Just been having a chate with a mate of mine about the England Midfield. My view is that Scott Parker should be nowhere near the starting XI, he makes himself look heroic by going in over the top in simple challenges and hurting himself, and I'm sick of seeing sideways and backwards passes when he is under no pressure. My mate then said who would you play instead. You know what, I have not got a f*cking clue. with the likes of Wiltshire, Barry and Rodwell injured, who I'd have given a chance, we have not got many options. I'd even take Fat Frank, but he's crocked too. I suppose you could bring Milner into the centre and have someone else, such as Theo, on the right. I honestly think Carrick would have done a better job in the centre of midfield. Considering injuries and the like, who would you have?
Roy seems to be playing 2 box to box players other than 1 holding so it rules out Carrick but does open up options. However like you said there are so many injuries that who the hell do you replace Parker with? I'd go for.........I have no idea, this answers the Henderson question it may have been a bit early for him to be included but there is nobody else better imo.
Good point Re Carrick. Its a tough one int it? I like Hendo in the middle of the park, I hate it when we stuck him out on the right, but I agree - he isn't good enough yet. This explains why expectations are not that high!
Although I agree that Carrick would have been a good option, I'm also inclined to say "**** HIM!" since he didn't want to be involved unless he was part of the first team.. Its your country for christs sake!!!!
Didn't know he'd said that. Good shout on Shelvey but again probablt too early. How about the uncapped Leon Britton, great passer of the ball and works really hard?
I was joking when I said Shelvey, I think Henderson is closer to be ready than Jonjo (obviously when you look at their ages). I actually wanted Leon Britton to get a call up before Jordan. He had the highest pass success rate over the top five european leagues and wasn't even considered
He would fit a 2 man midfield and works hard enough to not rely on a holding midfielder. As you say his passing would help the ball retention, something that England need.
An England coach should pick a system to suit the players, not the players to suit a system Having said that, surely he'd be a better back-up option than Henderson and, erm..., well, I guess Milner, Jones or Jagielka would be fighting for fourth choice....
You see I'm the other way around. I think Parker is an awesome player who makes us a lot stronger. But I am really not keen on Carrick and would not have him near the squad. IMO Parker is unchallenged for that position.
As much as I hate to say it Scholes would have been a better option than Parker...jesus I sound like Matth
this is really a hard question. 1. parker does cover a lot of ground you do have to give that to him. 2. parker got sold by chelsea for a reason, namely hes a sideways and back passer with no cutting edge in an attacking sense. 3. he's 31. all in all england are BEREFT of options. you guys are tlaking about an OAP, a ****e player in carrick or kids.... its that bad. barry is way past it and it shows, gerrard is pat it too. all in all whilshire and rodwell and hednerosn have to be the future but guess what? unrestricted foreign imports just came home to roost! engladn don't have a playmaker at all do they?
I don't rate Parker at all. Just another typical English player who likes to get stuck in, has no real finesse, just tackles hard. His position is now lot more technically demanding - Makelele, Mascherano, Vieira, Lucas. They have the ability to get stuck in, but also just nick the ball from under your feet and play the ball.
I think the biggest issue with the England team is the formation. Parker, Gerrard, Barry, Lampard, Milner, etc are all more used to playing in a midfield three and their records show they are better in these systems too, Majority of teams play three in the middle nowadays, hell, even Wenger changed his tune a couple of seasons back and pushed Fabregas behind RVP!!!!
So let me get this right, Parker does too many sideways and backwards passing, so you'd like Leon Brittain to replace him? The guy's only got such a high pass percentage rate because he passes backwards and sideways. Can you get me an answer to how many assists he had last season? All seems a bit hypocritical to me. Parker deserves his place right now simply because nobody else available can improve the side if they were to step into the midfield. Besides Parker's selflessness gives Stevie G the chance to shine.
Carrick had a good season for United. If I managed England I'd probably play a front 6 of: --------------------Carroll----------------------- Young----------Gerrard-----------Rooney ------------Milner----------Parker With Young and Rooney inter-changing. Milner is a great player who looks very average shoved out wide.
I didn't say that? My reason for not being a fan of Parker is that his positioning and ball retention is not great, which is why I would give Britton a go.
Parker had a 90% Passing Success rate last year though? His positioning is fairly solid also. Just because a player gets stuck in, we seem to have a mentality as a ntion that they only do that because they're out of position. Similar claims were chucked at your own Jamie Carragher. I rate Carragher, and always thought these claims were untrue as are the ones against Parker. I guess sometimes joining the bandwagon is easier than opening the eyes to a player who has served his country well in the last couple of years.
