The Next England Squad

Connor Wickham

Fucking terrible decision to take him to the WC ahead of Bent. The delusion of some people on here before the WC kicked off was embarassing to say the least.

Of all the people you might have suggested to take instead (Adam Johnson? Theo Walcott? Ashley Young? Gabriel Agbonlahor?) you suggest Darren Bent would be the best candidate to have made a positive difference?

Darren fucking Bent?!??!

Jesus.

Allez les rouges wrote:Of all the people you might have suggested to take instead (Adam Johnson? Theo Walcott? Ashley Young? Gabriel Agbonlahor?) you suggest Darren Bent would be the best candidate to have made a positive difference?

Darren fucking Bent?!??!

Jesus.

24 league goals last season ffs, and he still hasn't been given a fair go in the national team. Against Germany we had Heskey come off the bench when we need goals. What the fuck? What the FUCK?

Allez les rouges wrote:Of all the people you might have suggested to take instead (Adam Johnson? Theo Walcott? Ashley Young? Gabriel Agbonlahor?) you suggest Darren Bent would be the best candidate to have made a positive difference?

Darren fucking Bent?!??!

Jesus.

Look, I don't give a shit about silly agendas on this board. They don't mean anything to me. I look at a player and see what he's done over the season and Bent scored around 20 league goals, that's more than good enough for me.

Heskey did absolutely nothing to convince me he should have gone. He was shit, he is shit and he always will be shit but if Rooney likes to play with him then I guess that's all people on here needed to hear.

Still say Heskey did a decent job shame for him Rooney didn't turn up. Heskey is not good enough to score the goals also we knew that but he was perfect for Rooney if Rooney is in form which he wasnt. Not like Bent woulda made a difference. Just like Defoe didn't really. Our midfield was main issue. Crouch mighta been useful.

Yeah Defoe didn't make a difference did he, he was only the reason we qualified from our fucking group.

L r dd wrote:Still say Heskey did a decent job shame for him Rooney didn't turn up. Heskey is not good enough to score the goals also we knew that but he was perfect for Rooney if Rooney is in form which he wasnt. Not like Bent woulda made a difference. Just like Defoe didn't really. Our midfield was main issue. Crouch mighta been useful.

So you would like to see Heskey stick around for the euro qualifiers?

Kimbo wrote:

L r dd wrote:Still say Heskey did a decent job shame for him Rooney didn't turn up. Heskey is not good enough to score the goals also we knew that but he was perfect for Rooney if Rooney is in form which he wasnt. Not like Bent woulda made a difference. Just like Defoe didn't really. Our midfield was main issue. Crouch mighta been useful.

So you would like to see Heskey stick around for the euro qualifiers?

I wont be writing to Heskey asking him to rethink his decision no.

I have the same view on Heskey, just don't think Bent is remotely an international class footballer. Probably true that he hasn't been given enough of a chance, but maybe (surely, in fact) you need a less conservative manager. Crouch deserved a better chance, I think the players I mentioned would have been a better bet but each to their own...

Allez les rouges wrote:I have the same view on Heskey, just don't think Bent is remotely an international class footballer. Probably true that he hasn't been given enough of a chance, but maybe (surely, in fact) you need a less conservative manager. Crouch deserved a better chance, I think the players I mentioned would have been a better bet but each to their own...

Why would Agbonlahor be a better fit for International football than Bent? I really don't get that.

It's incredible that Defoe gets a free pass for doing nothing but score goals, while scoring less than Bent, but Bent is seen as a joke and Defoe isn't.

Bit simplistic. Defoe is a better team player a team doesn't have to be set up to suit him and he can make his own goals. But Defoe showed Heskey was not the issue or problem. Against Germany what did Defoe do really? Bit silly of Luis to come out with his Bent bandwagon and Heskey bashing due to the world cup just gone. Bent would have been useless and Heskey was ok.

L r dd wrote:Bit simplistic. Defoe is a better team player a team doesn't have to be set up to suit him and he can make his own goals. But Defoe showed Heskey was not the issue or problem. Against Germany what did Defoe do really? Bit silly of Luis to come out with his Bent bandwagon and Heskey bashing due to the world cup just gone. Bent would have been useless and Heskey was ok.

Bent's an example. I'd also have Zamora, C.Cole and Agbonlahor over Heskey.

I just find it amazing how a player who scores 24 league goals is rubbished for no apparant reason while Heskey is seen as some sort of charity case who 'is good for the team'. Is he? I haven't seen much evidence of this.

Luis going over old ground. But if you watched the qualifiers i don't get how you'd be coming out with this stuff. Yes he was good for the team. Rooney didn't show up and Heskey was there to benefit him so without him performing Heskey hasnt got much of a use. Bent is a good EPL goalscorer he's an average footballer and not talented enough for international football nor could he do the role Heskey could which benefits others.

Agbonlahor was unlucky not to make it.

Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

Forgot Zamora and Cole, they'd obviously be much better options.

