Sven named the squad

Suppose that was the squad everyone was expecting....
Cant understand why ian walker is the third keeper though.

 

Vassell is carrying an injury and Defoe is travelling with the squad to the friendlies, so expect a change there.

 

I was expecting afew injuries on the last day of the season .
That didnt happen but there is still time I suppose..
someone is bound to get hurt in the next few weeks.

 

Harsh of Sven to overlook Nigel Martyn after a good individual season. Especially when he was only going to pick Walker and although Richard Wright has ability he's been injured all season.

Phil Neville was unnecessary when he had already settled on taking Carragher and other versatile players in the squad like Hargreaves. This is Sven going a bit too far to compensate for injuries and tiredness.

Strikers were as expected, Owen and Rooney will start and are quality, Vassell and Heskey overperform for Sven and are his trusted boys. Shame for my favourite Defoe but he got squeezed out by Vassell as Sven can't really take 3 small pacey strikers and Darius is his proven supersub.

 

Walker wouldn't be my selection for third, but it's pretty unlikely he'll play and he is competent most of the time.

On the whole, it's pretty uninspired selecting to me. If he's definitely going with the diamond in the middle (meaning four players and two up front), then he needs more potential complement to Owen. Defoe can still be a bit rough at times (as in not polished), but I still think that he should be in there. I would also have taken Smith over Vassell and probably Heskey. I also think that Rooney is rated higher than he should be in the England setup (I am intentionally trying to avoid the word overrated. He's not overrated for a nineteen year old, he's just overvalued for England). Phil Neville has done nothing to merit a space and provides no extra value to the team.

 

Very UNadventrous!!

 

Apparently Martyn did not want to go with the squad as 3rd choice, feels he's too old for that and therefore hence the Walker/Wright selection. Fair enough.

 

Anyone disagree with the selections???
any players you feel should be in there???

 

Martyn withdrew from consideration just after Christmas time in a private chat with Tord Grip. Given injuries to Green and Kirkland, Walker was the best bet for the third spot.

As to Vassel/Smith/Defoe ... much of a muchness. At least Vassell has a few timely delivers for England under his belt. Smith and Defoe have done nothing at international level.

It's not a question of being adventurous (since when has that ever been a mandate for the England manager prior to a major tournament) it's a question of picking balance as best as is practicable.

 

Shaun Wright-Phillips should have been given a chance earlier, I would not call him up now because now is not the time for experimenting.

Kieron Dyer never has been and never will be an international class player.

Vassell is tried and trusted at international level but if Defoe had moved to Spurs earlier and had more chances I'd probably have taken him. Remember Defoe has only played 45 mins for England, that's not enough to judge him.

Walker... ROFL... injuries to Green, Kirkland and Wright means he gets his place there. I hope to god he doesn't play! I'm sure we have better but inexperienced keepers lower down. Shame Stuart Taylor's been injured all season too.

There's not much Sven can do about the centreback position. Woodgate and Southgates injuries were examples of pure bad luck with regards to timing. Rio is just thick.

 

I saw Trevor Francis being interviewed on Sky just after the squad was picked and he suggested something I've been thinking of for the first game against France, namely playing five across midfield.

This is because of Henry's pace when he picks it up on the left and runs at the defense and to try and counteract Zidane, not giving him any space. He thought of having Scholes just behind Owen but helping out in midfield but I thought it would be better with Owen up front and either Lampard, Scholes or Gerrard making runs to support. That way, none of them, individually, gets too tired whilst the other ones can all provide cover.

They can all tackle, hit a ball, get on the end of a header and take people on. They're all high energy players and should help cope with Zidane and Viera in midfield.

Any thoughts - and don't say, where's Rooney, Matt Clark...

 

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I think that in all cases (apart from Rooney) where he could have gambled on the unknown, he has chosen people who have always been adequate. Sometimes by taking a gamble, that one player can provide a spark that has been lacking. Sometimes in a big match, substituting in the adequate is not enough. You could say Owen or Vassell were that kind of new unproven spark player in the past. I think that SWP or Defoe could have been the type of player to do that. With a midfield that picks itself (SWP would always be a bench option) and a pretty reasonable defence, I'm a little worried about the choices up front. Owen is playing well, but is not his sharpest. I'm a little unsure how his strike partner will perform. With twenty-three players, I just think SGE could have gambled on one or two more of the players. It probably won't change the team's starters, but it might give you a little something more late in the game.

 

Oh yes, because I am after all Shrek's most consistent cheerleader ...

Rooney Schmooney.

 

Prenn that's a bit harsh on Kieron Dyer. I do think he's good player and has done well in the roles Sven has picked out for him, other than the left side. His pace is very important, we don't have a lot of that from Becks/Scholes/Butt and to a lesser extent Gerrard.

