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Post by Panda on May 12, 2014 12:53:48 GMT 1
Roy Hodgson is to announce the squad for the World Cup at 2PM. Ashley Cole confirmed last night he has not been included and announced his retirement from international football.
Will we see any surprise inclusions or exclusions?
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 12, 2014 13:01:35 GMT 1
for me ashley cole has proved in the champions league and against Liverpool in the last month he is the best lb we have, also in friendlies for england he made baines look amateur and luke shaw undoubtedly the future has played what 45 minutes? in a friendly
considering terry is our best cb I worry
cleverly, smalling and milner will be the surprise inclusions, the first two not good enough and the latter has had less game time than ashley cole
also wilshere has played 20 minutes in 3 month? will he be in the squad, yes
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on May 12, 2014 13:08:40 GMT 1
A Cole has shown how petty he is, I'm not in the England team so I am retiring.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 12, 2014 13:20:55 GMT 1
My Guess would be a team something like
Hart, Foster, Forster, Johnson, Smalling, Jones, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Shaw, Milner, Gerrard, Lampard, Wilshere, Henderson, Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Sterling, Rooney, Sturridge, Welbeck, Lambert.
Luckily that means Cleverly will just miss out
however I would have Terry, Caulker and even Lescott in ahead of Smalling (he makes Lescott look good) Cole in ahead of Shaw (for experience and he is our best lb and by my count we are taking 7 players who have had bit part seasons or injuries that made them miss huge chunks of the season!) Carrick instead of Lampard (4 years younger and won't wander around the pitch) Carroll instead of Welbeck (its hot, too hot to run around like a headless chicken which is welbecks game, Carroll coming on for the last 20 minutes against international defenders not used to a big striker, hell heskey even looked good). can you imagine welbeck through on goal in the 90th minute to save the game, the idiot will chip it straight to the keeper or fall over his own feet
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 12, 2014 13:22:50 GMT 1
A Cole has shown how petty he is, I'm not in the England team so I am retiring.
not really, he took it with grace and wished them good luck and said he understood theres two good left backs in his position, why would he keep playing if he is not good enough now at 33, why would he be picked next tournament at 35
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on May 12, 2014 13:28:28 GMT 1
He has made a big drama out of it. I just see it as petty, he could have wished them good luck and with grace then retired in autumn before the autumn games without looking petty.
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Post by Panda on May 12, 2014 13:35:37 GMT 1
I don't particularly like it when players "retire" from international football but the chances are he would've stopped anyway after the World Cup.
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Post by Shireblogger on May 12, 2014 13:53:50 GMT 1
I'm not a fan of Ashley Cole, but I do think he has handled his exclusion from the squad in a professional and dignified manner. And credit to Roy Hodgson for letting him know well in advance, and allowing him to manage the news. That bodes well for a united squad in Brazil.
The fact that there hasn't been a similar announcement about Frank Lampard suggests he'll definitely be in the 30. Unfortunately.
John Terry has no place anywhere near an England squad. He'd do far more harm than good, even if we aren't overwhlemed with quality centre backs at the moment.
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Post by Panda on May 12, 2014 14:01:28 GMT 1
England World Cup squad:
Fraser Forster (Celtic) Ben Foster (West Brom) Joe Hart (Man City) Leighton Baines (Everton) Gary Cahill (Chelsea) Phil Jagielka (Everton) Glen Johnson (Liverpool) Phil Jones (Man Utd) Luke Shaw (Southampton) Chris Smalling (Man Utd) Ross Barkley (Everton) Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) Adam Lallana (Southampton) Frank Lampard (Chelsea) James Milner (Man City) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal) Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) Rickie Lambert (Southampton) Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool) Danny Welbeck (Man Utd)
Standby list: John Ruddy (Norwich) Jon Flanagan (Liverpool) John Stones (Everton) Michael Carrick (Man Utd) Tom Cleverly (Man Utd) Andy Carroll (West Ham) Jermain Defoe (Toronto)
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Post by Paddy on May 12, 2014 14:20:22 GMT 1
Out in group stages this year! Too mediocre.
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Post by Panda on May 12, 2014 14:57:45 GMT 1
Overall, I like the squad. There's not much I would've done differently.
There are low expectations coming into this tournament and that will take the pressure off the youngsters a bit. 2016 is their main goal and this will be a great experience for them. But one important factor is this squad sees us go from a team that few were taking seriously to an unknown quantity. The rest of the world doesn't know much about the likes of Lallana, Sturridge, Sterling and Barkley and that could make us dangerous.
