Our best England 11

[leigull]

Back four and keeper pick themselves now as the have been immense throughout the tournament.

Have they really been "immense"? Did you see the goals conceded against Sweden? Or the number of chances even Ukraine created? Not to mention the number of clear cut chances Italy should have buried? Or how easy it was for Balotelli to get in behind and have acres of space to himself?

Terry aside it's probably the best defence England had available for the tournament, but to call them immense just underlines how the English perception of good footballers can be so far wide of the mark

 

[big nuts]

Have they really been "immense"? Did you see the goals conceded against Sweden? Or the number of chances even Ukraine created? Not to mention the number of clear cut chances Italy should have buried? Or how easy it was for Balotelli to get in behind and have acres of space to himself?

Terry aside it's probably the best defence England had available for the tournament, but to call them immense just underlines how the English perception of good footballers can be so far wide of the mark

But we had no possession all tournament and little protection in midfield therefore as a team and back four we were always under pressure. I thought they done a sterling job all tournament except for a poor 10 minutes against the Swedes.

 

[Marxo]

This is a selection of England players who weren't at the Euro's for various reasons: weren't picked, wouldn't be on stand-by, injured or injury affected season. I think it shows that there isn't such a dearth of talent in England, just that they need to be used in a better way, I don't know if Roy can do it but we can only hope.

Robinson
Foster
Ruddy

Walker
Richards
Cahill
Ferdinand
Smalling
Dawson

Wilshere
Lampard
Barry
Carrick
Scholes
Rodwell
Cleverly
Lennon
Huddlestone

Sturridge
Bent
Crouch
Zamora
Agbonlahor

Not forgetting:
King
Hargreaves

 

[DPM0395]

Hart

Walker Ferdinand Cahill (a new, non racist Terry) Cole

Wilshere Parker

Oxlade Gerrard A.Johnson

Welbeck Rooney


Honourable mentions for Micah Richards, Jones, Cleverly, Walcott, Carrol and Zamora.

It doesn't really matter who we pick though if we choose to punt the ball long and make no attempt to keep the ball whatsoever. Hopefully Wilshere can earn his
stripes in the qualifiers, although as has been demonstrated we need back up options in every position. Be interested in particular to see the progress of Cleverly
and Jones. I reckon we need a younger crop blended with the older heads, although this is not to say we shouldn't play older players if they can do the business. Rio
has composure unparalleled, he's the same age as Pirlo and can actually play football, unlike Terry, who never should of played, and who I hope never plays for England again, it was a ludicrous decision to include him considering the seriousness of the charges against him, guilty or not (we've all seen the video). Kicking out racism and other bigotry is more important than including a player who is good at blocking, and the decision to include him was highly questionable.

 

[Guy Crouchback]

Your current team is OK, but I remember England from early 90s;
what an outstanding squad you had then: Shilton, Pearce, Platt,
Gascoigne, Beardsley, Waddle, Barnes, Ince, Pallister, I could go on.

And the man that deserves a special mention: Gary Lineker.
Oh, how I hated him when I was a boy - he scored 7 goals
overall in his career against Poland, in qualifiers and finals.

Here's one of his goals against us, the 1:1 equaliser in Poznań
which destroyed our hopes of qualifying to Euro '92 in Sweden.



Of course, I don't hate Lineker now. I'm not a boy anymore and the
time has healed old wounds. He was a great player and I wish him
all the best, whatever he is doing at the moment.

Sorry for this little off-topic personal digression. As regards England's
national teams, I can only say one thing: how did you manage, with such
quality players throughout the years, to win nothing since 1966 is really
beyond me.