I think it's about time England started playing like a team instead of a bunch of individuals thrown together. That means I would get rid of the BIG names and play a bunch of "Lads" who care about the pride of playing for the country rather than how much they are being paid or what kind of Hotel they are staying in or whether the Wags are with them or not. My team would be : Hart Richards Smalling Jones Baines Young Parker Willshere Etherington Sturridge Defoe Sturridge is a must for me because he is can do a good job more withdrawn if we want to go 451 or 4411. Wellbeck would be another alternative but now quite as well developed as Sturridge. I'd have Parker as Captain EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. Left wing is the big question mark for me. I might have said Downing but I have yet to see him play well for England and I see Etherington doing a TOP CLASS job for Stoke week-inweek-out. Less stars, less egos, MORE TEAM!
That's what we are doing doing. That's why Ferdinand and Lampard are out at the moment. Lampard in particular has been sacrificed for that very reason. No idea why you'd leave out John Terry and Ashley Cole. Easily the best players in their respective positions and always been great for England. Etherington ahead of Downing, Walcott or Johnson just isn't right. Defoe isn't an international striker. He's had a million chances to prove it and hasn't. Striker is the one position that worries me. I think we've got quality everywhere else but up front. Bent isn't the answer, Defoe and Crouch aren't either. We'll have to pray that either Sturridge or Carroll come good. My England team for the champs would be: Hart Walker Cahill/Jones Terry Cole Wilshere Barry Downing Gerrard Young Carroll/Bent
Absolutely spot on. I posted on the night it would be a three match ban, and they wouldn't hold back.....most said that was rubbish. Still I do believe there is a spot of anti-England bias in the full three!
That's the point....inconsistence and anti-england bias. Go onto Youtube and look at Arshavin's sending off for Russia a couple of years back. Same type of thing but he got 2 matches. Also this has NOTHING to do with what he would have got in the Premiership. UEFA has a different ruleset completely.
I think Fifa and Uefa in this cases has the player history in consideration and we know this isn't the first for Rooney.
I'm afraid I've gone from being an avid England fan to being a bit of a cynic over the last few years because England continually flatter to deceive and Rooney is one of the biggest culprits. He's a big fish in a very shallow talent pond at the moment and when he comes up against international class defenders he is completely exposed. Rooney was one of England's biggest disappointments in the last World Cup and his 'short fuse' temperament always makes him a liability. To be honest as supporters we need to lower our expectations because until the emphasis changes to technical skill and less blood and thunder in this country we will remain also rans or even worse.
The point is that it never is us. England always just play the game straight, it's always the other countries starting this crap with their fouling, their time-wasting, their diving, whatever, but it's always the England player that gets penalised! Beckham for waving his leg in the air after getting snapped, Rooney for being wrestled to the floor onto someone's bollock by the Portuguese defenders that couldn't handle him legally, and again Rooney for missing a ****ing tackle! It's football, all you do in football is kick, if you're going to be pedantic every tackle is a kick ffs. The point is the ball was there and it was just any old tackle! Every time the cheating foreigner gets away with it and we get punished for being cheated. No. Guthrie's was completely off the ball, kicked ***an halfway up his leg and subsequently broke it. Rooney kicked the cheating twat's foot in an attempt to tackle him. Every player does that every match. I agree with these last two. To anyone who watched the game it was completely evident that Montenegro had been sent out to cheat their way to a result. Every possible way they could bend the rules they did it, the guy who Rooney tackled had been booked a minute after coming on but kept physicallty hauling England players down every time we attackedwith the sole intention of stopping the game and he was left to do it for the rest of the game. As soon as Rooney does something (even if it was nothing) the ref couldn't wait to send him. We were once again the victims in that game and once again we got punished for it. No it isn't the first time a set of cheating foreigners have got him sent off is it... People are obsessed with hating Rooney because the celebtrity media crap convince them too, they want you to talk about his hair, his temper or whatever rather than his football ability, the same goes for Cole and Terry who someone above mentioned are two of the best players in their position, but people still hate them because the media tell them to based on their private lives. These people need to make their own minds up by watching the game instead of just throwing out the old "England players don't care any more" bollocks. Back onto football, and calming down a little bit hopefully, I think the talent pool is still very deep, we have about 7 or 8 midfielders and as many strikers competing for the front 6 positions, and Rooney is just one of those, although admittedly one of the better ones. I'd probably still take him because there are usually 3 or 4 players who aren't used in the squad at all in the tournament so one of these places could be taken by Rooney for the first few games. Also, it's important to remember how well Ghana and Germany did at the last WC despite losing their respective best players just before the tournament. Who wins it will be down to much more than one player being out injured. We still have one of the best teams.
-----------Hart Smalling Jones Terry Cole Wilshere Parker Cleverley --------Gerrard ----Wellbeck Young This is a line up that can easily switch between, 4-3-1-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or 4-4-2. I wouldn't have Cahill anywhere near the England starting XI, Jones was poor in the last game(out of position), but I think he's a far better player. And despite his poor showings for England in major competitions, I'd still put Rooney in for Wellbeck once he's available(unless Wellbeck had just scored in all the group games!). I'd be equally happy seeing Sturridge in there for Wellbeck too.
The more I see the Rooney incident the more suspicious it looks. It looks as if he knew exactly what he was doing....almost pre-meditated.
Just as a side issue, I've just been offered the official Team England Series tickets for the group games, this entitles you to a ticket to each group game, along with access to a bar at the ground(drink cost not included) and a pre-match buffet. If you buy four packages, you're also entitled to one car park pass. How much for these tickets? €3,900 + VAT per person. It's a lot and when you add on flights and hotels, it's a hell of a lot, but it's actually a fair bit cheaper than previous ones.
They dont need pace, they are covering the back 4 and linking play. Pace comes from Young and Downing, along with overlaps from A. Cole and Johnson, with Gerrard supporting the lone striker. Didnt they both start against Montenegro in CM? Completely forgot about Wiltshire until OLMs line up (maybe because I hate Arsenal?), so how about: Hart Johnson, Jones, Terry, A. Cole Gerrard, Parker, Wiltshire Young, Carrol, Downing Sub: Gk?? Richards, Lescott (gives full coverage for back with these two), Barry, A. Johnson, Bent, Wellbeck bit more attacking
In professional football players who have a history of seeing the red mist and getting sent off will be targetted by the opposition. It might not be nice, but the responsibility is on Rooney to grow up, not on everyone else to go easy on him.
There's a difference between going easy on him and just cheating though. I don't just mean that incident (or lack of, as it was) but all game the Montenegrans were just plain cheating in every concievable way it was disgusting, worse than watching TWS. They didn't get any punishment individually (bar a booking for the number 4 who desevred 5 or 6 yellows) or as a team. He got sent off just because he is Rooney.
I agree that they should have been punished for cheating, but Rooney might as well run around with a sandwich board saying 'I'm a thick tw** waiting for a red card'.
That's pretty much the team I'd go for but with Barry for Parker and whoever has the form out of Carroll, sturridge, welbeck and bent.
I wouldn't pick Barry for England unless there was a long list of injured midfielders. I'd rather have Parker as the enforcer and Wilshere or Lampard next to him. Off the top of my head, the best England team without Rooney I can think of: ----------Hart Walker Terry Cahill Cole Gerrard Parker Wilshere Johnson Carroll Young Though I've probably missed someone obvious.
I dont know why people are pinning their hopes on Welbeck, looks good in the best team in the premiership. Doesnt anyone remember how sh1t he looked in the under 21 tournament in the summer. Mistakes of poor control they get away with in the prem, they dont at international level.
