ENGLAND WORLD CUP SQUAD!

BigBenRoeth

El Horseboxo wrote: »

Thought Own Goal would have got called up after his great season at Man Utd and his 2 goals against Japan.

I lol'd

Vanbis

I thought Bent, Johnson, Parker would be gone and Heskey and Carrick would be two to lose out. No surprise at Wallcott but he has got some harsh critism this season from pundits. I'm sure most will agree next season will be a big for him.

BigBenRoeth

Vanbis wrote: »

I thought Bent, Johnson, Parker would be gone and Heskey and Carrick would be two to lose out. No surprise at Wallcott but he has got some harsh critism this season from pundits. I'm sure most will agree next season will be a big for him.

I'd say Walcott would be best off playing for someone like Spurs/Everton.
Arsenal as a whole has come under criticism recently for not winning things and there's too much pressure being put on him.
He's a good player but not top 4 standard.

flahavaj

I'd have brought Walcott myself. Yes, he's frustrating at times and I'd start Lennon wide right ahead of him, but hes a fantastic impact sub to bring on. His pace terrifies defenders. Looking at that England aquad it hasn't too many pacy players. Certainly I thinks hes a better player than SWP who is blessed to be on the plane tbh.

D'Agger

I have two grievances with the squad:

1)Bent has to be ahead of Heskey...it's sickening to see a player have such a good season and not get to represent his country at the carnival of football because the manager thinks Rooney plays better with a big,slow,lump next to him

2) SWP - god above, Adam Johnson's twice the player he is imo

Mezcita

PaulieC wrote: »

I have two grievances with the squad:

1)Bent has to be ahead of Heskey...it's sickening to see a player have such a good season and not get to represent his country at the carnival of football because the manager thinks Rooney plays better with a big,slow,lump next to him

(Copied from Greedom's earlier post)

"Stats regarding Rooney's goal scoring record for England:

Last 10 matches with Heskey in team: 10 goals
Last 10 matches without Heskey: 2 goals"

Rooney's their best player so the pairing with Heskey makes a lot of sense.

BigBenRoeth

Apps/Goals this year:

Bent:38/24

Heskey:45/5

JPA

I'm a Villa fan and Heskey has done very little for us in his time here.
But you can't go comparing him to Bent, he has a completely different role when he's in the team, you should almost a forget he's a striker by name.

Mezcita

I'll try again:

"Last 10 matches with Heskey in team: 10 goals
Last 10 matches without Heskey: 2 goals"

Meaning: Heskey in team = Goals for Rooney.

Rooney = Best player on team.

Lots of goals = England beat teams and win the world cup.

Finally Bent has never scored in six appearances for England.

BigBenRoeth

Mezcita wrote: »

I'll try again:

"Last 10 matches with Heskey in team: 10 goals
Last 10 matches without Heskey: 2 goals"

Meaning: Heskey in team = Goals for Rooney.

Rooney = Best player on team.

Lots of goals = England beat teams and win the world cup.

Finally Bent has never scored in six appearances for England.

Do you not think both sets of stats cancel each other out?
Heskey in the team=Lots of Goals for Rooney.
Bent in the team=Goals for Rooney & Bent

JPA

BigBenRoeth wrote: »

Do you not think both sets of stats cancel each other out?
Heskey in the team=Lots of Goals for Rooney.
Bent in the team=Goals for Rooney & Bent

No, it's not like that at all.
Bent and Rooney do not complement each other.

Mezcita

Nope because I'd agree with JPA in that Heskey and Bent are two completely different types of player.

BigBenRoeth

Yes but what im saying is that England would probably get a similar amount of goals if either Heskey or Bent were brought to south Africa

Mezcita

I don't think so. Basically don't think that Bent and Rooney up front would work as a pairing.

BigBenRoeth

Mezcita wrote: »

I don't think so. Basically don't think that Bent and Rooney up front would work as a pairing.

