England

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Wilshere will need to adapt otherwise he'll be overtaken by other players. For a young lad his movement to find space to receive the ball is poor. His fitness levels are a concern. No more fags Jack!

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Very much agree with that Sammy. Just wonder if Rooney could adapt to the base of the pyramid with Sterling at the top with Oxlaid and Barkley playing either side. Welbeck and Sturridge up top.

[boro_rover]

We didn't look too bad tonight. I don't think we are far off being a good side. We are just a bit succeptable to giving away the ball in the middle.
I can see Hodgesons plan in playing Delph, to break up the Swiss play, but I'm not yet convinced he has that top quality needed to help us be serious contenders.

Up top we have great options and threats with Rooney and Stirling, Sturridge and Welbeck who will only get better.
Defensively we have a young promising line up, and I am excited to see the players Shaw, Stones and Chambers will become.
We have plenty of creativity in midfield too with Lallana, Barkley and Wilshere. My only concern is a lack of a ball winner in the middle in the Makalelé or Busquets role. Someone who is prepared to do the dirty work, put big tackles in, break up oppositions attacks and then play the ball out. I really don't think we are far off having a potentially very strong side. Tonight was a good test and we got through it fairly well with a positive result. We just get opened up a little too easily for my liking, and against the best teams that will cost us.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Think we all agree we've got the makings of a good squad that can take us through the next 4 year cycle and beyond.

[Dare to dream!]

Wilshere doesn't fit in that holding role, he's not the type of player. He's better off at the other end playing the neat 1 2's and through balls

[Donnyrovers]

Wilshere shouldn't be in the England side he's only there due to reputation and lack of options. When he plays the advanced role and plays his little 1 2's he loses possession too much. He has ability but its about time he started using on a regular basis because its not once in an England shirt in a competitive game has he dominated midfield.

[BillyStubbsTears]

And so it starts again. A decent performance against a thoroughly moderate side. It's a stepping stone towards the Euro finals, where England will finish in 8th place again.

[SoundbiteBarmyArmy]

I thought we were fantastic last night. All round professional performance. A bit worried when Delph picked up a yellow after 9 minutes, but he came good.

[DonnyNoel]

Did the basics incredibly badly in the first half (touches from Rooney and passes from Stirling were Sunday league at times) but once we got confidence from realising how average the Swiss were some players really stepped up. The pace that we moved the ball on the counter was excellent and Jones and Cahill started to look like they could be a decent pairing.

[GazLaz]

I thought Delph was excellent, and grew into the game after his early yellow card

Gave the ball away too easily for my liking, although he's not the only culprit there.

Can't have gave it away too much considering first half he had 100% pass success rate.

97% over all in the game.

[steve@dcfd]

We didn't look too bad tonight. I don't think we are far off being a good side. We are just a bit succeptable to giving away the ball in the middle.
I can see Hodgesons plan in playing Delph, to break up the Swiss play, but I'm not yet convinced he has that top quality needed to help us be serious contenders.

Up top we have great options and threats with Rooney and Stirling, Sturridge and Welbeck who will only get better.
Defensively we have a young promising line up, and I am excited to see the players Shaw, Stones and Chambers will become.
We have plenty of creativity in midfield too with Lallana, Barkley and Wilshere. My only concern is a lack of a ball winner in the middle in the Makalelé or Busquets role. Someone who is prepared to do the dirty work, put big tackles in, break up oppositions attacks and then play the ball out. I really don't think we are far off having a potentially very strong side. Tonight was a good test and we got through it fairly well with a positive result. We just get opened up a little too easily for my liking, and against the best teams that will cost us.

I agree with the points you make, Delph showed he has the pace and is left footed to play the left part of the diamond he needs to continue his improvement and he could continue in the squad. But as you say we need to find a holding midfield player and he may have to drop to the championship to find one. George Thorne 21 years old playing for Derby may be the answer? The attacking options are good and you can also add Walcott and Ox to the list you mentioned.  But depends on what formation we play, some of the attacking midfielders like Lallana and Barkley will have to work on their defensive qualities.
Wiltshire needs to work on his fitness and improve his pace to continue in the starting eleven, he likes to run with the ball and short passes.

[colincramb]

Beggars belief how that Swiss team was seeded for the World Cup!? Incredibly average, only real player of quality was that shaquri (spelling) lad. Would it be too viciciuis to suggest that Mr Blatter had any influence on the seeding system for the World Cup?

[Alan Southstand]

But as you say we need to find a holding midfield player

We already had one in the squad but he was injured!