Senegal played one up front against France in the World Cup, just El Hadji Diouf up front on his own and supported him with midfield runners. Denmark were a bit more ambitious.

I reckon there's no doubt Sven will play Owen with Rooney or Heskey, can't play Owen on his own with Scholes behind otherwise the team will have a hard time holding the ball up. I think it's a close choice as to whether he goes with Heskey or Rooney, I think against France he will go with Heskey to begin with for his strength and to track back onto Viera. Although it would be exciting to see Rooney play against them.

 

Yeah, but where's his incentive to gamble? This is Euro 2004, not the Confederations Cup or Le Tournoi.

It's the typical "damned either way" situation we force our national team manager into. If he had picked all manner of wild cards, then there would be an equal number of people here and elsewhere who would be howling with outrage that he is being so cavalier with our nation's chances at the tournament.

Fair enough, but no one here is advocating any candidates for "spark duty". It's all pretty much a case of 'six of one, half a dozen of the other'. Unless someone is seriously going to argue that the difference between, say, Vassell and Defoe as picks for the fifth striker slot is a matter of gargantuan importance.

Yes, you can make a fair enough case out of including Sean Wright-Phillips. IF you are willing to accept that the lad has no international experience and just one good season in a decidedly mediocre Premiership under his belt. IF, by extension, you can accept that he may very well fail horribly. And of course leave the squad short of other, more experienced players who have had to make way for such 'adventure'. I don't have a problem with it - I just can't stomach the hypocrisy with which SGE would be treated were he to make such bold selections and then have them blow up in his face.

Make no mistake - it's a solid, balanced, unremarkable selection. I can agree with that. And maybe a bit of zest might not have been a bad idea. But if I were in Sven's shoes, I reckon I would have picked more or less the same squad. Because I would know that whatever happens, whomever I pick, I am going to get it in the neck from someone, somewhere unless I win the whole damn thing. Given that that is more unlikely than likely, I would be similarly hesitant to act as load man for the people lining up to take pot shots at me.

Don't blame SGE in short - blame our fan culture, blame the ass-backward way in which we treat our national team and, more than anything else, blame our media.

 

The squads good except for the forwards.

Owen - has had another bad season
Heskey - is crap, has one good game a season, rarely scores
Vassel - scores rarely, always injured
Rooney - also scores rarely and has had a bad season

If Defoe had been included instead of Heskey or Vassel i would have been happy.

Wright-Philips and Parker should also be in the squad.

And how does Butt get in.

 

I tend to think that SWP would have brought something different to the roster, and that there's a fair amount of redundancy to this squad. Although I guess I agree with some posters that the problem is he didn't get worked into the team soon enough to be adequately experienced at this point. For that, the blame is unfortunately on him - had he been playing as well as he did this season sooner, he probably would have more under his belt.

I think Walker is a good choice, and I'm surprised that so many seem to think otherwise.

 

vassell?!?

 

You mean how does P Neville get in. Sven values players that perform for him. League form & appearances matter to a certain extent but not as much as the trust he has in them. Heskey, Vassel, Butt, Rooney all fall into this category.
To perform a specific role - protecting the back four - Butt is better than anyone else.
I think against France Sven will go with 4 in the midfield but he will have one of his strikers (Heskey or Rooney) drop deep to support them.

 

The thing I noticed was how young the squad was. When they were announcing them they kept on saying, 23, 23, 22, 23. Even allowing for the keeper and a few old-timers of 29 like Becks the average age must be under 25.

 

With the players available, I'd really like us to try something like this.

------Calamity

Carra-Sol-John-Ash

Becks-Stevie-Ginge-Joe

--------Rooney

--------St. Mike


That is more than good enough to get out of the group, but Eriksson won't pick it. Shame.

 

Not much to do with the Defence I think that's pretty much what was expected...Jlloyd Samuel and Matthew Upson had pretty decent seasons but do they merit inclusion?

Midfield/utility - Fine on the top fellas, but get rid of Butt and p Neville..where's Danny Murphy, where's Gareth Barry, Where's Shawn Wright-Phillips. Sven needs spark plugs not stop-gaps.

Forward....not great, not bad. I feel bad for Defoe and Smith as they probably deserve to be included. Maybe Smith is too much of a discipline worry though.

So, Sven picks his normal line-up. As long as he's comfortable with this team I say fine for this championship (I don't expect much from them anyway) but they should experiment more with some of the fringe folks leading up to WC qualification.

 

If Wonderboy said that then I suggest we don`t play five across the middle. Every club that sacks wonderboy gets promoted, he`s clueless.