[Solved] World Cup

Oh no! It's started!!

Definitely Cole. Keeper - hmmmm. Walcott, yes we need his lightning speed and after the last World Cup fiasco when he sat out the tournament on the bench - he deserves this chance. Gerrard another must (even though he says himself this season he's been way below his best).

I'm feeling optimistic about our chances of getting to the semis this year (in the football that is). I'm sure Federer and Nadal will keep us entertained in the tennis.

Great thread Mario..I think we're going to really impress in this World cup,I do feel that alot depends on Rooney and his fitness though.

Keeper-I think he'll probally go for Green although the young lad Hart as done outstanding at Birmingham this season,bit risky though.

Gerrard will be a dead cert but Lampard I worry about his form for England especially with Barry being a regular starter,Milner is really knocking on the door though and can play all across the midfield.

Crouch for me,his goal scoring record in an England shirt speaks for itself.

Terry worry's me a bit to be honest,his form is up and down and that tackle on another England player last week was discusting,you wonder what frame of mind he's in with everything that go's on in his private life.

Whatever happens I love the World cup and can't wait. 😀 D

After watching the Villa-Pompey game yesterday I reckon if he can stay fit David James should be in goal,he was outstanding..

As a Gunner I'm trying not to be biased (although Walcott is becoming increasingly unpopular with the Arsenal fanbase it seems). I really want Walcott to go, I'm not sure I'd start him, instead I'd probably go with Lennon as he has more of a complete package but Walcott will be ideal to bring on as a substitute when the opposition is getting tired.

Heskey is perfect alongside Rooney, Courch's record, as someone else stated, speaks for itself, they both have to go.

Back four picks itself, even when they've not had perfect seasons, you try and keep your backline consistent, attacking positions are more interchangable in my opinion.

Wev, I bet you were well frustrated after the Gunnes give there title chances away like that yesterday mate.

Walcott took his goal very well though and I think the only thing that stands in his way of getting on the plane is the fact that he doesn't play week in week out-Capello is a big fan of that isn't he!! I think that Milner could well be a secret weopon for us,im a bit biosed being a Villan,but im sure even most neutrals can't disagree he's been good this season and can play in a few different positions.

My big concern is are defence as Terry seems to be a walking time bomb at the moment and Ferdinand has been very injury prone this season,I wonder if Dawson will get a look in as he's been a big part of Spurs doing so well I think.

The whole seasons been frustrating, time and again United and Chelsea have allowed us to catch up but we never capitalise and keep them just out of reach, its been ridiculous really.

But yes, Capello likes his players to play week in week out for their club, Walcotts problem lies in that he really is played out of position by Wenger. I think when RVP is missing Arsenal need to play a 442 with Bendtner and Walcott feeding off of each other then we'd see what Walcott can do, problem is Wenger seems insistent on making him into a right sided Henry, ignoring the fact you only get an Henry once in a blue moon.

Keepers Hart. Green, Until recent injuries, I would have said James, but now not sure. What about Carson or as a left field choice, Harper from Newcastle?

Crouch is a non brainer - Something magical happens when he dons the England shirt
Walcott - leave him at home
David James in goal for me (Green 2nd)
Take Becks - just cos bringing him one late in a game still unsettles most teams
i thought Fabio had worked out the lampard gerrard thing last time they played or did he just leave one of them out??
It's Rooneys fitness the nation needs to pray about!!
Oh and I am still worried about Terry and the impact on team dynamics - not to mention his form seems off...

Looking forward to be disappointed... Anyone actually going to South Africa ??

Becks in injured Buzz,I believe Capello is taking him along for the ride though for moral support though.

Not sure if Capello's figured the Lampard/Gerrard thing out last time out I think he stuck Lampard through the centre and shoved Gerrard out on the left.

For what its worth I prefer Lampard over Gerrard as a player, his workrate is higher and he's less selfish with the ball, the problem lies in the fact Gerrard can produce more of those moments that change matches on a more regular basis, Lampards much more disciplined which I think suits Capello's game better. Either way, having one of them on the bench alongside the likes of Crouch and Walcott would send shivers up most teams spines.

No 1 Keeper has to be David James - been really good all season in a poor Portsmouth team.

