England Squad

[saffrey]

Goalkeepers: James (West Ham), Robinson (Leeds), Wright (Everton).


Defenders: G Neville (Man Utd), Mills (Leeds), Bridge (Southampton), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Campbell (Arsenal), Southgate (Middlesbrough), Woodgate (Newcastle), Terry (Chelsea).


Midfielders: Beckham (Man Utd), Scholes (Man Utd), Butt (Man Utd), Gerrard (Liverpool), Murphy (Liverpool), Dyer (Newcastle), Jenas (Newcastle), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Lampard (Chelsea).


Strikers: Owen (Liverpool), Heskey (Liverpool), Vassell (Aston Villa), Jeffers (Arsenal), Rooney (Everton).

 

[saffrey]

er... Nicky Butt? Heskey? Vasell?

Beattie & Defoe should be in there for the last pair... Beattie & Owen up front would be something... Defoe is better than Vasell ATM for a pacy nippy type of striker. Where's Gareth Barry? He's been unsung for Villa in Left-Midfield.

Not sure about the keepers. Like David James, but is he reliable. Good to see Sven giving youth a go in the shape of Robinson & Wright.

 

[Loud and Proud]

Rooney ahead of Defoe..........again

 

[Fat Bee Slim]

As I said before the Australia game (and got comments like "get a grip"), Sven's squad selection is becoming increasingly strange. Almost as much as Wally's!!

Rooney ahead of Defoe?
Heskey?
JEFFERS????? The biggest waste of £10 million since God knows when?!

No Gareth Barry or Lee Hendrie? Or James Beattie?

Said it before and I'll say it again: SVEN OUT. Think he's very over-rated as a manager, our results and performances have been crap for a year now.

 

[Leonardo]

Worrying that given Bridge has only returned from injury last week we have no cover for left back. Either Gareth Barry who Sven obviously doesn't rate or the Portsmouth left back should be in that squad, or even recall Le Saux.


And yes why is Vassell selected?

 

[West Ealing Bee]

I think Matt Taylor, the Portsmouth left back, will be close when they go up. He is a class player. However he is injured at the moment.

Surprised to see a shortage of full backs, are we going to play 5-3-2? We should definitely have cover for Bridge if we aren't, even Phil Neville would be better than playing someone out of position

Can't argue with the rest of it, people have short memories about Butt, he was brilliant in the WC and IMHO should be in.
Difficult with regard to Rooney, Vassell etc.

There is a strong anti-Heskey feeling, which i don't agree with, but he has been on decent form in recent weeks and rarely lets England down IMHO. He does his job, and if he scored more goals would be an amazing player. He never has been prolific though to expect that for England is unrealistic.

I would not only have Rooney in the squad I'd have him in the team, I think he is the best prospect we've had for amny a year and the best way to see how good he is is to play him.

Vassell is a difficult one, I'm not sure he is good enough but he has a good goalscring record for England. I would like to see Defoe and Beattie given chances, especially Defoe, but these are competitive games and Beattie didn'tlook up to it against Australia.

I would ask why Smith is in ahead of Beattie or Defoe, or even Fowler.

As for Jeffers

 

[finchbee]

The squad looks OK apart from the Strikers.

Good that Robinson is in as I believe he is class. Think Le Saux should bein as he is playing well for Chelsea.
Disagree with Jeffers and Vasell, Beattie should get another go and I think Smith should be there

 

[Gary Alen]

Let's Hope Wright get's a start!!!!
otherwise, their maybe a few Lietchenstein strikers making a name for themselves!!!

 

[timmy_boy5]

Making the best of a bad squad
Robinson

Bridge Ferdinand Campbell G Neville


Beckham Scholes Gerrard Dyer


Owen Jeffers

Subs:
James Woodgate Terry Butt Jenas Lampard Rooney Vassell

Wheres james beattie?? and Gareth Barry??

 

[West Ealing Bee]

Making the best of a bad squad
Robinson

Bridge Ferdinand Campbell G Neville


Beckham Scholes Gerrard Dyer


Owen Jeffers

Subs:
James Woodgate Terry Butt Jenas Lampard Rooney Vassell

Wheres james beattie?? and Gareth Barry??

