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2011-12 Football/Soccer Thread

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Yeah thats one of the reasons he included Jones-versatility.So he's taking Johnson and Jones.He was supposed to take Walker too but he's out with a toe injury.
 
England squad for Euro 2012:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Man City), Rob Green (West Ham), John Ruddy (Norwich)

Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Man United), John Terry (Chelsea), Joleon Lescott (Man City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton Baines (Everton)

Midfielders: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Man City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Ashley Young (Man United), James Milner (Man City)

Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Man United), Danny Welbeck (Man United), Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham)

Well...disappointed with no Richards, and what Stewart Downing is doing in the squad while Adam Johnson is on the standby list I will never know. Uncapped Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gets a call up and no Grant Holt. Lennon doesn't even make the standby list but Sturridge, Jagielka, Jack Butland and Jordan Henderson all do. No spot for Carrick at all, which surprises me when Henderson makes the standby list.
 
Where the fuck is Peter Crouch he is our best player at international level I'm not even kidding.

Downing and Henderson? wtf. I'm sure not even Nosferalto would put those guys in his England squad. Can't believe Richards has been left out in favour of Glen Johnson too.

Back to supporting Germany for me.
 
It's really really stupid to put Danny Welbeck on the squad, he's not experienced, or frankly good enough to be on the squad. He's scored what? 9 goals? That's not particularly good considering the number of games he played.

Just a question to all of you, who do you reckon are going to be the dark horses of the EURO this time around?
 
What a joke, Carroll gets in England squad on basis of one 20 minute half decent spell where he didn't score off a free header. Holt/Crouch have been performing well across whole season and one of them definitely should have got big man spot. It doesn't matter how well you play it depends on who you play for. Why choose a striker who scores 15 goals when you can get one who scores 4!

I hope Ruddy enjoys warming the bench though.

Also agree with Badal, Wellbeck is extremely overated only scoring 9 goals playing in front of Rooney with some of the most support behind him is pretty poor in my opinion. How he starts over Hernandez I don't know. I think Sturridge should've been selected over him.

EDIT: I just noticed Downing made the team, lol complete joke. Wonder if he's trying to get scousers onside.
 
Good mix of youth and experience in there; Jones, Walcott, The Ox,, Young, Welbeck.. can't see a whole lot wrong with the probable starting 11 anyway. As long as Downing doesn't get anywhere near it. Glad Milner's in there. Would have liked to have seen Holt given a shot and Crouchy baby.... :(

Dark horses? England :D
 
The_Chaser said:
It doesn't matter how well you play it depends on who you play for.
Click to expand...

i was barking up that tree all last season when Barton and Nolan were getting ignored despite being arguably the two best English midfielders in the Premiership last season

Downing getting in is a joke, can't see why Welbeck was preferred over Sturridge when the Chelsea man has had a better season, heartbreak for Holt, Crouch should have made it over every striker bar Rooney...Gerrard's a bit of a leap of faith since he's only played a few games all season and hasn't looked great when he has played. Jordan Henderson must have been laughing his arse off when he got the call to go on standby.

still a solid team on the whole, quarter finals could be a realistic hope
 
Now that I've gotten over my initial catastrophic disappointment I'll give some of my thoughts:

Firstly, there must be some behind the scenes goings-on with Richards; he's had his best season yet, I can't see why he isn't even considered. He's the vice-captain of Man City. He's got the build of a centre back but the pace of a winger and filled in for CB very well when Kompany was suspended. If that isn't versatility then I don't know what is. Never mind best English right back, he was outright the best right back in the PL this season.

Secondly, what on earth is Oxlade-Chamberlain doing anywhere near the squad? He's 18! I thought we did the whole take 17yr old Walcott to the WC to benchwarm thing. I thought we had gotten over those shenanigans. He hasn't been getting into the Arsenal team even as a sub! He is a great prospect but just wtf!!!

Thirdly, Crouchy must be devastated. He has said so many times he wants to play for England. He must be one of the few players we have who actually want to play for England! That alone gets him on the plane for me. He's good technically, good in the air, got good awareness and has a history of scoring spectacular goals. The only thing he can't do is run at pace or play the false 9, but neither can Carroll! WTF! Who even gives a shit about Carroll? Crouchy has done better this season, is a better player, and deserves it far more than Carroll. Fucks sake.

