The Official World Cup South Africa 2010 Discussion Thread

[morbidenigma]

id leave out

warnock
dawson
upson
SWP
Barry(depending on if he's recovered from injury, if not Carrick)
Huddlestone
Defoe/Heskey

also 3 specialist LB's selected, but only 1 specialist RB ?

[Jome]

England's 30-man provisional squad for the World Cup finals:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.

Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.

which seven players would you drop?

That's 6 players ditched, might ditch Barry if his injury problems continue, or Huddlestone if Barry makes it.
Leave out either Walcott or Wright-Phillips, depending on England form.. they're both poor-mans Lennon, but Lennon is out of form after long-term injury.

Best line-up:

James
Johnson Terry Dawson Cole
Lennon Lampard Gerrard Johnson
Rooney Bent

Defense: RB no-brainer, Terry no-brainer, at the moment Dawson is the 2nd best defender, Rio has been awful lately, and King I only leave out because he's extremely injury-prone. Send Carragher home!

Midfield: Lennon might not be in form yet, Gerrard has been awful at times and barely edges out Milner, Johnson is a far bigger threat than Barry, might go for Barry in more defense-minded games.
            Capello will likely choose Barry because of his defensive anchor skills, but Huddlestone can do pretty much the same job with better passing skills. J.Cole, Walc & SWP on bench for creativity, if needed.

Attack: Rooney no-brainer, Bent or Defoe is 50/50, but Bent has been in far better form lately. Crouch/Defoe on the bench is the match-winner-bench you'd like to have.

[Invincible]

England squad

hart
james
green

baines
carragher
cole
dawson
ferdinand
johnson
king
terry
upson
warnock

barry
carrick
cole
gerrard
huddlestone
johnson
lampard
lennon
milner
parker
walcott
SWP

bent
crouch
defoe
heskey
rooney 

[K.Dub]

That's 6 players ditched, might ditch Barry if his injury problems continue, or Huddlestone if Barry makes it.
Leave out either Walcott or Wright-Phillips, depending on England form.. they're both poor-mans Lennon, but Lennon is out of form after long-term injury.

Best line-up:

James
Johnson Terry Dawson Cole
Lennon Lampard Gerrard Johnson
Rooney Bent

Defense: RB no-brainer, Terry no-brainer, at the moment Dawson is the 2nd best defender, Rio has been awful lately, and King I only leave out because he's extremely injury-prone. Send Carragher home!

Midfield: Lennon might not be in form yet, Gerrard has been awful at times and barely edges out Milner, Johnson is a far bigger threat than Barry, might go for Barry in more defense-minded games.
            Capello will likely choose Barry because of his defensive anchor skills, but Huddlestone can do pretty much the same job with better passing skills. J.Cole, Walc & SWP on bench for creativity, if needed.

Attack: Rooney no-brainer, Bent or Defoe is 50/50, but Bent has been in far better form lately. Crouch/Defoe on the bench is the match-winner-bench you'd like to have.

Walcott > Lennon easily..
And why would you ditch Carra? They need another RB in back-up, even though he's just an average RB.
I think Rio will start before Dawson, simply because of his experience.

[Jome]

Walcott > Lennon easily..
And why would you ditch Carra? They need another RB in back-up, even though he's just an average RB.
I think Rio will start before Dawson, simply because of his experience.

Lennon is by far the better player, Walcott is too one-dimensional with his tunnel-vision game plan.
But I agree that Walcott is in better form at the moment.

Carra is horrible, his time has passed.. and seeing him as a RB, is just comedy, if you're not a Pool-fan, then it's more like a tragedy.
Even Milner, J.Cole, Parker, Rio or Dawson would be better alternatives on the RB.
Rio will start, but the way Dawson has played the last 20 games, easily eclipses Rio.. he's starting on name/reputation/career, kinda like Gerrard.

[K.Dub]

Walcott > Lennon easily..
And why would you ditch Carra? They need another RB in back-up, even though he's just an average RB.
I think Rio will start before Dawson, simply because of his experience.

Lennon is by far the better player, Walcott is too one-dimensional with his tunnel-vision game plan.
But I agree that Walcott is in better form at the moment.

Carra is horrible, his time has passed.. and seeing him as a RB, is just comedy, if you're not a Pool-fan, then it's more like a tragedy.
Even Milner, J.Cole, Parker, Rio or Dawson would be better alternatives on the RB.
Rio will start, but the way Dawson has played the last 20 games, easily eclipses Rio.. he's starting on name/reputation/career, kinda like Gerrard.

Yep.

[Furor Teutonicus]

Surprised A. Young is not pn there. Played a bad second half of the season no?

Well, here's the Brazilian squad (23 players)

Julio Cesar (Inter Mailand), Doni (AS Rom), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur)

Maicon (Inter Mailand), Dani Alves (FC Barcelona), Michel Bastos (Olympique Lyon), Gilberto (Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte), Lucio (Inter Mailand), Juan (AS Rom), Luisao (Benfica Lissabon), Thiago Silva (AC Mailand)

Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos Athen), Felipe Melo (AC Florenz), Ramires (Benfica Lissabon), Elano (Galatasaray Istanbul), Kaka (Real Madrid), Julio Baptista (AS Rom), Kleberson (Flamengo Rio de Janeiro), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg)

Robinho (FC Santos), Luis Fabiano (FC Sevilla), Nilmar (FC Villarreal), Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg)


Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Brazil had way better teams in the last few world cups. They def. had bigger names in the past, and quite a few play in average clubs.
Of course they're a favourite, but still...

[Jome]

Surprised A. Young is not pn there. Played a bad second half of the season no?

Too similar to Lennon, Johnson, Walcott & SWP as a player type probably.. and Agbonlahor is probably left out because he's too similar to Defoe/Bent.

Agbonlahor deserves it more than A.Young, imo, considering Agbo's form this season.

[bez]

Carragher is a disgrace in my eyes.

[13th Duke]

Carragher is a disgrace in my eyes.

He would be....you're an Everton fan

On the subject of the England selection - I have no idea how you can put Walcott ahead of Lennon after last season K.Dub.

[K.Dub]

Carragher is a disgrace in my eyes.

He would be....you're an Everton fan

On the subject of the England selection - I have no idea how you can put Walcott ahead of Lennon after last season K.Dub.

I blame Wenger and Theo's injuries for this season's form.

[13th Duke]

Carragher is a disgrace in my eyes.

He would be....you're an Everton fan

On the subject of the England selection - I have no idea how you can put Walcott ahead of Lennon after last season K.Dub.

I blame Wenger and Theo's injuries for this season's form.

He certainly hasnt developed in the way all of us Englishmen hoped. We thought he'd be our great new star once he scored that hat-trick vs Croatia but for club and country ever since then he's not really done anything of note.

[bez]

Carragher is a disgrace in my eyes.

He would be....you're an Everton fan

On the subject of the England selection - I have no idea how you can put Walcott ahead of Lennon after last season K.Dub.

Not just that.

[K.Dub]

Carragher is a disgrace in my eyes.

He would be....you're an Everton fan

On the subject of the England selection - I have no idea how you can put Walcott ahead of Lennon after last season K.Dub.

I blame Wenger and Theo's injuries for this season's form.

He certainly hasnt developed in the way all of us Englishmen hoped. We thought he'd be our great new star once he scored that hat-trick vs Croatia but for club and country ever since then he's not really done anything of note.

That is true. I had high hopes, still do though. I don't know why Wenger has this Play-Him-Gently rule on him. Look at what Cesc turned into being a regular from the age of 17.

[7even]

wenger is past his prime





and yes, that can happen for coaches, too