The Three Lions

Whenever England play there are inevitably a ton of threads on the same subject - who should be manager, who should be starting, the players' inability to kick a football properly, how our youth systems suck, how inadequate we are in comparison to everyone else, etc. For the sake of forum tidyness, it'd be best to have one thread for all of that. And here it is. This thread can also be used to discuss the various youth levels.

Fixtures

Friendly: Norway - 26th May 2012, Ullevaal Stadium (Oslo)
Friendly: Belgium - 2nd June 2012, Wembley
EURO 2012: France, 11th June 2012, Donbass Arena
EURO 2012: Sweden, 15th June 2012, Olmypic Stadium (Kiev)
EURO 2012: Ukraine, 19th June 2012, Donbass Arena

The Current Situation

As of this moment, England are in a state of limbo after Fabio Capello decided to resign following a falling out with the FA. Stuart Pearce is currently the caretaker manager and has a small chance of becoming the full time coach, but it's largely expected and, unfortunately, welcomed by the media and fans that Harry Redknapp will take over as England manager. We won't actually know until the end of the season and I'm sure this will do wonders for our preperation ahead of the European Championships.

On the playing side things are hardly any better. We haven't got a settled starting eleven and with Rooney set to miss all three group stage games and Darren Bent injured we have no idea who will be leading the line. It could be Jermane Defoe, Peter Crouch, Andy Carroll, Danny Welbeck or Daniel Sturridge and none of those options appear particularly enticing.

Else where there are positions up for the grabs. Theo Walcott and Ashley Young would be the expected wide men but there's the options of Adam "good for twenty minutes" Johnson and Stewart "better than Kenny thought he was" Downing. James Milner is another option, though perhaps better centrally, and Oxlade-Chamberlain is something of a wild card.

In the centre, Lampard, Barry and Parker would be the expected trio should we play with three in midfield. There are doubts over Gerrard's fitness but there could be a recall for Michael Carrick, who's had a good season. Milner is the other option here, while Jack Wilshere could be fit for selection, but it's a big maybe. Jack Rodwell might be a decent choice, and Phil Jones has been used there as well.

Then in defence, it's John Terry plus one of Phil Jagielka, Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill, Phil Jones and possibly Rio Ferdinand, fitness permitting. Left back is between Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines and Kieran Gibbs (again, fitness permitting), while at right back is completely up for grabs between Micah Richards, Glenn Johnson and Kyle Walker.

In goal, it's Joe Hart and some others not really worth mentioning.

Out of all eleven positions, I would say that only five of them are certain (Goalkeeper, one centre back, left back, and the likely two central midfield berths). We have no manager, so we've no idea what we're playing, how we're playing it and who will be doing the playing. Euro 2012 is going to be a disaster, in all likelihood.

My Squad

If I had to choose a 23-man squad (it is 23 men, isn't it?), I would go with:

Joe Hart (Manchester City)
John Ruddy (Norwich City)
Ben Foster (West Brom - if he comes out of retirement)/Robert Green (West Ham)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
Chris Smalling (Manchester United)
Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
Micah Richards (Manchester City)
Glenn Johnson (Liverpool)
Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
Leighton Baines (Everton)
Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur)
Gareth Barry (Manchester City)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Michael Carrick (Manchester United)
James Milner (Manchester City)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Ashely Young (Manchester United)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea)
Danny Welbeck (Manchester United)

So fellow England fans and non-England fans, who would you take to Euro 2012 and how do you rate our chances?

Great work man. Guess this thread will be pretty active with the amount of controversy we are usually in

I agree with the 23 man squad, Although i wish there were better Midfielders available in the youth ranks for us to take.

I am still serious about taking Scholes to the Euros u know

Is Rodwell a possibility for the senior team?

Le Samourai wrote:Is Rodwell a possibility for the senior team?

I believe he'll be considered but Euro 2012 will most likely be too soon for him. He'll probably play a more prominent role in the side once we begin phasing out the likes of Barry, Lampard, Parker and Gerrard.

That's too bad.

I really believe in him and Wilshire as a pair with Gerrard in front of them.I like them more than Parker and Barry anyway lol....

I am really not feeling lampard for the Euros. Neither Barry. But we dont have a choice

I like something like this.

