England Team Thread

[johnno15]

Hesky is proven to be the perfect fold for Owen its a good choice.

[Oh_Mutants]

Sorry but has the world gone mad, everyone keeps talking about lack of English strikers to pick from...

Andy Johnson
Darren Bent
Jermaine Defoe
Leroy Lita
Kevin Davies
Alan Smith

Even players like Joe Cole and Kevin Nolan have played as strikers before!

...but we recall Heskey?

I'm no big Heskey fan, but on current form, and considering England are looking for a centre forward to hold the ball up (to fill in for Rooney, Crouch etc) i think Heskey is worth his recall. Owen will no doubt play the role of the pacey, alert striker working the channels etc... England needs a player like Heskey in the squad as another option. Most of the players you mention are very similar to Owen in style; Johnson, Bent, Lita. Smith is an option, but hasn't played consistently as a striker for some time, and you're off your rocker if you think Kevin Davies is a better bet for England than Heskey right now.

[Jebus]

I'd pick Kevin Davies over Heskey ANY day of the week, any time of day, sorry. That's not biased, that's the fact that I've never seen any other player in the league give as much he does on a constant consistent basis, the bloke finished a match with a broken nose, he's started games with a broken foot. He's the absolute antitode to the modern nancy boy footballer and EXACTLY what the England team needs.

But then, he plays for Bolton so he'd never even get called up, despite being one of the most consistent performers in the country...he may not score as many goals as Anelka, Owen (1) etc but every team should have a Davies.

You yourself even stated we need someone to hold the ball up for Owen, there's no better player at that than Davies, even Henry said he wishes he was as good at it as Davies.

With a striker like Owen already in the team I personally think you'd be mad to pick Heskey over Davies in any team, because Davies gives you everything you want, an old fashioned centre forward who will also track back and clear the ball off the line, only to be back up front to win the header or knock it on to the goalscorer he's playing up front with.

For the record I'd pick any of the players I mentioned over Heskey up front, all except Nolan and Joe Cole.

[Oh_Mutants]

Ahhh, forgot you were a Bolton supporter, that's all you needed to say...

[Oh_Mutants]

I'd pick Kevin Davies over Heskey ANY day of the week, any time of day, sorry. That's not biased, that's the fact that I've never seen any other player in the league give as much he does on a constant consistent basis, the bloke finished a match with a broken nose, he's started games with a broken foot. He's the absolute antitode to the modern nancy boy footballer and EXACTLY what the England team needs.

That's ridiculous too, sorry. England doesn't need a someone who can finish a match with a broken nose or a sore big toe ffs, we need someone with a bit of quality. Heskey isn't exactly Alan Shearer, but he has a hell of a lot more about his game than Kevin Davies. A bit of pace and experience playing at the top level and partnering Michael Owen for starters. You mention that owen has only scored one goal this season, but what exactly has Kevin Davies done? I'd pick a half fit Dean Ashton over him any day of the week.

[Jebus]

Ahhh, forgot you were a Bolton supporter, that's all you needed to say...

You've just embarassed yourself to be honest.

[Oh_Mutants]

You've just embarassed yourself to be honest.

How? Are you saying that being a supporter of the club the player you're championing plays for doesn't suggest you might just be a little biased in your opinion. I think you're the one who's embarassed yourself spouting nonsense like 'he'll never get picked cos he plays for Bolton' He won't get picked cos he's not good enough, no big conspiracy against Bolton Wanderers
I'll leave it here anyway, not about to get into an argument with you.

[Jebus]

Despite the fact I said that Nolan wasn't good enough (the Nolan that was championed by many people who WEREN'T Bolton fans for a callup) and put forward a player nobody else has in Davies.

I'm championing Davies because he is a proper hardworking professional who gives every defender in the league trouble, there's a reason opposition teams often double mark him, because he wins so many flick on's for his team. If you want someone to win knock ons for players to get on the end of, there's not many better and Heskey most certainly isn't.

Nice use of the word fanboy by the way, because you know me so well after all. I'm not someone who blindly follows my team, I'm not someone who can't find fault in a player. But then you'd know that, having spoken to me in depth on the subject before spouting such ridiculous and unfounded phrases at me.

Anyway, you've made your feelings clear on the subject and I think I've done the same.

[Oh_Mutants]

I didn't, and am not calling you a fanboy. I said that saying a player wouldn't get picked cos he plays for a certain club you support is the sort of nonsense a fanboy type would say. Have edited it now anyway, let's not let this thread get derailed into a silly bicker

[Jebus]

Fair play, I don't think there's a conspiracy, but if you can give me a reason why when Nolan actually WAS playing well and was racking up the goals (overhead kicks, cheeky chips, headers, volleys, long shots) and assists that he didn't even get a call up for a friendly? He's ****e at the moment but back then he deserved at least 45 in a friendly!

Likewise if you can tell me that McLaren stuck with Downing despite most people thinking he lacked the quality for a full England international because of anything other than him previously being the Boro manager.

