The Next England Squad

This is a travesty.

Whilst you can't rely on what the papers say there was talk that John Terry had described the situation with the captaincy v Denmark as "taking the piss".

What is the point of disciplining someone ?

If you took your kid's Nintendo DS away due to bad behaviour and a couple of days later he comes up to you and says "ok dad, you're taking the piss now I want it back" then you'd be inclined to think that your original disclipinary action hadn't worked and you'd give him the slipper.

"Taking the piss" is when someone else is named captain and you deliberately undermine them by organising a players meeting without consulting them 1st because your personal ambitions and desire to be the one who has a piece of cloth round their bicep is more important to you than the national team you represent.

I'm not one to get all Daily Mail and moan about players wages because they generate so much money for their clubs but it can create an enviroment where they feel untouchable.

SAF is known for the hairdryer but who honestly thinks he has any real control over Wayne Rooney ?

Sven didn't achieve what he has by not knowing football - do you honestly think he believed that 2 attacking midfielders could make a successful cental midfield at Euro '04 ?

More like he was scared to drop players of that stature because he would get crucified by their mates/biographers/journalists if he dropped a "world class player who scores 20 goals a season from central midfield"

And now this - it makes a mockery of his "Don Fabio" reputation and managers like him are finished - to be replaced by Mourinho's who are mates with the players and will always back them in public whatever they do.

Understandable to some degree that managers find it difficult to deal with this but what's the point of paying someone £5m to make big decisions if they are going to bottle it?

Never mind the fact that Wayne Rooney wasn't dropped after the Algeria game until he issued a public apology to the fans he insulted.

To be fair, I never understood why forcing Wayne Bridge into international retirement merited such discipline. They should be giving out knighthoods for things like this.

Goalkeepers: Foster (Birmingham), Green (West Ham), Hart (Manchester City)

Defenders: Baines (Everton), Cahill (Bolton), A Cole (Chelsea), Dawson (Tottenham), Jagielka (Everton), Johnson (Liverpool), Lescott (Manchester City), Terry (Chelsea, captain), Walker (Tottenham - on loan at Aston Villa)

Midfielders: Barry (Manchester City), Downing (Aston Villa), Jarvis (Wolves), Lampard (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham), Milner (Manchester City), Parker (West Ham), Young (Aston Villa), Wilshere (Arsenal)

Forwards: Bent (Aston Villa), Carroll (Liverpool), Crouch (Tottenham), Defoe (Tottenham), Rooney (Manchester United).


Jarvis the only surprise.

Thank god for picking in form players. Look at all those in form strikers.

Has Albrighton still been playing well? Thought he might eventually get a look.

Albrighton's great, but not really got the consistency yet. Not sure he's quite ready..

just stumbled upon this little pix

ah

memories

Otto, this one's for you:

the day you see the (future) Mayor of Berlin put an ageing English Footballer on his arse in a friendly game is the day you can really cheer the return of the Teuton Male. Andrea Merkel's oestrogen continues to seep directly into the German water supply - I hope you're wearing your scarf

yeah

Boris de Pfeffel is a LEGEND



the next possible Mayor of Berlin is this AWFUL lady





one of her proposals is to introduce a 30 km/h tempo-limit on ALL Berlin roads



millions of Berliner are wondering why Knut had to die and SHE is going from strength to strength

-----------

as for the Müller vs Terry and Co picture

the mind boggles

tell me , bernd

why are the English HEROES jogging

and

in the WRONG direction

for that ?!

Ä wrote:

yeah

Boris de Pfeffel is a LEGEND



the next possible Mayor of Berlin is this AWFUL lady





one of her proposals is to introduce a 30 km/h tempo-limit on ALL Berlin roads



millions of Berliner are wondering why Knut had to die and SHE is going from strength to strength

-----------

as for the Müller vs Terry and Co picture

the mind boggles

tell me , bernd

why are the English HEROES jogging

and

in the WRONG direction

for that ?!

Berlin is doomed.

Regarding your photo - you'll struggle to find anyone deeming that 2010 World Cup load of garbage as HEROES mein freund. I know it's fun to stir the pot, but on this one you won't find much in the way of resistance.

Saying all that, Germany were still fortunate to have gone into the interval ahead, so that game says as much about the brittle nature of that German side as it does about the English team. You've still a way to go until you end your own trophy drought me thinks

Noah and the Bale wrote:Otto, this one's for you:

the day you see the (future) Mayor of Berlin put an ageing English Footballer on his arse in a friendly game is the day you can really cheer the return of the Teuton Male. Andrea Merkel's oestrogen continues to seep directly into the German water supply - I hope you're wearing your scarf

Genuine 'lol' moment that is. Love it.

Noah and the Bale wrote:. You've still a way to go until you end your own trophy drought me thinks

for 2012 and 2014 we only have an outside chance

2016 we WILL win though

probably, with Klopp or Tuchel in charge

Ä wrote:

yeah

Boris de Pfeffel is a LEGEND



the next possible Mayor of Berlin is this AWFUL lady





one of her proposals is to introduce a 30 km/h tempo-limit on ALL Berlin roads



millions of Berliner are wondering why Knut had to die and SHE is going from strength to strength

-----------

as for the Müller vs Terry and Co picture

the mind boggles

tell me , bernd

why are the English HEROES jogging

and

in the WRONG direction

for that ?!

