Not surprisingly the Swans players have been overlooked for the England squad announced earlier. If they were playing for the more fashionable teams I'm sure they would be included. I'm surprised Oxlade-Chamberlain for example has been picked ahead of Nathan. Don't get me wrong, I think Oxlade-Chamberlain is a good prospect but he hasn't proved himself over the whole season. Leon doesn't even make the 'reserve' list! On the plus side all our players should be well rested apart from those picked for the GB Olympic team and raring to go next season.
It's not surprising really, but I suppose none of our English players are capped and to throw them in the deep end in a team that won't play their style will probably go badly. GB Olympic Team has to have some Swans in though!
Team GB can do one and stay away from our players. It threatens all four of the home nations it's just that the English are to dull to see it.
lets be realistic here..which swans player is better than what they have got already. the only one i would pick as a future player is leon. but there would be 4 or 5 players ahead of him in the pecking order anyway, i dont think any of our welsh players would figure in england ....the only player from swansea who could easily play for england if he was eligible is vorm...
Hodgson said today he has picked players on form over this season, so on that point here are the player the swans have that, based on form this season, are better than what they have Nathan Dyer - Consistently rips full backs apart with his skill and trickery. Ashley Cole is widely regarded as one of the best left backs in the world and Dyer is the only one that has ripped him a new one this season...so much so he got sent off. Would put him ahead of Downing (no goals and no assists all season!!) and possibly Oxlade-Chamberlain (another youngster that they will take and not use ala Walcott in 2006) and even at a push Walcott (based on consistency of performances) Scott Sinclair - been patchy this season so would only put him ahead of Downing....plus given England notoriously piss poor penalty history he should have gone just for that Danny Graham - More goals than Welbeck, Carroll and Defoe (and Sturridge who is on the reserve list)...if you are going on form then goals are all that really matters. btw he also has more assists than Carroll and Defoe too. I would also love to include Britton but England and Hodgson wont play the system that he is brilliant in. Its mad how one player can be mentioned in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta yet absolutely no where near the England squad Your heard it here first...England to get knocked out without a win...they will get hammered by France and draw with Sweden and Ukraine....possibly both 0-0
FIFA have already made assurances regarding that, nor would it be a real reason to threaten their independence. If the players want to play for GB at the Olympics when we actually take part in the football for once (which some of them do) then why shouldn't they? If the English are too dull to see it, does that not indicate players like Gareth Bale are too? Silly logic.
If Hodgson is picking players on their season form then what the hell is Carroll doing in the squad. Defoe another player not played much. I think Dyer, certainly deserved a call up. Would have loved to see Britton & Sinclair, I could see Sinclair playing. Everybody is blinkered with England about Lampard & Gerrard, so Leon would never get a look in. Anyway that means our player can have a well deserved break. BUt I do wonder how many will be drafted into the GB Olympic team. Can see us having 3 players in the squad. Stuart Pearce does like to watch us play. Had Pearce been picking the England squad, would he have picked any Swans players.
Sinclair, Dyer and maybe Graham are good enough. Britton is too, but the midfield system doesn't fit England. Although I can imagine him working well with Gerrard ahead of him, I can't see him getting going with Lampard, can you? Now, Britton and Carrick (Carrick is a decent passer) behind Gerrard...I'd like to see that.
I think the only players were are in danger of losing through team GB is Williams and Allen. Possibly Taylor but they will probably go with some English younger such as Bertrand
You trust Sepp Blatter and his cronies then do you Cherry ? I don't believe a word the man says and don't trust his reassurances. It's not me who has the dull logic here. African countries have for donkeys years trying to get us to play as just one GB team, never mind that England V Scotland is the oldest international in the World and don't forget that the English are just about the most hated footballing nation in the world. I don't want us caught up in any crossfire and yes, Gareth Bale isn't the sharpest tool in the box either.
Top 3 English scorers are Rooney, Holt and Graham - the latter two doing it for unfashionable teams. Graham only took 1 penalty all season, and I don't think Holt was the regular penalty taker for Norwich either(?) and neither got in. Disgraceful. Pick on form. They're the most successful English strikers, and they didn't have millions upon millions of supposed "talent" backing them up, and they did it with aplomb. Not a great start from Hodgson in my eyes. Also, England possess the most accurate passer in Europe, and he didn't get in. Only country in the world where that would happen...