It's not a conspiracy but we're an unfashionable club, despite having 2 (well one now Nolan's gone ****) quality English players that deserve a friendly callup, at least then they can be written off and the manager can say he explored every avenue.

Everyone is complaining about strikers yet the manager doesn't even try Defoe, Johnson, Bent, Davies, Ashton, Lita in a friendly...so what's the point in even having them? We know Gerrard is first choice, we know Lampard is first choice, we know Robinson is first choice...give some other English lads a go!

Yet again it shows the lack of ambition and the lack of a plan by the English team. We have more quality than our manager shows, there are plenty of bloody good English players who would give their left bollock for a chance. We've all moaned at the lack of interest show in the England players, give someone like Davies a chance and I can guarantee you that would change. With players like him (also Gerrard, Hargreaves etc) in the team we suddenly look a far more passionate team. Mind you, I've always thought McLaren was ****.

The best English teams have always been TEAMS, not individuals. For years now England managers have picked the best English players and they've failed, over and over again. Pick the players who work best as a team and we'll be better, that means picking players like Davies, Hargreaves, Micah Richards (even when Neville is fit) because whilst they may not be the most recognisable british stars, they'd make a formidable TEAM.

Lampard and Gerrard are no doubt a fantastic pair of players, but they CANNOT play together, this is a PERFECT example of how we are not a TEAM. Pick one, play Hargreaves next to him, job done. As I say though, we need a team and not individuals.

[Oh_Mutants]

Fair play, I don't think there's a conspiracy, but if you can give me a reason why when Nolan actually WAS playing well and was racking in the goals (overhead kicks, cheeky chips, headers, volleys, long shots) that he didn't even get a call up for a friendly? He's ****e at the moment but back then he deserved at least 45 in a friendly!

Now that's something i can 100% agree with you on, Nolan looked a hell of a player a season or two back (courting a lot of interest from Sir Alex Ferguson amomngst others, reportedly) and i have no idea why he didn't get a call up, i seem to remember he was putting in Gerrard-esque performances at the time. Really don't think it was anything to do with the fact he was playing at Bolton though, although i can see the argument that if he had been at Utd or Chelsea say, doing it week in week out there would have been a greater calling amongst fans and journos for him to get picked.

[Jebus]

As I say, I'm not calling conspiracy but there's no other reason. If he'd been a Utd player (and you're right about Fergie being interested at one point, turned up at quite a few matches apparently scouting him) he would have gotten a call up.

Not so much a "don't pick a Bolton player" thing as a "yet another ****ing gutless England manager" thing. The press and pundits WERE saying he should get a call, any time the England team was mentioned in the papers he was too, he was interviewed about 20 times about it too!

That season he was joint top scorer and in outrageous form all season, I actually think it's affected him in a bad way now as well because he's not been the same player since. I really don't know what more he could have done to get a chance...

He's gone from a classy box to box goalscoring midfielder to a bag of ****e who's the missing link in our midfield now. Did you see his miss against Everton? That was absolutely cringeworthy and the Nobby of a few seasons ago would have put that in the net so hard it'd have burst the ****er.

[ezee ryder]

These next two qualifiers are MUST wins (and I'm going to the Russia game *nervous*). If we don't get 6 points then we can pretty much say "bye bye" to automatic qualification. We all know Rooney is out but am I right in thinking that Gerrard and Lampard (more worried about Gerrard) are out too?! If that is the case then I think there will be a central midfield pairing of Carrick and Hargreaves which would be interesting to see. From looking at the squad, I can see this being the starting 11 for the two games.

GK - James
RB - Richards
CB - Terry
CB - Rio
LB - A Cole
RM - Wright-Phillips
CM - Hargeaves
CM - Carrick
LM - Joe Cole
ST - Owen
ST - Heskey?

[saif]

Of course players get picked cos of the clubs they play for or have played for.
Let's see the connection between these players that have always been liabilities for England yet had multiple caps in recent years:
K Richardson; P Neville; A Smith; W Brown; A Cole

You think Theo Walcott would get a call up if he was at a smaller club? Notice how Crouch scotred planty at other clubs but only became a squaddie post Liverpool? Nolan would have had chances at another club. Same wityth Joey Barton and countless strikers.

[Jebus]

Joey Barton was on form at the same time as Nolan and got no callup...If I recall, so was Michael Brown (Fulham), Reo-Coker (West Ham) and Scott Parker (Toon), who got about 45 minutes and hasn't played again since. None of them hit the form Nolan did but they all deserved a chance in a friendly.

I don't blame Carragher for what he did, you should always want to play for your country but I can really empathise with his situation. He's a fantastic defender who doesn't even get picked for friendlies. The point of friendlies should be to test out players like Carragher, Nolan, Parker, etc...not just to play a team we already know will be first choice.

Agree though Ezee, these are must wins. Are we confident we'll win them both? I think 4 points is the BEST we'll do.

Gerrard is a maybe at the moment, Benitez can't stop him and basically it's up to Gerrard himself, and we all know that if he can play, he will. Personally I think he'll be in the starting eleven with a painkilling injection.