Can we win the World Cup? Probably not. But as I've said before, there's an air of Italia 90 about England at the moment. Written off before the tournament, a manager who doesn't have widespread support with fans or the media and a squad featuring a number of emerging players with the potential to become major stars... We shouldn't expect a great deal from this side but you'd be an absolute fool to write them off.
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Post by Shireblogger on May 12, 2014 15:03:43 GMT 1
I too think it is a good squad. Compared to previous World Cups, it is low on experience, but high on potential. Fewer jaded, predictable, "so what" players this time. And more of the nothing-to-loose, let's mix it up a bit, I'll run and run and run for England type.
There's enough experience amongst the guaranteed starters - Hart, Gerrard, Rooney - to keep any over-exuberance in check.
We'll get out of the Group, and then it becomes a lottery. Last 8 would be a great achievement for this squad.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 12, 2014 15:32:55 GMT 1
like I said, I would have anyone over smalling and prefer cole at lb, afterall baines is 30 this year and hasn't kicked a ball at the top top level but the squad I thought he would pick was bang on
"My Guess would be a team something like
Hart, Foster, Forster, Johnson, Smalling, Jones, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Shaw, Milner, Gerrard, Lampard, Wilshere, Henderson, Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Sterling, Rooney, Sturridge, Welbeck, Lambert"
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Post by o on May 12, 2014 15:38:12 GMT 1
Me and my mate had a bet to predict the squad, I think I beat him 20-19, and hopefully win a bottle of whisky, or at least a pint the next time we meet up
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 12, 2014 15:41:56 GMT 1
considering the injuries, I hope our starting lineup looks something like this
hart, johnson, cahill, jagielka, baines, gerrard, barkley, lallana, sterling, sturridge and rooney. that would be my starting lineup although im aware wilshere will get the nod over barkley if 60% fit
preferably playing in a kinda liverpool formation with gerrard playing the deep lying play maker roll, sterling playing his usual wing role but lallana on the other side instead of coutinho (which is an improvement) and sturridge and rooney through the middle like liverpool do with sturridge and suarez with barkley in a slightly more advanced position, wilshere could easily fill the same role or even henderson if we need more a donkey worker rather than advanced playmaker as he will be used to the players and formation
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Post by Mart!n on May 12, 2014 15:54:10 GMT 1
To be honest that's not a bad line up, I do think we could be the Runners up of the group though, there is two good teams in there, Uruguay and Italy, but I think we can overcome Uruguay, not too sure about Italy but they do have the odd bad days.
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Post by Maximo Mark on May 12, 2014 19:58:11 GMT 1
The absolute perfect squad really, would maybe have gone for Cole but not to the point where his exclusion is a disappointment. Smalling isn't great but he's 4th choice centre half and 3rd choice right back, it's not like he's going to play! Him and Jones mean we can get away with an extra midfielder and only 7 defenders, always the best way!
My prediction from Feb was pretty good! 2 wrong!
Feb 20, 2014 21:30:06 GMT 1 Maximo Mark said:
As for England, there's no way Cleverly is going now. I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if Townsend goes too. Rooney, Sturridge, Lambert up front. Welbeck, Milner, Lallana + 2 of Ox, Sterling, Townsend, Lennon & Johnson for out wide. Walcott would go if fit but highly doubtful. Wilshere, Barkley, Carrick, Lampard & Gerrard for central (Henderson or Barry if injuries). Smalling, Jones, Jags, Cahill, Johnson, Baines and Cole. GKs pick themselves - Hart, Foster, Forster. Be surprised if that's not the squad TBH.
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Post by Earl Purple on May 12, 2014 19:58:44 GMT 1
I'm not sure we will be Uruguay. They were semi-finalists in the last world cup, and have Suarez in their team.
Still, we do always seem to get through our World Cup group whenever we qualify.
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Post by Maximo Mark on May 12, 2014 20:04:45 GMT 1
I'm not overly worried about either Italy or Uruguay to be honest. Uruguay aren't the team they were at the last World Cup and Italy are slow starters and it's not like they'll be used to the Manaus heat either.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 12, 2014 20:12:10 GMT 1
I'm not sure we will be Uruguay. They were semi-finalists in the last world cup, and have Suarez in their team. Still, we do always seem to get through our World Cup group whenever we qualify. but they finished what 5th? in their qualifying group (that's without brazil). for arguments sake, if brazil were in the qualifying group and finished top 5, Uruguay wouldn't have qualified for the world cup at all, they got beat 4-0 by Colombia and 4-1 by Bolivia amonst some awful results over the last year, despite suarez topping the scoring charts with 11 goals they still struggle
we should go into the game on the front foot and try and match bolivia!!! rather than sit back and allow suarez the run of the green. they are very very weak in defence. ofcourse on their day they can beat us, but if we play at our best we can beat them
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