Why no Dawson? We have 3 English players who have formed the joint best defence in the league yet our most senior part of that defence can't get into the squad ahead of Jones and Smalling who are struggling to even get into their own average defence. It's got to the stage now where it's just insulting for him. Elsewhere in the squad the usual suspects are still picked and I'm assuming we're planning on playing the 433 that didn't work before as we've got 7 central midfielders getting picked and only 2 wingers(if you count Milner). I'm not going to bother getting annoyed about the likes of Clyne, Huddlestone, Caulker, Delph or others as we need to win these games and it would give Hodgson a nosebleed including a player that hasn't proven that he can put in an average performances for him at international level when we need to win our remaining games. Fuming for Dawson though. Edit: sorry here's the squad... Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster, Joe Hart, John Ruddy. Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Kyle Walker. Midfielders Ross Barkley, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Andros Townsend, Jack Wilshere. Forwards: Jermain Defoe, Rickie Lambert, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Welbeck.
Whats happened to Lescott these days? Seems to have come down to Jagielka for the experienced CB slot, but as you say, why Smalling and Jones get the nod, who knows. Jones I can understand perhaps for versatility, but Smallings inclusion is baffling.
I was literally about to post about this too. I think it's a disgrace. Like you've already mentioned, Daws, Walker and Rose have been part of the best defence in the league so far, what else can possibly merit an England call-up if not that? Smalling? Jones? Has he not ****ing watched Utd lately?! And yet again Milner gets a call up! I give up. EDIT: As much as I like Jagielka as a defender, to think that he's technically the most experienced CB there (age-wise, not sure if he has more caps than Cahill?) it's a worrying sight for English fans.
Cleverly, Jones and Smalling. I'm surprised Zaha's not in there, though he's had to publicly deny shagging Moyes' daughter, so maybe Hodgson has a child he's trying to protect?
I thought you were making up the Zaha bit, PNP! Crazy rumour I think it probably did start as a joke for explaining why he wasn't getting picked and then some people took it seriously.
Now there's a thing, what would the baby look like?....I've always thought Wes Brown was a bit of a 'Moyes ginger/black mans afro' combo... please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
I guess Samlling/Jones can at least cover right back and centre half. Walker, Cahill and Jagielka I guess are first choice and the Utd pair cover all defence positions other than left back. I understand how Rose doesn't get past Cole/Baines (yet).
Rose is also injured currently, same with Agbonlahor which is why I didn't specifically mention them. Also Gibbs and Shaw are good left backs too. Has anyone ever seen Jones or Smalling play well at right back though? Just picking them for the sake of it and I'd rather the national team picked someone like Clyne who's been in form for awhile now and plays regular football.
I read the title of the thread and thought it was a comment on how yet more England internationals were disrupting our fledgling PL season. That is a joke. Ban them. Why is there such a fuss over who gets picked? England are crap regardless of who plays. Dawson's not an international class defender - he doesn't have enough pace or skill. Neither do the others, but the policy seems to be to persevere with young players earmarked as future stars. When you play the top nations in meaningful games, you either need to be lightning fast so nobody runs in behind you or you need to be able to read the game well and be comfortable on the ball and/or carrying the ball out of defence. Players can do a job in qualifiers, but play a decent team in a knockout stage and the defence always looked stretched - and has been run ragged on occasions (remember Germany in 2010?)
I would be happy if no Spurs players were picked,that way we don't have the worry of them getting an injury
Not sure what the fuss is, especially with the defence. Only surprise was Chris Smalling who has only started one game all season for United (if I'm correct), in terms of ability though Smalling definitely has a right to be there. Young has been dropped and rightly so. Bang average player. Days of United players getting in by default are coming to an end after the World Cup anyway.
And as that seems to be Cleverley, Smalling, Zaha* et al, we should be seriously ****ing worried. *Even if he's not there this time, you know what I mean
If Rose weren't injured the thing to do, clearly, is play the three Spurs. They're in form, and have the enormous advantage of playing alongside each other. I've been relatively reluctant to rate Dawson myself, but I think the ability of a CB to marshal the defense is both hard to quantify and underrated. No doubt Dawson's shown real ability at it this year, and might be very effective in the same role for England. This is just not a very good England team, any way you slice it. Lambert and Defoe may be underrated as strikers, but they're not to be confused with Lionel Messi. Wingers weak-ish. Defenders fairly pedestrian. Keeper off-form. All the promising younger players suddenly not looking so promising. No number 10.Yikes. Hoping to scrape by mighty Montenegro to get Müllered in Brazil.
Bar Jagielka, all of the CB's selected have played at the highest level of the game. Dawson isn't of that standard. I still don't think England will qualify no matter who they put out. Draws on both games are the. Most likely outcome and from there on it depends what Montenegro do as Ukraine are virtually through no matter what they do as San Marino is a gimme fixture. Even if England get through they'll need a kind draw. If they draw three teams in the group like Colombia, USA and Ivory Coast then we have goodbye to England before the KO rounds.
http://talksport.com/football/totte...-be-englands-robben-says-redknapp-13100462802 This is why 'Arry should be England manager. He's always looking for positives and no way would he have us playing like the teams of overdefensive hoofers that Hodgson has put out for us.
I'm bored of this tired old CL excuse. Pretty sure Dawson has played in the CL, for a start, and so what if they haven't? Jagielka and Dawson are both clearly on a similar level to Cahill in terms of ability and miles ahead of Jones and Smalling. Has Cleverley been anything other than average because of that CL experience? Should we be calling up Bertrand aswell? He's a ****ing CL winner afterall! Sorry if I sound facetious but I just don't see the CL experience doing United's squad any favours at the moment and I didn't see the vast CL experience giving Chelsea the edge against us or Everton. It's an empty assertion.
