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Just some thoughts.
No Walcott. Good, his speed just means he loses the ball/makes bad cross / makes bad pass /falls over etc. 2 seconds before anyone else. Wouldn’t be surprised if Arsenal get rid of him in time. He’s got the "Benjamin Button" syndrome; plays more like a big kid with each game.
Emile Heskey. Sheesh! Can anyone imagine a World Cup winning side featuring Emile?
Shaun Wright-Phillips. Better than Walcott, but against the top sides? Hope I’m wrong but I don’t think he’ll cut the mustard. A. Johnson would have been my preferred player.
Aaron Lennon. May be England’s ace-in-the-hole. I’ve a lot of time for Aaron. Hasn’t had as demanding a season as some in the squad so may just have more to give.
Wayne Rooney. World-Class, but so much is expected of him that he’ll probably disappoint.
Rio Ferdinand. Needs to find his best form – and quick. Don’t think he will though.
Goalkeeper. Play Joe Hart.
Ashley Cole. One of best left-backs in Europe. Hasn’t had too demanding a season. Pray he doesn’t get injured.
Joe Cole. Better suited to the international game than the premiership hustle and bustle perhaps? Top Class and chuffed he’s been picked. Was gradually returning to form with Chelsea. Could be England’s star man.
Glen Johnson. Ok. Good goal against Mexico, but I still see him as a weakness rather than a strength.
Michael Carrick. Played like a big jessie against Mexico. Come to think of it, plays like that most games. Wouldn’t get in Spain’s 3rd team.
Jermaine Defoe. When he’s good, he’s very good. May be a confidence player. Glad he’s in the squad.
Fabio Capello. Knows more about football than me.
My tip for the World Cup.
If my life depended on it. Spain
Value. Holland.
Best England can expect? Quarter Finals.Centre-halves may be a bit susceptible to a nippy centre-forward pairing such as Villa & Torres. Having said that, it never seems to work like that so they’ll probably be OK.
Goalkeeper position may be an issue – hard to believe that the 3rd-favs for the tournament don’t really have a 1st-choice keeper.
Rooney needs to stay fit – I would play Crouch who has a good touch for a big man and is excellent in the air as well.
Definitely quarters, probably semis
I think we can win it, I only think there’s two better teams in it which
are Spain and Argentina, so with a slice of luck, I’ll be taking the 7/1.England have absolutely no chance.
Whilst I don’t disagree with the general player comments it still hasn’t sunk into the nation’s psyche that the players, whoever they are, are immaterial until English players are coached in a way which allows them to retain possession in all but impossible situations.
Get it wide and get a cross in and hit crouchy and run off him will get us beyond the group stages. Just.
Then we’ll be knocked out.
Capello was picking players on form according to himself, so all I assumed after seeing the players he picked in the squad was that he felt he had no one "in form."
List of players who just aren’t good enough
Green – I wouldn’t have had him in the squad.
James – How many big errors has he made in his career?
Johnson – Fullbacks getting forward is important, but it won’t be any use when England face a team with a left sided player who ghosts into space all game long.
Carragher – That’s because he knew it himself. You don’t retire if you think you’re up to it.
Upson – A walking disaster for West Ham at times.
Warnock – Well if he was why has he played just one game for England? He’s only been picked because Baines might be worse.
Terry – Another walking disaster. Bound to get sent off with World Cup referees.
Joe Cole – Chelsea never missed him. I wouldn’t miss him if he wasn’t picked.
Wright-Phillips – Never been anywhere near top class.
Carrick – Expert passer to the opposition. He’d lead the assists tally in that area if he played. God help England if he’s brought on with 20 minutes to go to change a game.
Heskey – It’s not so much the fact he’s not a great goalscorer, it’s the fact he CAN’T score.
Defoe – I’d rather have Bent than him.Ledley King shouldn’t have been selected because of injury.
Last 16 exit to Australia with any luck, or complete failure if it’s possible.
I think we can win it, I only think there’s two better teams in it which
are Spain and Argentina, so with a slice of luck, I’ll be taking the 7/1.I think your spot on Matthew. Spain are the correct favourites, but I would certainly put Argentina & England ahead of Brazil, who rely too much on the services of Kaka.