Agbonlahor over Bent? I dunno, guess I'm biased, as an Arsenal fan I reflexively think of who hurts us more. Agbonlahor's pace can hurt any team and think he's more useful as a team player, Bent might not have had the chance he deserves at international level but he offers little other than goals, I'm not scared of him and don't think he would cut it at that level. A not-so-good Stefan Kießling (not even a great example as the latter's not really an out-and-out-goalscorer like Bent), who with good reason was the sixth German striker at this World Cup.

L r dd wrote:Bit simplistic. Defoe is a better team player a team doesn't have to be set up to suit him and he can make his own goals. But Defoe showed Heskey was not the issue or problem. Against Germany what did Defoe do really? Bit silly of Luis to come out with his Bent bandwagon and Heskey bashing due to the world cup just gone. Bent would have been useless and Heskey was ok.

Defoe doesn't contribute to the team at all, he is a poacher.

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

He plays for a better club team; he is better at holding up the ball; is faster, stronger; has tendency to score against big clubs in the league; will be playing in Europe this season; has looked good in the small chances he has had for England; is younger; is more versatile and has a cooler name

debaser wrote:

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

He plays for a better club team; he is better at holding up the ball; is faster, stronger; has tendency to score against big clubs in the league; will be playing in Europe this season; has looked good in the small chances he has had for England; is younger; is more versatile and has a cooler name

Are you another person that thinks we should only pick players from the top 7 clubs?

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

Well watch Bent's two England games. Then watch Agbonlahor v Germany.

Agbonlahor is a great team player i think. Bent like i said is a goalscorer at a certain level i don't see what other use he has. An England team will never be built around Bent so i see no possibility of him flourishing for England. Playing him would be a waste of time.

Kimbo wrote:

debaser wrote:

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

He plays for a better club team; he is better at holding up the ball; is faster, stronger; has tendency to score against big clubs in the league; will be playing in Europe this season; has looked good in the small chances he has had for England; is younger; is more versatile and has a cooler name

Are you another person that thinks we should only pick players from the top 7 clubs?

Why not take issue with what he says rather than imputing a "billy big bollocks" attitude that he clearly doesn't have?

Kimbo wrote:

debaser wrote:

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

He plays for a better club team; he is better at holding up the ball; is faster, stronger; has tendency to score against big clubs in the league; will be playing in Europe this season; has looked good in the small chances he has had for England; is younger; is more versatile and has a cooler name

Are you another person that thinks we should only pick players from the top 7 clubs?

Nah. That was just a cheap pro-Villa point

However it could be argued that playing alongside other potential England players at club level is in Agbonlahor's favour.

Allez les rouges wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

debaser wrote:

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

He plays for a better club team; he is better at holding up the ball; is faster, stronger; has tendency to score against big clubs in the league; will be playing in Europe this season; has looked good in the small chances he has had for England; is younger; is more versatile and has a cooler name

Are you another person that thinks we should only pick players from the top 7 clubs?

Why not take issue with what he says rather than imputing a "billy big bollocks" attitude that he clearly doesn't have?

I have taken issue with something he has said. There is alot of snobbery among English fans towards players in the bottom half. Friedrich started for Germany despite finishing rock bottom last season, most English fans would vomit at the thought of that.

Well, Upson played. Look what happened.


(agree with your general point though).

Allez les rouges wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

debaser wrote:

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

He plays for a better club team; he is better at holding up the ball; is faster, stronger; has tendency to score against big clubs in the league; will be playing in Europe this season; has looked good in the small chances he has had for England; is younger; is more versatile and has a cooler name

Are you another person that thinks we should only pick players from the top 7 clubs?

Why not take issue with what he says rather than imputing a "billy big bollocks" attitude that he clearly doesn't have?

Defoe is a much better footballer than Bent. I've seen both in a Spurs shirt, I know who I'd rather have.

If Spurs management had done everything Kimbo has suggested over the last few years we'd be in League 1 by now.

We need to get rid of these 4-4-2 strikers and have someone who can play up front by themself.

Luis wrote:Explain to me without being a deluded idiot how Agbonlahor would be a better Internaional footballer than Bent.

*Copied from a post I made on Spurs forum months ago about exactly this*

For me the difference is a purely mental one.

Bent is as fast as Gabby, he's as strong as Gabby, they're both average (some would say poor) technically, he's as good in the air as (possibly better) than Gabby, & Bent is the better finisher without a doubt.

On these attributes alone Bent is definitely not inferior. Then you add brains into it. Gabby is smarter, works harder and seems more alert off the ball. He'll run the channels willingly, he'll not just make runs, he'll make intelligent runs. He does his best to create for others etc. etc. All the little things that don't appear in the stat book, he does better than Bent. And I say this as someone who thought he was a joke when he 1st came on the scene.

That's was the thing that infuriated me the most about Bent when he was at Spurs - it's not that he couldn't do those little things, he just wouldn't. Plus he's soooo one-dimensional, he only really thrives when he is the focal point of an attack, so most chances fall to him by nature.

Plus Bent failed at a top 8 Club/Uefa Cup level, Gabby didn't.

Six wrote:We need to get rid of these 4-4-2 strikers and have someone who can play up front by themself.

Romford Pele wrote:

Six wrote:We need to get rid of these 4-4-2 strikers and have someone who can play up front by themself.

The problem is that every fucking schoolboy and youth team does play 4-4-2.