Baines and Jagielka help England to victory

, 12 October, 15comments  |  Jump to most recent
Leighton Baines returned to England's first XI alongside his Everton team-mate, Phil Jagielka, as the Three Lions beat Estonia 1-0 in Tallinn.

Wayne Rooney's free kick proved to be the difference in England keeping their 100% record in Euro2016 qualifying.

Brendan Galloway, meanwhile, played for England U19s as they hammered Luxembourg 8-0.  



Reader Comments (15)

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Trevor Lynes
1 Posted 12/10/2014 at 21:19:48
Pretty laboured display against a mediocre side reduced to 10 men in the second half. Baines and Jags both played OK in a lacklustre display by England.
Colin Glassar
2 Posted 12/10/2014 at 21:50:58
Bainsey busted a gut making runs up the wing, as per usual, without getting the ball. He was criticised for this at HT by the pundits for NOT making the runs!!
Alex Trevalyn
3 Posted 12/10/2014 at 23:11:37
Col, swap the word 'pundits' for 'wankers' and all's good...
Harold Matthews
4 Posted 12/10/2014 at 23:35:57
We need an English Pienaar.
David Lok
5 Posted 13/10/2014 at 02:26:43
Colin 2 - ESPN report...

Leighton Baines, 6 - There’s always a bit of an oddity about Baines’s performances for England, which perhaps reveals more about the limitations of Hodgson’s tactical approach. It was also something that was common during the World Cup. The left-back makes a number of runs up the left, which could offer England the opportunity for some dynamic and angled interchanging attacks. The problem is that he is rarely picked out, as England resort to the predictable.

Mark Andersson
6 Posted 13/10/2014 at 06:50:52
Alex 3 that made me laugh, because it's true. I never bothered watching any England games as they are worse than the blues on a off day.

So I see Sterling has caused a stir by complaining he was too tired to play a 2nd game. The Redshite looking after there own, Jags and Baines need to get into top form to kick start our season.

Ian Bennett
7 Posted 13/10/2014 at 07:30:17
Baines would look better if his teammates passed in front of him. I lost count of the passes which went behind him, giving him little option than knocking it square as defenders were back on him.

He does create chances, but because he isn't Sterling it doesn't matter. His ball into Rooney was on a plate, and would have been a great assist but for a big air shot.

Derek Thomas
8 Posted 13/10/2014 at 08:16:26

Harold @4; you've pretty much nailed the whole Baines conundrum. Since Pienaar left for Spurs, there has been a Pienaar-shaped hole in front of Baines and this goes double for England games.

Pienaar had his swansong in his loan prior to his official return and many a true word may indeed be spoken in jest, but he's not been the same player since he cut his dreads off. He now needs a run of games to get fit, but isn't fit enough to play them... mugged again by the Cockney wide boys of Spurs, but this one's down to OFM. Roberto however has been mugged by Chelsea, so blame all round.

I don't think there IS an English Pienaar lurking anywhere... but there might be a Costa Rican one and as I no longer care about England, that will do for me.

Tony J Williams
9 Posted 13/10/2014 at 10:27:13
David, it's good to see that ESPN can see what is actually going on.

If you read the Daily Nazi ratings, they slate him for not making runs, just as the dopey nuggets from ITV did.

Obviously as a Blue, I watched him carefully: he very rarely was in our own half, yet they state he didn't make any runs. He was pretty much playing as a winger.

As usual with the Engerluuund knobs on show, they either (as alluded previously) didn't pass to him when he was in a brilliant position or (my biggest bugbear in football) passed it behind him.

Boring game and overshadowed by that nugget Stirling being tired and/or dropped....

Tom Bowers
10 Posted 13/10/2014 at 13:11:01
Sadly, the current England squad bears little resemblance to the squads of yesteryear.

Hodgson is no better than Capello or Erickson and should have been a man and quit after the World Cup. Rooney as a captain works his ass off but the team lacks real class.< p>Seems to me that many players just go through the motions when picked for England... and as Hodgson is giving every English player a cap these days, there seems little esteem in pulling on a three lions shirt.