Walcott has to go - will have an excellent World Cup - trust me.
Crouch has to go, really don't like Heskey (his first touch is awful - Douglas Bader had better feet).

The strikers going need to be on form so with that in mind the top English players on the top scorers list are

Rooney (26), Bent (23) and Defoe(18) - can't argue with performance over the whole season.

So I guess the big question for everyone is - name your 22 man squad.

Bent ? are you having a laugh Gooner ?

Just calling them as they fall Babel - Bent is the second highest English goal scorer in the Prem League this season.

Anyway you can't slag off my selection without offering your own alternatives. 😀

Gooner

I'd have to say for number one keeper, it's got to be David James. Crouch has definitely got to go, no explanation needed, his record speaks for itself. Chris

I think i'd take Bent,look at the goals he's scored this season in a mediocre team like Sunderland. Rooney-Bent-Crouch-Defoe or Heskey would be my strikers I think.

Hi all

Bent is NOT an international footballer - if you are talking about this season why not consider Zamora?

He has scored in some big games this season.

I would take Rooney, Heskey, Crouch and Defoe and then use Gerard or Lampard behind them in the event of injury!

I have to say that while "Calamity" is the obvious choice I cant help but feel he will let us down at some time

Mario

Zamora ? he hasn't scored in the last six hours of prem football - no way is he a international striker. 😆

Dont sound too shocked - I could have said Michael Owen!!!

Apparently Aaron Lennon could be on his way back - he should definitely go

Alan Shearer has been analysing the England striker situation on the BBC website read it here.

He thinks it will be Rooney, Heskey, Crouch and Defoe - have a look at let us know if you agree.

Mario - your right, I would rather take Zamora than Owen 😆

Hi

I agree with Alan Shearer it will be Rooney, Heskey, Defoe and Crouch. He will then use Gerard if Rooney gets injured.

So we have sorted out the strike force - 23 squad members which should be 3 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, and 8 midfielders.

I would take

Robert Green
David James
Joe Hart

Glen Johnson
Ashley Cole
Wes Brown
Joleon Lescott
John Terry
Rio Ferdinand
Matthew Upson
Phil Jagielka

Steven Gerard
Frank Lampard
Gareth Barry
Michael Carrick
Aaron Lennon
James Milner
Joe Cole
Shaun Wright Phillips

Emile Heskey
Wayne Rooney
Jermaine Defoe
Peter Crouch

What do you think?

I like this list and I think it will be somewhat close to this. However,

Aaron Lennon hasn't played much over the last few months, how about Adam Johnson?

Also, I've never understood the abilities of Wes Brown and why he's got so many caps. What happened to Micah Richards?

How about Carlton Cole instead of Heskey?

Totally agree about Johnson as he's looked quality what i've seen of him,when City signed him I though it was strange but he's really impressed me,he must be in Capellos thoughts..

Cole for Heskey seems fair enough as both pretty much the same type of player but Cole scores more,the problem there is so many players and Rooney's one have said Heskey is the best striker they've played alongside,Capello likes Heskey so I think he'll go even though he doesn't play week in wek out.

Think it is too early for Johnson although given the season he has just had he would be worth a place. Read something about Stuart Downing and I started to get very twitchy!!!

Lets hope not

Go Jamie Carragher - welcome back and a great choice

What about Fabio's scoring system - he intends rating the players out of 100 within 4 hours of the final whistle?

Mario

Im a bit undecided about Carragher Mario to be honest,on his day I would say he's well a match for the cb slot,I just wonder has his form been great this season. Saying that though he is a great player to have there if Ferdinand or Terry are injured..etc..

I wonder where the big turn around came from as it was strange when he turned his back on his country before.

Overall though the squad picked looks good,it will be interesting to see who doesn't make the final 23.

Think Carragher is in for his versatility - especially as Wes Brown is injured.

Rio is a risk and I think when we need some proper defenders (Johnson is good going forward - not so good in defence!) he will be there.

Mario

It's so exciting, especially now the sun has decided to show it's face this year.......Come on England!

Am I allowed to say my second team is Germany? mainly because I really like Michael Ballack so was disappointed to hear he's out of the World Cup...such a shame.

