He'll 100% pick Terry and Ferdinand. My back four would be Walker, Terry, Cahill, Cole. If not Cahill then Jagielka, Ferdinand has almost lost it at the moment. You're right about Parker, best English DM. My guess would be Barry, Gerrard or Wilshere beside him. LW Young, also agree with that and Rooney will obviously be in the hole behind Bent. RW is the position I'm stuck on! Walcott, Lennon, Johnson or Downing (if Young plays left). I agree with who you've put except a few extras are definite too such as Terry, Ferdinand, Cole. He'll definitely pick Gerrard and Lampard too and afraid to say it - over Parker.
Hart, Jones, Terry, Ferdinand, Baines, Rodwell, Gerrard, J Cole, Young, Rooney, Sturridge would be my 11.
Why Jones at RB!?? There's Walker, Richards or even Jagielka, yet you (and Capello) start a CB at RB! Same happened with Smalling!
I rate Baines highly, but Cole's probably the best left-back in the world at the moment. It's a nice choice to have, though. Rodwell's a good prospect, but he hasn't even made himself an automatic choice for Everton, yet. Why Joe Cole, too? He's been awful for ages. Has he performed well in Ligue 1?
He plays in the hole and has some positive reviews and I'm a big Rodwell fan... If Toon did a Man City I'd defo see Rodwell as part of that fantasy
I agree, but sticking Jones there ahead of Walker, Richards and Jagielka in a crunch qualifier is just stupid. The Richards situation seems similar to Kranjcar at Spurs last season, has Richards annoyed Capello?
Capello is Italian and therefore hates taking attacking risks. Jones is a better option defensively, on paper atleast. Also Jones is the media's flavour of the month after a few good games for United so he has to play him but he's finally settled on Cahill as a partner for Terry. I agree though, Richards is a better option than either of the United wonder boys.
How dare you suggest playing Gerrard anywhere other than central midfield! He'll be onto the PFA in no time claiming a violation of human rights. In all seriousness though, remember when Gerrard was played on the left, he was utterly terrible.
The media do love Jones at the moment, we'll see whether he can maintain the standard for the season's duration. He reminds me of Gary Neville the way he carries himself around the pitch, it's pretty odourous, unfortunately he does seem to be able to back it up with a bit of ability unlike Gary. Adam Johnson should be a shoe in for the right wing slot, only he never gets played at City. My first XI would be: Hart Walker Jones Terry Cole Parker Wilshere Cleverley Johnson Rooney Young Go largely for the youth, then at least we might have a better chance in 2/4 years time. 4-3-3 has got to be the right formation given that most of these players use it at club level now...
Off the top of my head Joe Hart John Terry Ashley Cole Gareth Barry Ashley Young Wayne Rooney On top of that, there's the various players that get into the squad based solely on sponsors' demands (Ferdinand, Lampard, Gerrard) and the ones Capello seems intent on picking when there are other options available (Downing, Walcott, Carroll)
I hope Bradley Johnson gets a chance in one of the friendly, he's ran the furthest so fair in the Prem, and is a really hard working player, with class to boot. Got to be one of the free's of the summer.
I agree. I'd happily sacrifice this tournament just to get a young squad playing together ready for the world cup. I'd also be tempted to replace Terry for Smalling and Parker for, say, Hudd maybe?
