I am really surprised by all the negativity to the squad. Lancaster had to make some calls and he picked the ones he picked. It's not like he could just pick who ever he wanted anyway. He has, I think, the possibility to replace only 10 of the EPS, and 4 (?) extra due to the International retirements (can't remember who has retired, has Shaw? He's getting close to the national pension age, so I assume he has).
On the whole, with the constraints he has (limited numbers of new players mentioned above, lack of depth of top flight class in certain key areas like hooker, 7, & 8) I think this squad is way superior to 3.5 years of Jonno picked squads. Us fans often have favourite players we'd want to see (for me, 12Trees), but it is about balance, risk, form, partnerships.
For example, assuming Flood and Manu are out for the Scotland game, I'm happy to concede that with the lack of experience with the available players (thanks Jonno), we are probably better fielding a group of players who start week in week out together, than an unfounded partnership of a mix and match of our preferred names. For me, Hodgson, Farrel and Barritt at least understand how to play as a unit, albeit a tad dull (though they seem to know how to win!)