Chris

I am declining to comment on this thread - as my husband points out "what do I know about football , I am Man U fan!!!"

But come on England !

Mags

Mags - I'm a Man U fan and what we don't know about football isn't worth sharing!

Question for me is will he allow Gerrard to play up front and stop wasting him on the wing? Also of Rooney gets injured I think we're stuffed - and given other teams will know that I bet he becomes a target for the odd stray boot 🙁

loving this sunshine - really getting me in the mood for beer and football.

Did I hear right that they are remixing the three lions track?

So i hear - West Ham fanatic Russell Brand and Port Vale fan Robbie Williams are the leading stars of a reworked version of that bleedin' England anthem Three Lions for next month's World Cup.

Mags

Robbie and Russell brand to do 3 lions with Baddiel and Skinner - cool

http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/russell-br ... lions-2010

just in case you want to practise singing along with the original
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QIAv2Eo ... tube_gdata

New Order was the best world cup song!!

Can't beat Barnsey rapping!

Mario

I actually think Three lions the origanal is a great song,this new one has killed it a bit though to be honest.

New order one with Digger rapping is a classic though.. 😀

I can't see him playing Gerrard up top Buzz,to be honest the lad is a quality playmaking centre mid,that's where he should be in my opinion. Who plays in the middle with him is up for debate but with the likes of Crouch and Bent/Defoe to play upfront alongside Rooney we should be ok..

Sorry, I've come into this one a bit late, but it seems to me we mostly have a pretty good team

For flashes of brilliance and innovation: J Cole, Rooney, Gerrard ...maybe even Lampard and A Cole

Up front, I suspect Rooney & Heskey will be Capello's preferred choice to start, bringing on Defoe or Crouch as subs. IF Bent goes, he probably wont get a look in.

Left side of midfield used to be a worry, but with Cole, Milner & Gerrard all looking quite cosy there, it doesn't seem to be a problem any more and with Ashley Cole at the back, that whole left flank seems pretty strong.

In central midfield and defence, we boast some pretty solid players. I know we have had a few injuries and lapses in form, but I would expect these guys to come good on the big stage.

For me, it's that right flank that seems a bit weak. Walcott, Lennon and SWP are all really really quick BUT a little unpredictable when it comes to laying on a decent pass, or producing a world class finish. And who is at right back? Is it Glen Johnson, or is Carragher to slip in there. It just feels like we don't quite gel on the right.

As for goal ...I don't get the whole Green thing. He just looks out of his depth when he plays for England. I think James should probably just edge it ...with Hart becoming a superstar of the future maybe.

...but then what do I know.

So Gerard is captain - is this a responsibility too far? Remember he bottled it in the last world cup due to all the transfer talk.

I would have made Rooney captain personally

I think Rooney would have been a great choice. He seems to have matured since becoming a dad and I think that the captaincy might have a similarly positive effect on him.

I'm not sure about Rooney being captain this time because he's carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders already so does he need the extra responsibilty? I would put my money on him being the captain at the next World Cup though.

Going back to the topic of World Cup songs, did anyone see Dizzee Rascal and James Corden's performance on BGT on Saturday night? Their unofficial song is really good, the best World Cup anthem for a long time!

Chris

I agree great song have a look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07K_kHV7BXk

Great song - has classic written all over it. 😀

I'd love to see an official video, Corden always has me in stitches! Best anthem since 3 Lions and Vindaloo IMO and brilliant that the boys are donating their royalities to Great Ormond Street Hospital. I'll be playing this at my World Cup BBQ on Saturday, come on England!

Chris

Been away for a while, so this may be in place already. Was thinking we could have a DadTalk fantasy football world cup league.
To that end if you go to www.metro.co.uk and find fantasy football link. Create a team and then join the mini league of.......wait for it......DadTalk (hope no lawsuits from the use of the name 😮 )

If there is one on the go already let me know and I will join that and cancel the mini league I have setup. If you are up for it those who join could add in a £2 each and winner takes all......The site allows for all of that if you are up for it.

