It's almost as if he tried to cram as many underperforming players into the squad as possible. Henderson as backup? And no mention of Carrick or Richards when they played big roles in very successful Premier League seasons? Anyway, here's my predicted starting XI for the first match, but given Roy's apparent love for Liverpool players you might well see them all in the starting XI. -------------Hart------------ Johnson--Terry--Lescott--Cole ---------Parker--Barry-------- Walcott----Gerrard----Young ----------Welbeck--------- Or a 4-4-2 with Barry replaced by Carroll, which would be suicidal. Best bet with this squad is to pack the midfield and hope for a scrappy 1-0 win.
I do enjoy international season.The nation gets built up to be let down....again. I'm waiting for a match with Barry,Parker,Downing,Milner and Carroll on the pitch at the same time.Comedy gold
England have got so many journeymen, they might as well cover themselves in tattoos and become domestic boxers. Bet Micah Richards is gutted to be missing the Olympics.
Worst part about the Henderson decision is that Parker is struggling with his Achilles, if you know your defensive midfielder might not recover surely you pick a holding midfielder as the standby? Or am I being a low-watt bulb?
Hodgson has played it extremely safe. Lots of people slagging him off but in all honesty who else could he have picked? i too and perplexed by the inclusion of henderson in standby and andy carrol but with about 3 weeks preperation before the tournament he wasn''t really going to pick asquad full of wild cards.
I think Phil Jones might struggle with tiredness. He's had a longer season than he was expected to have.
What an utter joke of a squad. I was willing to give Hodgson a chance and I was fairly positive he would learn from the mistakes of McClown and Capello but no. Looking at that bunch I'll be surprised if England get past the group stages Probable starting XI: Hart Glen Johnson-Terry-Lescott-Cole Walcott-Lampard-Parker-Downing Gerrard Carrol
Jagielka is very good at keeping a defense organized, he's an intelligent defender, the kind of player Lescott needs alongside him which is why they were excellent together against Spain, I agree with you on Shawcross though.
He could have picked Richards, Carrick, Holt and Sturridge in my opinion. How Jones gets in over Richards is beyond me. Carrick had certainly had a decent enough season to be in over Henderson. Downing and Walcott just aren't good footballers. The strikers are incredibly uninspiring especially with Rooney out for 2/3 or half the games. Is the plan really going to be Welbeck or Carroll or both?
Also could someone give examples of what Gerrard has done in recent times to deserve England captaincy. Past it as player, has been rubbish when captaining the team, couldn't be arsed to put in a shift for Roy at Liverpool, skippered Liverpool in their worst league campaign in ages, not to mention that now he's an automatic starter which on merit he most definitely should not be.
There's a bunch of players in his squad who barely play, because they're terrible. Along with a bunch of other players who are just plain ****. Defoe? What has he done all season to deserve a call up over Crouch/Holt//Sturridge. Why not take Michael Owen, he's done just as much as Defoe this year. Downing?!?!? Let's bring a winger who got 0 goals and 0 assists all year long. Leaving Carrick out of the squad when he's been arguably the best English midfielder this season. Andy Carroll? He's played a good 180 minutes of decent football all season long. I understand that Carroll and Chamberlain are ones for the future, but they should at least deserve a spot in the squad.
