[Archived] England's Injury Crisis

[joey_big_nose]

BBC have run a story on this: Link

I would say that Derbyshire is up against it for a call up. There are a number of contending strikers available: Bent, Ashton, Defoe, Johnson, Smith. However he is the second best, after Defoe, natural goal scorer out of those. Quite similar to Owen in many ways. Could get a look in.

Bentley is there or thereabouts also. Probably more a genuinely international quality player than Derbs at the moment, but again struggling against stiff opposition and lack of attention from the press. SWP had a good game on the weekend, Pennant ditto, Gerrard could play wide, Jenas always gets picked despite being average, Dyer has come back into the fold. I would say in terms of the way England play at the moment that Bentley is the best bet, easily the best crosser of the ball out of those, but I doubt McClaren agrees.

Warnock- again in a position where England have quite a few players- Cole, Baines, Shorey, Barry. Probably not ahead of any of those apart from maybe Baines. Nonetheless he deserves a shot at some point.

So all in all despite the "crisis" we could not yet see a rover in an england shirt. A real shame for bentley as if he was even at West Ham he would have featured by now. You only need to ask Kevin Nolan about the trials of being at a "smaller" club.

I do think that Bentley and Derbyshire will go on to be regular England squad players in the future though.

Anyhow, my preferred England team:

-------------Ashton----Bent

-J Cole----Gerrard-------------Bentley

---------------------Hargreaves

---A Cole--Carragher---Ferdinand--G Neville

----------------------Robinson

I think Ashton will cut in at International level. Bent deserves a chance.

England seem to have more high quality squad players than ever before, but fewer true world class individuals than at any point I can remember.

[LeChuck]

You must be joking about Derbyshire's chances, surely? He was 4th choice at Rovers until 5pm Saturday evening. No-one except a Rovers fan would believe he has half a chance of being in the full squad.

[roverich]

ROCKY FOR ENGLAND!!! Seems appropriate when people are talking of Derbs playing?!

[USRoverME]

Andy Todd played well at holding midfielder this weekend, surely he'll give hargreaves a run for his spot!

[Rover down South]

BBC have run a story on this: Link

I would say that Derbyshire is up against it for a call up. There are a number of contending strikers available: Bent, Ashton, Defoe, Johnson, Smith. However he is the second best, after Defoe, natural goal scorer out of those. Quite similar to Owen in many ways. Could get a look in.

Bentley is there or thereabouts also. Probably more a genuinely international quality player than Derbs at the moment, but again struggling against stiff opposition and lack of attention from the press. SWP had a good game on the weekend, Pennant ditto, Gerrard could play wide, Jenas always gets picked despite being average, Dyer has come back into the fold. I would say in terms of the way England play at the moment that Bentley is the best bet, easily the best crosser of the ball out of those, but I doubt McClaren agrees.

Warnock- again in a position where England have quite a few players- Cole, Baines, Shorey, Barry. Probably not ahead of any of those apart from maybe Baines. Nonetheless he deserves a shot at some point.

So all in all despite the "crisis" we could not yet see a rover in an england shirt. A real shame for bentley as if he was even at West Ham he would have featured by now. You only need to ask Kevin Nolan about the trials of being at a "smaller" club.

I do think that Bentley and Derbyshire will go on to be regular England squad players in the future though.

Anyhow, my preferred England team:

-------------Ashton----Bent

-J Cole----Gerrard-------------Bentley

---------------------Hargreaves

---A Cole--Carragher---Ferdinand--G Neville

----------------------Robinson

I think Ashton will cut in at International level. Bent deserves a chance.

England seem to have more high quality squad players than ever before, but fewer true world class individuals than at any point I can remember.

Carragher is refusing to come out of retirement, so that place is likely to go to Sol Campbell or Micah Richards. Not sure on how Gary Neville & Dean Ashton are recovering from injuries (Ashton had featured pre-season).

Other than that, I think you are pretty much there with your side. However, McClaren won't go for Bentley, it'll be Beckham, SWP, or he'll play Gerrard there. He should give Bentley a run out, give him a chance.

[joey_big_nose]

You must be joking about Derbyshire's chances, surely? He was 4th choice at Rovers until 5pm Saturday evening. No-one except a Rovers fan would believe he has half a chance of being in the full squad.

I don't know about that. England's two generally considered 'world class strikers'- Owen and Rooney- are out injured, and those that are behind them haven't really staked that much of a claim. If he scores a few then he will get considered for the squad.

[OhmiBRFC]

Bentley blew his chance in the summer

[Cheshireblue]

Sorry to rain on this LSD inspired parade (it must be if you really think that Derbyshire is getting an England call up) but Owen is quite fit and will play for Newcastle on Saturday.

[Mozzer]

if mclaren doesnt pick bentley, you know who mclaren is listening to, stuart pearce...

with lennon and beckham out injuried, bentley should be given a chance, hes better then swp, and jermain pennant, bentley is along with steven taylor the future for england...bentley is like beckham in every way, obviously isnt better then him, but he is 10yrs younger, he can cross, score goals, run past players...

i think england should start building for the future, abit like wales are doing, but we have much better players...(im not saying start them aswell, just bring them into the squad)...

instead of recalling sol campbell why not give michael dawson a chance??, instead of trying to get carragher back, why not give steven taylor a chance??..going back to carragher and sol campbell is for short term only, dawson and taylor are the future..

steve mclaren is a rubbish manager, we got the players(when they want to be good), but he cant get the best out of them, if england played anything like scotland(ie passion, and as a team) we would be world beaters..he needs to stop picking a sven like team, and go his own route..

agbonlahor, bentley, derbyshire, steven taylor, gary cahill, dawson,lee cattermole-are the future for england...

