You are kidding, right?

Qualifying group.

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Ah right. I thought you meant the group coming up, which I have strong doubts we'll get out of.

Yeah we could well be in trouble. We have no squad depth in our defence. Tonight's effort was woeful.

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Didnt watch the England v Ecuador game, but two red cards in a friendly?!!!!  

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I would have taken Ashley Cole played him at lb and played Baines LM... it is beyond me how this has never been tried.

As they said on ITV there is no easy game, look at Italy drawing this weekend with Luxemburg , blimey and we moan lol

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The only thing I learned tonight is that Milner is not an RB.

I already knew that we are one injury away from having Smalling or Jones at the back.

Our progress in the WC will be determined in large part by how healthy we can keep our starting back four.

I'm certainly less worried about our offensive capabilities.

I have no doubts, we will get out of our group , of course if we do it will because the rest are tulip

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yes, totally agree with that , Roy boy will no doubt have a defensive plan

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Yes if we can start with our best XI then we could go beyond the group stages and who knows...?? But in defence we are v short of quality reserves even our first choice RB is poor.

Oxlade chamberlain looks like ligament damage so he could be out of the World Cup. gutted

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Usual.

Moral of the story - don't play pointless, meaningless, stupid games this close to a World Cup.

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get him home to rest

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But no injuries and no sending off's, and that is all that pretty much matters in these games. All about a team work out, the result isn't that significant.

I would rather England have draw 1-1 with Lux like Italy than have a cup ending injury and a red card.

 

I assume that red card transfers overs to the world cup games meaning he would be suspended from the first few group games?

AFAIK according to the BBC text they said it does not carry over to World Cup but does apply to next friendly against Honduras on Saturday, which is a relief given the potential World Cup ending injury to Ox and the need for fast attacking players.

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Nope, it has no bearing on the WC.

 

Good news that the red card doesn't roll over to the WC.

Lets hope we get through the Honduras game without any issues!

Some strange comments on here.....

I thought it was a thoroughly entertaining game to watch and a perfect opponent for Engkand to be pitted against. Anyone who thought they were a brush over was mad, they took four points out of six off Uruguay in qualifying.

For me the Ox was best player on pitch, so it's a real shame about his injury as he was playing himself into contention for a starting place. Shaw, Smalling and Milner across the back weren't great at all, though oddly I felt Jones (a player I think is ok at best) did really well. Barkley showed glimpses but for someone so talented seems to need the turning circle of an oil tanker before he then clicks into gear nd moves away from opponents. Wilshere seemed to play every pass with just about enough pace to reach its intended target, leaving the recipient in trouble as an opponent would on him by the time the pass got to him, either that or he would move the ball round an opponent and then run into him falling flat on his face. Definite fitness issues there.

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Well Italy lost Montolivo in their last friendly with a broken leg he will be a big miss to them so these things do happen in friendlies. Lets hope the Ox is Ok.

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Farcical decision to send Sterling off. He legitimately tackled Valencia (perfect slide tackle IMO), then gets assaulted but doesn't react at all.

Meanwhile, that PoS Valencia issues a statement: "I apologize to the country, my teammates, the coaching staff for the expulsion of today. But most importantly, I'm fine."

No mention of "I over-reacted like a petulent imbecile, which led to an innocent player being sent off"

Nothing like a sportsman.... hopefully next season Sterling will cripple the Manc tw*t

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That angle is deceptive. The camera angle from behind Sterling shows him making contact with the ball well in front of Valanecia, and it's actually Sterling's trailing leg that makes contact with Valencia's front leg.

 

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I can't honestly remember having lower expectations for England going into a major tournament. Italy should beat us and then we will be up against it having to beat a cynical and experienced Uruguay.

Thought England had a sluggish start.. Red cards spoilt the match.. At least Holland beat Wales  2-0... Viewed that match for a while.... On BBC Wales.

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That angle on the clip above shows him rolling his foot across the top of the ball clearly enough, you can see the ball bounce up higher from the contact.

However it still a pretty average looking tackle, seen worse of course, but clumsy rather than anything with malice or intent. It is Sterling's knee going in to Valencia's lower leg that is the issue I guess. Seen leg breaks from simialr things. If Valcencia had tha leg rooted to the ground when hit it would have been a break, the fact his leg was knocked back up in the air by the knee stopped that.