England at the World Cup

[Southwick_Seagull]

Foster

Johnson
Rio
Terry
Cole

Walcott
Lampard
Hargreaves
Gerrard

Rooney
Heskey

 

[wellquickwoody]

James

Johnson
Ferdinand
Terry
Cole

Lampard
Gerrard
Hargreaves

J Cole / Lennon
Walcott / Lennon

Rooney

j cole/walcott/lennon 2 of those 3 putting in balls for rooney/gerrard/lampard, with hargreaves sitting back

bench with attacking options of defoe, cole, crouch, owen, barry, beckham, downing, young, is good enough and plenty to choose from!

Anything but James!

 

[Safe.]

I would play a similar side to last night, just swap Upson for Ferdinand and let Joe cole and Lennon battle it out for the right hand side. I would like to see Milner start in the next 2 games though, I think he could become a class player.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Anything but James!

Why? When on form he's England's best goalkeeper.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Pointless even speculating on teams, as we all know the inevitable routine:

-six weeks before the World Cup starts, one or maybe two key England players will suffer "injury heartbreak" ((c) News Of The World) in an innocuous challenge during a meaningless Premier League game against Bolton

-the poor unsuspecting (probably foreign) Bolton player who made the challenge will be subjected to tabloid vitriol and assorted death threats by post as our main source of hope is ripped crushingly away from us

-a nervewracking period of "will he/won't he make it" speculation will ensue, dominating SkySports News for hours on end

-Revolutionary and/or off the wall treatments quite possibly including titanium splints, oxygen chambers, implantation of space-age materials from the last Shuttle mission into the affected body part, and ancient Druids dancing around stone circles at the witching hour will be attempted.

-Said player announces that he's hopeful of making it after all and is named in the provisional squad

-Bets on England winning World Cup soar again

-Uri Geller instructs Mirror readers to help the player by focusing all their thoughts on a magical photograph of Michael Jackson exactly two hours before kick off in the opening game.

-player isn't fit for the first game: England have named no direct replacement and are forced to play Shaun Wright Phillips alone up front. They play poorly and scrape a draw against a mid-ranking European side

-player declares himself fit for the second group game, runs about frantically in a "look, look, I'm still the same player" manner for 20 minutes before all-to-obvious lack of match fitness results in frustration, various missed passes, and a pointless booking. Substituted after 60 minutes, England escape with fortunate win against South American hopefuls.

-England crush the group favourites in the final game, causing initial optimism, before miraculously recovered star re-injures his clearly not-recovered joint making a daft tackle and leaves pitch/tournament in tears.

-"Plucky" England eliminated in second round on penalties (shown live on ITV).

-pundits conclude it must have been the referees fault. His home address is published on numerous English websites, receives approximately 47,000 death threats

 

[Mellotron]

I would like to see Milner start in the next 2 games though, I think he could become a class player.

Glad someone finally said it. Looks a class act, will come on more this season. Capello seems a fan and I would bet a small amount he at least makes the bench for the World Cup.

 

[Mellotron]

Pointless even speculating on teams, as we all know the inevitable routine:

-six weeks before the World Cup starts, one or maybe two key England players will suffer "injury heartbreak" ((c) News Of The World) in an innocuous challenge during a meaningless Premier League game against Bolton

-the poor unsuspecting (probably foreign) Bolton player who made the challenge will be subjected to tabloid vitriol and assorted death threats by post as our main source of hope is ripped crushingly away from us

-a nervewracking period of "will he/won't he make it" speculation will ensue, dominating SkySports News for hours on end

-Revolutionary and/or off the wall treatments quite possibly including titanium splints, oxygen chambers, implantation of space-age materials from the last Shuttle mission into the affected body part, and ancient Druids dancing around stone circles at the witching hour will be attempted.

-Said player announces that he's hopeful of making it after all and is named in the provisional squad

-Bets on England winning World Cup soar again

-Uri Geller instructs Mirror readers to help the player by focusing all their thoughts on a magical photograph of Michael Jackson exactly two hours before kick off in the opening game.

-player isn't fit for the first game: England have named no direct replacement and are forced to play Shaun Wright Phillips alone up front. They play poorly and scrape a draw against a mid-ranking European side

-player declares himself fit for the second group game, runs about frantically in a "look, look, I'm still the same player" manner for 20 minutes before all-to-obvious lack of match fitness results in frustration, various missed passes, and a pointless booking. Substituted after 60 minutes, England escape with fortunate win against South American hopefuls.

-England crush the group favourites in the final game, causing initial optimism, before miraculously recovered star re-injures his clearly not-recovered joint making a daft tackle and leaves pitch/tournament in tears.

-"Plucky" England eliminated in second round on penalties (shown live on ITV).

