Instead of Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey, however, the 45-year-old’s playful antics revealed a line-up including Pelé and Diego Maradona in front of George Best, Sócrates and Zico.
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“They wouldn’t worry me if I was a forward, and I’m sure other teams have done their homework”, he is quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror when asked about the English centre-backs.
Smiles aside, it was actually a canny move by Coleman not to be caught out despite the association’s lack of tournament experience and underlined they are considering every minor detail in their bid to make the most of their time in France. I don’t see why not, why we won’t be successful in the competition because we’re young. I believe Hodgson hasn’t helped our cause, with too many players selected who, for me, have huge question marks hanging over them in terms of fitness and club form. “You want to get in the winning habit and have a winning mentality”. It’s important to watch my team-mates play but if I receive a text message about my charity event, of course I’m going to reply to it.
“We had that question all year at Tottenham ‘could we handle the pressure?’ and I think we did”.
“It’s important for us to enjoy it, for myself and for everyone here it is about enjoying it”. “In training I try to use the outside of my foot quite a lot”.
“For me it even feels homely, so I’m relishing getting started now”.
Former Sheffield United defender Kyle Walker says the fight is still on for starting places against Russian Federation.
“You always have to have faith in yourself”.
United said farewell to defensive stalwarts Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic prior to Van Gaal’s arrival in 2014 and when it came to constructing a new back four, the Dutchman made Smalling a central component.
Lawrenson also fears for England’s chances in Euro 2016, citing a heavy fixture load from the Premier League season as a potential factor in determining how far the Three Lions can go.
“I think it’s good there is an element of surprise so the opposition don’t know what we’re doing”.
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“Marcus was lucky enough to know some of them because of some of the younger ages and they’re around his age anyway, but to start with it’s nice that he’s got a couple of familiar faces who he knows”, said Smalling, whose side launch their Euro 2016 campaign against Russian Federation in Marseille on Saturday.
