England went into the recent friendlies with the media and fans going into a mini meltdown due to the amount of ‘stars’ pulling out through ahem.. injuries.
The start of the hysteria was when Harry Cane and Dele Alli pulled out, newspapers and TV were all of a sudden predicting massive score lines against the World Champions Germany and one of the World’s best teams Brazil.
With Jack Butland, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, Fabian Delph and Danny Drinkwater adding to the injury tally, we were told that damage limitation was the key in these two game. Southgate was forced to raid the under 23 squad to bolster his senior squad.
There is no point in going into how ‘injured’ these players really are, but the fact that bookmakers are taking bets on all seven of these players starting their next match for their club side speaks volumes.
As I am a betting man I will be on that for sure and I find that the only way to get the very best odds and bonuses is by taking a look at betway free bet. I am also feeling a bit more confident about our chances in Russia too, so backing England for at least a semi-final is goods odds as well.
Henderson doesn’t bring anything to Liverpool never mind England, so it was no surprise we didn’t miss him. With him will be Delph and Drinkwater who will both be thinking that the kids showed that they are more than capable to stepping up to the plate when asked.
Although not injured, Cahill and Jones must have seen their replacements play right in front of their eyes. Southgate brought in Joe Gomez, Ruben Loftus Cheek and Jordan Pickford to hopefully gain good experience from playing two of the best sides in the World. They instead took the opportunity to not only fill in, but to show what the future holds.
Almost from the first minute on the pitch they settled in held their opponents, Loftus Cheek getting man of the match for the Germany game and Gomez for the Brazil game. Both didn’t do themselves any harm when it comes to the World Cup squad next summer.
Both games England were o the back foot for large periods, but Jesse Lingard could have snatched a winner in the dying seconds against the current World Cup holders and there were opportunities against Brazil.
Of the ‘injured’ players and the sidelined ones though, only Can and Alli were missed. I think had they been available the matches would definitely have looked different and more attacking prowess would have been present.
Well done to the kids that were proud to put the shirt on, I am sure we will see a lot more of you, hopefully next summer.
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