A real real shame if true. Holty would've been at least a good option to have on the bench if anything else. But I mean ****ing Zamora.....!?!? And Carroll too? Christ on a ****ing bike this is going to be one **** Euro 2012. We'll be out before Rooney even returns for the Ukraine match. Well done Ruddy though for getting in, just a shame Hart will probably not get sent off/injured (not that I hope it on the lad). Either that or we'll be out in the first round anyway so there won't be many games to play unfortunately. I hope Hodgson considers some changes before the 29th may deadline. Surely he'd at least give Holt a chance at a friendly, although I'm guessing the Norway game will be for this squad. I hope they bloody lose.
Welbeck, Sturridge, even Carroll are all young enough to play in the Olympics, and certainly in the case of the first 2 it'll be a good introduction to international football for them. Round-up of rumours: The Daily Fail are reporting that Jagielka hasn't made the cut and is on standby. Also the Guardian are suggesting Crouch hasn't made it, and Kent News reckons Shawcross made it. Twitter Rumours: Johnson is preferred to Richards, Joe Cole? Some suggestions Holt & Ruddy made it? Phil Neville? If our strikers are Rooney, Carroll, Zamora and Defoe, I'll be horrified. There's an interesting article here which suggests PL stats say Holt, Ruddy and Graham should all go. It also reckons Shawcross, Simpson, Jarvis, Etherington and Danny Murphy (amongst the usual suspects) also make the team on statistics alone. To be honest, I quite like the look of the squad they're proposing! Apparently players who didn't make the cut were told tonight, but I would assume that only extends to England regulars, not every name being suggested.
Well if RH is going down that route, then as I live in Asia I might as well do what all the other Asians do and support the teams that win things, and will watch Spain & Germany with greater interest than normal and screw England. 3 group games promptly followed by a plane trip back to Heathrow or Gatwick will firmly be on the cards.
Stolen from the Arsenal board... Player Cost per goal (based on transfer fee) Premier League goals Grant Holt £26,667 15 Peter Odemwingie £50,000 10 Scott Sinclair £62,500 8 Nathan Dyer £80,000 5 Clint Dempsey £88,235 17 Yakubu £88,235 17 Robin van Persie £91,667 30 Anthony Pilkington £250,000 8 Danny Graham £291,667 12 Daniel Sturridge £318,182 11 Victor Moses £416,667 6 Bobby Zamora £571,429 7 Javier Hernández £600,000 10 Theo Walcott £625,000 8 Papiss Demba Cissé £692,308 13 Rafael van der Vaart £800,000 11 Wayne Rooney £981,481 27 Frank Lampard £1,000,000 11 Peter Crouch £1,000,000 10 Adam Johnson £1,166,667 6 Jermain Defoe £1,363,636 11 Sergio Agüero £1,652,174 23 Mario Balotelli £1,846,154 13 Edin Dzeko £1,928,571 14 Darren Bent £2,000,000 9 Luis Suárez £2,072,727 11 Ashley Young £2,833,333 6 Andy Carroll £8,750,000 4 Fernando Torres £8,333,33 6 So there we have it, Grant Holt who represents the best value per goal, in addition to being one of the leagues top scorers cannot be compared to Andy Carroll who represents the 2nd worst value in the PL, and the worst English player (in the eyes of the England set up). FFS Even Pilkington is ahead of Zamora in this table and no one even mentions his name. Yes, ok he is a midfielder but I would like to see him play up front with that kind of goal ration to games played
If I was England manager I'd have Holt in my squad but maybe he just wants to play in a certain way and doesn't think Holt is suited to it. Maybe he doesn't like Holt as a bloke, or feels he'd be too aggressive for international football. **** knows, but throwing your toys out the pram if he's not in the squad seems rather futile.
Sends a great message if holt doesn't get picked and Zamora does Work really hard, score goals, be an all round great player, then lose out on an international call up to some twat from a team that nearly got relegated that can't score Brilliant message
Allegedly Joe Cole is going aswell. I tell ya, managers will be picking these players still when there walking round with a zimer-frame.
Twitter got it wrong with Kenny yesterday If Zamora goes I will question my support for the team, utter ****e
nothing has been confirmed yet... lets just keep our fingers crossed that the rumours weren't true about zamora
Hi WR Looking at who the speculated choices are it would appear a 4-4-2 formation is not out of the reckoning and Holt or Crouch would surely be better candidates? Personally I am not too bothered if Holt doesn't play even if a call up is deserved, we had the same with Chris Sutton so kind of get used to it but what I cannot be impressed with is selecting players who just have not performed consistently throughout the season.
If this is true and this tournament is the disaster it's shaping up to be taking Zamora will be the stick the media use to beat Hodgson out of the job with. They already firmly dislike him but once the launch an active campaign against the England manager their time is up and to be honest with the look of the potential squad I don't think I will be standing up for Roy What are the odds Harry is stood on the touch line for the first world cup qualifier.
Morning Thai. I couldn't agree more. My personal choice would be to play 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 with Holt up top with Young and Sturridge either side for the first two games. Hodgson probably doesn't know an awful lot about Holt- he's seen him play twice against West Brom presumably (no idea if Holt played well or not in those games) and probably the other odd game here and there. Of course the stats suggest Holt's inclusion is a no brainer. I don't blame him as he's been given a very short space of time to assess his options and might just feel he is better off with players he knows more about and can get the best out of. Zamora's best season was under Hodgson at Fulham in their Uefa cup run so he knows what Zamora is capable of in the right system. Again, not saying I agree with it but I understand it.
You make a reasonable argument but I would have thought that any manager in the PL, and especially the one appointed as the England manager, would be aware of just about every player in the PL, especially if it one that is making headlines most weeks and should therefor have a decent knowledge of any individual player. Even if he has not, he has 19 other managers to call to get their views, which may or may not be mixed. I do accept the England team does appear to be very short on quality strikers and his choices are somewhat limited but I do get the feeling he is a little scared to try something new in case it fails and he gets a backlash (AKA Theo Walcott's inclusion for the World Cup) but conversely appears he could get a backlash because the "old tried, tested and frequently failed" are not likely to make much progress. He is very much in a bad position and trying to make the best of it, so up to that point I can see why he might select previously capped players only. As I said, not worried about our man if he doesn't get included, hopefully that will work to our advantage next season when he goes to prove the remaining doubters wrong
I hope Zamora going is wrong. Although people say Holt is not proven etc etc none of Zamora, Crouch, Welbeck, Sturridge, Carroll have scored more goals in a prem season than Holt in this. And Defoe has only done it once.
zamora age 31, 2 caps experience of international football or the excuse of being too old will not be relevant if he goes in holt's place. its simply a clique and holt isn't in it.
I would argue the opposite that the pressure is in a way OFF Roy because if he takes Holt for example and it goes wrong he can say well i've only had 40 days to work on the squad etc etc. This is the ONLY chance he'll be able to use that particular argument.... I'd take him and Ruddy but that's me (obviously)