[MarkBRFC]

Bentley is the only realistic player Rovers have who could break in the next England squad, but i think Pennant & SWP will be infront of them as they play for 2 of the top 4.

Warnock is a outside chance but like many have said he's probably about 5th choice at the moment, plus i dont think he had his best game on sat.

I'd say Derbyshire is a good few years away yet from a full call up.

[joey_big_nose]

Sorry to rain on this LSD inspired parade (it must be if you really think that Derbyshire is getting an England call up) but Owen is quite fit and will play for Newcastle on Saturday.

I said he was up against it. Even more so if Owen is fit. But the bottom line is England lack decent strikers and if anyone out of a field of about seven or eight makes the step up then they will get a chance. I would say Bent and Ashton are the two most likely to establish themselves, defoe's chance has gone, but I just feel Derbyshire has something about him which will give him an edge. Primarily that whenever he is on the pitch he seems to score.

2 in 3 competitive games so far. He has scored 10 goals in 14 starts and 19 sub appearences over his Rovers career. He racked up 10 goals in 16 appearences at Wrexham. He has scored two goals in three sub appearences for England U21. What are the chances of 20 inall competitions over this season, even if he is primarily coming off the sub bench?

(Actually, I think i might just check the odds!)

Like Owen he has that thing where he doesn't seem to have much going on- not much presence, not much skill- but then he scores. With both feet, with his head, with spectacular goals, with tap ins.

Could be his season.

But yes I agree he won't get a call up this time round, unless of course he gets a hat trick against Arsenal.

[justjonny]

i for one dont think there will be any rover in the england squad for a while .. dont get me wrong i would love it the only reason i watched england again recently was because bently had been called up .. but for some reason there gettin overlooked .. and tbh i feel if benni was english he wouldnt be gettin a look in either with the current striker crisis .. its a shame realy :/

[philipl]

We can all relax. McClaren is bringing Heskey back in. England is in safe hands.

[Wild Irish Rover]

We can all relax. McClaren is bringing Heskey back in. England is in safe hands.

Oh that IS excellent news for all England fans...

Anyway, I understand Andy (Andrew) Cole, Alan Shearer, Kevin Keegan and Bobby Charlton are all being considered, due to their experience and availability, ahead of any players currently pulling on the blue and white 'hackers' jerseys. Apparently McClaren feels that there are already too many of the 'Welsh Contingent' on the periphery of England, so doesn't want to risk his air miles in courting success by employing anyone from small town teams where there isn't an international airport.

I mean, you don't want honest, hardworking players who can actually cross the ball to strikers who know where the goal is playing for Engerland now, do you??

(Call me biased, but I'd quite like it if we did )

[Roar of the Rover]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle2260146.ece - Martin Samuel Backs Bentley For England.

[Daremz]

The topic title says it all. Why should our players play for England? All the England players seem to be doomed by injuries and stuff. And besides that, Rovers have more than enough matches on their hands this season. Still though, and I may not forget that, playing for England gives a player an enormous boost and also is good for the Rovers; players see they can play for their country, even if it's a top team like England. (but let's face it, we Dutchies would own you anytime ) if they play at a club out of the top 4.

This really made sense though:

Whether Bentley gets a call depends on whether McClaren is a forgiving sort. After an outstanding display for the B team against Albania last season, Bentley withdrew from the European Under-21 Championship squad, citing fatigue. This, quite reasonably, did not go down well, but should not be judged as the bitter end when the decision of Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher to retire from international football elicits some sympathy and understanding.

[philipl]

Difficult to hear against the crowd noise but I think the French commentators in the Toulouse v Liverpool game have just said that Gerrard has broken his foot.

[Ozz]

Did he say" Le peid du Gerrard est casse", or summat similar?

[Mozzer]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle2260146.ece - Martin Samuel Backs Bentley For England.

would be brilliant if he got in squad..he deserves it

[mike at picture]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle2260146.ece - Martin Samuel Backs Bentley For England.

Yeah, would be great for the lad I suppose.

Speaking as somebody who couldn't care less about England I'd be seriously p.o.'d if he picked up a knock.

[philipl]

Did he say" Le peid du Gerrard est casse", or summat similar?

They said they were hearing from the Liverpool dressing room that the doctor was examining Gerard's broken foot then they went off talking about Wayne Rooney.

Certainly when subbed, Gerard went straight to the dressing room.

No other news anywhere else so hopefully all is OK.

[Rover down South]

We can all relax. McClaren is bringing Heskey back in. England is in safe hands.

It was only Chris Hutchings (wigan boss) that suggested that Emile Heskey should be included in the England sqaud, because he can still do the job, er........ sorry but only 5 goals in 43 caps suggests he has never done a decent job for England!!!

If he makes the squad then McClaren should be sacked!

[Mozzer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...amp;ito=newsnow

according to this mclaren is going to give bentley a ring and ask bentley to convice him he wants to play for england..

hopefully bentley can persuade mclaren to pick him

[philipl]

I wasn't totally mis-hearing; Gerard's foot injury

[roversmum]

It was only Chris Hutchings (wigan boss) that suggested that Emile Heskey should be included in the England sqaud, because he can still do the job, er........ sorry but only 5 goals in 43 caps suggests he has never done a decent job for England!!!

If he makes the squad then McClaren should be sacked!

I watched the Wigan vs Boro match last night during which Heskey as usual squandered several chances . I used to shudder every time he turned out for England.

I see (thank goodness) from the Daily Mail article that McClaren doesn't intend to recall him, thank goodness!