England and the World Cup

[Robert HM]

You can tell when Nemisis gets serious, he leaves the smilies alone.

[Nem]

 

[gatso]

robinson/Kirkland plus 1

neville/young/cole/bridge

terry/ferdinand/campbell/carragher/king

beckham/lamps/gerrard/cole/wright phillips/hargreaves or a n other

rooney/owen/defoe/crouch/


where's the room for Woodgate?

I'd take that squad with green as 3rd keeper, king in midfield in place of hargreaves who shouldn't be near the squad and woodgate in the spot vacated by king.
Also replace 1 of defoe and crouch with bent dependant on form.

[The Baron]

Bent looks crap at U21 level let alone senior.

[gatso]

9 goals in 14 games for the u 21s. and about  6 of those games were as sub. you can't ask much more of a striker

[SupaMonkey]

Hence my question


you have a squad of 22

3 keepers

4 full backs

5 centre backs

4/5 strikers

5/6 midfielders

robinson/Kirkland plus 1

neville/young/cole/bridge

terry/ferdinand/campbell/carragher/king

beckham/lamps/gerrard/cole/wright phillips/hargreaves or a n other

rooney/owen/defoe/crouch/


where's the room for Woodgate?

I am a massive  liverpool fan but crouch in the england squad? Pls no.

Terry doesn't seem to have his heart in it when he plays for england. Sven won't drop him but carragher & campbell would make a good pair in the centre.

Gerrard plays best in the centre and will run around until he drops, he is just wasted o the right. You have to play both lampard and gerrard in the centre, probably gerrard just in front of the defence and then lampard as a more attacking midfielder.

Beckham has to play on the right cos thats all he can do.

I don't know why hargreaves even got in the england squad.

Just my 2 pence.

[divaflava]

4-1-3-1-1

starting keeper: Robinson

Starting fullbacks: G. Neville. Cole.

Starting centre backs: Terry. King/Woodgate (latter if on top, top form).

Midfield: (holding) Parker/King. (centre) Beckham. (centre left) Lampard. (centre right) Gerrard

Beckham and Gerrard would rotate going forward, but having Gerrard on the right when defending gives better options when we break (I'd rather have Beckham on the ball and Gerrard and Lampard running up field than the other way around).

Free role (but mostly on the r/h side): Rooney

Striker (but mostly on the l/h side): Owen

Rest:-
Kirkland, D.James (unfortunately, who else is there?)
Bridge, Carragher
(Woodgate), Ferdinand, Campbell
(Parker), Shaun W-P, Richardson
J. Cole
Crouch, D. Bent

Parker covers more positions than Carrick. I could see myself taking C.Cole instead of Crouch if he finds a club in the second half of the year that lets him play and shows how good he will be.

[AdamM]

Beckhams been tried in the middle. doesnt work. He's arguably the best crosser of the ball in the world. he needs to be down the right.
I think \gerard and Lampard are getting there as a partnership. Granted Gerards having to play a more defensive minded game than for Liverpool but I think playing King behind him is a great move and he might be able to get forward more.as long as King is able to watch the left side when Ashley Cole moves forward the Midfield is ok being Right/Centre Biased. that way niether lampard or Gerard have to be anything more than left of centre when going forward. In years to come watch for Kieran Richards on Englands left. A more traditional 4:4:2 will be an option then.
Centre backs must be Terry, Ferdinand. Rio is a great assett when it comes to distribution and Terry under pressure is a joy to watch. row Z clearances are Campbells speciality and, while it obviously has a time and a place I don't think it should be route 1. (theres a bit more to his game I know but I think he's definitely 3rd best)
Robinson is doing great and Rooney and Owen are obviously 1st choice up front.
I know it's a rare opinion but I still have faith in Erikson. his competetive record is outstanding and he's gathered and motivated our best players to some fabulous results. We've crushed Argentinas best game and theres been plenty of other historic wins under him. 5:1 say no more