The two strangest decisions in Capello’s squad are Carrick & Heskey. Carrick has been poor all season & is overrated & Heskey just can’t score for England. He should have chosen Walcott & Bent, but has obviously went for experience instead.
Mark
Capello was picking players on form according to himself, so all I assumed after seeing the players he picked in the squad was that he felt he had no one "in form."
List of players who just aren’t good enough
Green – I wouldn’t have had him in the squad.
James – How many big errors has he made in his career?
Johnson – Fullbacks getting forward is important, but it won’t be any use when England face a team with a left sided player who ghosts into space all game long.
Carragher – That’s because he knew it himself. You don’t retire if you think you’re up to it.
Upson – A walking disaster for West Ham at times.
Warnock – Well if he was why has he played just one game for England? He’s only been picked because Baines might be worse.
Terry – Another walking disaster. Bound to get sent off with World Cup referees.
Joe Cole – Chelsea never missed him. I wouldn’t miss him if he wasn’t picked.
Wright-Phillips – Never been anywhere near top class.
Carrick – Expert passer to the opposition. He’d lead the assists tally in that area if he played. God help England if he’s brought on with 20 minutes to go to change a game.
Heskey – It’s not so much the fact he’s not a great goalscorer, it’s the fact he CAN’T score.
Defoe – I’d rather have Bent than him.Ledley King shouldn’t have been selected because of injury.
Last 16 exit to Australia with any luck, or complete failure if it’s possible.
I agree on the whole and your post made me laugh in parts esp – "Carrick – Expert passer to the opposition."!
What I’m most surprised about is how ‘One Trick/ Two Stripe’ and ‘Peg Leg/Was Once A Left Back’ has not made your list?!
Surely you don’t rate these two?
In short we’ve ended up with yet another ‘over paid’ manager that has/is taking a team into a major tournament without having any sort of foresight about who is best for the job…
We’ve had countless friendlies and I’d have much preferred ‘The Team’ – with ‘The Set Up’ or ‘Formation’ playing throughout these matches…and not trying new things ie: a new formation one game (and in the second half!) – before they flew off!Against Japan – in a game with ‘no pace’ we showed how weak we are at retaining the ball!
How anyone could be picked on ‘their performance’ from that snooze inducer – is beyond me!I had thought that in ‘Cap’ we had a manager who had the necessary to do this and take whatever flack he’d get if the team he had picked was not to the liking of ‘joe bloggs’ or some scribe from a smutty rag!
Is cohesion in the build up to a major tournament too much to ask for?!
A quote by ‘The Talking Heads’ comes to mind :
"The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It’s ok I know nothing’s wrong.. nothing"Capello was picking players on form according to himself, so all I assumed after seeing the players he picked in the squad was that he felt he had no one "in form."
List of players who just aren’t good enough
Green – I wouldn’t have had him in the squad.
James – How many big errors has he made in his career?
Johnson – Fullbacks getting forward is important, but it won’t be any use when England face a team with a left sided player who ghosts into space all game long.
Carragher – That’s because he knew it himself. You don’t retire if you think you’re up to it.
Upson – A walking disaster for West Ham at times.
Warnock – Well if he was why has he played just one game for England? He’s only been picked because Baines might be worse.
Terry – Another walking disaster. Bound to get sent off with World Cup referees.
Joe Cole – Chelsea never missed him. I wouldn’t miss him if he wasn’t picked.
Wright-Phillips – Never been anywhere near top class.
Carrick – Expert passer to the opposition. He’d lead the assists tally in that area if he played. God help England if he’s brought on with 20 minutes to go to change a game.
Heskey – It’s not so much the fact he’s not a great goalscorer, it’s the fact he CAN’T score.
Defoe – I’d rather have Bent than him.Ledley King shouldn’t have been selected because of injury.
Last 16 exit to Australia with any luck, or complete failure if it’s possible.
Green – A decent keeper, can’t think of many better to have taken really.
James – Has vital experience…name me any goalkeeper in World football who hasn’t made plenty of big errors throughout their careers. Unfortunately for keepers their mistakes are the ones that are punished harshly.
Johnson – Has obvious defensive frailties, but is good going forward and capable on his day. Our best option at right back IMO.
Carragher – Versatile and experienced, won’t let anyone down if called on.
