re: England 26 man provisional squad for Euro 2016

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Which should get you no where starting for England. But the lack of midfield talent is bad.

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Well it is about balance. If, and this is a big if, Roy build a team around Wilshere, then you have to make a sacrifice somewhere else. Wilshere is a better midfielder than Hendo, only because he's thoughtful with the ball and is good using it, but he can't be the deepest lying midfielder. He has to be paired with the right players. Dier might be a better option if they go with the double pivot, but it all depends.

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Roy is stuck in the Stone Age. He tries to look modern by going 4-3-3. He keeps staring Sterling which is mind blowing. Living off the one moment when he hit the side netting in the World Cup

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They have plenty of talent, and could, with a cohesive team, make it far into a tournament like this. It's less about talent in midfield and more about cohesion. Is Roy going to employ a rotation, where the midfielders move with one another to triangles so that the midfield is always balanced? Or are they going to sit back and let teams dictate play to them? I think it is going to be the latter, and in that case it might as well be a 4-5-1.

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they have greatly improved in both positions.

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Have they though? Kane isn't as good as Rooney as a lone striker, Sturridge is forever injured, Welbeck was a super fantastic utility man who could play across the front line and won't be at this tournament, Rooney is a shadow of his former self, and Rashford is super promising 18 year old who will probably get no time on the field.

Kane is a natural finisher, but his movement wasn't as good as Rooney's was when Rooney played as a lone striker. Also when Rooney was the lynchpin of that team, from 2008 til the 2010 WC, that team was excellent. People remember Walcott's night in Zagreb in 2008, but watch Rooney that game. He absolutely destroyed Croatia by himself, from a slightly withdrawn striker role.

My original point about the English midfield was based more from an opinion standpoint than anything else. I think England could be the breakout team of the tournament. I really like some of there young players. Unless, of course, Roy decides to frick it all up with dumb lineups and tactics.

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Dier and Alli have no international experience

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Why is everyone so hung up on this international experience thing? Dier and Alli just finished a season's worth of starting games for probably the best team in the Premier League. I understand that international and club soccer have their differences, but the Premier League is a pretty good barometer to see if a player can cut it on the big stage. And those guys played like stars all season. There's no reason Alli and Dier shouldn't translate this past season into a good summer.

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Delph is an average player

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I can't really argue this point because he didn't play much this year, but in my opinion Delph is a fantastic player and will breakout over the next few seasons. We'll just have to wait and see on that one.

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Wales

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This is the Welsh midfield -
Aaron Ramsey, Joe Ledley, David Vaughan, Joe Allen, David Cotterill, Jonathan Williams, George Williams, Andy King, Emyr Huws, Dave Edwards. They get playing time because most of them play for shite clubs.

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Dier and Alli just finished a season's worth of starting games for probably the best team in the Premier League.

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Why is everyone so hung up on this international experience thing?

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Because it turns out it is pretty important, time and again.

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Dier and Alli just finished a season's worth of starting games for probably the best team in the Premier League.

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Let's stop repeating this meme. Tottenham were world class at positioning, but they obviously weren't the best team in the league. It is the strict positional structure that Poch employs that allows Alli and Dier to do well. They won't have that with Hodgson, and the team will be much more dynamic.

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the Premier League is a pretty good barometer to see if a player can cut it on the big stage

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The PL was awful this season. The worst season in terms of technical and patterns of play I've watched in 12 years of following the PL specifically.

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There's no reason Alli and Dier shouldn't translate this past season into a good summer.

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Which has been said about every English goldenboy since forever, and hasn't really been true since 98 when Owen exploded on the scene.

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I can't really argue this point because he didn't play much this year, but in my opinion Delph is a fantastic player and will breakout over the next few seasons. We'll just have to wait and see on that one.

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He's average. He can be fantastic in the right system, but when he had to do the heavy lifting for a PL team like Man City, he was found wanting.

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They get playing time

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Well getting playing time is super important. Ramsey was inconsistent this year, but at his best he's outperformed every English midfielder. He'd easily slot into England's midfield. Allen is a tidy little player. King was a key sub on a title winning team. Ledley is another player who can graft and fits in exactly with what Wales is trying to do. Most important of all they've been playing together all through qualification and have a cohesive defensive structure and clear tactical aims. You could never say that about any of Hodgson's England teams, which is precisely the problem.

It was literally Wilshere dictating play to the opposition that helped them through qualification. He's that important to what Hodgson wants England to do.

I think the England team has talent, but under a regressive tactical system that Hodgson will employ, I don't see them making it past the first knockout round.

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the general consensus was that Spurs played the best football from start to finish this year.

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Who says this? They've been the most tactically cogent team but they obviously weren't the best. Their GF and GA records pale in comparison to previous teams in previous seasons. Just like Leicester, they took advantage of turmoil at the bigger clubs. And they melted down worse than Arsenal ever has. I mean, I've never seen a team play like they did the last 15 against Chelsea. It was amazing.

It's a decent enough group, but Rooney is a shadow of what he was, Sturridge gets injured waking up, Kane and Vardy are unproven on the international level, and Rashford probably won't make the cut. I think Kane and Vardy in particular could have good tournaments depending on how England set up, but if they go with the 4-3-3, they need someone to hold play up, play with their back toward goal, and bring others into the play, along with poaching ability. Kane has developed some of that, although he still struggles on the half turn, while Vardy is pretty much a poacher.

On paper they look good, but you aren't thinking about the system Hodgson is likely to employ.

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Ramsey was inconsistent this year, but at his best he's outperformed every English midfielder.

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Alli's best > Ramsey's best
Wilshere's best > Ramsey's best

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The PL was awful this season.

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Sure, the quality of play wasn't what it has been in the past. Maybe. But the match day atmosphere and pressure to perform hasn't changed. Some of the bigger clubs had down years but the talent level in the Premier League is still ridiculous. The best in the world, top to bottom. Alli and Dier proved they are 2 of the better players at their position in the league, and they are still very young.

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Tottenham were world class at positioning, but they obviously weren't the best team in the league.

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Who was better? I'm not talking where they finished in the table. Spurs played the best football in the league this season, start to finish. I'm not the only person that thinks this.

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Which has been said about every English goldenboy since forever, and hasn't really been true since 98 when Owen exploded on the scene.

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What a silly argument. So because Beckham and Rooney lost their heads in previous tournaments and got red carded, Dele Alli and Eric Dier will have a bad Euros?

For anyone living in the UK, do English fans just walk around with zero expectations for this thing? Or is like the U.S. where we constantly dream of going on a hot streak and somehow making a deep run and still get hyped for the thing no matter what?