Cheers....

ooooeeeerrrrr.....missed a vital bit of info 😳

www.metro.co.uk
Team Name: DadTalk
pin: 8019991

see you there.....

welcome back Zaden - we missed you. 😀

Looks a laugh - I'll sign up. 😀

Only hours away from the start - still confident about Englands chances ? 😐

Well the experts do seem to think we are in for at least 4th place ...which is nice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 730975.stm

According to my prediction, our first real test will come in the Semis against Brazil. Shortly followed by Spain in the final.

Yeah, we can do that 😕

Got your flag yet? Come on England!!!

Have been told no flag, on the car on the house - can you tell my wife is Welsh???

Still when they qualify...I will be very very old!!!

No flag - that's a bit harsh.

Can't see the welsh qualifying for many many years. Even when they pinched one of the best English left sided players ever for their national team it didn't help them.

Really been enjoying the matches.

I enjoyed the South African match - shame they didn't win it. I thought the Koreans gave it a good go, they looked lively, played well and deserved their win over a very boring Greek side.

The French looked out of sorts and as if they had no idea how to play the system they had been asked to play.

The Germans looked very good. Quite an attacking side, not very German. Their defence looked a little dodgy - a better side might be able to find gaps.

Little bit worried about our lads, we obviously missed a defensive midfielder on the pitch, we had no-one covering the gap between the defence and midfield.

Stevie G's goal was well taken and Heskey's set up was great. However Heskey went on to miss at least three golden chances to score and summed up the Heskey issue, great at helping other players but useless in front of goal himself. His record of 57 caps and only 7 goals speaks volumes. I think it is time to leave Heskey out. Next match I would go with Rooney up front and Gerrard playing behind. Left midfielder, Joe Cole- Centre mids Gareth Barry and Lampard and on the right Wright-Phillips.

Anyone want to stick with Heskey or has someone else got a better formation ?

Gooner

Nope - I think Heskey has to go. He can't score goals and strikers in top teams like England really need to be able to score goals; reliably, efficiently, ruthlessly.

At the other end, I think Green also has to go. It is a definite advantage for goal keepers in top teams like England to be able to stop the ball from going in the net. It's a tough one now, because Capello has put his faith in Green and I'm not sure that he can change now. But I would have always gone with James over Green and I think Hart should be second choice.

I agree with your line up completely Gooner (possibly Lennon over SWP). Capello doesn't appear to be playing his strongest team ...which is odd. The only two question marks are over who plays alongside John Terry and who plays in goal (which should have been sorted months ago).

As for the rest. I caught bits of the New Zealand game today and thought they were wonderful.

And what about Maicon's wonder goal last night!

I didn't watch the Brazil game. I listened to some of it. On your advice I have just watched the Maicon goal and ...two great passes followed by ...umm ...that's just ridiculous ...how did he do that? ...and all without the use of a set square, protractor, or mirrors. He's not even a bloomin' striker 😮

There is a lovely clip on BBC "World Cup 2010 - MOTD all-time top five Brazil goals"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 742780.stm
Will show it to my boys when they get home from school ...along with the Maicon clip

Nice 😀

Tee Hee. Diego Maradona dealing admirably with an insane journo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 746948.stm

Glad France lost, Mexico were the better team. Really do not want to see them stumbling through another tournament and progressing through luck rather than play.

On current form, Germany, Argentina and Brazil look to be hot. All still to play for though only on the second of the 3 rounds.
If England can get an early goal to settle their nerves tonight then they should be able to give the sort of performance they are capable of. Only problem is that if Greeny is left in goal then from the off the defence are going to feel fragile and you can imagine that Algeria will try knocking in more than a few long [censored] to see how buttery his hands are. At this level one silly mistake is so costly that the confidence of the keeper should be left to be rebuilt in the years following the world cup. Harsh? Maybe but it is the "World Cup" rather than the local tin cup.

England coach Fabio Capello is likely to drop Robert Green and play the experienced David James in tonight's World Cup match against Algeria in Cape Town, so says BBC Sport.

I think James is the right call. He's not perfect, but he's probably the perfect-est of the three of them ...and much as I'd like to see Hart in there, it's a bit of a gamble.

As for France ...a French friend of mine has just sent me this:

How they teach football in France
Coach: Why didn't you stop the ball?
Kid: That's what the nets for, isn't it.