--------------------------Hart--------------------------
Richards------Smalling------Ferdinand------------Cole
----------Rodwell-----------------------Wilshire--------
---------------------------Gerrard----------------------
Walcott-------------------------------------------Johnson
--------------------------Rooney--------------------------

RealGunner wrote:I am really not feeling lampard for the Euros. Neither Barry. But we dont have a choice

If Wilshere were fit and had a run of games under his belt, I'd take him instead of Barry. As it is, I think it'd be too much of a risk to take him.

That's too bad.

I really believe in him and Wilshire as a pair with Gerrard in front of them.I like them more than Parker and Barry anyway lol....

Yeah, I think he'll be a certain starter in the future but right now there are one too many midfielders currently playing at a higher level than he is. Barry and Parker are unfashionable but the closest players England have to a holding midfielder and are having good seasons.

I wouldn't mind seeing this in the future:

to Le Sam

I'd Love that line up, But Johnson instead of Richards and Young instead of Johnson.

Really wish Rodwell could get his career back on track. He can be THE one

Glen J instead of Micah? It's interesting but Richards is much better defensively.I would slide him to the centre but as much confidence as I have in Smalling, he hasn't been a distributer yet, and that lineup has no deep lying playmaker.

So in earnest GJ and Cole would be given the task of pushing the ball up the field, which is something I'm not a huge fan of.You can always drop Smalling.......but he's amazing lol.

Young instead of AJ...that's the obvious way to go but I just think Johnson is plain and simple the better and more dangerous player.Young isn't someone I trust to run at the defence consistently enough to create space for Walcott on the weak-side.

I could've inserted Sturridge as well, but I've never seen him play on the left and I don't trust him to make the right decision.

Oxdale Chamberlin seems an interesting option for the spot but he's quite young.

"Donbass Arena"


lol

Ganso wrote:"Donbass Arena"


lol

That is the Donets basin, or simply Donbass.

The stadium is a beautiful cathedral of sport :dance:

Leon Britton for england ?

Over-rated
Grannyshagger
DJ puncher
Over-rated
racist
bald
ugly
etc


jokes aside.......Best formation IMO would be (depending on Wilshere's situation)

------------------------------Hart------------------------------
Johnson---------Terry-----------Ferdinand------Cole-----
----------------Parker-----------Carrick----------------------
---Walcott-----------Wilshere-------------Young----------
------------------------Rooney--------------------------------

If Wilshere not fit, put Gerrard there. with Rooney suspended, replace him with Sturridge.

Are England that desperate to play Cole in the left? Apart from that Schweini-s formation is the best out there atm.

RealGunner wrote:Leon Britton for england ?

Decent player but I think Carrick would be a better option. Pretty much does the same thing as Britton.

Are England that desperate to play Cole in the left? Apart from that Schweini-s formation is the best out there atm.

You mean Ashley Cole? It's not desperation, but Baines struggles against any good right winger and Gibbs isn't quite ready, so that leaves Cole as our only good option at left back.

Speaking of Cole... I wonder if Joe Cole will be considered.

Thought this was relevant to the national team:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/green-light-for-u21s-league-to-replace-reserves-7622226.html

The Premier League is to re-launch the current reserve team competitions as a national under-21s league, to provide game time for elite young players who are languishing on the bench, The Independent has learned.

The League's 20 clubs have agreed that games in the new Premier League Reserve League will take place at weekends and may shadow those between the first teams where possible. But they will come after Premier League matches, allowing those players who have made the bench in the elite division, but gained little or no playing time, the opportunity to play in a high-quality second-string game. The new league seems likely to be fully established for the 2013/14 season, rather than this August – because the clubs are yet to agree on how many over-age players each side should be allowed to field, ensuring the league offers a means of older players returning to full fitness.

The new league aims to resolve a critical problem in the English game, of the best young talent getting minimal competitive football in squads packed with expensive acquisitions. "By the time I came through the non-league system I'd not received that much coaching but I had 250 games behind me," said England's caretaker manager and under-21 manager Stuart Pearce. "Too many of my players at under-21 level haven't had enough game time. Of that squad I may only have had eight or nine who played on the Saturday. Now that's a crying shame."

The Independent can reveal that a national under-18 league is also to be established for all Premier League and Football League clubs which attain Category 1 status – the highest grading under the new Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) – in another attempt to better develop young players.

It is unclear whether the under-21 league, which clubs with a Category 1 youth development grading under EPPP will join, will carry any commercial opportunities, though there may be some prospect of that if adequate interest is kindled in a competition which could give, for example, Chelsea's Josh McEachran or Liverpool's Raheem Sterling game time they might otherwise miss on a bench the day before.

