England's 23 man squad

[NR7]

I will never understand the continued inclusion of SWP. Apart from Warnock, the rest of the squad pretty much picks itself.. Having not played a single minute in the friendlies, I thought Warnock along with Parker and Dawson were certainties to be excluded...

[Deleted]

if King goes then its a disgrace.... Same with Hesky going over Bent

[chrispiano]

Apparently homesickness was a factor for Warnock over Baines. Some stupid SSN pundit was saying 'I don't think Ashley will get injured so it doesn't matter too much' or something like that.

Bent should have got more of a chance earlier on in the friendlies but it's too late now I think, he didn't do well enough against Japan but he would have been hard-pressed to do so. No problem with King going, Upson has been awful for a while now so not sure why he's there. Carrick probably doesn't deserve to but i'm glad he's got there.

[Bestie]

Heskey over Bent, Carragher ahead of, well, anybody, and Carrick instead of Parker...

So much for Capello's "I'm going to pick players for their form" bullshit.

[NR7]

Jun 1, 2010 14:55:52 GMT chrispiano said:

Upson has been awful for a while now so not sure why he's there. Carrick probably doesn't deserve to but i'm glad he's got there.

I think that Dawson's lack of int experience counted against him and Capello stuck to Upson and Heskey as they both were integral players in qualifiers.. As for Carrick, he is the best option from among a very poor lot and now has a great chance at redemption. I get a sneaky feeling that Barry will not make it and Carrick will be first choice to partner Fat Frank in midfield. Hopefully, a good WC and we get to see Carrick return to form...

[NR7]

Jun 1, 2010 15:08:00 GMT Bestie said:

Heskey over Bent, Carragher ahead of, well, anybody, and Carrick instead of Parker...

So much for Capello's "I'm going to pick players for their form" bullshit.

He pretty much ditched that plan when announcing the provisional squad.

[chrispiano]

Yeah Carrick will almost definitely start against the USA now, somehow I don't think we will be able to fuck that game up, I see us doing something stupid against Algeria.

Oh and I found this laughable thread on bluemoon 'don't take rooney to the world cup because he might get sent off' - www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=177248

[Rorschach]

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8713742.stm

How fucking predictable. Does Capello have any sense of adventure about him at all? Not to mention the fact that he bleated on about only picking players who are in-form but has decided to pick Heskey and Upson, despite Bent and Dawson being in far, far better form.

I'm also mystified at the continual conclusion of SWP. The guy is utter rubbish and offers nothing to the side at all other than running in a straight line before losing the ball.

Anyway, no changing it now. I think England will get to the semi-finals at best before they're utterly out-classed by a team like Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Italy or Germany.

[chrispiano]

If Wes and Hargreaves were fit our team would be looking a mile better than it currently is.

[johnboy14]

This is basically the team that took them through qualifying so my question is why all the experimenting then. To be honest walcott was the right decision, he took defoes spot last time and he could of taken someone more deserving this time around but capello saw sense. SWP is more useful than walcott and if it wasn't for johnsons lack of international experience he may well be there. I can't believe upson got into the squad over dawson, did he see dawson at all this season. Heskey is no surprise, lets look at the facts the last 10 games rooney and heskey has played together rooney has scored 9 goals the last 10 without and he's only scored 3 goals. Its easy to say bent should be going but he doesn't compliment the team and in essence this decision was based on what works for the team.

I don't think capello has picked a bad squad but to be frank you's have only got an outside chance of winning it anyway. Theres alot of dodgy areas in this team.

[chrispiano]

Let's just hope we play 4-5-1
-----------------James------------------ (don't have a real preference in goal, they all seem alright)
Carragher-Terry-Ferdinand-Cole
Lennon-Lampard-Carrick-Gerrard
------------------J.Cole <------------^
-----------------Rooney-----------------

I hope that's our team for the opening game against the USA, it seems unlikely Barry will be fit so hope Carrick plays well. I think Joe Cole and Gerrard interchanging could work really well because it would add some well needed fluidity and none of the other strikers really are good enough anyway.

[fletchabey]

Jun 1, 2010 15:47:55 GMT johnboy14 said:

This is basically the team that took them through qualifying so my question is why all the experimenting then. To be honest walcott was the right decision, he took defoes spot last time and he could of taken someone more deserving this time around but capello saw sense. SWP is more useful than walcott and if it wasn't for johnsons lack of international experience he may well be there. I can't believe upson got into the squad over dawson, did he see dawson at all this season. Heskey is no surprise, lets look at the facts the last 10 games rooney and heskey has played together rooney has scored 9 goals the last 10 without and he's only scored 3 goals. Its easy to say bent should be going but he doesn't compliment the team and in essence this decision was based on what works for the team.

I don't think capello has picked a bad squad but to be frank you's have only got an outside chance of winning it anyway. Theres alot of dodgy areas in this team.

Well, the Qualifying campaign went pretty well, so what was to learn from playing the same XI? That was the whole point of the experimentation, to give some other players a chance to shine and to let him look at his alternative players. As Cappello said, no one changed his mind. He already had a good idea and just wanted to check.

