England Squad for World Cup

[therock67]

robinson
james
green
neville
Ferdinand
Terry
Cole
Campbell
Carragher
Bridge
Beckham
Carrick
Lampard
Gerrard
Hargreaves
Jenas
Downing
Lennon
Rooney
Owen
Crouch
Walcott

Not much of a strikeforce is it with Rooney injured. If Owen gets injured then they're left with Crouch and Walcott.

[lyonsee]

It's a poor squad, highlighting how poor England actually are beyond their starting eleven which isn't even that hot. It's funny because this was being touted as their best chance in a long time to win a major trophy. They're screwed. Jenas and Hargreaves are miles from being international class. Even the alternatives to Walcott are hardly that great (except for Fowler) - Defoe, Bent, Johnson, Heskey, Beattie are not great players. They shan't make it past the 2nd round.

[eamo]

lyonsee said:

It's a poor squad, highlighting how poor England actually are beyond their starting eleven which isn't even that hot. It's funny because this was being touted as their best chance in a long time to win a major trophy. They're screwed. Jenas and Hargreaves are miles from being international class. Even the alternatives to Walcott are hardly that great (except for Fowler) - Defoe, Bent, Johnson, Heskey, Beattie are not great players. They shan't make it past the 2nd round.

What I want to know is what possessed Eriksson to select a 17 year old who has never been capped by his country and has yet to play for his club.... Lyonnsie has pointed out the severe limitations though that they have up front. Surely though you have got to go with Defoe though ahead of the kid.

They seem to have too many midfielders as far as I can see...

[iamthelaw]

eamo said:

They seem to have too many midfielders as far as I can see...

Absolutely. According to Sven, "Joe Cole is a striker as well".
2 goals in the Premiership in 2006 would seem to say otherwise.

[bandage]

Again, it shows what an imposter Eriksson is. When he had a long term contract with wages that were so high as to be totally unprecedented he took no risks whatsoever. The last 2 tournaments you could have practically picked the 23 in advance yourself without much trouble - he didn't want to rock the boat, he picked the squad the media and pundits wanted so as to protect himself from the flak that would fly once they were out.

Now that he's moving on after the WC he's suddenly picked an incredibly bold squad as he doesn't have a hugely inflated salary to protect anymore. IMO it's very risky for many reasons:

Firstly, a 23 is usually made up of 3,8,8 and 4. He's only taken 7 defenders - Cole and Campbell are only back from injury, Bridge has been poor all season and it appears Carragher will be right back cover, there being no other right back in the squad. He said they looked at trends and swa that on average only 5, max 6 defenders are used in a WC but they could still be one short.

Secondly, the midfield seems to be carrying a few passengers though he's taking nine. Can anybody tell me what Jenas is supposed to bring to a team? Downing is left footed and has whipped in about 4 good crosses in 2 years so makes it and nobody could argue that Lennon is a better player than SWP because simply SWP is far superior. Seems Shaun may be suffering due to the outbursts made against Sven by his step dad. Keep an eye on the tabloids over the next few days for Ian launching more bitter attacks against Sven. I haven't even mentioned Hargreaves.

Up front - I don't necessarily disagree with him taking Walcott as I don't rate Defoe at all (love doing the 'I told you so' routine to all those who claimed the Irish captain was inferior to this charlatan). Darren Bent could be a Kris Boyd and there's not much else out there. Beattie? Vassell? The West Ham lads? Remember he can replace an injured player up to June 9 so if Rooney and Owen are unfit they can be replaced.

Like someone said they have a decent first 11 but there isn't much depth.