I honestly believe that Hodgson missed an opportunity here. England aren't going to win, if the get to the quarter finals they would have had a very successful tournament. Get to the semi finals and that would have exceeded expectations. Hodgson could have said to hell with it, let's give the old guard the heave ho and been radical in giving youth a chance. Cull the likes of Terry, Gerard & Lampard etc. Their not going to be around for the next world cup, it would have been a good grounding for these players and can make them only stronger at the world cup. Even if they went out at the group stage, it would be no real loss, as nobody is expecting them to do well anyway. So nothing lost by going with youth.
your going overboard on how good our players actually are. there are better than anything we have got in swansea. those rose tinted glasses are to bright and need to be a bit darker. dyer OMG are you real or what ...He needs to improve a hell of a lot on his crosses for a start, sinclair is another that is not up to standard compared to many others in his position, and the best yet Danny boy im sure he is better than rooney or any of the other strikers, he never made it into any stats this season and needs to hit the target more often than he does, he has no chance....If they were any good they would be picked and seeing as they were not then they did not warrant a call up...
There is no rose tinted glasses....you asked what players for Swansea are better THAN WHAT THEY ALREADY HAVE? I don't think Dyer or Sinclair is better than Young for example but they are both a damn sight better than Downing.....even you can agree that seeing as Downing, who cost a fair bit of cash has scored NO GOALS (including a penalty miss against Chelsea) and provided NO ASSISTS this season!!! Yes Dyer needs to improve and if there was no Downing in the team and there was Adam Johnson or Lennon there then you would be right Dyer wouldn't get a look in currently...but Downing!!! To copy my favourite bit of information today...TIM HOWARD has provided more goals and assists this season than Stuart Downing!!
please log in to view this image Spot on Dan, and well on the money, couldn't agree more!.............
I don't like FIFA any more than you do (A World Cup in Qatar? Russia is not a disaster, but Qatar?) but the threat is not as serious as it seems - it has been left open because as far as I know there has been no legal guarantee but there isn't a huge incentive for FIFA to actually push through any such attempt to force the teams together. FIFA have it in a bit for England but "the English" are not the most hated footballing nation in the world (nice grand statement right there) and if FIFA wanted to get one over them it would, if anything, attempt to strengthen the other home nations. FIFA have, at least to some extent, assured the home nations of their future and have no real reason to break such a promise - if anything, maybe you should stop bashing them on this for the sake of this issue when there are things like the 2022 World Cup host choice (I don't particularly care that England didn't get 2018 but the 2022 decision is a disgrace) and also take a look at the other home nations FA's. These players are allowed to take part by an Olympic association - the English FA isn't running some overarching conspiracy behind the scenes. The other FA's in the UK are interested here in their own elevated places within FIFA, not some great injustice against them. The Olympics isn't "discriminatory" against them, it's giving some of the best players from outside of England in the home nations a chance of getting having a genuine taste of international tournament football which they are unlikely to get otherwise. Why should players like Ryan Giggs, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale, who want to take part in this, be told to piss off home because the FAW, which is hardly a bastion of footballing integrity itself, is worried about its own pride? I'm taking this quote from a comment on WSC because it sums up the last bit of my view, which is by someone who seems to be a Scotland fan: "For me, anything that threatens the future of the Scotland football team is unthinkable. But how hard can it be for the SFA, the FAW and the IFA to gain a legally-binding guarantee from FIFA that participation in the Olympics won't affect their independence? Jerome Valcke has made comments that indicate that this shouldn't be too difficult. Or are the separate FAs more worried about losing the political advantage they currently hold on FIFA's International Football Association Board?" As for Swans players in the England team, there is definitley a stigma against smaller clubs and some of our players should definitley be in the national pool. I don't agree with Downing being picked (Dyer is better), and John Terry is a complete tosser who should not have gone ahead of Micah Richards. Like Scottswan said, we have one of Europe's most accurate passers and Graham has outscored Welbeck, Defoe and Carroll. I don't agree with the whole "Holt for England" thing though (I don't really like him or think he could step up to the international stage tbh). I'd love to see Britton play for England but I don't think Hodgson would play the system that suits him. Still, if we could have one player in the England team, I'd pick him.
I think it's sometime in the next two weeks. I'm not sure who will announce it but if you're trying to predict who's in, take out everyone in your head thats going to the Euros with England, and Jack Wilshere.
