see how we do tomorrow.
7-1 plays 150-1.
Knows his best team now and no pressure as already through .

[Del]

Let's see how we do tomorrow.
7-1 plays 150-1.
Knows his best team now and no pressure as already through .

I am confident we will win and hope he plays the right team. Either way, outright tournament odds aren't really relevant for a one off match.

[Norths]

Have just seen this on another football forum

"Jordan Henderson has been handed a first start of the tournament in place of Rooney as part of a host of changes manager Hodgson has made, despite the fact top place in the group is still up for grabs.
Strikers Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy have been rewarded for their goalscoring substitute appearances in the victory over Wales, while Hodgson is also planning to hand Jack Wilshere his first start of the tournament and bring in full-backs Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand."

No idea how much truth there is to. We'll soon know, though.
Bringing the two strikers plus Wilshere in makes sense, but Henderson...
The two fullbacks are like for like i suppose but we're building up a nice bit of momentum with the core of the team. Risky.

[Kevin Mcleod]

Won't hurt to rest Wayne mate. Should beat them or at least draw playing any of the squad imo.

[FACTS]

Hmmm... right then. So clearly you don't think spreading the ball to the marauding full backs featured in the game plan then!

I'm not sure what you're actually watching if you think passes to Rose and Walker are negative, which is basically what you're saying. Our formation is designed with a narrow midfield and the width coming from those two. They are an integral component in making the system work, and bringing them into play and switching the play quickly when needed is what needs to happen. Rooney did that perfectly.

If your team is creating most chances from their full backs running forward, is that an issue? Walker and Rose have been phenomenal going up and down the flanks and Rooney is taking advantage of that by releasing them. Just going to say, you want to ignore the stats because you believe that they suggest his accuracy has been down to playing to the full backs consistently. Here's something to maybe change that view. Whoscored.com define Key Passes as the final pass before a shot at goal is taken. Currently, Rooney is placed at joint 4th of all players with 2 appearances. The only players who have done it more are Rakitic, De Bruyne and Payet. I'd say his creativity is pretty good and adding the fact that you can see that when you watch him. He's the most game aware player on the pitch and he's done that consistently this season when playing in midfield. If you want a player who knows the pitch with his eyes closed, Rooney is the one for this Nation

Honestly, we created few chances against a very poor Wales side. Relying on our fullbacks to be the main attacking outlet won't work against any half decent team. I know that's how Hodgson's set up the team but that's another issue altogether. The Key Passes stat is misleading, it doesn't account for the options available or the shot the pass led to.

Sturridge's goal came when we had him, Alli and Rashford playing some decent fast football. Rooney's quarterback passes out wide kill any kind of momentum, I'd rather have Alli and Wilshere trying to play it to feet in and around the box.

Check Rooney's individual highlights and consider the choices he makes and the level of opposition he was up against: https://vimeo.com/171080048

[Del]

Have just seen this on another football forum

"Jordan Henderson has been handed a first start of the tournament in place of Rooney as part of a host of changes manager Hodgson has made, despite the fact top place in the group is still up for grabs.
Strikers Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy have been rewarded for their goalscoring substitute appearances in the victory over Wales, while Hodgson is also planning to hand Jack Wilshere his first start of the tournament and bring in full-backs Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand."

No idea how much truth there is to. We'll soon know, though.
Bringing the two strikers plus Wilshere in makes sense, but Henderson...
The two fullbacks are like for like i suppose but we're building up a nice bit of momentum with the core of the team. Risky.

Yeah I've just read this and honestly can't believe what he's playing at. Resting for potential game at the weekend.... it's only Monday FFS! They can play and recover easily by the weekend. WE have just got some momentum and wind in our sails and could storm this match with some consistency from our 2nd half against Wales yet he's risking completely derailing it all by making so many changes... I don't get it. Bring in Sturridge, Vardy and Wiltshire would be my 3 for Kane, Sterling and Alli.

[jmelanie]

Yeah I've just read this and honestly can't believe what he's playing at. Resting for potential game at the weekend.... it's only Monday FFS! They can play and recover easily by the weekend. WE have just got some momentum and wind in our sails and could storm this match with some consistency from our 2nd half against Wales yet he's risking completely derailing it all by making so many changes... I don't get it. Bring in Sturridge, Vardy and Wiltshire would be my 3 for Kane, Sterling and Alli.

They only need a drawer. Note France rested Payet yesterday.

[Del]

They only need a drawer. Note France rested Payet yesterday.

Difference is France had already qualified, and I think pretty much assured top spot also, whereas if we mess up we could end up 3rd.

The point is we so often fail to play decent at tournaments, especially in the group, yet this time we have been ok, so why mess about with so many changes. Kane and Sterling out has to happen, so disregard those, maybe one other but don't see the need for so many when there's plenty of recovery time to the next match if we get there.

[Norths]

They only need a drawer. Note France rested Payet yesterday.

A wales win would put them above us if our game ends in a draw

[jmelanie]

A wales win would put them above us if our game ends in a draw

Yes but we would still qualify.

[Norths]

Yes but we would still qualify.

Running the risk of playing a much better team in the first knockout round