I'm not sure why many people seem so suprised. I've already banged on earlier in this thread about how a good balanced squad is more important than having the better performing individuals. Even out of the 23 only 17/18 or so will probably take significant part. SWP isnt there because hes godlike, its because hes better cover for Lennon than Theo. Same for Crouch/Heskey and Bent. Same with Carrick, he has the experience but not the form and he probably wounldn't get a sniff of being a starter if Barry was 100%. Its just cover. The 23 arent so important, its the starting xi and the subs that are, injuries notwithstanding.

[Ole's Red Whiteknight03 Army]

Am I the only one having trouble buying all the Capello hype? He's portrayed as the strict hardman who would march in and pummel English football into shape, but nothing has really changed. He talks like he wants a no nonsense WC with no distractions then goes and launches an index whereby he rates the players after each match. He says he only wants players on form who are playing regular football for their clubs and picks SWP, Heskey, Carrick, and Carragher. Lampard and Gerrard haven't played a good game for England in...uh...I can't remember when. If the 2006 WC was still going on Lampard still wouldn't have scored, yet everything gets shunted out of position just to accomodate both of them. Capello is still playing Sven's team with McClaren's tactics without any of the defensive shape. For all the talk of the Italian tactician he can't even stop bloody Japan from scoring. Which brings me onto his 23 man squad.

Carrick at the World Cup? Seriously? He has been poorly impersonating a professional footballer for the past 2 years and Capello expects him to suddenly turn it on because it's England playing in South Africa. Laughable at best.

Heskey??? Uh, why can't Bent or Crouch hold the ball up? They're big and tall. Why can't they occupy the centre backs and create space for Rooney? At least if the ball comes to them inside the area they know what to do with it.

Barry? I thought Capello wasn't taking injured players?

SWP??? An international footballer? WOW!!! Uh...at least Walcott had that night in Zagreb, what has SWP ever done to warrant a free trip to SA never mind a place in the team?

Honestly, I was expecting Capello to come in and change things. I thought at the very least he would be able to sort out Lampard/Gerrard or have the bottle to drop one or the other. I thought we would play with discipline and not give the ball away constantly or conceed sloppy goals to useless opposition. Nope.

My only hope is that we were poor in the friendlies leading up to qualifying yet managed to win the important games. I desperately want to believe that this time will be different, but I just can't see what's really changed.

[Rorschach]

Well I think one issue Capello has faced is that the English players are generally utterly nowhere near as good as they're made out to be. Aside from that I totally agree with what whiteknight just posted.

I'm quite surprised by Walcott's total omission from the squad though. He's been in poor form but I'd much rather have him as backup to Lennon than SWP.

[Rob]

Jun 1, 2010 19:16:02 GMT Ole's Red Whiteknight03 Army said:

Am I the only one having trouble buying all the Capello hype? He's portrayed as the strict hardman who would march in and pummel English football into shape, but nothing has really changed. He talks like he wants a no nonsense WC with no distractions then goes and launches an index whereby he rates the players after each match. He says he only wants players on form who are playing regular football for their clubs and picks SWP, Heskey, Carrick, and Carragher. Lampard and Gerrard haven't played a good game for England in...uh...I can't remember when. If the 2006 WC was still going on Lampard still wouldn't have scored, yet everything gets shunted out of position just to accomodate both of them. Capello is still playing Sven's team with McClaren's tactics without any of the defensive shape. For all the talk of the Italian tactician he can't even stop bloody Japan from scoring. Which brings me onto his 23 man squad.

Carrick at the World Cup? Seriously? He has been poorly impersonating a professional footballer for the past 2 years and Capello expects him to suddenly turn it on because it's England playing in South Africa. Laughable at best.

Heskey??? Uh, why can't Bent or Crouch hold the ball up? They're big and tall. Why can't they occupy the centre backs and create space for Rooney? At least if the ball comes to them inside the area they know what to do with it.

Barry? I thought Capello wasn't taking injured players?

SWP??? An international footballer? WOW!!! Uh...at least Walcott had that night in Zagreb, what has SWP ever done to warrant a free trip to SA never mind a place in the team?

Honestly, I was expecting Capello to come in and change things. I thought at the very least he would be able to sort out Lampard/Gerrard or have the bottle to drop one or the other. I thought we would play with discipline and not give the ball away constantly or conceed sloppy goals to useless opposition. Nope.

My only hope is that we were poor in the friendlies leading up to qualifying yet managed to win the important games. I desperately want to believe that this time will be different, but I just can't see what's really changed.

A very good analysis there mate. There really is nothing more to add. Myself, amongst many others are just surprised by the 3 choices that he has made; Barry, Heskey and SWP. Well, if Barry wasn't fit enough to play in the friendlies, I cannot see him being 100% match fit for the group matches, so, he will come on as sub, but again his match fitness will be in question because won't be getting 90 minutes every game.

Heskey, nothing more to add except he can hold the ball up, and the only reason why Rooney has scored less when Crouch was his partner was because of Rooney being the one who provides the assists. As we know, Rooney is almost the total footballer, and we can count on him, just don't want him to drop deep every 5 minutes because if he does that, we will have no chance.

SWP, not great, got in because he is the adopted son of Ian Wright. No great ability, just a very short Dwain Chambers with a ball.

Carrick too is a bit of a weird choice too. I think that night against Barca affected him big-time and hasn't been the same since. Was good in the qualifiers, but once they won the qualifiers, I think Carrick has either lost confidence or just doesn't bother. Shame