The current Premier Reserve League is split into a northern and southern division but four clubs – Manchester City, QPR, Stoke and Tottenham – do not field sides, and the competition has certainly faded badly since Kevin Keegan dealt it a significant blow by removing Newcastle United in the mid-1990s. Its inadequacy for player development was highlighted in January when Andre Villas Boas, then Chelsea manager, suggested Premier League clubs should be allowed to field reserve sides in the Football League. The Football League called this "offensive", but Everton manager David Moyes has since disclosed that he was thwarted in his own plan to play an Everton 'B' team in the Football Conference in an attempt to upgrade competitive levels for his young players. Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has also said he is "looking closely" at the wisdom of continuing with the Reserve League in its current format.

There is also dissatisfaction among clubs with stronger youth set-ups at the standard of under-18s opposition. The success of last season's Under-19s European NextGen tournament, in which Internazionale defeated Liverpool's semi-final opponents Ajax in the final at Leyton Orient, has proved the value of elite opposition. Manchester City's intention to compete again next year is based on their belief that the experience of overseas travel to play and encounter different systems have been invaluable.

The new national under-18s league will provide better competition for top youth sides on a more regular basis. Damien Comolli, director of football at Liverpool – whose 6-0 home defeat to Ajax in the NextGen semi-final revealed a gulf in class – told the LFC Magazine last week that "we want to play against the best". He said: "From day one we have told the Premier League the principle of the best against the best, and playing and training with the best will get our backing. Recently, we played against Manchester United in the under-15s and it was technically a very good game with a high quality of football played."

In France, reserve teams may enter the professional pyramid and play as high as the fourth tier – England's League Two – and although that seems unworkable in England, the former France technical director Gerard Houllier is among those urging changes. "In England you lose a lot of players between 18 and 21," he said. "The two countries who are failing are England and Italy. I knew one or two players [when manager] at Aston Villa who did not have enough games to play at the top level. Between 18 and 20 there is nothing. In France when they don't play on a Saturday, they can play for the reserves the next day."

-------------------------

So teams have receive a grade 1 ranking under the EPPP will be able to field teams in this new U21 league. That seems a little pointless since that limits the number of clubs that'll be able to enter, and it's unclear what will happen with the clubs who do not receive a grade 1 ranking, but I suppose that would, theortically, ensure a decent level of competition for this players.

I don't know which clubs will receive a grade 1 ranking but I imagine it'll be given to the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham, Everton and Southampton - the best academies in the country.

My current lineup would be:

------------------------Hart-------------------

Richards---Smalling-----Rio------Cole----

-------------Wilshere-----Carrick----------

Sturridge---------Gerrard-------Young---

--------------------Rooney-------------------

I would consider playing Ox over Sturridge.

You have Wilshere who is a doubt due to injuries and even Gerrard who may struggle to maintain match fitness. In that case Rooney can play in the whole and possibly Welbeck upfront?

Gerrard is nowhere near his oldself btw.If England want to do something they should try to convince scholes to come back for the tournament.

RealGunner wrote:Great work man. Guess this thread will be pretty active

:vagi:

Squad to beat Brazil

The Squad

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Joe Hart.

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Chris Smalling, Kyle Walker.

Midfielders: Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Leon Osman, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere.

Forwards: Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Welbeck.

RealGunner wrote:Squad to beat Brazil

we are missing Thiago,Luiz,Marcelo and Hernanes.Neymar and Luis Fabiano have only played 3 games so far.Ronaldinho didnt play at all.I expect us to get our ass whooped at Wembley

1-1 calling it now.

England are the serial underachievers and overachievers in International football somehow.

When they are expected to dominate they struggle, when you expect them to get smashed they put up a brave fight.

tbh us and England are at the same level right now. any result that has a 2+ goal difference will be a surprise.

Would be happy with a draw tbh. We've got some good midfielders there but are desperately lacking a decent holding player, which I feel Brazil will exploit. I think we'll try and play a passing game as we have done under Hodgson after the Euro's but will ultimately fail to break Brazil down.

I think we'll line-up like this:


Hard to predict a couple of positions. I think Cleverley and possibly Carrick have decent shots at starting, but Gerrard is captain and Hodgson has been praising Lampard a lot this week, so I expect them to start. Wilshere, I hope, starts.

On the left, it could easily be Oxlade-Chamberlain or Lennon. Going with Milner since Hodgson seems to like him.