Whereas I think they would....this argument could go on all night

Lukker-

This Rooney/Heskey partnership is being way over-analyzed IMO. Yes Rooney has scored goals with Heskey. Both Bent and Heskey have their benefits and drawbacks. Bent's movement is miles ahead and if you watched any of the gametime he's had his movement has created space for Rooney. Bent can finish and I'm sure if had been in the reckoning last season he'd have formed some sort of partnershop with Rooney. With Heskey you get a static target man who can hold the ball up well and he fits Capello's classic number 9 system better. Still reckon Crouch will be ahead of him at the WC because he can play a similiar role and he can actually play..

Kold

BigBenRoeth wrote: »

I'd say Walcott would be best off playing for someone like Spurs/Everton.
Arsenal as a whole has come under criticism recently for not winning things and there's too much pressure being put on him.
He's a good player but not top 4 standard.

Spurs/Everton? Aren't Spurs top 4 now?

My only problem with the squad is Bent>Heskey and Dawson>Upson.

BigBenRoeth

Kold wrote: »

Spurs/Everton? Aren't Spurs top 4 now?

My only problem with the squad is Bent>Heskey and Dawson>Upson.

Yes,my mistake.

killwill

eagle eye wrote: »

FFS, he is only 21 he has his whole career ahead of him still.

I don't care what age he is, IMO he is not a natural footballer, the only thing he has going for him is his unbelievable pace, take away a yard of his pace and he has very little to offer. His passing is poor, the decisions he makes alot of the time are silly, etc.

Handsome Bob

Any justice, and if he's picking the team on merit, Crouch will be partnering Rooney up front. The man's international record is unbelievable.

Mitch Connor

Kold wrote: »

Spurs/Everton? Aren't Spurs top 4 now?

My only problem with the squad is Bent>Heskey and Dawson>Upson.

with regards to the Bent/Heskey part - my view is simply that a team is more important than the sum of its parts, and the fact we have all seen that Heskey compliments Rooney and the team in general is more important than Bent's goalscoring record at club level (I think he is a great goal scorer but his all round game is not good enough).

You pick a squad and team for balance and best potential over all result - I think Heskey is the better pick in this regard.

KerranJast

It's not just Rooney that benefited in the qualifying campaign from Heskey's presence. His hold up play brought Gerrard, Lampard, Lennon and Walcott into danger areas. England had their highest goals scored tally in donkeys years with Heskey in the team last season.

I've said this umpteen times but England's real threat is from midfield and Rooney. Heskey is there as a link man and a physical presence to distract defenders. He's playing the role Luca Toni did for Italy in 2006. Actually the more I think about it the more I see similarities between that Italian side and the probable England starting 11.

The use of pacy full backs to allow wide midfielders to cut in. A big target man to hold up play and provide space for dangerous midfielders to get forward. A conventional holding midfielder to break up opposition attacks.

Obviously England's defense & GK are not the quality Italy had and Lampard is no Pirlo in the passing department but England have an edge in other areas.

Kold

Is Crouch not able to do a very similar job yet actually able to get a goal when provided a sitter?

invinciblePRSTV

Heskey can be pretty anonymous/useless anyone can tell you that, but he does act as a really quite good conduit for other England players to play well when the ball bounces off him into Rooneys path. Shame he has shown nothing similar at Villa.

Crouch on the otherhand is especially useless, banging in goals in meaningless friendlies against twobit teams is one thing but he's not going to win a World Cup. I'd laugh at the howls of indignation from our English cousins if Capello started him in a WC quarter/semi final.

(PS Spurs are in the CL qualifiers, i'm quite confident they'll be in with the rest of the also rans in the Europa League come September.)

Handsome Bob

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

Crouch on the otherhand is especially useless, banging in goals in meaningless friendlies against twobit teams is one thing but he's not going to win a World Cup. I'd laugh at the howls of indignation from our English cousins if Capello started him in a WC quarter/semi final.

(PS Spurs are in the CL qualifiers, i'm quite confident they'll be in with the rest of the also rans in the Europa League come September.)

