The England thread

[TMM]

King, while he will be a great player, seems to have dropped a level since his England match. He's suffering Michael Ricketts syndrome.

←

Are you joking?

King has been awesome this season, really awesome. And he more than merits a place in the England squad, if not starting 11. I like John Terry though, and so it's nice to see some competition in squad in centre defense and upfront.

My England Team for the friendly:

GK: Robinson

DR: Neville

DL: Cole

DC: King/Terry

DC: Ferdinand

MR: Wright-Phillips

ML: Downing/Osman (Who has been outstanding)

MC: Lampard

MC: Gerrard

FC: Owen/Defoe

FC: Rooney

Players like Carrick, Downing, Wright-Phillips, Defoe, King, Osman and Terry are really pushing for places with their form this season and last season in some cases. And for those who say that Terry lacks pace, remember that he is a huge part of the best defense (and arguably, this season, the best team) in the Premiership. His thinking game is so good that he doesn't need to be super-quick.

←

Don't get me wrong; King is a class act, but what I meant was after he played for England, his form dipped for a while. He's got himself back up again (which is annoying for me as a Gooner).

[evertonfan]

Why the need to play 4-4-2? If England do have such a lack of decent left sided players, why not switch to 3-5-2? Obvioulsy it won't happen, but it could, and possibly should. The team could be something like:

GK: Robinson

CB: Ferdinand

CB: Campbell

CB: Terry

RWB: Wright-Phillips

LWB: Ashley Cole

MF: Beckham

MF: Gerrard

MF: Lampard

CF: Rooney/Defoe/Owen, and combination of the 2.

This way, not only is the need for 2 left sided players gone, but Beckham gets to play in the middle where he is happiest, Wright-Phillips gets a game, and he has played at Right Back so he can defend, and we get to use 3 of the best centre backs in Europe.

[The Slickman]

The reason England wont win anything is because we continue to play 2 of the most over rated players in the world . Beckham , Lampard . why do we play them ? Surely its because of merchandising reasons , i respect Hoddle for not picking Beckham in 98' even if it was because of a clash of personalities .

Lampard is the most average player i have ever seen in my entire life . sure he can pass , but can he tackle ? what about his poor work rate ? . Anyone who has seen England players live at there ground i would love your opinion because at Spurs last week i saw Lampard and he was terrible despite scoring a penalty and a tap in . I Must admit i dont watch alot of lampard but when i have seen him hes been poor .

Beckham has been terrible for the last 5 years . He has no pace , variable crossing ability , variable corner & free kick ability and he plays where ? on the Damn Wing ! .

And you lot STOP KNOCKING SPURS ! .

King has been outstanding , Terry has been unbelieveable , Ferdinand has been solid but Campbell in some cases is a liability maybe because hes playing alot of games for the Arsenal

[TMM]

Lampard has been the best midfielder in England (except for Gerrard and Pires) for the past year or two. His workrate is second-to-none if you ask me.

Beckham needs to be dropped, but Lampard and Gerrard togerher in the centre of the park would be awesome.

[Liam]

Honestly, anyone who thinks Lampard is a poor player, knows fuck all about football.

And no-one knocked Spurs as far as I saw, apart from me.

[supergrass]

Lampard is the most average player i have ever seen in my entire life . sure he can pass , but can he tackle ? what about his poor work rate ? . Anyone who has seen England players live at there ground i would love your opinion because at Spurs last week i saw Lampard and he was terrible despite scoring a penalty and a tap in . I Must admit i dont watch alot of lampard but when i have seen him hes been poor .

←

[The Slickman]

Every time ive seen Lampard , hes woosed out of tackles and his lack of work rate is poor , Gerrard and Butt in the centre of midfield , winning the ball and spraying it out wide and letting wright phillips and joe cole on the wings going past people .

Without a definsive midfielder chelsea would be fucked because Lampards inability to tackle and put in any effort in his own half

And to say i know nothing about football because we disagree on a player that i feel is very over rated is absolute bollocks .

Edited January 20, 2005 by The Slickman

[Liam]

And to say i know nothing about football because we disagree on a player that i feel is very over rated is absolute bollocks .

←

So the fact that he (as many other have said, and people in the business) has been rightfully recognised as one of the best (and most improved players) in the Premiership over the past two years, is because he is obviously lacking work rate or the ability to tackle?

He gets stuck in, he works his arse off, his distribution is excellent, and he scores goals. There wouldn't be the hype about him if he's as bad as you say he is. Just watch him week in and week out, and he makes your comments look very poor.

And before you think I'm biased, I'm a Fulham fan, and hated Lampard for years at West Ham.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Screw the Beckham hate.