Now RatsoIII, if you do not mind I may just purloin that quote for humorous quote of the day thread - that line is just pure genius..... 😆

I know I should be watching the game but it is just dire 😥
and now 3 mins of added time for further dire play......

I know I should be watching the game but it is just dire
and now 3 mins of added time for further dire play......

Wasn't it just. I have never been sooo bored or soo annoyed watching England play.

No passion, no pride and no idea 😡

personally I have never been so hacked off with a team before in my life.

They had no passion. I am really angry, how dare Rooney have a go at the fans for booing.

I have sat through some bad England performances before but that was the worst I can remember.

Me too. It was abysmal - shockingly bad. 🙁

...but now I am ready for Wednesday. Heart on sleeve, roaring them on. I really do not want to have to take down my car flags already. Let the hope continue for a while longer pleeeassseeee

Come on 'Engerlund'! spank em with a goal fest....

Did you manage to catch either live or post, the 7 - 0 thrashing dished out to N Korea. Their 'dear leader' must be crying into his fizzy juice 🙂

The England team went to visit an orphanage in South Africa this morning.
"Its good to put a smile on the faces of people with no hope, constantly struggling and facing the impossible" said Jamal Umboto, aged 6.

Did you manage to catch either live or post, the 7 - 0 thrashing dished out to N Korea. Their 'dear leader' must be crying into his fizzy juice

Apparently they show the game in North Korea many hours later - this will probably end up a nil-nil draw!!

Apparently they show the game in North Korea many hours later - this will probably end up a nil-nil draw!!

😆 😆 😆 😆

The England team went to visit an orphanage in South Africa this morning.
"Its good to put a smile on the faces of people with no hope, constantly struggling and facing the impossible" said Jamal Umboto, aged 6.

Nice... 😆 😆 😆
So Jamal is hoping he does not have to take down his flags early as well 🙂

I will be there cheering the lads on like an insane man (insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result isn't it ?).

Surely we will be better than the last two games ?! If they don't improve they will all be coming home early.

What did everyone make of the Terry interview yesterday - he was hinting at a revolt in the ranks, but all the other players have denied it. Is he stirring ? found it strange that Gerard, as captain, didn't talk to the press.

Well I hope we can finally play the way we know we can tomorrow and get out the group,very,very dissapointing so far-we can't get any worse. Slovenia is now looking like the tough game as thye've scored more than anyone else.

Come on England,sort it out..

Fingers crossed - hopefully Capello will change it around abit.

Still looking for:

Rooney up front, Gerrard just behind, midfield of Joe Cole - Barry - Lampard - Wright-philips, Defence Cole, Upson, Terry, Johnson and Green in goal.

Though it looks like he's gonna stick with 4-4-2 and pop Defoe up front with Rooney.

What has Joe Cole done to offend Capello ? Unless he plays Gerrard on the right and Cole on the Left ?

Any ideas ?

Really would like to see them play in the same role they play week in, week out for their clubs.

Although Hesky was part of the qualification team, I still do not see the point of a striker who does not "strike" and just plays in the other striker, 'cause surely that is just a midfielder....

Only a couple of hours now until the match, I just hope the boys can do it. I agree, Capello needs to play Joe Cole and stick Rooney up front on his own. We can do it, come on boys!!

Chris

Just going through my pre match routine ready for the big match.

Wish he would listen to people and play Rooney upfront with Gerard behind,but he wont!!

Good luck England and remember if you don't win we will forgive you eventually!

Remember Gareth Southgate, Phil Neville and Chris Waddle...not forgetting David Beckham

Thank god that match is over! Roll on Sunday!

That was much better even if it was a bit tense at the end.. 😀 D

Milner was superb today after his slow start,Gerrard was class and Rooney seemed up for it and was unlucky.

The Germans are winning so it looks like them sunday.

The play was good and it was an enjoyable match to watch ...but still only one goal ...against pretty weak opposition.

Milner and sometimes Johnson do actually seem to be able to put a decent cross in occasionally, which is nice. I have actually been sitting here lamenting Beckhams absence, because at least he could have set up a couple of chances by putting the ball in roughly the right area.