-pundits conclude it must have been the referees fault. His home address is published on numerous English websites, receives approximately 47,000 death threats

Except with Capello it isn't about individual players, making the majority of this post null and void.

 

[Simster]

Pointless even speculating on teams, as we all know the inevitable routine:

-six weeks before the World Cup starts, one or maybe two key England players will suffer "injury heartbreak" ((c) News Of The World) in an innocuous challenge during a meaningless Premier League game against Bolton

-the poor unsuspecting (probably foreign) Bolton player who made the challenge will be subjected to tabloid vitriol and assorted death threats by post as our main source of hope is ripped crushingly away from us

-a nervewracking period of "will he/won't he make it" speculation will ensue, dominating SkySports News for hours on end

-Revolutionary and/or off the wall treatments quite possibly including titanium splints, oxygen chambers, implantation of space-age materials from the last Shuttle mission into the affected body part, and ancient Druids dancing around stone circles at the witching hour will be attempted.

-Said player announces that he's hopeful of making it after all and is named in the provisional squad

-Bets on England winning World Cup soar again

-Uri Geller instructs Mirror readers to help the player by focusing all their thoughts on a magical photograph of Michael Jackson exactly two hours before kick off in the opening game.

-player isn't fit for the first game: England have named no direct replacement and are forced to play Shaun Wright Phillips alone up front. They play poorly and scrape a draw against a mid-ranking European side

-player declares himself fit for the second group game, runs about frantically in a "look, look, I'm still the same player" manner for 20 minutes before all-to-obvious lack of match fitness results in frustration, various missed passes, and a pointless booking. Substituted after 60 minutes, England escape with fortunate win against South American hopefuls.

-England crush the group favourites in the final game, causing initial optimism, before miraculously recovered star re-injures his clearly not-recovered joint making a daft tackle and leaves pitch/tournament in tears.

-"Plucky" England eliminated in second round on penalties (shown live on ITV).

-pundits conclude it must have been the referees fault. His home address is published on numerous English websites, receives approximately 47,000 death threats

is the right answer.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

After a tough premiership season the players will look tired and fatigued as usual,add to that 3 or 4 key players with injurys and its business as usual.Hope i am proved wrong but we have had so many false dawns.

 

[Icy Gull]

Seems to me that we can lose any player in the 1st choice team and replace them with a more than adequate player. No more losing one player being used as the excuse for going out as has happened with a crocked Beckham being played and Rooney being out injured. We can and probably will lose a couple of key players and not be that much weaker this time around..which is a massive plus imo.

 

[Easy 10]

Seems to me that we can lose any player in the 1st choice team and replace them with a more than adequate replacement. No more losing one player being used as the excuse for going out as has happened with a crocked Beckham being played and Rooney being out injured. We can and probably will lose a couple of key players and not be that much weaker this time around..

I disagree.
If we lose Rooney, we're f***ed.

 

[patchamalbion]

I disagree.
If we lose Rooney, we're f***ed.

i concur

 

[Icy Gull]

I disagree.
If we lose Rooney, we're f***ed.

Why? We have a manager who has a plan B and maybe even a plan c and d. This is unusual but it will benefit us.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

To qualify my last post, I do think we're better equipped than on previous occasions, simply because the manager appears to have instilled more of a team ethos and a belief in their ability.

I was merely basing the prediction on the depressing reality of recent tournaments. Still think it would be a kick in the nuts if, say, Rooney was out (again) but maybe not as terminal as on earlier occasions.

 

[Mellotron]

To qualify my last post, I do think we're better equipped than on previous occasions, simply because the manager appears to have instilled more of a team ethos and a belief in their ability.

I was merely basing the prediction on the depressing reality of recent tournaments. Still think it would be a kick in the nuts if, say, Rooney was out (again) but maybe not as terminal as on earlier occasions.

Don't get me wrong, it was an entertaining and well-written post.

 

[Safe.]

I disagree.
If we lose Rooney, we're f***ed.

Nah, just play Gerrard in his position and put Joe Cole on the left.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I did forget to add that the injury to the player in question would result in pages and pages of newsprint being taken up with the musings of bitter ex-professionals complaining that it must have been the result of playing too many games and suggesting that we should be more like various Continental leagues. The words "winter" and "break" will inevitably crop up, backed naturally by the likes of Arsene Wenger and the Old Trafford commercial department.

 

[Simster]

I disagree.
If we lose Rooney, we're f***ed.

I don't agree with you. That was always the worry, but I'd feel confident of being competitive even without him.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

I would look to play the same side as last night, with perhaps Ferdinand for Upson and maybe Wallcott for lennon.

It would be intersting to get inside Capello's mind now with regards to Heskey or Crouch. Heskey is certainly the man he looks to, however I think the two chances he missed last night would certainly be held against him.

 

[Simster]

Pleasing to see that our birds look considerably TASTIER than the rather PLAIN Germatrons.