Name your ideal England side for the next big tournament
Laters, granddads!
In light of such a terrible World Cup, the Sunday papers would have you believe that while the dangling axe might have missed Capello, it shan’t be so clumsy when ridding of geriatrics like JT, Led, old man Becksie, Lamp Lamp, and the Cole Sisters.
It seems that the “Golden Generation” has turned out to be made up of fool’s gold, old bits of foil, and discarded milk bottle tops that look shiny and exciting if you see them from a distance, but up close, they’re just smelly bits of rubbish.
Anyway, muddled imagery aside, who would you like to see jogging out for England at Euro 2012/World Cup 2014?
Here’s a stab at a Spoiler XI (4-2-1-2-1):
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart
Back four: Glen Johnson, Michael Dawson, Phil Jagielka, Kieran Gibbs
Defensive midfielders: Jack Rodwell, James Milner
Attacking midfielders: Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Adam Johnson
Striker: Wayne Rooney
Now do yours…
8 responses so far
mr. chopper // July 5, 2010 at 11:14 am
You’re going down the wrong route. The only option we have is to get FIFA to accept the home-grown rule as means for a player’s nationality… Then extend the threshold to 25. And allow any retired players to join a national side of their choosing. And let us have Zidane.
Darren // July 5, 2010 at 11:32 am
Okay, mine may be aiming in the slightly longer term than 2012, but here goes. Fans of Championship/Football Manager will recognise this as the 4-1-3-2 formation, with the 1 sitting deep, FBs providing width, and the man in the middle of the 3 as the “quarterback”. The other two midfielders are the ones expected to get beyond the strikers.
GK: Ben Foster
RB: Micah Richards
LB: Kieran Gibbs
CB: Chris Smalling
CB: James Tomkins
DM: Jack Rodwell
CM: Jack Wilshere
CM: Tom Huddlestone
CM: Tom Cleverley
FC: Theo Walcott
ST: Wayne Rooney (c)
Subs from:
Hart, Loach, Mancienne, Lansbury, Welbeck, Gosling, Naughton, Walker, Sears, Lallana, Surman, Delfouesno (on condition he makes his name easier to spell).
andy // July 5, 2010 at 11:59 am
Darren, the fact that you used the word quarterback in your post, even if it was in inverted commas, disqualifies your opinion in this forum. Your post should be deleted.
Darren // July 5, 2010 at 12:02 pm
But “quarterback” is so much more succinct than “bloke who is a bit too large and cumbersome to make forward runs so should just hang around somewhere at the back and ping 60 yards passes right onto the toe of his intended target”. I had Huddlestone in mind all along, see.
mr3000 // July 5, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Connor wickham!!!
Callum // July 5, 2010 at 3:04 pm
We need to go down the young route just as the Germans have done and get them playing together as much and as soon as possible.
GK – Joe Hart
LB – Kieran Gibbs
CB – Michael Dawson
CB – David Wheater
RB – Glen Johnson
DM – Tom Huddlestone
DM – James Milner
LM – Adam Johnson
RM – Aaron Lennon
AM – Jack Wilkshire
ST – Wayne Rooney
backups: Shelvey, Naughton, Mancienne, Rodwell, Smalling, Michael Johnson, Walcott
Wilberto // July 5, 2010 at 4:02 pm
CB: Phil Jones of Blackburn Rovers.
Young lad at eighteen played his full Premier League debut against a Chelsea side going for the title in March and not only helped keep a clean sheet but kept the captain (Ryan Nelsen) out of the line-up for a few weeks after with a string of impressive performances.
Darren // July 5, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Phil Jones is a good call; didn’t he have back to back games against both Chelsea and United and do really well?
Not sure where this movement has come from to have James Milner as a DM. He started last season as an out and out winger and I suppose at Villa, where frankly there isn’t a lot of quality competition in central midfield, he could make the switch to an attacking midfield role.
But DM? Do we really see Milner in the Makalele/Mascherano role?
Leave a comment