England recently played two amazing European teams, Germany and Netherlands in friendlies, winning and losing the respective games. This was a crucial week for The Three Lions, who had a lot of points to ponder over, must have answered most of them. Here, we take a look at the main highlights from England’s friendlies to be taken home: 1.Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy deserve a lot of playing timeJamie Vardy has been in terrific form this season and has scored in both the friendlies. Critics, who had been saying that most of his goals for Leicester had come because of Riyad Mahrez, have been silenced. Vardy has scored more than 20 goals this season and has performed at the first international call up as well. Harry Kane, on the other hand, has been doing great since the past two years and has regularly excelled for Tottenham Hotspurs. Arguably, he is the best striker in England now, and deserves to be called up for every single match. 2.Wayne Rooney is suited best behind the strikerWith Rooney’s age affecting his goal scoring abilities, he is now best suited to the number 10 role. England have missed a genuine number 10 for some years now, with Rooney excelling in the position when played at Manchester United. Wayne Rooney is known for his brilliant work on the pitch as he follows the ball wherever it goes. He has a sharp mind and can read the opponents game very well. Harry Kane upfront and Wayne Rooney behind him, it’s surely going to be a treat for the English fans. 3.Eric Dier, Danny Drinkwater and Dele Alli have great potentialsBoth Tottenham products Alli and Dier as well as Leicester midfielder Drinkwater, who is a Manchester United product, have proved themselves in the league as well as internationally. These young midfielders can adapt themselves to any opponent and are complete as midfielders 4.John Stones isn’t ready for England yetGary Cahill and Chris Smalling are the best available pair as centre backs, and John Stones still needs a lot of playing time. There is no question about Stones’ abilities, but his lack of experience of big games clearly showed against The Oranje. While Chris Smalling is arguably the best centre back in the country, Gary Cahill is the other best alternative as compared to John Stones, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones or Steven Caulker. 5.Not all available full backs are top qualityEngland may be having a plethora of full backs in Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Leighton Baines, Luke Shaw and Glen Johnson, most of them can’t be expected to perform on such a big level. Currently, the two main full backs in the squad are Nathaniel Clyne for the right flank, and Ryan Bertrand for the left. Although Baines has far more experience than Bertrand, age has slowly started to take a toll on his performances. While Bertrand fits the slot perfectly, Clyne has done a tremendous job to replace Johnson at the big level. Clyne’s skills are good, which are being further honed by Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool and with more experience, he can be an England great. author
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April 2020
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