New England Squad

Well done McClaren for picking Gareth Barry just as his form begins to dip, but Kieron Dyer deserves his place the way he's been playing recently.

That list of forwards is a bit depressingly threadbare. You get the feeling they're not so much the best four English strikers as the only four McClaren could think of.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6330177.stm

England: Foster (Watford); Gary Neville (Man Utd), Phil Neville (Everton), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Woodgate (Middlesbrough); Gerrard (Liverpool, capt), Carrick (Man Utd), Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Lampard (Chelsea), Dyer (Newcastle); Crouch (Liverpool).

with

dyer Wide attacking Left
SWP Wide attacking Right

Otoh, considering the hesitant, almost fearful way England played last summer, a dynamic, attacking formation could be just what they need to try a total disaster.

Poor Lee Naylor has no chance if he can't get in the squad with A Cole and Bridge out.

on readin the squad my eyes saw swp, but my brane read lennon, is poor little aaron injured then?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6338381.stm

"The court found that the Spanish Committee for Sporting Discipline had incorrectly evaluated the evidence," said a Spanish FA (RFEF) statement.

"We now hope that all measures will be taken to clear the good name of the national coach and the RFEF disciplinary committees."

My worries for tonight lie mostly on the shoulders of Ben Foster, who I believe will be somewhat nervous and consequently exposed. He's pulled off good saves but made plenty of mistakes at club level this season, and his handling of crosses is dubious.

Phil Neville is being played out of position, which is a shame, because I'd rate him as almost Carrick's equal in the defensive midfield position. Such an argument is academic however because Scott Parker should be streets ahead of both. Neville jr. will do a good job at left-back, I predict, although he might not get forwards as much as is necessary. Gareth Barry should have started ahead of SW-P and played on the left, with Gerrard on the right and Dyer supporting Crouch.

Other than all that the team seems pretty solid.

the ghana/nigeria match was chaos according to the graun, pitch invasions, all sorts...

paul robinson, hello?

i wz all for scotty parker once, but now i kinda think he might always just be a superior league clogger. (granted you could play him up front and pretend he's michael owen, or is that just me.) agree with everyone who'd rather see gazza bazza at left back. but phil neville is a small mercy - i wz half fearing nicky butt wz gonna win a recall! brr.

WARE IS MICHAEL RICKETTS WEN WE NEEDZ HIM

i'd like to see bentley given a shout. maybe after he moves club in the summer

england 3 - 0 spain

barmby, heskey, ehiogu

BRING BACK THE GOOD TIMES

40 to be exact

I have never known England to be any good, really.

I thought the only surprise was that they only got one goal and it took a decent shot. Credits to the England defense I suppose!

At least Morientes had the decency to continue failing to score on English soil.

-- Tom D. (tom_donnell...) (webmail), February 9th, 2007 11:32 AM. (Dada) (later) (link)

I disagree. They performed well to win it and had home advantage. Since then they've had a bunch of quarter final appearances and a couple of semi finals in major championships. I think that's round about where they should be (they should have made the '96 final and would probably have won it but I don't think they underperformed in that tournament, maybe underachieved). They're consistently a top ten team but never look like being one of the best.

Having a succession of managers (everyone after Venables maybe?) picking his best 11 available players regardless of the system hasn't helped. How many times have we seen England go into big games playing 4-4-2 with 4 central midfielders? I know traditional wingers are seen as a thing of the past but when you've got an entire team full of guys who all think they should be the one in the middle of the park spraying passes and making driving runs you've got a problem.

Oh, and you don't solve the "left-sided problem" by not having ANYONE there!

Still, there was that 3-1 win over Argentina at Wembley in May 1980 and Hoddle's debut strike vs Bulgaria in the fog in late '79. Sidefoot volley, edge of box, roof of net.

i wanna see goals like this Waddle one, at least against Andorra

xp - Tom! Sco 3-0 CIS, how could you forget?

*Well OK since they startewd filming them.

(* - OK, six years hence and Blanc was probably the only player to survive that long; Cantona was in the squad though! And Platini was coach! How bad could they be?)

The team that got thumped by Scotland:
1. Dmitri Kharin [CSKA Moscow]
2. Andrei Chernyshov [Spartak Moscow]
3. Kakhaber Tskhahadze [Spartak Moscow]
5. Oleg Kuznetsov [Glasgow Rangers-SCO]
18. Viktor Onopko [Spartak Moscow]
7. Alexei Mikhailichenko [c] [Glasgow Rangers-SCO]
8. Andrei Kanchelskis [Manchester United-ENG]
9. Sergei Aleinikov [Lecce-ITA]
>46' 16. Dmitri Kuznetsov [Espanyol-ESP]
10. Igor Dobrovolsky [Servette Geneva-SUI]
13. Sergei Kiryakov [Dynamo Moscow]
>46' 17. Igor Korneyev [Espanyol-ESP]
11. Sergei Yuran [SL Benfica-PORT]

Not bad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/video_and_audio/default.stm

Rio Ferdinand as England captain (even if it is only for a friendly)?

Lest we forget his drink driving convictions, eight month ban for missing a drugs test because he was 'stuck in traffic' and his 'alleged' homophobia..

Still, better than John 'I park in disabled spaces and vote for the BNP' Terry.

Nick Collins: Have you explained to John Terry your decision to make Rio captain?

Fabio: I don't have to explain my decisions to anyone.

LOL

I'd just assumed that, with the exception of perhaps Beckham and *maybe* David James, everyone in the England squad was homophobic.

Have you explained to John Terry your decision to make Rio captain?

Terry: "Hello? ... Hello? ... Mr Capello, this ain't funny any more. Is it you? .... I know somebody's there. I can hear you breathin'."
Capello: "Your mother sucks big fuckin' elephant dicks. You got that?"

Dicking about with Terry I can see, but how come Carrick's got the chop?

i keep forgeting Carrick exists so don't blame Capello for doing same.

Underwhelming sorta player

39 players in the French squad! to cover two games tho

We recently revived the quaint idea of a "B" national team.

What is the evidence that Terry votes for the BNP?

ooh, just found this upthread:
[Still, there was that 3-1 win over Argentina at Wembley in May 1980 and Hoddle's debut strike vs Bulgaria in the fog in late '79. Sidefoot volley, edge of box, roof of net.
-- Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 9 February 2007]

Terry lives in the Tory-safe Esher & Walton constituency and my sources confirmed to me that he did in fact for Chinners Chinnery of the MRLP in '05.

what sources?

the same that told matt dc there was an apostrophe in finnegans wake, as it happens

"The Moore in question is, of course, the late Robert, captain of England, winner of 108 caps, the World Cup, and the respect of every opponent down from the uniquely competitive Pele, who, after their soaring duel in Guadalajara in 1970, tore off his shirt and entered an embrace known only to the bravest and the best of warriors.

Also in the firing line, of course, is another Robert, Sir Bobby Charlton, who scored more goals than any other Englishman in international football, won the World Cup and was told that his 106th cap would be his last immediately after he had guided England into a winning position against West Germany in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final, only to be pulled off because, in the one great aberration of his brilliant career, Sir Alf Ramsey wanted to keep him fresh for the semi-final against Italy.

The trouble with Beckham's self-promotion and the sentimentality which has swept him to tonight's milestone here is that it appears to owe no debt to the reality of football history, the smidgeon of it his career represents and the mountainous scale of those of men like Moore and Charlton."

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-a-mickey-mouse-milestone-to-cap-beckham-fantasia-800477.html