Crouch was England's top scorer in the Euro 08 qualifying, i.e. the only one who had anything to show for in a dysmal campaign.

And of the limited games given to him by Capello, he's scored 3 goals in the World Cup Qualifying as well as adding two more goals against Egypt, a friendly against a team who have won the past 3 African Nations tournaments. Hardly a "nothing" friendly.

Seriously, you can't argue with 21 goals in 19 games.

invinciblePRSTV

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Crouch was England's top scorer in the Euro 08 qualifying, i.e. the only one who had anything to show for in a dysmal campaign.

And of the limited games given to him by Capello, he's scored 3 goals in the World Cup Qualifying as well as adding two more goals against Egypt, a friendly against a team who have won the past 3 African Nations tournaments. Hardly a "nothing" friendly.

Seriously, you can't argue with 21 goals in 19 games.

Yes i can argue with 21 goals in 19 games, particularly when most of those goals came against international heavyweights such as Jamaica, Andorra, Estonia et al. If anything Crouchs international career shows how useless international football is, a player can amass a playing/scoring record which looks halfway respectable until closer examination.

Heskey
Bent
Defoe
Cole
Agbonlahor

^All better then Crouch.

SlickRic

the key to this whole Heskey thing is Rooney.

people have to see that.

Capello has seen these things in training; and we've all seen it over the last year with England - Rooney has been his most prolific for England with Heskey as his strike partner.

and for England to win the World Cup, I believe Rooney is going to have to be the man.

i honestly don't see what difficult to understand here.

Handsome Bob

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

Heskey
Bent
Defoe
Cole
Agbonlahor

^All better then Crouch.

You claim that international football is useless and that anyone can amass a good goals record, yet four of the above have yet to impress on the international scene. Heskey couldn't score in a brothel right now. Bent, in spite of a good club record this season, hasn't done any impressive on the international scene. Agbonlahor is streaky at best at his own club never mind the international scene and can tend to miss sitters. As for Carlton Cole, part of a relegation threatened team this season in a team full of good players.

So yeah, give me Crouchie anyday of the week over the above players.

eagle eye

SlickRic wrote: »

the key to this whole Heskey thing is Rooney.

people have to see that.

Capello has seen these things in training; and we've all seen it over the last year with England - Rooney has been his most prolific for England with Heskey as his strike partner.

and for England to win the World Cup, I believe Rooney is going to have to be the man.

i honestly don't see what difficult to understand here.

Its not just Rooney though, England have averaged something ridiculous like 3 goals per game with Heskey starting.
Its Rooney, its Lampard, its Gerrard its Lennon, he brings them into the game and they find space when he plays.

invinciblePRSTV

LZ5by5 wrote: »

You claim that international football is useless and that anyone can amass a good goals record, yet four of the above have yet to impress on the international scene. Heskey couldn't score in a brothel right now. Bent, in spite of a good club record this season, hasn't done any impressive on the international scene. Agbonlahor is streaky at best at his own club never mind the international scene and can tend to miss sitters. As for Carlton Cole, part of a relegation threatened team this season in a team full of good players.

So yeah, give me Crouchie anyday of the week over the above players.

Well i'll re-jig the list of English strikers that i gave to suit the question "Who can play best with Rooney"

Heskey
Cole
Agbonlahor

---

Crouch
Defoe
Bent

I think long term once Heskey leaves we'll see Cole & Gabby get more game time for England.

I also didn't claim all international football is useless just the pointless friendlies in which Crouchy has made a name for himself, if you think Crouch is good enough to start in the big games then fair enough but when England are losing a WC S/F to a Spain, Brazil or an Italy and Fabio is bringing Crouchinho on then the game is up for Englands WC chances, i don't think i'm alone in that view.