A much more balanced look about the side last night, even with Wilshere's indifferent show.

[Dare to dream!]

We didn't look too bad tonight. I don't think we are far off being a good side. We are just a bit succeptable to giving away the ball in the middle.
I can see Hodgesons plan in playing Delph, to break up the Swiss play, but I'm not yet convinced he has that top quality needed to help us be serious contenders.

Up top we have great options and threats with Rooney and Stirling, Sturridge and Welbeck who will only get better.
Defensively we have a young promising line up, and I am excited to see the players Shaw, Stones and Chambers will become.
We have plenty of creativity in midfield too with Lallana, Barkley and Wilshere. My only concern is a lack of a ball winner in the middle in the Makalelé or Busquets role. Someone who is prepared to do the dirty work, put big tackles in, break up oppositions attacks and then play the ball out. I really don't think we are far off having a potentially very strong side. Tonight was a good test and we got through it fairly well with a positive result. We just get opened up a little too easily for my liking, and against the best teams that will cost us.

I agree with the points you make, Delph showed he has the pace and is left footed to play the left part of the diamond he needs to continue his improvement and he could continue in the squad. But as you say we need to find a holding midfield player and he may have to drop to the championship to find one. George Thorne 21 years old playing for Derby may be the answer? The attacking options are good and you can also add Walcott and Ox to the list you mentioned.  But depends on what formation we play, some of the attacking midfielders like Lallana and Barkley will have to work on their defensive qualities.
Wiltshire needs to work on his fitness and improve his pace to continue in the starting eleven, he likes to run with the ball and short passes.

George Thorne isn't a bad shout. I'd give JonJo Shelvey a try, he's got a much better passing range than Wilshere. So many of Wilsheres long balls missed their target last night.

Swansea have actually been slating Hodson because in all the time he has been England manager he hasn't attended one of their games at the Liberty.

[boro_rover]

And so it starts again. A decent performance against a thoroughly moderate side. It's a stepping stone towards the Euro finals, where England will finish in 8th place again.

I do t understand what point you are trying to make there BST.

I think most people are pleased by the overall performance but feel we are not there yet. Anyone  will agree we are miles away from being as good as the best teams at the minute, but the foundations look relatively solid. We have a young promising squad with plenty of potential, I've the next few years we could have a very strong squad.

[dickos1]

The Swiss are where they are in the rankings due to how they've performed in qualifying and in tournaments. They pissed their qualifying group for World Cup 7 points clear.
They're obviously not the 9th beat team in the world but probably a better team than we faced in any of the qualifying games for the World Cup

[colincramb]

To be fair, their record in tournaments in recent times is awful. Failed to qualify from the group stages of euro 2008, despite hosting it, failed to qualify from the group stage in 2010, failed to even qualify for euro 2012. Despite qualifying for the World Cup well, they were in an extremely easy group  where Iceland were the second placed team.

Given their poor performance in recent championships, can't work out how they were seeded. Holland walked their group, scored more than anyone else in Europe and weren't seeded. Distinctly odd if you ask me

[Jim Dobbin]

What a novelty seeing a right back who can defend,does anybody remember the last good defensive right back?,i think Stones is going to be some player.

According to my Barnsley workmates Stones best position is centre half, where he played throughout their academy. They also say that Stones wasn't the best player from that academy team, the others are slowly making the break through. They could have some decent money on their hands in the next few years.

I always thought Neville was solid at right back and Ashley Cole on the other flank.

[BillyStubbsTears]

And so it starts again. A decent performance against a thoroughly moderate side. It's a stepping stone towards the Euro finals, where England will finish in 8th place again.

I do t understand what point you are trying to make there BST.

I think most people are pleased by the overall performance but feel we are not there yet. Anyone  will agree we are miles away from being as good as the best teams at the minute, but the foundations look relatively solid. We have a young promising squad with plenty of potential, I've the next few years we could have a very strong squad.

Point I'm making Boro is that we've had 20-odd years of this.

Failure at a major tournament.

New dawn with new players who look OK against distinctly average opponents.

First time they come up against a half decent team, they are exposed for the average plodders that we all, deep down, know them to be.

If anyone thinks England are going anywhere with a team that includes Gary Cahill, Leyton Baines, Phil Jones, Jack Wilshere, Jordan Henderson and Fabien Delph, they are in for a rude awakening. Which will come the first time we play anyone remotely close to the top ten in the world (and that DOESN'T include Switzerland, who played the system to get their FIFA ranking by choosing their friendly opponents).

