England Squad

Glenn Johnson (over Richards), Downing (over Adam Johnson), Gerard captain, and Henderson .... Henderson FFS  

So Roy has total faith in these clowns who served him so well previously?

Having been to the 88' & 92' Championships, I fear a similar outcome!

Average players who are not technically gifted, that is how I see this squad of players.
       Until people at the top wake up and smell the coffee , then we will not produce a world class team for at least 10 years.

European clubs have made heavy investments in youth football and actively encouraged the playing of Futsal, for the last 10-12 years something which has only been introduced in this country in the last 5 years seriously.
       We always seem to play catch up with our European counterparts. While we played 4-4-2 they played 3-5-2 , we see their success and decide to switch to 3-5-2 just as the Europeans decide to try 4-4-2.
           Another idea might be is to educate the average english football fan, that getting the ball up to the opposition penalty area as quick as possible is not the way forward!, but play it on the floor and use craft and guile injected with pace ala Barcelona.
European teams allow you the ball in your own half as long as you want but venture into the last third of the pitch and woe betide you, we will get you and break with pace.

Just an observation.

Wot no Barton
UTMM

Quoted from Paris Mariner

He can play out wide in a 4-3-3 though and has contributed may assists. I just think Sturridge is a better option than Defoe.

fair enough we all have our opinions, but i cant see him playing a 4-3-3 at all and as mentioned earlier he is very greedy

Quoted from NorfolkImp

Glenn Johnson (over Richards), Downing (over Adam Johnson), Gerard captain, and Henderson .... Henderson FFS  

So Roy has total faith in these clowns who served him so well previously?

Having been to the 88' & 92' Championships, I fear a similar outcome!

He didn't sign Stewart downing or jordan Henderson anyway Henderson is only a stand by

Quoted from aaron rattray

He didn't sign Stewart downing or jordan Henderson anyway Henderson is only a stand by

i dont really understand the standby spots. If we lost Ashley Cole for instance you wouldnt replace him with Jagielka, you would find another left back surely. and likewise Young would not be replaced with Henderson

Sturridge is tricky and has goals in him.

Unfortunately, he's a lazy so-and-so who isn't willing to track back when he loses the ball. Not a great team player, either and has been criticised for this.

One for the future, perhaps, if he can sort out his workrate.

I'm happy enough with the squad as a whole.

The main ones not involved that i would have picked are Micah Richards and Michael Carrick.

Downing takes a lot of stick for his zero assists this season but his chance creation rate has been quite good (can't remember the figure but read it a few weeks ago) - if the Liverpool forwards could finish he would have had plenty of assists. Not saying i would have picked him but he is far from as bad as some make out.

We've got a poor selection of strikers to choose from so he was never going to please everyone there. Gone are the days when we had to actually leave one out from the likes of Shearer, Sheringham, Wright, Fowler and Ferdinand.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

If English youngsters were good enough they'd still make it. The truth is that we're just not producing players with the technical ability that the top nations do. At youth level emphasis is still placed upon being big and strong, getting the ball forward and winning not about developing technical skills.

Exactly.

Quoted from BIGChris

Whilst i am not THAT bothered above the media hype surrounding the selection I would want to make sure that those selected are actually fit enough to play.

Far too often in tournaments we have gone into them with players carrying a knock making them doubtful for games. I suspect that Ferdinands back problems have played some part in his non selection  and if Parker is injured with only a 50/50 chance of recovery in time for the first game, then he too should be left at home.

It isnt going to happen but i'd have a youthful side rather that the tried and trusted failures. I'd leave Terry and Ferdinand behind and probably Lampard too

For anyone who's interested i wrote an article related to this, with reference to Puyol pulling out of contention for Spain's Euro2012 campaign.
Here it is:
http://footballspeak.com/post/2012/05/13/Puyol-Shows-England-Stars.aspx