England worry over Carrick

‘Michael Carrick doesn’t look good’.

In fairness to England, they did create chances against the European champions.

It was clear from kick-off that Gerard Pique’s declaration he supported independence for Catalonia had not gone down well with the vast majority of Spain fans. Fabregas looked like vintage Fabregas with that handsome ball being played ahead.

Everyone is slowly coming together stylistically, according to the former World Cup-winning coach, which is largely true, and England have joined the merry-go-round courtesy of the coaching influences permeating the English Premier League and the outcome of this in developing a different type of player, capable of adapting to different styles of play. But the uncomfortable truth for England is that they are not playing the same kind of football that Spain are capable of, and they will not be doing so any time soon. He replaced exhausted legs in the midfield by bringing on Dele Alli and Eric Dier, the latter for his senior England debut.

Hart saved well to deny Jordi Alba.

Gaspar decided the contest with a rare moment of quality four minutes later when he acrobatically connected with Fabregas’s chipped pass to send a looping volley over a helpless Hart. The whole ground rose to their feet and applauded.

Costa’s search for an global goal on Spanish soil continued when his curling effort flew past Hart’s far post. England had been soundly beaten.

Football would be the better for a resurgent England but while we wait and watch, let their search for identity reinforce our commitment to clarity and focus.

“That is very positive for us heading into the European Championship”, he added.

As for England, four of their last five friendlies have also sailed below the 2.5-goal line, which includes a goalless clash with Honduras and another bore draw with the Republic of Ireland.

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“You’ve got players like Welbeck, Sturridge and Theo who are out injured and it’s a huge array of talent”.

“It’s odd how we’ve ended up playing on a Third Division pitch for a game like England v Spain”.

The Manchester United skipper said a good number of strikers in the squad is making it hard to make a cut in the starting XI.

‘We need to dust ourselves off and perform better against France’.

“It was a good exercise, they are a good team who have been criticised a lot (after failing to qualify for Euro 2016) but they still have top-quality players”, he said.

The news will come as a blow to Man United chief Louis van Gaal, as Carrick is a regular in his side at Old Trafford.

“For 70 minutes, I thought we were well in the game but goals change games, it was a special goal and it opened it up”.