England Drag Saints Stars Down to Their Level!

Jay, Adam and Rickie play "Spot the Player Who Shouldn't Be Here"

England friendlies are boring and pretty much a waste of time as a rule.  What you get is a starting XI which will be devoid of Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United players as they will all pull out injured.  In their place will be reserves from the same teams who don’t get a game in the Premier League and therefore can be spared by their respective clubs Irish, French and Scottish managers.  Hence, players like Tom Cleverley have 20 caps and someone like James Milner has approaching 50, despite neither being good enough to get a regular Premier League game for their clubs.  This time is actually a bit different though and we, as Saints fans are interested.

Maybe it’s because Saints are sitting 3^rd in the League and therefore it can’t really be criticized but to his credit, Roy Hodgson has decided to have a look at some Saints players with Sir Rickie, Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez in the squad.  Sir Rickie or course has become a bit of a regular since the start of this season but it’s a first time inclusion for the other two.  I don’t think anyone was surprised at Adam’s inclusion buy Jay’s call up came as a massive surprise to me as for me, he’s not shown anywhere near the level of consistency over a period of time to warrant it... mind you, it’s never stopped call ups for many of the others in the squad.

As the game approached we had a spate of withdrawals with Carrick and Welbeck being the first to go, followed by Gerrard and Sturridge.  Then there was a bit of a heart-in-mouth moment as Sir Rickie pulled out with a kind of unspecified muscle injury... aarrrrgh!  He never gets injured to what the fuck has happened there?  All of this increased the chances of the other two getting a game and as it turned out, they were both named in the starting XI, on either side of Squirrel Head in the England attack.

The national anthems saw the two Saints boys standing next to eachother with Adam looking composed and Jay looking somewhere between nervous and terrified.  There’s been a lot of talk recently about the Saints pressing game and you could see that England were set up to try and do the same.  Rooney was chasing around, Adam and J-Rod were pushing up, as was Milner from midfield.  However, Lampard, Wilshere and the back four were miles back and Chile were good enough to pop it about until they got past our pressing four and then attack.

England quickly went 1-0 down as none of the back 4 covered themselves in glory.  Cahill was recovering from getting a ball in the chest, Johnson allowed the cross to come in too easily, Jones was out of position and Baines allowed Sanchez to get in front of him and head down past the lumbering Forster in goal.

Adam looked confident but his first time in the spotlight came when taking two corners from the right hand side.  His set pieces have always been a bit hit and miss and he hit the first man with one and then tried a short on to Johnson which went straight to a Chile player as the nation groaned.  After that though he got into it, some superb close control as you’d expect and came close to equalizing as he picked up a Squirrel pass and saw his shot half-blocked away for a corner.  Jay on the other hand found no space out on the left and seemed to be starved of possession as England consistently went right.  He didn’t do anything wrong but then he didn’t do anything to make anyone take notice either.  Both Saints were decent in their defensive work in that they got back and helped out the full backs – Adam getting back to put a tackle in to concede a corner after Baines had done what Adam did earlier and passed a corner straight to a Chilean player.  There was one ‘shit youself’ moment as Adam overstretched for a ball and collapsed but mercifully he got up and carried on.   Jay was subbed on the hour and Adam with 15 to go and Gary Cahill managed to give away a second goal, presenting the ball to Sanchez on the half way line who ran through and scored after waiting for the big cry of ‘TIMBERRRRR!’ and then waiting for Forster to topple over and crash to earth, just to make it easy for him.

There was some entirely predictable Saints baiting in the media in the immediate aftermath of the game, referring rather childishly to “the failed Southampton experiment” but it seems that on reflection, most are agreed that Adam Lallana was one of England’s best players, if not the best.  Jay I feel, will look back and wish he’d done more with his opportunity and he must be hoping that Hodgson has seen enough in training to give him another go.  There must be a lot in that as players like Milner and Cleverley must be magnificent in training because they repeatedly do jack shit of any use when they get on the pitch.

