For me, watching England play 'football' is only slightly more interesting than watching the spin-cycle on a washing machine, but with five LFC stars in Roy Hodgson's squad, there's a chance that England's style of play may actually be somewhat tolerable during the upcoming World Cup. Raheem Sterling, and Jordan Henderson have a great chance to impose themselves on the international game, but Brazil legend Zico believes that Daniel Sturridge is capable of making the biggest impact.
In his column for The Guardian today, Zico - who represented Brazil in three consecutive World Cups - Enthused:
"Daniel Sturridge impressed me with his composure and movement.
"To reach the 20-goal mark in a tough league like the Premier League is not easy and this could be good news for England.
"Sturridge could be a difficult player for the opposition to handle. And, in a difficult group, England will need all the help they can get."
It's very simple: if Sturridge is given a run of games in his best position, he will score goals for England, just like he does for Liverpool.
If Hodgson wastes him out wide, or doesn't have the balls to play Sturridge through the middle (ahead of the execrably overrated Wayne Rooney), then it will be managerial negligence of the highest order (IMO).
No English striker performed better than Sturridge last season. He should be one of the first names on the England team-sheet, and if he feels like he has the confidence of the manager, the goals will flow.
In a recent column for The Mirror, Ex-Red Stan Collymore predicted that Roy Hodgson will 'revert to type' and select Danny Welbeck ahead of Sturridge. He noted:
"Some people will argue we should play two up top but that won’t happen. Sturridge would feel particularly upset if he was left out, having had such a great campaign and bagged 22 Premier League goals"
Urgh. I know I'm always on Welbeck's case, but I just cannot fathom how he consistently gets into the England squad. What's even more mystifying is how he has more England caps than Sturridge, who is clearly a far more effective and productive striker.
I don't see Zico - one of the bona-fide legends of the game - writing glowing eulogies about Welbeck...
Author: Jaimie K
In his column for The Guardian today, Zico - who represented Brazil in three consecutive World Cups - Enthused:
"Daniel Sturridge impressed me with his composure and movement.
"To reach the 20-goal mark in a tough league like the Premier League is not easy and this could be good news for England.
"Sturridge could be a difficult player for the opposition to handle. And, in a difficult group, England will need all the help they can get."
It's very simple: if Sturridge is given a run of games in his best position, he will score goals for England, just like he does for Liverpool.
If Hodgson wastes him out wide, or doesn't have the balls to play Sturridge through the middle (ahead of the execrably overrated Wayne Rooney), then it will be managerial negligence of the highest order (IMO).
No English striker performed better than Sturridge last season. He should be one of the first names on the England team-sheet, and if he feels like he has the confidence of the manager, the goals will flow.
In a recent column for The Mirror, Ex-Red Stan Collymore predicted that Roy Hodgson will 'revert to type' and select Danny Welbeck ahead of Sturridge. He noted:
"Some people will argue we should play two up top but that won’t happen. Sturridge would feel particularly upset if he was left out, having had such a great campaign and bagged 22 Premier League goals"
Urgh. I know I'm always on Welbeck's case, but I just cannot fathom how he consistently gets into the England squad. What's even more mystifying is how he has more England caps than Sturridge, who is clearly a far more effective and productive striker.
I don't see Zico - one of the bona-fide legends of the game - writing glowing eulogies about Welbeck...
Author: Jaimie K
Great read JK. Woy would probably play welbeck and Rooney ahead of Sturridge. In that case our players will be back home early and be fresh and rested. Get going again for next season is all that matters.
ReplyDeleteHey, how could anybody accuse Hodgson of negligence, you must have no Konchelski, oops konscience I meant.
ReplyDelete............................sturridge
ReplyDeletesterling..........................................milner/welbeck
..........................lallana
...............gerrard............henderson
baines.....jagielka..............cahill......johnson
........................hart
that england team would win the world cup
we should sign milner and lallana as well
ReplyDelete................ ....sturridge...... . ....suarez
......................................lallana
.............coutinho .. .................henderson
....................................gerrard
bench: lambert,sterling ,milner ,allen
maybe this team can win cl
It's nice to hear these foreign footballing legends praise Liverpool players for their technique. After all these guys know their football. But what I would really like to hear from them is 'by 'eck, that Wayne Rooney is a bag of overrated sh1te'. Then maybe Roy will start to get the message.
ReplyDeletehart
ReplyDeletejohnson jagielka cahill baines
gerrard henderson
rooney lallana sterling
sturridge
Rooney should be working with Sturridge like Suarez does. I mean he wears the number 10 on his back ... does he play that role or not? Sturridge plays centrally for Liverpool but also drifts right to link up with Sterling. Rooney should be central drifting left with Lallana a bit deeper, also taking up that left flank when needed. Team selection is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned but Hodgson will be seeing these guys in training every day and if certain combinations are just not working then he has to make adjustments. It's not really the case that you just put a guy on the pitch and he'll score goals, he has to be used effectively and the combinations have to be there. If Hodgson can't use Sturridge effectively then he won't be the same player we've seen this year and as much of a problem as that might be, it would make more sense to go with the players he knows he can work with the best. If the manager can get a better combination out of Welbeck and Rooney then he should play them as first choice.
ReplyDeleteMaybe hodgsons statement that rooney could be dropped will do the trick, if not don't be afraid to do it. At Least there's a chance it will spur him on. For me rooney is like the emporers new clothes. Goes out every time, does nothing and capello says he's our best player.
ReplyDeleteWhat a player zico was by the way.
His goal on Friday was pretty sweet.
