June 16, 2012

Harry Redknapp: Quality England must start Rooney and Walcott

I’d play Rooney alongside Welbeck and start Walcott on the right...

Harry’s Recommended Bets
Back England @ 2.221/1
Back England/England @ 3.752/1 for half-time/full-time
Back Wayne Rooney to score

Harry was delighted by England's win against Sweden and he thinks the Three Lions are going great. He tells us what team he would pick for Tuesday's match against the Ukraine and selects his best bets...

Three great goals and three points - what more could you want?

England's win against Sweden was terrific. After an eventful week for me, I really enjoyed watching us and I thought we were superb in attack. Before the tournament, I said organisation in defence was key but, against the Swedes, England showed how threatening they are up front. Every other team at the Euros will have taken note and nobody will fancy playing us.

I was delighted to see Theo Walcott score and Danny Welbeck's finish on the turn was exquisite. But my favourite goal was England's first. Shrewd move from Roy to bring in Andy Carroll. He did his homework, knew the Swedes were vulnerable in the air and the way Carroll rose above Andreas Granqvist to power in his header was devastating. Top cross from Steven Gerrard again too.

So what does Roy do now? With Wayne Rooney available for Tuesday's match against Ukraine, there's no way he can be left out. I'd play him alongside Welbeck, who gives England good movement. We could reap the rewards of the understanding the pair have developed at Manchester United. Wayne is raring to go so I'm backing him to score. With the added threat of Carroll off the bench, England have a scary looking attack.

I'd start Theo on the right. I've always thought he had bags of talent, ever since I gave him his debut at Southampton. I have a lot of time for him as a footballer and a lad. Bringing him on was an excellent, decisive decision from Roy which changed the game. Theo's pace will rattle any defence. France opened the Ukraine up several times and they won't fancy Theo running at them. I'd always start him and I think he has to come in at the expense of James Milner.

Praise too for Scott Parker and Steven Gerrard. Scottie has come of age in the past two seasons. He was terrific for me at Tottenham and has cemented his position in the national side - his job is to break up play and drive us on but what a hit that was against Sweden. Gerrard has had two very good games at the Euros and his cross for Carroll showed what pin-point accuracy he possesses. Frankly, I wouldn't swap England's front six for any at this tournament, including Spain.

I'm not getting carried away. John Terry and Joleon Lescott are very good headers of the ball so it's unusual to see us concede at set-pieces. They're still getting to know each other but I think they're developing a solid platform and Roy will work on tightening up for Tuesday. Ashley Cole has had two great games and, despite his mistakes against Sweden, Glen Johnson is enjoying a good tournament. I'd still rather have our back five than any other. Combine that with our quality attack and it's easy to see that England are going very well.

We'll beat the Ukraine. They'll have their home fans roaring and Andriy Shevchenko will be determined to have a glorious swansong but I'm not impressed. They were lucky to win their first match and France exposed their defensive weaknesses. The hosts need a win whereas we only need a draw. They'll go for it, that will leave them exposed and Theo and Ashley Young could terrorise them on the break. Andriy Pyatov looks dodgy in goal and if we're as rampant as we were against Sweden then we could be ahead at half-time and full-time. Come on England.

Harry's Recommended Bets
Back England @ 2.221/1
Back England/England @ 3.752/1 for half-time/full-time
Back Wayne Rooney to score


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