AlmostFamous

I think England's weaknesses will be exposed by one of the better teams. I feel they are vulnerable down both wings. Glen Johnson is great going forward but isn't convincing defending. Whoever occupies right wing will have to fulfill their defensive duties and the only winger with decent in the squad defensive skills is Milner. On the left side of their team, it looks like gerrard will occupy the left midfield position and although he is an intelligent footballer he is playing out of position and at Liverpool this season he could afford to neglect his defensive duties with Mascherano and Lucas (lol) playing behind him.

MementoMori

As I said yesterday I thought England's squad looked pretty old.

Sometimes it's great to be right.

Fabio Capello has picked England's oldest ever World Cup squad
• World Cup squad's average age is 28.7, beating 1954 record
• Players in South Africa have won 900 caps together
Mike Adamson The Guardian, Wednesday 2 June 2010 Article history

Those who value wisdom and experience over youth will have been content with Fabio Capello's squad announcement. When news emerged yesterday that Shaun Wright-Phillips, aged 28, had been selected ahead of Theo Walcott, 21, it confirmed a dominant trend in the group of 23 players: a study by the Guardian revealed this is the oldest squad England has ever sent to a World Cup, with a record number of caps to boot.

The average age of 28.7 years pips the previous record of 28.4 established in 1954, a side boosted by the sprightly 39-year-old Stanley Matthews. More significantly it is nearly three-and-a-half years higher than the average age of the World Cup squad four years ago, suggesting minimal evolution of the team in that time.

With age comes experience, however. This England squad have a total of 900 caps between them, an average of 39.1. The previous highest was at Italia 90, when Bobby Robson's side could boast 32.2 caps each.

Inspired by one of their younger number, Paul Gascoigne, that team reached the semi-final but, sadly for those looking for a reason to be excited about England's chances this summer, there does not appear to be any correlation between experience and performance at World Cups. In 1966, after all, Alf Ramsey's triumphant party had a relatively green average age of 26.5 years.

Perhaps Capello is following the template set by his fellow Italians. In 2006 the Azzurri defied their elderliness to win the World Cup with an average age of 29. Last month the Italian league champions, Internazionale, added the Champions League to the season's trophies, José Mourinho's wily and battle-hardened campaigners winning with an average age of 29.7 years.

The best inspiration of all for Wayne Rooney and company is surely England's 2003 Rugby World Cup team. Dismissively nicknamed "Dad's Army" by Australia's Toutai Kefu, Sir Clive Woodward's ageing XV (average 27 years) lasted the pace better than their hosts in the final to lift the Webb Ellis Cup after extra-time.

If David James, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and England's other "veterans" can similarly triumph against the odds, Trafalgar Square can prepare itself for the inevitable open-top parade. Let's just hope they remember their bus passes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/02/england-oldest-world-cup-squad

Gillington

Jees,with all this talk to and fro about Crouch/Bent/Heskey you'd nearly forget that Defoe is in the squad! Anyways despite his goals this season for Sunderland,Bent has 0 in 6 for england and although I think he's a better player the Heskey,the World Cup is hardly the place to be trying something new.Stick with what you know,heskey and Rooney works in Capello's eyes.

As regards Left Wing,I think Capello rathers A.Cole acting as the LB and LW with the midfielder tucking in,I'm pretty sure Cole himself prefers this.Should be interestein to see how they line-up in this regards if Cole is missing for the first match

Lukker-

Gillington wrote: »

Jees,with all this talk to and fro about Crouch/Bent/Heskey you'd nearly forget that Defoe is in the squad! Anyways despite his goals this season for Sunderland,Bent has 0 in 6 for england and although I think he's a better player the Heskey,the World Cup is hardly the place to be trying something new.Stick with what you know,heskey and Rooney works in Capello's eyes.

As regards Left Wing,I think Capello rathers A.Cole acting as the LB and LW with the midfielder tucking in,I'm pretty sure Cole himself prefers this.Should be interestein to see how they line-up in this regards if Cole is missing for the first match

Why would he be missing?

BigBenRoeth

Lukker- wrote: »

Why would he be missing?

Taking pictures of himself

KerranJast

Lukker- wrote: »

Why would he be missing?

Too busy at the ATM checking his balance