The official guess the England 22 thread

[TBM]

What's the point in taking Rooney? He's banned for 2 games isn't he?

So he can play the final group game and the knock-out game when we lose

[Simon's Church]

Defenders

4 Ferdinand
5 Walker
6 Cole
7 Richards
8 Johnson G
9 Jones
10 Cahill

1 left back, 2 centre backs and 4 right backs ?

I would guess that he's going with the idea that Johnson can play left-back, and that Jones and Richards are really centre-halves who play right-back sometimes.

But they both play the majority of their games at RB, Richards especially can't have played more than 10 or so game at CB in the last couple of years.

[cmonurz]

What's the point in taking Rooney? He's banned for 2 games isn't he?

Because if England have to win a game or score a goal to go through from the group stage, or are in the knock-out stages, we’d sooner have Rooney (34 goals this season) up front than Danny WeLOLbeck.

[cmonurz]

To emphasise the point…

Goals this season:

Rooney 34

Defoe 16
Sturridge 13
Crouch 13
Welbeck 12
Le Fondre 12
Bent 10
Muamba 2

I believe the words 'no' and 'brainer' may be quite apt.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Why is the squad announced on the 10th of May? Surely a bit early?

[cmonurz]

10th May is about right isn’t it? This is a major championship, chance then to get the squad together for training before it kicks off less than 4 weeks later.

[Silver Fox]

Why is the squad announced on the 10th of May? Surely a bit early?

It gives Alf, jason roberts and McCarthy a chance to recover from marbella

[RobRoyal]

What's the point in taking Rooney? He's banned for 2 games isn't he?

So he can play the final group game which we lose

[RobRoyal]

GK:

Hart
Carson
Ruddy

DF:

Richards
Walker
Cole
Cahill
Terry
Lescott
Baines

MF:

Parker
Gerrard
Walcott
Young
Milner
Barry
Lampard

FW:

Rooney
Sturridge
Welbeck
Heskey
Defoe

Pretty much what I'd expect - except Heskey? Come on. Replace him with Crouch.

I'd also be surprised if we don't go in with 4 genuine centre-backs, so perhaps Milner out and Ferdinand in, or Jones seeing as how he can provide cover in midfield too.

[pea]

Goalkeepers

1 Hart
2 Carson

Defenders

3 Ferdinand
4 Walker
5 A Cole
6 Richards
7 Johnson G
8 Lescott
9 Jagielka

Midfield

10 Gerrard (c)
11 Lampard
12 Young
13 J Cole
14 Parker
15 Johnson A
16 Muamba

Forwards

17 Defoe
18 Rooney
19 Walcott
20 Sturridge
21 Welbeck
22 Lambert

Have to take three keepers to an international tournament.

Stick Muamba on the goalkeeping list then as I understand he's not quite match fit yet

[BR2]

Nobody has mentioned Fraizer Campbell.
Was it that idiot Pearce who picked him the other week?
Thank goodness Pearce hasn't been chosen as England's manager.
I have to say that there is no wow factor in any of the suugestions made because frankly there are no wow English players and there haven't been for some years other than Gerrard of course but he has been dragged down by the other England players to their level.

[pea]

jason roberts

Could be an issue there...


Such a bad squad, at least Wales have got Bale..

[Simon's Church]

Such a bad squad, at least Wales have got Bale..

Yeah, Bale certainly make up for the rest of the squad being utter shite.

[Hoop Blah]

10th May is about right isn’t it? This is a major championship, chance then to get the squad together for training before it kicks off less than 4 weeks later.

I thought the 10th was just a date that Pearce commented on last week when talking about if he was going to be in charge.

It will probably need to be pretty soon though, although officially I'd ahve thought the squad will have to be submitted to UEFA much closer to the start of the tournament.

I'd expect Hodgson to name a large group for a training camp and friendly and then whittle it down to his final 23 once he's had a chance to see who can do what he wants them to do and who he thinks will be able to live together in the camp for however long we last.

[Hoop Blah]

A quick google suggests that Pearce said the FA wanted to be able to name 23 on the 10th but the deadline for UEFA is actually the 29th.

I still think that initial squad might be a bit bigger considering the circumstances now.

[Silver Fox]

jason roberts

Could be an issue there.....

[pea]

Surprised noone else has Joe Cole in their team. Hodgsons first signing at Liverpool and doing well at Lille this year

[Hoop Blah]

Hart, Foster, Carson

Richards, Jones, Cahill, Terry*, Lescott, Cole, Baines

Johnson, Walcott, Parker, Barry*, Gerrard, Lampard*, Young, Oxlade-Chamberlain

Rooney, Crouch, Defoe, Sturridge, Welbeck

* I'd rather not take these 3 but I don't think there's much better to go in their place. All 3 have done well during the closing periods of the season (Terry's red card aside of course) and we seem woefully short of central midfielders right now. There would be a case for Milner to replace one of Lampard or Barry I suppose, but it wouldn't be the strongest argument.

I'm still not convinced by Welbeck, and I think it's too early to take the likes of Cleverly, Smalling and a few of the others but I would prefer it to be a younger looking squad.

Kyle Walker only misses out because Jones and Richards can double up as full back and centre back cover. Dumping Terry could perhaps change that and leave a Cahill/Lescott first choice pairing.

[cmonurz]

Nobody has mentioned Fraizer Campbell.
Was it that idiot Pearce who picked him the other week?
Thank goodness Pearce hasn't been chosen as England's manager.
I have to say that there is no wow factor in any of the suugestions made because frankly there are no wow English players and there haven't been for some years other than Gerrard of course but he has been dragged down by the other England players to their level.

There are no players like Messi coming through, no, but then we aren’t in the best few teams in the world, and save for a select few years in our history, never have we been. But we do have (it seems to me at least) more young players of international ability, or the potential to play for England at one time than we have had in a long time.

Hart, Smalling, Jones, Walker, Cleverley, Wilshere, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rooney, Sturridge, Welbeck – 11 players around which our World Cup in Brazil 2014 might be based, and that list eliminates a number of other young and promising players like Richards, Rodwell, Cahill, Young, Carroll, and a small handful of keepers, whilst also ignoring, Rooney excepted, some older players who nevertheless have a lot of ability and some international experience like Bent, Johnson G, Johnson M, Lescott and Milner.

And a good sign is that with a few major championships ahead of them, all of those players bar Oxlade-Chamberlain are playing regularly in the Premier League and in most cases for some of the best sides in the division.

We’ve got a decent pool of players to pick from at the moment, even once the ‘old guard’ make way.

[YateleyRoyal]

GK:

Hart
Carson
Ruddy

DF:

Richards
Walker
Cole
Cahill
Terry
Lescott
Baines

MF:

Parker
Gerrard
Walcott
Young
Milner
Barry
Lampard

FW:

Rooney
Sturridge
Welbeck
Heskey
Defoe

Pretty much what I'd expect - except Heskey? Come on. Replace him with Crouch.

I'd also be surprised if we don't go in with 4 genuine centre-backs, so perhaps Milner out and Ferdinand in, or Jones seeing as how he can provide cover in midfield too.

And we have a bite!