Viewing Thread:
"england squad"

Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), David James (Manchester City), Robert Green (Norwich City), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Matthew Upson (Birmingham City), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Glen Johnson (Chelsea), Gary Neville (Manchester United), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jermaine Jenas (Newcastle United), David Beckham (Real Madrid), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Michael Owen (Real Madrid), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur)

Take Neville out and put Carragher in and that's the perfect line up. No United players there to get injured :-D

You were close Stryke but a few minor adjustments.....:

Robbo
G.Neville-Terry-King-Bridge
Wright-Phillips-Gerrard-Lampard-Downing (in a diamond, Super at the tip)
Defoe-Owen

Green
G.Neville-Terry-Carragher-Bridge
Wright-Phillips-Gerrard-Hargreaves-Downing (in a diamond, Stevie at the tip)
Defoe-Owen

Best England team available at the moment, I reckon.

This is confirmed and I think Beckham is great.

Andy Johnson has played phenomonally for Palace and is England's top scorer so far this season.

Only 2 goals behind Henry.

I wonder how many goals he'll knock him when he actually has some good suppliers...

*no offence to the palace team*

Is this the confirmed selection or is it still one of those line-ups all the 'papers cooked up overnight?

I must say, I'm still quite surprised to see Andrew Johnson it such high contention for a place in the England team right now. I know he's scored some decent goals for struggling Crystal Palace this season, and a fair few of 'em too - and I'm sorry, but I must refer to Alan Smith's situation at Leeds United last season. Whether he was 'scoring goals' or not, he was still the heart and drive of the team. Yet, he was ignored.

I mean no disrespect to Johnson in any way whatsoever - the boy's got talent, we can all see that. And he's doing a heck of a job for a team so low in the league table. But this is very unlike Sven-Goran Eriksson...
The last example I can think of is Michael Ricketts - and just look at how fast his one-season career went down the pan after that!

Did Smith not get enough media attention for Sven's liking back then?
Clearly, if Johnson's made the squad, all that talk about experience and 'level' of play was just a big bucket-load of absolute crap after all.


Good on Stewart Downing to see him there though. We badly need a natural left-winger and, in a few years, he should well be the man to hold the position.

On the night, against Holland, though, I expect either Lampard, Gerrard or Wright-Phillips to be playing "out of position", just to compensate for David 'first-name-on-the-team-sheet' Beckham. :P

What? King's not been playing that well for about 5/6 matches, neither has Upson. Woodgate/Ferdinand/Sol - injured, and Jamie's been a rock for the entire season.

But then again, it's Sven. He'll probably play Rio and Sol anyway.

Vodafone wrote:
> he's injured

I didn't realise.

Stryke wrote:
> On current form, it's got to be Terry and Carragher at the back.

No surprise there :P

On current form, it's got to be Terry and Carragher at the back.

he's injured

Why the lack of Rio?

I would have thought him and Terry would be at the back.