All in all a good show last night and if they can keep it up AND CONTINUE TO IMPROVE and get a little luck, who knows how far we might get.

I thought Milner had a really good game as well. He linked really well with Johnson on the right. Gerrard did ok on the left as well, mainly because he wasn't drifting in field all game.

We will have to step it up to another level if we want to get past the Germans though.

Bit worried about Rooney - he is having a rubbish World Cup and still looks a shadow of his former self.

Bye, bye Italy 🙂
Well with France and Italy out hopefully not too many boring, stifled games 😉

Have to admit though, they were really bad this time round.

The departure of Italy made me think (reminisce) about Italy (specifically Paolo Rossi) in 1982. Does anyone remember watching Paolo at the corner flag, surround by defenders, do some footy trickery and lay over all their heads and put the ball in the box 🙂

So consecutive victories against Germany, Argentina, (possibly Spain) then Brazil.

Its coming home...oh I have just woken up!!

England could not defend for toffee today. Treacle could have done a better job of stopping the goals. 😥 😡

Geeez, if they defended like that in the premiership, they would be sold for tuppence

Goal line technology would not have stopped us getting a beating and better at this stage than to probably end up facing Argentina and be utterly humiliated. 😳

We were utterly humiliated today. I've never seen such a woeful performance. It may have made a difference if we'd got to 2-2 but ultimately the Germans outclassed us.

Back to the drawing board. According to the Sun, Capello won't resign.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/worldcup2010/3031845/Fabio-Capello-has-ruled-out-resigning-as-England-boss.html

I have never been so embarrassed by an England performances. Capello has to take full responsibility for this. The FA needs to pay off his contract and get rid.

We also need to cap the salaries of players (over-paid rubbish), Limit foreign players in the league as they are stopping English talent coming through and make Premier league clubs play a minimum number of English players in their first 11 .

you know it makes sense.

Did you honestly expect anything different from this England side ? They have been useless all the way through the tournament. One barely acceptable performance against Slovenia. We have struggled to qualify in a group, that on paper, we should have walked through without working up a sweat. None of our big players turned up and when we were looking for goals we bring Heskey on - we have had defenders with a better goals to games ratio than him.

In interviews before the match the England team said they would do their best to make sure the match didn't go to penalties - well they really succeeded there then 😆

Babel mate,

Let's look at this with calm clear heads.

Salaries have nothing to do with performances at national level, a lot of other teams who are doing well have players playing in Europe on massive salaries - Brazil, Argentina and Spain to name but a few.

Capello - I'm not really sure who is to blame for what happened. Capello has been a very successful manager at all teams that he has worked with in the past and to be fair England were hardly world beaters before he arrived. Maybe we should rather look at the squad he had available to him and question if our expectations are too high.

Limit foreign players in the league - We were hardly great before the influx of foreign players. Maybe this is more of a quality thing - if we produced better quality English players then it wouldn't be easier to bring in foreign players.

I think at the end of the day we did not have a strong enough first 11 and our replacement players were not very good quality.

Gooner :ugeek:

I stand by the fact that we have a decent bunch of players. Those players and that manager got us into the competition. Then for whatever reason, went into meltdown.

The Goal: I think we 'could' have beaten Germany yesterday and had the goal been allowed, maybe it would have been just enough to raise our spirits and confidence and dampen the Germans. However, it wasn't allowed and we weren't 'great' enough to get over it and score three more in it's place.

The Discord: There was something afoot in the England camp, that spilled over a couple of times in interviews. For whatever reason, the players were unsettled. There were times when they just seemed to be huffing their way around the pitch against Algeria "Oh he got the ball again, it's so unfair". These guys were not happy and settled and together. It would be interesting to know why.

The Manager: I think he is guilty of making some strange decisions and being stubborn. He has proved himself to be a good manager in the past. BUT his job is to rally the troops and get them playing as a team and in that task he failed. That said, he is under contract to stay with England and I don't hold with sacking managers every five minutes.

The Future:
I think Capello was the wrong choice in the first place. I would like to see an English or at least a British manager. Not for any jingoistic reasons, but just someone who understands the culture, the jokes, the camaraderie, the subtleties, the pressures, the press, the expectations ...and ideally someone who is passionate about the same flag.