Fourthly, I don't even know if fourthly is a word, why waste a teamspot on Gerrard and Lampard??? They can't play together. They both want to be the main man, they both can't be bothered to look at each other never mind pass to each other. Please don't play them together, sub one for the other at most if you're gonna take both.

The midfield isn't helped by the presence of Barry either. He must be the most boring midfielder in the world right now. I know defensive mids can go unappreciated sometimes but what does Barry do? When has anyone ever seen Barry make an important pass, or show inspirational leadership? All he does is receive a ball and pass it sideways. At least Carrick has some vision, some drive, and isn't afraid of initiating an attack. C'mon Hodgeson, are you Capello in disguise?
 
Richards is a liability. Sure he's great going forwards but he has very little tactical awareness and his positioning leaves a lot to be desired. Plus the whole "can he be trusted" issue that I'm sure Hodgson doesn't even want to deal with.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is a breath of fresh air. Don't know if you saw it, but he played out of position in centre midfield against AC Milan in the Champions league and was the best player on the pitch by a mile. He'll be an impact sub, when Theo isn't delivering (which is more often than not...) and another player who will willingly run at a defence. End product is arguably more consistent than Theo's too.

Agreeing Crouch should be in, but I think Hodgson is being smart on this one.. lots of the teams we'll play will know how to play Crouch now.. maybe he chose Carroll to throw them off a bit and give them something else to think about. Although, if he was going for a strong, physical centre forward... why not Holt? :(

I agree on the Gerrard/Lampard sentiment, hopefully they won't play together as it is quite redundant.

Barry is the water carrier, puts his foot in and does set up a lot of opportunities. Go back and watch City this season and see how many balls he feeds into Yaya Toure and Silva. Sure he's slow and "boring" but he's a lot more reliable than Carrick. Carrick does have a better touch and vision than Barry.. but he's a bit of a girl. Pulls out of tackles, gets flustered when pressured.. nah.
 
Goalkeepers

I'm fine with these, but after Joe Hart it's a mixed bag anyway. As long as Joe Hart doesn't get injured or sent off, we're sorted.

Defenders

Can't really complain much. I'd have picked Walker or Johnson over Richards too. Jones can play RB as well, but I can't say I fancy Terry + Cahill as centrebacks much.. We'll see. Gutted for Kyle Walker with his injury, and Chris Smalling too.

Midfield

Stewart Downing are you fucking kidding me? Seriously? He is the worst player in the world he should be out of the Liverpool squad, nevermind IN the England squad. The rest is pretty standard. Milner is the utility but I think he sucks now. Michael Carrick had an immense season, I think he should have at least been the stand-by in midfield over Henderson. Can anyone make an argument as to why Henderson is there over Carrick?

Forwards

I'm not convinced by any English strikers other than Rooney. But I would have taken Welbeck and Sturrdge along with him, outright. If Bent was fully fit I'd have picked him over Defoe. Crouch would have probably been my stand-by, but I can see reason for Carroll. He played well for a month or so and now he got called up for a major international tournament. It has to boost his confidence which was always an issue at Liverpool. He's either going to thrive on it or crash and burn. Either is good for me because he'll either do well for England and we'll get further, or he'll be dog shit and make Liverpool suck even more next season.

I want to see England play without wingers, I would have loved to see something like this:

Hart
Johnson Terry Cahill Cole
Parker
Gerrard Barry
Rooney
Sturridge Welbeck​

I think the future of the England midfield is more likely to involve Wilshere and Cleverley, but their injury problems have cost them for this tournament. Hopefully they'll be included in friendlies and might make the next World Cup.
 
The-England-squad-2-008.jpg


@Havak, I really doubt Gerrard and Barry would be able to handle midfield if they played without wingers, and plus Welbeck is pretty pointless upfront, really not worth it.
you could go 4-1-3-1-1
or 4-1-3-2
^IMO

I'm still not convinced Oxlade-Chamberlain is a particularly good idea, he's not capped, he's only 18, he's got only 6 PL starts. I doubt he's at that level where he can be expected to perform well at the highest level. It may just be like Walcott in '06 all over again.