It's been like it for years and it'll be no different this time. We'll probably qualify without too much heartache. Then we'll look way off the pace when we come up against the likes of France, Germany, a re-worked Spain and whoever else is peaking at the right time. But for some reason, folk always think this time will be different. We will NOT have a strong squad in a few years time, unless there is a quite exceptional crop of players coming through the 14-18 year old bracket, because the current crop of 20-odds are decent plodders.

[bpoolrover]

I hate to imagine what u think of rovers team then lol

[jmt]

Delph was quite good, reminded me of Paul ince. We should have scored more, but they also had very good chances, Baines and jones are no whee near good enough and never will be, we need to blood younger guys in these positions.

[grayx]

Delph was quite good, reminded me of Paul ince. We should have scored more, but they also had very good chances, Baines and jones are no whee near good enough and never will be, we need to blood younger guys in these positions.

Hmmm I think Jones may be ok IF Man U dont fcuk him up by playing him out of position all the time. Rooney is awful at the moment and along with Wiltshire is being picked on reputation not form. Think Man U may have sold the wrong striker.

[GazLaz]

Rooney wasn't awful last night. He created 4 goal scoring chances. More than any other player on the pitch.

[grayx]

Rooney wasn't awful last night. He created 4 goal scoring chances. More than any other player on the pitch.

Sorry, I was watching the England v Switzerland game where an overweight unfit England captain bottled an early goalscoring opportunity by electing not to volley it and whose second touch was a tackle most of the time. Opinions eh.?

[boro_rover]

Billy-
I have to agree with the players you mentioned not being of world class ilk. I am under no illusion as to think we can come anywhere close in the Euros. We have a back line of inexperienced and not good enough players to do so. We are light years away from the Germans at the minute, who I think will piss it. However depending on the development of our youngsters, in the next four years we could be a very strong side. Shaw, Chambers and Stones should be getting regular games in Europe and the Champions league over the next four years and they could really come into their own. I have no concerns about the quality going forward, nor Joe Hart. But our present weakness lies in protecting him. We have the Swiss 3 good and preventable chances last night that proper players would capitalise on. It is why I really hope we can bring through a good midfield anchor man to stabilise the defence.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Boro

I don't dispute anything that you say. I'm just bored of seeing the cycle of over-expectation and failure. It's been hard-wired in for at least 20, arguably 40+ years. I long ago stopped investing too much emotional capital in the fortunes of the England side. I have a mild twinge of embarrassment that we are utterly incapable of structuring our game in a way that would allow us to generate a national side to be proud of in the way that every other major footballing nation regularly does. But to be honest, I no longer give much of a shit about it.

[RedRover45]

I Don't see over expectation on here Billy,just a measure of relief that there has been an improvement of sorts.
Like it or not the Swiss don't just make clocks any more,i agree the ranking is totally wrong,i never take notice of the FIFA Rankings anyway.
For me we have beaten a Second Division International team in the Swiss,we are of the same standard,the first division would comprise of Brazil,Germany,Italy,Spain,France,Argentina,Holland etc.

We are in the second group standard with Colombia,Russia,USA etc,the only way we can compete properly,is if there was a miracle and a lot of changes were made top to bottom,we are slipping there's no doubt about it,a few more years and we will be rated as good as Scotland and Wales.

Scotland or Wales ??

FFS Sammy, I know we're shit but that's just taking it too far....

[dickos1]

Thing with Rooney is expectations are too high for him. He was good the other night, if it was anyone else but because everyone is expecting so much unless he is outstanding then everyone is on his back.
Look at his goalscoring record, he is going to be the leading goalscorer of all time quite comfortably, yet people are still saying he shouldn't be in the team.
You never hear an ex pro or current pro say he shouldn't be in the side, I think that says a lot

[boro_rover]

You are not wrong there Dickos, every player, past and presant who speaks of him says he is one of the worlds best am would get into any team. He is a top player and his record speaks for itsself. He is all over the pitch and is a regular scorer. Other teams are petrified of him. He gets a lot of unwarranted criticism.

Billy -
I agree completely with your point about England. In my lifetime, we have been overhyped and we have under performed with the quality at our disposal. My point is our current crop of youth are by and large at the right clubs, mainly regular players and are playing in big competitions which can only benefit us. While I dot think we currently have a top side, we do have youngster who potentially could turn into very good players. We need to see them playing at clubs where they have oppertunity to play every week and learn their trade. The competition of the premier league should benefit their progress. I dot believe their are too many foreigners in the PL holding back their ability or their place in their domestic clubs. If tey are good enough they play.