Now I know this is the Arsenal board, but I just thought I'd put it up to anyone who is interested in England at all. If not, please don't post on this. Anyway, here's my 23 man squad for the Euros. Also has formation in mind. GK - Hart, Ruddy, Foster RB - Richards, Walker CB - Terry, Lescott CB - Cahill, Smalling LB - Cole, Baines RM - Walcott, Lennon CM - Carrick, Barry CM - Lampard, Gerrard LM - Young, A. Johnson ST - Rooney, Welbeck ST - Crouch, Holt England need to play with pace and power, with lots of width due to the fast wing players. Get crosses in to Crouch and Holt and score lots of goals that way.
Pretty much the team that'll be selected apart from Parker being in the first 11. I agree with you that we need to exploit the wide positions as we have good pace and attacking threat on the wings - Walcott, Walker, Young, Cole. The only problem i see is our central midfield which is lacking creativity and flair. I would put OXO in the team to add some of this. So if he's young, it's not that Gerrard or Lampard have set the England team on fire. Also as Wilshere would have been selected, maybe we should select OXO who is a simular type player? We have nothing to lose.....
GK - Hart, Ruddy, Foster RB - Richards, Walker CB - Terry, Jagielka CB - Cahill, Smalling LB - Cole, Baines RM - Walcott, Lennon CM - Parker, Carrick CM - Lampard, Gerrard LM - Young, Chamberlain ST - Rooney, Welbeck ST - Sturridge, Carroll I would go. --------------------Hart------------------- Richards------Terry------Cahill--------Cole ------------------Parker------------------- Walcott----------Gerrard-------------Young ---------Rooney-------Sturridge-----------
I would try: --------------------Hart------------------- Richards-----Lescott------Cahill--------Cole ------------------Parker------------------- Walcott----------Gerrard-------------Young ---------Rooney-------Holt-----------
I never said he was the second coming but he has the ability to succeed. BUt do we really want to see another flacid England performance in a tournament? Why not do what Germany did and play our young and talented players, cut lose all our dross. How old was Ozil when he played? If you're good enough then you're old enough. As i said, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney etc haven't exactly done anything in major international tournaments and the likelyhood is they won't do sh1t again, especially under Hodgson. If we're going to lose, then at least lose with some style and excitment. The players that play will get the experience of playing in a major tounament also.
Hart, Foster, Green Richards, Walker Rio, Jagielka Lescott, Cahill Cole, Baines Lennon Milner, Lampard Parker, Barry, Carrick Young, Johnson Rooney, Crouch Welbeck, Sturridge I reckon Walcott would be picked and Johnson left behind but I've never been impressed with Walcott in a 442 on the wing and I'd hesitate to give him too much opportunity to roam with young on the left wing. I think it'd be a risk to leave behind both Terry and Rio but I don't think you can take Terry with the circus surrounding him and his poor form for a lot of this season. Similar with Gerrard and Lampard, they've been at the centre of a lot of failed tournaments for England, taking both would be daft in my view. I'd give Baines opportunity to prove himself in the run up too because Cole's been poor this season.
As Arsenal fan, I would like to see Oxlade-Chamberlain stay at home and do the full pre-season with the Arsenal team. But if I was only thinking about England, I would surely think about picking him. He would be superb as impact sub. He has made the step from League 1 to a top Premier League side without many complications and that was a huge step for a 17/18 year old. So I wouldn't see him struggle to fit into the England squad. I don't think he is any worse than the current wingers in the England team, just lacks the experience. One mistake you can't repeat is, to leave Arsenal players completely out and travel with 5-6(?) Spurs players....that will result in horrible failure just like at the World Cup.
Lescott in front of Terry and Ferdinand You are not serious, you can't be. I'd have Parker in front of Barry AND Carrick too. Got to agree though, where is the quality in that squad ?? I mean do England fans really expect to do well this tournament ? I don't think you will get battered .. but I think you won't do well. As for me, I've never supported England when it comes to footie .. I'll be supporting my adopted country ... Italia
I should be supporting Italy, due to my roots, but i'm putting a bet on the germans to win, so i'm backing them.
Germany Euro 2012 preliminary squad: Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Tim Wiese (Hoffenheim), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Moenchengladbach) Defenders: Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Mats Hummels (Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Bendikt Howedes (Schalke), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Marcel Schmelzer (Dortmund) Midfielders: Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Sven Bender (Dortmund), Lars Bender (Leverkusen), Ilkay Gundogan (Dortmund), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Julian Draxler (Schalke), Marco Reus (Moenchengladbach), Mario Gotze (Dortmund), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) Strikers: Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Cacau (Stuttgart), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Andreas Schurrle (Leverkusen), Lukas Podolski (Cologne) Looking at that, then comparing it to the England squad makes me want to cry.
In all seriousness though, that is one hell of a good (and young) squad. 18/19 players under the age of 25.
Is there any chance that either Gerrard or Lampard might actually play in the position that they both play for their ****ing clubs? Probably not, eh? I won't make any tasteless jokes about Germany having midfield full of benders, either...