Time for the Golden Generation to take a bow. I would like to see an England team for the future selected over the next two years. God knows who! Hart in goal. Walcott / Adam Johnson. Rooney. Anyone else??? I think they should know that they are the first 11 and play together and when they are injured or their form drops, someone else gets a chance to break in to the team.

I think we should keep Capello until the Euros and see how we perform there. If we have another tournament like this, then maybe it'll be time to give someone like Harry Redknapp a chance. You can't keep changing the manager every time the PLAYERS don't do well. My main worry is where are the new young players coming through to replace the 'Golden Generation'?

Chris

Not sure this lot were the golden generation to be honest.

Ok so the next generation are going to have to come from the current under 21's, under 19's and survivors of this current squad. Say we select no one who is currently 28 or older for the next championship.

Possible survivors from this squad are Joe Hart (23), Glen Johnson (25), Michael Dawson (26),Aaron Lennon (23), James Milner (24), Wayne Rooney (24), Jermain Defoe (27) If you would want them.

Of course then there is also Ben Foster(27), Theo Walcott(21), Darren Bent (26), Adam Johnson (22), Gabriel Agbonlahor (23), Tom Huddlestone (23), Ashley Young (24), Joleon Lescott(27), Jack Wilshere (18), Nigel Reo-Coker(26), Micah Richards (22), Jack Rodwell (19), Henri Lansbury (19), Kieran Gibbs (20), James Vaughan (21), Freddie Sears (21)

So I guess my question is pick the next generation - 22 players, any formation other than 442, player must be younger than 28 (as of now) and doesn't have to be in the list above - tell us who to play in what position and why.

I will have a go as well. 😉

Gooner

Oooh! Seriously difficult! Not sure I can do a full squad, but here's a few ideas:

Goal:
Hart & Foster
Away from Man U, I wonder of Foster might shine a bit more. Be interesting to see this year.

Defence:
Kieran Gibbs, Tom Cleverley
I took my boy to see England/Portugal under 21s at Wembley last year and Gibbs was easily the best man on the pitch. Also seriously impressed with Cleverley, who was simply everywhere.

Midfield:
Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott on the right
Wilshere, Sears, Rodwell, Huddelstone generally scattered around midfield ...see what happens
Milner - prepared to give him another chance ...on the left ???

Forward:
Rooney ...got one more WC in him and maybe a couple of Euros

This is really tough!!! It's so much easier naming the super stars 🙂

When you list the players like that Gooner, the future doesn't look too bad but the question is how many of those you've mentioned are going to continue to improve for their clubs and subsequently be good enough to go and win a Euro or WC? Micah Richards, Walcott and Reo-Coker are players that have been around for a while and maybe their careers have stalled a bit. Also Hart and Johnson; with all the players that will inevitably come in at City, how many games are they going to get? The team should be built around Rooney like it is at United, with two wide players supporting him in a 4-3-3. One to watch for next season; Chris Smalling at Man U.

Chris

Really pleased to see Capello read my post and decided to mention some of the players that I had suggested as the next gen 😉 Bit disappointed that he didn't attempt to name a full 22 squad though.

Come on Fabio, stop skulking around as a visitor, sign up to the site and play the game. 😀

Gooner

So begins the post mortems...

Fabio was a hero up until 6 weeks ago and now he is the villain, lets face it we have massively under performed or could it be that we are not as good as we think!Unless the FA can find a serious contender then lets not change him especially as Roy Hodgson and Harry Redknapp may not be interested.

The concern with Fabio was that he didnt seem to listen and was determined to play his way - it clearly failed and he now needs to accept some of the blame. We cannot expect club players to play out of positiion and re-produce the same form they show week in week out.

Lets face it the qualifying group was an easy one and we should have sailed through.

We need to focus on our under 17 and under 21 teams and get these players playing together regularly, we also need to ensure out international players are counselled in terms of dealing with pressure and expectation.

The Brazilians have been very quiet yet as usual have left the talking to the pitch.

Remember we all said the same things in 2006 - Beckham resigned as captain, Gerard was
awful (transfer speculation), Rooney cracked up and Lampard was anonymous.

We need to start now to build a team for 2012/2014