Andy Carroll, really? Just because he's played a few good games, doesn't mean he's ready for EURO 2012. Again, not a good move. As aforementioned, Sturridge is a far better option.


Lol, should've picked Heskey ;)


Something amusing I found:
The Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy will be allowed to miss England's friendly against Belgium, so he can get married
Click to expand...
cute.
 
i thought that with hodgson's history of managing mid-table clubs (Fulham, WBA, i really want to say liverpool here haha) that he'd made some ballsy outside the box selections but with the exception of Leighton Baines and the deputy keeper every single player in the squad plays for either Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs or Liverpool.

bit uninspiring and unimaginative really...
 
Looks like the mixed bag of signings and tactical errors resulting in the average season has cost King Kenny. I could see it happening, as with that much money being chucked about, owners sort of can expect better. It'll be a summer of Managerial musical chairs then. That's always fun to watch. I'd love to see some Championship managers who are passionate given a shot in the top flight. (Namely, Chris Hughton).

The England squad, I can't say much more than everyone above, but perhaps Uncle Roy is excited to get to work with the big names, so he's just getting them in his squad. As much as I'd love to have faith, i can't see him getting them challenging, so it's back to supporting Croatia for me.
 
No idea why he included Defoe, Sturridge should be in the the squad imo. Also I think Johnson over Lampard/Gerrard would have paid off but other then that I think it's a solid squad.
 
Defoe to my understanding performs really well for England (well he scored a hattrick when i saw him) and imo he's class even though he hasn't played for club at all so i understand that pick. Carroll is in form so I can see that, and the selection will only have boosted his confidence further. True there are some decisions that I don't understand but at the end of the day I'd place trust in hodgson, whatever people say he's a good manager and we should have faith!
 
Badal said:
I'm still not convinced Oxlade-Chamberlain is a particularly good idea, he's not capped, he's only 18, he's got only 6 PL starts. I doubt he's at that level where he can be expected to perform well at the highest level. It may just be like Walcott in '06 all over again.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Cmon Roy, don't screw with our prized kids. Walcott, Wilshere, now Chamberlain...go take Adam Johnson or Lennon or whatever. Hell, they're better than Downing too.

Does anybody else think that it'll be Phil Jones who starts at RB? To me it seems Johnson, Richards, and Walker are all sort of the same kind of fullbacks. Fantastic going forward but terrible positionally at the back and rely on pace as their get out of jail card. Roy probably was willing to take at least one of them just for an attacking dimension if needed, but something tells me he wants more solidity at the back for certain games and will opt for Jones instead.

Do kind of feel sorry for Richards though, if he doesn't get picked now he's never gonna get picked. tbh I think Johnson is getting in almost exclusively on the experience card, even though I don't really think there's much of a difference in ability between Johnson, Richards, and Walker.

So who do you think will be next Liverpool manager anyway? Lots of interesting names out there this summer. Emery, AVB (or is he heading to Roma?), Deshamps...

Guardiola's available, but it seems he wants a break and even if he didn't it's probably a pipe dream anyway.
 
I'd like to see Martinez get given a chance, although he will probably go to somwhere like Villa first.

I saw a mention of Rafa coming back...lol. AVB would be really interesting, but he would need to be given a lot of time to get the team back into shape.
 
Django Reinhart said:
I'd like to see Martinez get given a chance, although he will probably go to somwhere like Villa first.

I saw a mention of Rafa coming back...lol. AVB would be really interesting, but he would need to be given a lot of time to get the team back into shape.
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Martinez will probably end up like Hogson. He's made his living with making small clubs solid mid-table guys but then with a lot of money he flops. I personally don't want Martinez to end up like that because I think he's a good manager.

I'd like rafa to come back actually.

AVB, not sure. It'll either be a repeat of Chelsea or a legendary time for liverpool imo.

EDIT: Also, who do you want promoted to the prem, West Ham or Blackpool?

And who should be promoted to the Championship, Shefield Wedsnday or Huddersfield?
 
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