Onto the Germany game and England have a much stronger line-up with Adam Lallana again in the starting XI, playing in an attacking midfield three with Squirrel Head and Andros Townsend behind selfish little arrogant twat Daniel Sturridge.   Sir Rickie and J-Rod were on the bench and England have a decent side out bar the inclusion of Man United’s 5^th choice centre half in Smalling and about their 8^th choice midfielder in Cleverley.

We had a decent five minutes at the start looking much more alert and alive than we did against Chile.  Adam was stationed out in the graveyard slot on the left and hardly getting a touch of the ball as England went through Townsend on the right who is very direct but frequently just runs into defenders.  The German reserve team we were up against weren’t offering much but were containing us comfortably, mainly due to Rooney having one of those games where you wonder if he’s ever seen a football before and where do I start on Daniel Sturridge?  Football, as you are taught when you are 5 years old, is a team game.  England winning the World Cup was still a recent memory when I was growing up and there was always talk of Sir Alf picking the best team and not the best individuals with Jimmy Greaves not playing and all that.  I’m sure Sturridge is brilliant in training and has a load of skill but in training he’s got a ball to himself.  In a team context where you have to occasionally share the ball with a team mate, he’s a fucking greedy twat who adds nothing and makes the team worse.  Elsewhere, Kyle Walker made a bid to do the impossible and be worse than Glenn Johnson and the highlight was him firing a free kick across the pitch from right to left about 40 yards behind Ashley Cole and out for a throw in.  Possession is King.

As we approached half time, the Germans had their first attack with Hart having to beat away Mertesacker’s header which he won easily ahead of Smalling.  The ball ended out on the right and was crossed straight back in where Mertesacker again beat Smalling and guided a very good header into the far corner of the net giving Hart no chance at all.

Adam started the second half on fire, looking after the ball well, spinning past players and laying it off for one of Mr.Greed or Squirrel Head to lose it.  It’s been said for years that England don’t look comfortable in possession but in Adam we have a player who is.  Another one was sat on the bench, probably laughing to himself every time Mr.Greed cocked something up.  Andros Townsend was a threat and cut in and smacked a left footed shot onto the post.  Townsend does some flash things which make you overlook that he’s run headlong into traffic the previous 10 times he’s had the ball and not delivered the cross.  Methinks he’d be better on the left.

Henderson is about to come on and I assume Cleverley is going off but Roy’s given up on the result and it’s Gerrard going off.  Henderson’s first contribution is to play a superb ball through the German defence to Sturridge who tries to use his one foot to control it instead of the one he should have used and the chance is gone.  Heather Mills is more two footed than Sturridge.

Sir Rickie eventually comes on with 15 to go in place of Lallana and as Rooney has already been replaced with Barkley, he’s up front with Sturridge.  The big man’s 15 minutes saw him keep possession, lay off four long passes up to him straight to an England player and generally contribute more in 15 minutes than Sturridge managed in 90.  We didn’t manage any more shots however and so we lost 1-0 to Germany’s reserves.

These two friendlies will have served a purpose if Roy Hodgson learns some lessons and has the courage to act on them.  Hart is still our best goalkeeper by a mile, Johnson and Walker are both garbage and an alternative (who plays right back for Saints) is required. Smalling and Jones aren’t good enough yet and Cleverley and Henderson are piss poor, Sturridge should not start and Townsend needs to get his head up more often.

Out of the Saints boys I’d say Adam Lallana has done himself the world of good and will have moved significantly up the pecking order.  Though he only played 15 minutes, I’d be surprised if Sir Rickie hasn’t shown more value to Roy Hodgson, especially as he’s seen Sturridge play like that!  Sir Rickie has never played up front with Squirrel Head and the Double Scouse combination really should be given a go – I guarantee it would make that part of the team function a lot better.  J-Rod will I think be relying on injuries to get near the squad again before the World Cup but you never know.  If he manages to rattle in 10 goals before the next squad is picked then he’ll get another chance.  If there’s any justice in the world then Nathaniel Clyne will have greatly benefited from the performances of Johnson and Walker.

Watching England friendlies is still frustrating though.  Now back to the real stuff on Saturday.  Bring on The Gooners, a 2-0 win and top of the league, in my dreams.