England's Provisional World Cup Squad

[Presty On Tour]

  Eddie said:

He basically only makes the squad because he is so versatile.

i thought by versatile, it was that he could play anywhere in midfield not at full back too. has he played there before?

[Ozz]

One up at 1/2 time, look good going forward esp Lennon. Owen looking sharp too, hit the bar before Jenas scored and Crouch had one disallowed for offside(rightly).

[Ozz]

And half time goalie sub Green has been carried off after falling over while taking a goal kick which went to a Belarus man who scored.

Probably a meta tag or summat.

[RevidgeBlue]

Very strange incident.

Green had already spilled a simple shot which nearly led to a goal.

Looking at the replays of the goal it looked more like a case of wounded pride than anything else after he missed the ball. Although the suggestion afterwards is that he aggravated a groin injury.

Never mind Owen or Rooney - our most important player imo will be Robinson. Given that the alternatives are Calamity or Scott Carson.

Call me a heathen but I don't even know who the latter plays for. :ph34r:

Edited May 25, 2006 by RevidgeBlue

[cn174]

  RevidgeBlue said:

Given that the alternatives are Calamity or Scott Carson.

Call me a heathen but I don't even know who the latter plays for. :ph34r:

Ain't he the liverpool 2nd/3rd keeper (shows how good english keepers are if he's in!)? Signed from Leeds last summer.

Could be completely wrong tho!

[rog of the rovers]

  cn174 said:

Ain't he the liverpool 2nd/3rd keeper (shows how good english keepers are if he's in!)? Signed from Leeds last summer.

Could be completely wrong tho!

Yeah Claire. Played a t Sheffield Wednesday on loan this season.

I was thinking that there must be a better English Goalkeeper but the only other "good" one I could think of were:

Nigel Martyn, Everton, but hes injured!

Richard Wright, Everton, Dodgy at times.

Mike Pollitt, Wigan, Too Old?

Ben Foster, Watford, Untried.

English keepers a bit thin on the ground at the moment!

[Rovermatt]

How on earth was last night's game classed as a B international? It was clearly a warm-up friendly involving the World Cup squad-the same as the forthcoming games against Jamaica and Hungary.

[neekoy]

What is a B international anyway? Aren't all the English players in the WC squad?

Surpised there hasn't been more hunting for managerial blood

[Eddie]

Not all of the players were in the squad.

[Rovermatt]

That is true. I didn't realise that Dawson had taken part.

Edited July 1, 2006 by Rovermatt

[ABBEY]

  rover6 said:

I just hope that you and Abbey and the others will have the guts to accept that you were so wrong when the time comes. I will be if I'm wrong but I am pretty sure that Sven has made the right move in including Walcott.

LETS SEE

[ABBEY]

baited breath

[SouthAussieRover]

Let it go Abs.

England are out and whatever Rover6 posted pre tournament isn't going to effect that one bit.

[rover6]

Abbey, I accept that I was probably wrong backing Sven's decision to include Walcott. (I hasten to repeat that I have always been anti-Sven and have never described him as 'fantastic' as you seem to think).

I say 'probably' because we never got to see Walcott play. But I assume that Walcott was unimpressive in training sessions hence Sven's reluctance.

However, what I will say is that the Walcott inclusion/Defoe exclusion was not the problem at this World Cup. If Defoe had gone, he may have played as a sub in the group matches but I really doubt he would have played any major role after that.

The problem was that Sven and McClaren could not motivate and refused to pick a team to fit the formation but picked a formation to fit the players. People on this board have bleated about it for ages and ages, Lampard and Gerrard cannot play together but Sven picked them both blindly.

Do Germany have superior players to England? Nope. So why could they play impressive, bright attacking football in a simple 4-4-2 and England labour to one struggle to another against such mighty opponents as Ecuador and Portugal?

[American]

  rover6 said:

Do Germany have superior players to England? Nope. So why could they play impressive, bright attacking football in a simple 4-4-2 and England labour to one struggle to another against such mighty opponents as Ecuador and Portugal?

Because they had backup strikers to bring on as subs, not an extra ball boy.

[rover6]

American, Germany's back-up strikers have, if I remember rightly, contributed ONE goal (Oliver Neuville).

Are you suggesting that this one goal is the difference between a superbly performing, gutsy, passionate, entertaining German side (who aren't the most talented side around) and England?

[American]

No, I'm saying the safety of having other options is the reason.

What were to happen if England started 4-4-2, went down a goal or 2 and then Rooney or Crouch got injured?

[SouthAussieRover]

Save the heartache of penalties?

[philipl]

Rover6, you are spot on backing Walcott. He had a much better World Cup than Frank Lampard and scored as many as Rooney and Owen put together. The kid was a vital member...

[LeChuck]

  philipl said:

Rover6, you are spot on backing Walcott. He had a much better World Cup than Frank Lampard and scored as many as Rooney and Owen put together. The kid was a vital member...

You should listen to him Rover6, this man is second-to-none when it comes to predictions...