Calls up to the England squad I know its just for the Denmark friendly, but the squad includes 5(!!) Chelsea players. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=283079&cc=5901 Talk about bringing in young domestic talent - the oldest of the players called up is Lampard, I believe. Its pleasantly unusual to see us with 2 more players in the england squad than either ManUtd or Liverpool.
Re: Calls up to the England squad The most astute purchase of them all has to have been young Johnson.I don't know who spotted him, or even recommended him, he hardly played for the hammers last season remember, but in comparison to the others he was a risk. I mean, the rest of them all had a name for themselves, some more so than others.
Re: Re: Calls up to the England squad What amazes me is his composure. Against Newcastle, he calmly chested the ball down in the box, looked up, paused, and then hammered in an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. Most strikers would have one timed it over the bar (or scuffed it), let alone 19 year old right backs!
Getting his chance Joe Cole starts. A good performance here will help him no end. Duff plays on Wednesday, wonder if Ranieri will then rest him for the weekend game giving Cole another start?
Starting line up ----------------- James----------------- G Neville------Terry-------Upson----Cole Beckam------Butt----Lampard------Cole ----------Rooney------- Heskey -----
What a start...England 2-1 Denmark Joe Cole scores his first England goal. Cracker of a goal. Gronkjaer with a good hand in Denmarks goal down the right. Neville now hurt? Glenn Johnson making his International debut. 4 Chelsea players on the pitch. Have to do some research to see when the last time that happened. Two players in the box from the cross for Denmark in front of Terry, follows one, nobody picks up the other and he scores.
How it looks -------------------James--------------------- Johnson-------Terry-----Upson-------A Cole -----------------Butt--------------------- ------Beckam------------lampard--------- ---------------J Cole---------------------- ----------Rooney-----------Heskey-----------
Re: How it looks This is how it looks now - half the outfield players are Blues. Along with Jesper, we've got six men on the pitch Robinson--------------------- Johnson-------Terry-----Upson-------Bridge -----------------P. Neville--------------------- ------Beckham------------lampard--------- ---------------J Cole---------------------- ----------Rooney-----------Beattie :-----------
Wow Just realized that 3/4ths of the defense are Blues. Considering that our best defender doesn't even play for England, it bodes well, no?
5 star players --------------------Robinson--------------------- Johnson-------Terry------Upson-------Bridge ------------------P Neville---------------------- --------Beckam----------------Lampard------ -------------------J Cole---------------------- ----------Rooney-----------Beattie---------- 6 Chelsea players on the pitch counting Jesper Gronkjaer. Thats some feat.
Re: Wow Mmmm.....i would take issue with that. John Terry is just off the peak of his ability, still learning. Desailly is also off the peak of his ability, but on the down side. Gallas is on a par with Terry. Johnson and Bridge are still learning at the current level we have risen to at club level, never mind international competition.
Re: Re: Wow No offense intended to any of the British players - I merely think that Gallas is the best defender we have. A personal, obviously disputable observation. Doesn't make Terry bad in the slightest....... I somewhat wish I could have seen the game to judge how the players did. From what I've read, Upson had a bit of a nightmare, so it would be good to know that our players weren't too responsible for the goals England surrendered.
A meaningless (although deserved) defeat. Silly friendlies, still, they serve a purpose i suppose. Second half was abysmal, far too many subs on.How the hell can he determine anything from that? Lumpy didn't look all that great to be honest, not bad, but nowhere near his "take the game by the scruff of the neck" attitude he displays at club level. Glenn Johnson showed exactly what everybody expected-needs plenty of friendly appearences before he is ready for full time international football. Terry looked good-Upson isn't in the same class, looked out of place really. Bridge should have started over Cole. J Cole...England MOTM. Denmark are a class act. SGE making a complete mess of things again in a friendly with far to many subs.We know Beckam will start so why the fuck is he on the pitch to begin with? Ah well, the best thing about this is that we wont have another international break untill February
Re: A meaningless (although deserved) defeat. Ahhhh..... music to my ears! We shall continue where we left off.
Tabloid headline that should have been: ENGLAND 2 DENMARK 3 CHELSEA 6 The soccernet report read as if the game was lost when Owen and Gerrard couldn't make the team. I wonder if the reporter might be a Liverpool fan? I do agree these 20 player friendlies are useless. Why call up so many club players and increase the risk of injury? Man Utd. can't be happy to have a key player injured, and as it just as well could have been us, I hope it's nothing serious.