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"England's striker situation"

In this country, we have a wide range of strikers who are all top class. We have the likes of Kevin Phillips, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen (just to name a few) so why do England managers insist on selecting player such as Andy Cole? Andy Cole, in my eyes, had one good season at newcastle but apart from that, he is not very good to say the least. His below average performance and the fact that he missed a sitter on Saturday when England faced Finland has sparked a number of critics and experts with in the game to back him. Why!? He is yet to prove himself as an international player, it's not as if he had a good world cup or european championships where he scored and proved himself. I say its time the manager started picking players on performance and not reputation!

The pair that I would play up front if I was the manager would Owen and Heskey. I think these are two great players and are relatively young. If they are not played based on they don't have enough experience, how are they meant to gain the experience sitting on the bench? I have heard this excuse far to many times and I believe that it should finally be laid to rest and these two players given a fair chance.

Also I would like to add that I'm happy to see such stars like Steve Gerrard playing for our country because he has more than deserved it with his performances.

How can you say that! he scored one made one and almost made about 3 others and also played well in the deep role, so what more does he have to do? Congratulation Andrew if your reading, and congratulations England for moving out of the 2nd rate teams and becoming a top nation.

'(.)'

Cole finally gets a goal!! Still needs to do a lot to win me over!!

Speaking about Cole, asheley Cole's in the team! YES!

Well he is more than likely going to play tonight so hopefully for his sake he will prove himself and grab a goal or 2 :)

I don't think there is any justification for calling Andy Cole a great player. He is a good striker who has yet to prove himself at International level.

I think he deserves a run of three or four games to see what he can do. If he fails after that then he should be discarded for good - and the opportunity handed to someone else. That is not being unfair to Cole, it has always been the case that you get very few opportunities to prove yourself at International level. You either take your chance (like Owen did) or you don't.

It was on his left foot, he took a chance, and he missed, we won, now be happy and thank Cole for being such a great player for Owen to play with

'(.)'

We are not saying Cole is a bad player, we are simply saying that there are better strikers around. Giving him chance after chance to try and kick start him scoring is something we have no time for. This was proved on Saturday where it nealrly costed us the win because he missed an absolute sitter. That game should have been won 20 minutes from the end but due to him, it was a nail biting finish.

what the hell is 47.27% of your problems?

Andrew Cole is one of the most established strikers in England, he has the most European Experiance and goals to boot, so what he hasnt scored for England, Shearer had a 12 game goal Drought for England prior to the Euro '96 tourno and you didnt hear people complaining, he is a quality striker and if Sven plays him enough that goal will come, anyway, we dont need another goal scorer we have Owen and one of the most atacking midfield (bar Pourtugal) team in the world, so there is no problem, you cant expect to win every game 6-0 with Cole scoring a hat-trick in each game, give the 'lad' a break... and as for Phillips, hes only four years younger then Cole, he hasnt played a single european match, therefore never scored a european goal, he had one good season in the Prem and everyone calls him 'world class', the only potential 'world class' forwards we have is Owen and Heskey... we'll just have to wait and hope they dont burn out...

'(.)'

I think it is wrong to say we have many world class strikers in this country. We certainly have a great deal of talent in that area - but as it stands right now only Owen and Cole can be considered as World Class. Owen has scored goals in World Cups and Euro Championships whilst Cole has scored more Champions League goals than any other Man Utd player. Whatsmore Cole is the only English striker to play in the Champions League consistently over the last five years.

Philips, Fowler and Heskey may well be good players but they are unproven at the highest level.

I do have my doubts about Cole but I think that he has earned the right to be given a decent opportunity to prove he can do it for England. If he scores against Albania he will be more confident and could forged a decent partnership with Owen.

Englands best strike pairings in recent seasons has been with one main striker positioned in front of a playmaker (remember Shearer - Sherringham & Lineker - Beardsely ?). If Svenn does give up on Andy Cole he should go with Owen - Scholes up front. That would then give him the opportunity to play Beckham and Gerrard in the middle, with possibly Parlour out on the right wing.

Think of it like this - if we had drawn or even lost the game, would you be so forgiving? In crunch matches like that, we can't afford to spurn that kind of chance. Cole IS NOT England material.