Hmmmm

An ugly, short haired woman - she is either a lesbian, a green, a communist or a combination of the 3.

Which is it?

All 3. Is there a difference?

Bale almost certainly out. Massive blow for Wales.

Shirley we can't lose to a Bale-less Wales?! Can we?!

In honour of our Welsh friends:

A man approaches two women with strange accents talking in a bar.

"Couldn't help but overhear your conversation. You ladies from Scotland?" he says

"Wales, you idiot" snaps back one of them

"Oh, sorry, you whales from Scotland?" retorts the man.

In other news,

Despite the refusal of the Welsh,Scottish and Norniron FA's to get involved in the British Olympic team (despite having had surefire assurances from FIFA that their independent statuses would not be affected),

it seems a number of players don't agree, particularly Bale and Ramsey, who are - if the rumours are to be believed - desperate to play at the Olympics.

Apparently, the Celtic FA's can do nothing if the English FA (coordinating the Olympic team) approach these players and they say yes. Of course, this would probably cause a lot of deep fried mars bars to be spit out in outrage, but equally - is it fair on these players that politics should get in the way of them taking part in an Olympics?

In my opinion, the Celtic FA's are less bothered about the "independence" issue (as if FIFA are going to honestly endanger their seperate identities over a one-off Olympic team), and more resistant to the idea of appearing to collude with and play second fiddle to the 'orrible English and lose support from the fiercely tribal and dimwitted mass that constitute the majority of football fans.

For the likes of Bale and Ramsey, it may be their only chance to play in a truly global international footballing competition. That's not patronising, it's the blunt truth. I say let them play

Noah and the Bale wrote:

In my opinion, the Celtic FA's are less bothered about the "independence" issue (as if FIFA are going to honestly endanger their seperate identities over a one-off Olympic team), and more resistant to the idea of appearing to collude with and play second fiddle to the 'orrible English and lose support from the fiercely tribal and dimwitted mass that constitute the majority of football fans.

You've hit the nail on the head there.

Gutted that Bale is out.

It was easy to see this game as England v Bellamy & Bale but when you look at Wales' team/squad they have good keepers, Collins is very good, Ashley Williams is the best CB outside the Prem, Ramsay has great potential and Vaughan is good too - that said Bale's absence is a huge blow.

Playing Montenegro and Wales without Vucinic and Bale isn't the same - you want to be up against their best.

Yeah Wales don't have a bad crop these days. They could do with a good striker or two coming through, mind. Bellamy's coming towards the end of his career, and Earnshaw is pretty limited. They got a few young'ns in the squad - Ched Evans, Simon Church, Sam Vokes and the unlikely-named Hal Robson-Kanu(!) - but I don't know if any of them any good? Only one I remember seeing is Evans a bit for City.

Seems the lineup is:

Hart
Johnson-Terry-Dawson-Cole
Parker-Wilshere
Young-Lampard-Rooney
Bent

Subs: Green, Jagielka, Lescott, Milner, Downing, Defoe, Carroll.

Not exactly sure who'll be where in the front six, probably Rooney and Young will be floating about a bit.

Good to see Parker start, and Bent & Young both did well enough in last friendly to earn a spot (even if club form not great )

Surprised Lennon doesn't even make bench.

Is he injured? If not its slightly outrageous that he isnt on the bench..especially as Milner is there and he's been no great shakes.

Dunno. Capello seems not to rate Lennon that highly - he wasn't even in the squad for a while before this..

Yeah. Shit manager really.

Why isn't Gary Cahill in the squad? Is Dawson really better than him? I rate Jagielka above Dawson.

I'm sorry but Downing isn't good enough to get into a squad when we have the likes of Adam Johnson, Walcott and Lennon.

Johnson hasnt been back fit for long enough. I assume Walcott is also injured..and both him and Lennon arent left wingers. You've failed here Luis. Downing has had a pretty good season.

Joe Harts face always makes me laugh.

Good singer.

If they actually line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and not with something silly like Lampard out wide, then I think that eleven looks relatively good. I'm not Parker's biggest fan because I don't think he uses the ball particularly well sometimes, but the idea of a central three comprising him, Wilshere and Lampard seems like such an improvement over a 4-4-2 comprising two from Lampard, Barry and Gerrard. Generally the England team looks and feels better to me when Gerrard is not involved. I hope Carroll comes on for Bent at some point; otherwise I would have liked Jarvis on the bench ahead of Milner or Downing.

A brawl between Bellamy and Rooney would make this match.

Last time John Terry played here he got kicked in the head...

They say lightning doesnt strike twice, but here's hoping

if anyone knows where I can find a stream to watch this game online please post it here

Penalty after a shocking touch from Young, but then he got fouled.