Still to this day I rate him as one of the best. People have turned against him so much over the years. I back the guy the entire way and hope he keeps his place in the team, he's one of the reasons I actually like the England team. If it was me picking the team it'd go a little like this:

GK - James

DF - Neville

DF - Cambell

DF - Ferdinand

DF - Cole

MF - Beckham

MF - Gerrard

MF - Butt

MF - Wright-Phillips

CF - Owen

CF - Rooney

I know Butt is injured now so yeah he shouldn't be there for now. Without the injury though I think he's a fabulous player. Someone who's not scared to get stuck in and he wins tackles galore. He would be brilliant in the center alongside Gerrard. I was thinking about Defoe up front but I suppose he could stay on the bench for now. On paper England can win stuff, they just don't seem to do it when they get onto the pitch though.

[G-O-D]

Lampard has played like every match for Chelsea for the past season, and according to Opta, he has the most passes in the Premiership.

And Beckham has been bad when he played in the middle for Madrid. So I think his best position is still on the wing. On current form, Beckham should be benched, while SWP should start.

As for the centre backs, any 2 out of Terry, Campbell and Ferdinand will make a solid defence, so it doesn't really matter.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Beckham has been terrible for the last 5 years . He has no pace , variable crossing ability , variable corner & free kick ability and he plays where ? on the Damn Wing ! .

[Malenko]

Beckham has been terrible for the last 5 years . He has no pace , variable crossing ability , variable corner & free kick ability and he plays where ? on the Damn Wing ! .

I'd debate the 5 years thing. I'd say the last year or so he's not been his best.

I still rate Beckham, but it is time to give SWP a chance.

And Lampard is one of the best midfielders in the prem, and has been playing at a high level of quality for the best part of two years. You can't expect him to play astonishingly well every game, ever occured to you that the Tottenham game was the one game in ten that Lampard doesn't play well in - and he still scored twice. Lampard is consistently one of the Prem's best midfield players. And lets not forget his recent goal scoring record for England.

I Agree with this, Dutch game: SWP-----Lampard-----Gerrard-----Downing (maybe Downing, but I cant think of anyone else, so yeah, him)

←

[Liam]

Yeah, I'd agree with the two years thing, but as you pointed out, it's not as if he's been absolute rubbish. He just hasn't been playing to the standard that we expected of him.

[lanky316]

Beckham, to me, has never been as good as his reputation and the media make him out to be. The thing that I used to go by with him was that he was always determined to play hard. Tragically the galactico laziness thing seems to have rubbed off on him...

My ideal starting lineup

GK Robinson

DL Cole

DR Neville G

DC King

DC Terry

The two tightest defenses in the country really should make up the backbone of an international side, that would be common sense to me.

ML Osman - I agree with the person who said he's been class. Far more influential and creative then Rooney ever has been.

MC Gerrard

MC Lampard

MR SWP

SC Defoe

SC Johnson

The two highest English scorers in the premiership has to count for something, Owen luckily has started to hit form as an alternative for either.

Captain - A tough one, giving the most likely negative tactics from Sven I would say King or Terry for the reason I picked them in the first place. Alternatively gerrard, he#s done for Liverpool this year what Gazza and the git off MOTD did for us in '91

[Liam]

I like Johnson, and he should get a go in a friendly, but I'm not sure if I can see him being a long term solution. I'd play Owen and Defoe, porbably.

[lanky316]

That was the likely reason for picking him. Look at players in the past *cough*Letissier*cough* who was never really given a chance. If Sven wants to mess about in friendlies at least look at the form players who may have a place if not immediately as a starter at least the squad.

[R.W.]

Give Andy Todd a chance in defence.

I see no reason to keep Lampard or Terry out of the team, they've both been outstanding this year. Play Terry with Ferdinand, and keep Lampard & Gerrard in the middle, and it's a pretty solid spine to the team/.

[botchedpiledriver]

That was the likely reason for picking him.  Look at players in the past *cough*Letissier*cough* who was never really given a chance.  If Sven wants to mess about in friendlies at least look at the form players who may have a place if not immediately as a starter at least the squad.

←

[lanky316]

That was the likely reason for picking him.  Look at players in the past *cough*Letissier*cough* who was never really given a chance.  If Sven wants to mess about in friendlies at least look at the form players who may have a place if not immediately as a starter at least the squad.

←

Le Tissier had a few chances at international level, and he wasn't good enough. Just because your good at club level, doesn't mean your going to be good at international level.

←

[The Slickman]

Didnt Le Tiss just fail to turn up for an England training session once ?

England had a great chance to win the World Cup in 1998 But it was Hoddles lack of nuts to let Gazza just run wild on any defence in the world which didnt give us a chance , not mentioning Mr David "That Argy pushed me first" Beckham