Either you have your midfield the wrong way round or your defence the wrong way round, depending whether you have the right on the left of the screen or the right of the screen.

Jeffers , are you joking. Ahead of Rooney and Heskey. We would have no presence up front.

 

[Snappy]

Anyone else see the similarity between Sven and Wally? Had a good reputation and things were going very well at the beginning, but now seem to be losing control of the team, don't know what the best side is and results are slipping badly. A couple more bad results and both could be out of a job. Selecting a donkey to play up front every time (Heskey/McCammon in case anyone was wondering which two!) as well! Spooky!

 

[Jay Bee]

Jeffers didn't exactly disgrace himself against Australia, which is more than can be said for most of the first XI that night.

8 out of 41 GPGers thought Sven should already be out of a job now, in the immediate aftermath of the Australia game, it'll be interesting to see how the next 2 games affect those figures.

Rooney probably won't play anyway, I can't see that picking him over Defoe will alter the course of world history.

Regarding "our performances have been crap for a year now", if we'd beaten Macedonia and Australia no-one would be saying a word against him, so I can't see how the performances have been crap for a year. The ultimate goal when Sven took over was to use 2002 as a learning curve towards future tournaments, I hardly think losing to Brazil in the 1/4 finals is an embarassment, especially given the so-called start to the campaign that Keegan and Wilkinson had given him when he took over.

Still can't see that anyone else would do better in the same position anyway, Owen's still having an average season, Seaman still won't retire, and a new broom won't change those things and other problems around.

 

[Fat Bee Slim]

Regarding "our performances have been crap for a year now", if we'd beaten Macedonia and Australia no-one would be saying a word against him, so I can't see how the performances have been crap for a year.

It's the fact that we didn't beat either team, and played shockingly badly in both games as well as numerous before that...

 

[Leonardo]

It's the fact that we didn't beat either team, and played shockingly badly in both games as well as numerous before that...

As someone once said: "You ain't seen anything yet!"

 

[buzzybee]

the squad should go on current form, therefore beattie, barry, le saux and defoe all deserve to be in it. What does beattie have to do to get in the squad get 30 goals a season?? we dont want players in the squad who have mostly been sub this season, and sven shouldnt just pick players on reputation and purely because they have been in the squad for a while and hes too scared to drop them.

 

[Jay Bee]

It's the fact that we didn't beat either team, and played shockingly badly in both games as well as numerous before that...

But those 2 games don't make us "crap for a year", they make us "crap for 2 games, one of which was a friendly".

Blatter condemned Sven for changing the whole team at half time against Australia today, this sort of thing has been going on for ages, and not just Sven either.

 

[Fat Bee Slim]

No, they don't make us crap for a year, but performances against Slovenia where we just about won 2-1 with 2 late goals (not sure if Slovenia is the game I mean...the day we beat Northampton away) we were crap. Italy last year - lost 2-1. We were poor. Brazil and Nigeria performances in the World Cup. Against Sweden in the World Cup. All games in which we've been poor, not including Macedonia and Australia.

U can count the good performances on one hand (Argentina and Denmark in World Cup are all I can think of). Far more bad ones than good.

With the talent Sven has at his disposal, it's not good enough, IMHO

 

[mhead bee]

have to agree that the only two good performances since sven took over are germany and argentina (although for both these results he deserves immoratality!). Apart from that we have been really very sh1te against greece through to australia.


I think he will play the following team (my choice is in brackets by the way)

GK clumbsy oaf (robinson)

RB chuckle brother no 1 (mills. who deserved to keep place after world cup)

CB rio
CB campbell out injured so southgate (woodgate deserves a chance)
LB bridge

cm gerrard
cm scholes (beckham, crossing wasted on right as no one gets on end of it since shearer left. Beckham drifts inside when it gets messy so start him there)

RM beckham (dyer)
LM murphy (rooney. Not his best position but has just oozed class from there for everton. Boy genius needs to play and for me is the best player we have to go in that position already)

CF owen
CF heskey (I would play scholes just off the front)