Baines has been a solid performer but is past his best although under the present system he rarely gets the ball when in good positions out wide. Henderson had a great chance to play him in and then fed a hospital pass.

On another note, Hodgson’s blue-eyed boy, Sterling, is complaining of fatigue and didn’t want to play. Was he up all night playing video games or beating up a woman?

Harold Matthews
11 Posted 13/10/2014 at 12:10:14
Derek. In the 13 second-half minutes before Pienaar came off at Old Trafford, his inter-passing with Baines was majestic and telepathic. Just like the good old days. Valencia almost waved the white flag on the 58-minute mark when Pienaar completely baffled him with a piece of foot-on-top-of-the-ball magic before putting Naismith in with a brilliant reverse pass.

There's plenty of life in the old dog yet. Nowhere near ready and shocked to be picked, he'll need lots of game-time to reach peak fitness.

Like you, I am also an Oviedo fan but he'll never have the "telepathic reverse pass to Baines" accuracy because he is a lefty and Pienaar is all right foot. The little South African cuts inside after receiving the ball off Baines who flies up the wing. With his right foot and without looking, he will reverse pass a perfectly weighted ball to land in Bainsey's path. Hey presto. The defence is in ribbons. We've seen it a million times.

Pity Roy Hodgson hasn't noticed. It's not exactly the world's best kept secret. He either needs a visit to the nearest optician or he has a large space between his ears.

Bill Gall
12 Posted 13/10/2014 at 14:25:52
I do not understand why Hodgson picks Baines as he never uses his strength as an extra attacker. The number of times he was open on the wing often with his hand up and was ignored was criminal; at times he might as well just gone to the crowd and signed autographs.

This England team with all the media drooling over their favorite midfielders are the worst England team I have seen for years. The manager is the one to blame as he just wants a team of robots to play in a fixed system.

As far as the pundits go, I never listen to them as it seems their job is only to create controversy with comments of some players that make you wonder if you are watching the same game as them. It does not matter if you played professional or amateur football, the vast majority of supporters know if a player is playing good or bad and do not need an overpaid ex-player to tell them.

Adam Carey
13 Posted 13/10/2014 at 15:03:35
I've long since stopped listening to the commentators when it comes to Everton players players on England duty. Only Hoddle and Wright are fun to listen to, (Hoddle because I think he's the last good England coach we had, and Wright because he doesn't care who he upsets.)

Stones was given average comments despite being played out of position, and now they all say what a big miss he is for us out injured! Jags can't do anything right. They just can't stand that Smalling or Jones aren't good enough.

Baines is one of the best attacking left-backs in Europe, but the Liverpool loviees don't pass to him. Twice last night he made great overlaps into space for Sterling, and Mr Fatigue cuts inside and either loses the ball (again!) or passes backwards.

Don't get me started on a 19-year-old NOT WANTING to play for England. If I had traveled all that way, paying good money, I'd expect the players to run through bloody walls to earn that shirt. Rodgers over the road has set a nasty precedent here...

Tony J Williams
14 Posted 13/10/2014 at 15:52:06
I had thought that when Stevie Me laaaaa(no forehead) hung up his boots, Baines might start getting a pass from the midfield....... but No! two more redshite nuggets get picked and refuse to pass the ball to him.

Jags, pretty much did nothing wrong last night but got slated in the papers, averaging about
a 5.5/6

Trevor Lynes
16 Posted 13/10/2014 at 17:17:07
I reckon that Baines covered more ground than any other England player.He took corners on both wings too !!

Delph and Rooney both used him spasmodically but his strengths are not used in attacking situations.This diamond tactic is too predictable and there is no plan B.

Wilshire seems to get plaudits but he is very slow and poor in the tackle.I can see him getting mugged by the better sides whose midfielders will run past him.

Jags was as good as anyone on view as far as I am concerned.


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