ReplyDeleteHe needs to play if England want any chance of success in the competition.
To be fair to Welbeck though, his stats for England aren't too bad, 22 games and 8 goals, I don't know what games he scored in, so it could all be against poor teams.
But Sturridge is a lot more lethal, and is so much more likely to score when you need it, I think.
Yea bet Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina etc are all in a heavy flap in case Roy picks that World Cup winning team... Not. Sorry I'm Scottish
ReplyDeleteDon't be sorry you're Scottish it's not your fault.
ReplyDeleteHart, baines, cahill, jagielka, johnson, gerrard, henderson, lallana on left, barkley through the middle, sterling on the right, sturridge up top. Comfortably the best team atm in my opinion
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't but it could give a good account of itself.
ReplyDeleteSturidge is a good player. But at times he goes missing when the going gets tough, despite that he always remains a goal threat. I think he could do better with his defensive stance and movement, this does not mean he plays deeper but the way he defends from the top.
ReplyDeleteLambert our plan B is on board now we need to add real quality to the team. Johnson is very good going forward but defensively our team can not carry him, for this reason we must pack his bags and drive him to another club should they put in a decent bid. Lucas also is holding us back, it has to be him or Gerrard, I know Gerrard has at most a couple of seasons but Lucas is too old now to be waiting for his chance. We need to replace Lucas with someone more mobile and some physical presence i.e. more than Allen. Agger and Skrtel as good they are, again should a decent offer come in, we should sell, and get in player for stable, less mistake (skrtel) and injury (agger) prone. Aspas, Asaidi, Coates, Enrique, Jones, Reina, Borini all going out with the ones mentioned couls raise us about 60+mil, hence giving us a budget of 100+mil.
Really want us to get in Mateo Kovacic, Song Heun Min, Caulker/Ginter, Jonathan Tah, Serge Aurier, Moreno, Bernard Malanda, Firmino and Shaqiri. If we can get these players in plus some of our promising youth, we will have quality young player that can take us forward for many years to come. Hope we don't mess up the opportunity of this transfer window on the back of last years success like we have done a number of times in the past.
Sturridge averages a goal/assist every single game. Foe me, he can go missing as much as he likes.
ReplyDeleteHaha touché
ReplyDeleteSturridge has proven that he is a top player and he still has room to grow.
ReplyDeleteThe only downside is the injuries he gets. I just know he will return from the World Cup with an injury of some sort
Love the name mate!
ReplyDeleteJaimie, you need to add the word "EVER" to the very end of your article.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Wellbeck & Rooney situations, I think Roy's pandering to egos and not playing to form if he picks those two over Sterling. I also feel that a major loss for England at this World Cup will be the absence of Walcott. Having him and Sterling in the same side would have been devastating as they will, no doubt, be able to out pace any defenders at the competition.
There is no denying his qualities we all love it when he plays and scores. We have I believe England's best striker, Just pointing out an aspect of his game that he can improve on which can only be benefit the team.
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't for Suarez then it would have been Studge with the 30+ goal season. I can't fathom how Hodgson can't see that and start Studge over Welbeck. Rooney should be playing the #10 role and hope to God that he can keep up with Raheem and Studge. If Hodgson can't see that then he shouldn't be coaching.
ReplyDeleteI like Milner, but I don't believe he has the speed to play LFC football.
ReplyDeleteWell Bobby Charlton thinks Rooney should play because he has that 'special something.' What that special something might be defies description at this point because it sure hasn't been scoring goals.
ReplyDeletehe is faster than lambert
ReplyDeleteGreat article because it's totally counterintuitive of what you hear in the press. In short the English media are so desperate for Rooney to be the hero Sturridge has been overlooked. Now the talk is whether Sturridge is selfless enough to play in a partnership as if one of the top partnerships in the world at LFC was fiction.
ReplyDeleteQuestion now is if Hodgson can get the best out of them, for me that means Sturridge leading the line & Rooney just behind!
On a broader note, England's obsession with celebrity instead of talent will always lead to a skewed view of players.
I am not as goosepimply giddy over that move as many here seem to be. I don't see much use for 32 yr old strikers. I don't care where they were born. Sounds very much like a retirement job to me.
ReplyDeleteRooney 17 goals this season
ReplyDeleteDempsey 16 goals 2 seasons ago. Any PL striker ought to knock in double digits in a 38 match season. I'm not impressed by 17 goals when a 22 goal striker is there who would probably scored 32 if he weren't partnered with the best striker in the PL.
Just the NINE players then.
ReplyDeleteYou and Twistadee should meet up and compare notes
Sturridge has done more than enough to be our main focus & lead the line. I hope Hodgson backs Sturridge properly & not cave in to media spin!
ReplyDeleteWhatever team we play the elephant in the room is that roy doesnt inspire his players. Dread i say it - but BR would be the ideal english manager!
ReplyDeletePeople love entertainment thats why every kid loves and supports brazil. I remember as a young lad crying when brazil lost to italy in 1982 - why ? Purely because they played awesome football - there was an aura about them. We dont aspire to this goal of playing attractive football. hence outside england no one cares about english football! Yet people support brazil, spain or argentina - its brand football.
That's always been England's problem. Remember Shearer who hadn't scored a goal for England on 9-10 games & led to Andy Cole's "Golden Boy" comments. We've not had a manager with back bone since the late sir Bobby. Ever since it's been ego massaging just as you say!
ReplyDeleteJeremy Wilson in the Telegraph today: 'The bottom line is that Rooney is still England's best player.' It is hard to accept such institutional blindness...but how I see that it exists.
ReplyDelete