Upson – Has had a poor season and must be low on confidence, would have taken Dawson over him, but won’t matter anyway as he won’t play any minutes.
Warnock – Again…barring a disaster won’t play anyway so doesn’t matter.
Terry – How many times has he been red carded for England again in his 60 appearances? Inspirational leader and was named in the all star team at the last World Cup, more likely than any other defender on the plane to pop up with the odd goal having already scored 6 times for his country. Led Chelsea to how many trophies in recent seasons? What more do you want from a Captain?
Joe Cole – Excellent at International level, been dreadfully unlucky for Chelsea with recent injuries, but if you can’t see what a ‘fit’ Joe Cole can do for England (promising signs on that front the other day) then I’d argue you could write your knowledge of football on the back of a stamp.
SWP – Won the place that was up for grabs between himself and Walcott and Adam Johnson. My personal preference would have been Adam Johnson as I reckon he offers something a little different from the other wingers in the squad. I see SWP, Lennon and Milner as pretty similar players and think Johnson would have added a different dimension. SWP is quick though and has proved in the past he’s capable of coming on and making an impact from the bench.
Carrick – Not his biggest fan to be honest, but as with others I’ve mentioned earlier just think he will be a spectator anyway.
Heskey – Can do a job when he’s on his game. His goalscoring record isn’t great but if he can play well for the team like he has before and his strike partner scores 2 then it matters not. I think playing with a Heskey or a Crouch is vital for Rooney and to see him at his best and that’s what we need. I’d have no problem seeing Heskey partner Rooney up front.
Defoe – Not much between him and Bent for me but neither are likely to start IMO and Defoe offers the best option to bring on as a sub for me.
Can’t believe the negativity of the English nation towards the team. I think some people need to take a reality check. We’ve a fantastic squad of players managed by a top manager who’s had great success throughout his career. Overall, so far he’s done excellent with England and I don’t think you can question too much the squad he’s taking.
I have faith in him and the squad to do really well and don’t see why we can’t go all the way…
I think in the UK & England in particular, we like to build ourselves up & then throw stuff, so we can fall off the pedestal. If we are losing then, it’s I told you so or what do you expect & If we are winning then, it’s too good to be true or how long will this last. The fact is that, England probably have their best chance of winning the tournament since the late Sir Bobby Robson’s team of 1990. They have a good squad of players & a top manager, so they have a decent chance, although the news that Ferdinand is out, is a bit of a minor setback. For me therer are only four teams who can win the tournament – Spain, Argentina, England & Brazil.
Mark
I really can’t fancy Engerrrland, with or without his name is Rio.
Still, maybe Dawson will step up to the plate better than we may imagine?
I just don’t think we have enough all-round quality and something usually goes wrong!
Agreed – we Do have a class manager, though.
Zip
The class manager said some time ago…
I won’t be taking any players with fitness issues!
Low and behold he took a chance and filled some seats with crocks!
Now I for one won’t miss seeing one of them in the first game!
The way he waves his arms about – pointing here and there to other players is as funny as it is annoying!
With that sort of arm movement he’d be better off directing in the planes at Heathrow!
I think people in general are being overly optimistic.
Johnson as a defender is a massive liability. I would say a decent wide man will give him serious problems but he probably won’t need to given Johnson’s positional sense. Ready yourselves for whoever plays wide right continually acting as a second full-back.
Rooney has been a shadow of the ‘player of the season’ since he picked up that first injury. It must be doubtful the form will suddenly return. When things are not going right for him the questions about discipline are going to resurface.
Would be worried as where the goals are going to come from. Crouch seems to have a very good goal ratio but I would expect top-level defenders to make him look like a featherweight.
The time has come for total support…
Ketttssshhuppp! Gulp – Swig – Gulp!
Come on the lads – bring it home…
Robert Green.
I can’t stop laughing at the mistake. I said I wouldn’t have had him in the squad. He is a nightmare and has been for some time.
England have absolutely no chance.
Whilst I don’t disagree with the general player comments it still hasn’t sunk into the nation’s psyche that the players, whoever they are, are immaterial until English players are coached in a way which allows them to retain possession in all but impossible situations.
Get it wide and get a cross in and hit crouchy and run off him will get us beyond the group stages. Just.
Then we’ll be knocked out.
They should be a million, and I’m English
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