Alan Shearer had to retire from International duty to preserve his knee and prolong his Newcastle career. If he had not, then he would not be Newcastle’s all-time record goal scorer. Shearer required those extra, vital years of play to break Jackie Milburn’s long standing record. From Michael Owen to Tim Krul and Rob Eliot, Newcastle have suffered from players getting injured whilst ‘serving their country’ on international duty. For that reason, I’m fairly pleased that Andros Townsend and Paul Dummett are merely watching the EUROs on telly like the rest of us as opposed to playing in them.
For the men themselves I’m disappointed, because both of them should have made their respective squads and deserve to be there representing their club and countries. Of course Townsend’s future at Newcastle is uncertain, popular with fans following his form and commitment in the final weeks, Townsend will have plenty of suitors. He has a relegation transfer release clause too, allowing him to talk to clubs should they meet the agreed fee. But should he stay, he will no doubt physically benefit from a June holiday rather than training and playing for England.
The decision to leave him behind though could cost Roy Hodgson and England very dear indeed. Roy’s selection of just three centre halves and five strikers is quite baffling and, unfortunately for him, a complete give away of how he intends to play at the finals. His lack of width in the squad clearly outlines Hodgson’s plan to play one of two possible formations. Either two up top with a diamond midfield or a 4-3-3 with a narrow top three consisting of players who usually play centrally.
Both systems rely totally and unreservedly on the attacking width being provided by the full backs. This leaves the defence painfully vulnerable and exposed…just ask Roberto Martinez. It’s the system he tried so desperately to implement at Everton which saw them plummet down the table and cost him his employment.
Townsend also would have provided a goal threat in what is otherwise a shot-shy forward line. With the exception of Barkley and Alli, England’s midfielders are not keen on letting rip from outside the area. Townsend, as we have seen, can be deadly when cutting inside and striking at goal. England also lack a set-piece taker, a role Townsend could easily have took up. Are England seriously going to let Harry Kane take free-kicks from wide of the area, as he did against Portugal?
Several players of the England squad will see no game time whatsoever. So to take players like Wiltshire, Henderson and Sturridge, who have seen so little game time of late, in place of Townsend, who finished the season in fine form, is very strange, and could be fatal.
Eric.. no probs mate.. I will leave you to argue with yourself.. you are good at it 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
see you in 2 weeks AMF.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And it is 3 full stops. Called an ellipsis. Yes. I am being the punctuation police now as well. Not for long though, as I know I will make mistakes as well.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Doesn’t Ashley normally discount by 80%? If Sissoko’s asking price is 20 mil that means we can expect 4.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Technically speaking, an ellipsis is not three full stops; it’s a sign in its own right, in the same way that a comma is or a semicolon or a question mark. It’s more correct to say it’s 3 consecutive dots.
Brisvegas(Quote)
I truly hope we don’t loose Aussie for anything close to 2 weeks as a result of this bullshit!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
And 3 full stops are… 3 consecutive dots.
Don’t worry Sharpy, AMF was gone for more than 2 weeks before he turned up again. What was he saying anyway? Apart from him and BrisV saying they don’t care about, and don’t know about, the English National team. Which is what the article was about.
I think I should disappear for 2 weeks and good riddance to me.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just for the hell of it BrisV, I looked up the meaning:
“An ellipsis is punctuation that is used to show where words have been left out. The ellipsis is usually formed by three periods (four if the ellipsis comes at the end of a sentence).”
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – stop being a drama queen man!! 😉
I saw Aussies comments about the article & England team & took it as nothing more than a tongue in cheek comment.
You acknowledged yourself (in capitals letters I might add) it was ridiculous & you started it.
If the Aussie boys put up an Article about Curtis Good getting dropped by the Roos – would you give much of a *****? 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
Thanks for the sensible comment Sharpy. Not many of those around in the football dog days of June. I don’t count the Euros as they have nothing to do with NUFC. Bit like Sissoko.
Georgio(Quote)
Sharpy it’s all good.. as if I would listen to anything Eric would tell me to do!
The English team is pretty bad mate.. that wasn’t tongue in cheek 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
I know I picked the fight.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
AMF: I know you wouldn’t listen to anything I say, even it is to use ellipses in the correct way.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
AMF: Troy has England down for the Euro final. He initially said England would win it but backtracked. I asked him if he put any money on it and he didn’t answer.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The English team is pretty bad. The experts’ analysis. 😳
Georgio(Quote)
This Talksport headline is quite funny: “Arsenal and Newcastle fans argue about who wants Moussa Sissoko less”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is hard to make up my mind about Sissoko. He is a bit of a pretender. He looks good sometimes, and then disappears. With him, you have to look at the stats and say he is really not good enough.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sissoko is our only player at The Euros though 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I agree with Aussie. I don’t rate the England squad much at all. It won’t get into the semi finals never mind the final.
We have some decent individual players and maybe an okay first 11 – it will cope with lesser nations. But the second we play a better side it will be same old story.
Our defence simply isn’t good enough. Smalling, Cahill & Stones do not fill me with any confidence at all – and if anything happens to them, his grand plan is to move Dier back there – how often did Poch do that?.
We have good forwards, but our only width comes from Sterling – or the full backs, which will expose those CBs even more against better sides.
I know Aussie would see me as an armchair critic or armchair manager, but I think Roy has got his selection wrong. I think 4 full backs & only 3 CBs is a mistake. I think so many central players & little width is a mistake.
But I am looking forward to the tournament, coz ever since Italia 90 I have loved watch International tournaments regardless of how England get on.
Sharpy17(Quote)
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2016/06/08/how-did-arsenal-fans-react-to-his-sissokos-desire-to-play-for-them/
New thread!
Andy The Magpie(Quote)