The England thread

[IAceI]

Give it to an U21/someone willing to sit on the bench and when Foster says hes back and wanting to play then cold shoulder him.

I'm not one of these chest beating fist pumping "ING-UR-LUND" people but I find taking a sabbatical from respresenting your country smacks of a little disrespect.

Like him or loathe him you at least know you're getting 100% effort and diving header blocks when John Terry pulls the strip on, and I can't fault him for that.

[Matt]

So in other words "I'm not available until Joe Hart gets injured"?

[Starvinho]

Fuck him, can't believe being second choice for England isn't good enough for him. He's basically saying Joe Hart is better than him and he can't be arsed competing, why not play your guts out every week and show Capello your #1? Bollocks to him, I'm glad we sold him now we don't need selfish attitude like that anywhere near our squad.

There's a few good goalies out there now so just give them their chance and I hope we never have to turn to him again.

[The Future]

"Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster makes himself unavailable for England duty for an indefinite period to help prolong his club career."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13361020.stm

Bullshit excuse if ever there was one. He's a goalkeeper and he's 28 years old. David James should kick him in the balls.

Probably just doesn't want to travel to sit on the bench behind Hart.

Yeah it became pretty apparent towards the end of his United run that Ben Foster was a knobhead, he's an alright keeper but I wouldn't trust him in a major tournament

[Liam]

Time for David Stockdale to get a regular squad place.

What!? I don't care if he doesn't get in the Fulham team

[Lineker]

Jay Spearing has been drafted into the 40-man provisional U21 squad, replacing the injured Mark Davies.

[therockbox]

Deserved for Spearing, he's been pretty much flawless since coming into the side, which was a surprise. Last season for Leicester, and before that in his cameos for us and appearances with the reserves, he barely looked like a Premier League player, let alone a key part of a team that is perhaps the most in form in the league.

It'll be interesting to see if he can continue playing like this though, although it would be useful if our academy could actually start producing players that can come in and perform, rather than us having to go out and spend a few million here and there on 'squad players' because our youth setup is absolutely useless. The changes made a couple of seasons ago seem to be working though, which should help us in the long run.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Why so much hate for Foster? So he wont play for England, who gives a shit? If that's what he wants, then that's up to him really. It's not selfish looking out for yourself sometimes and just focusing on your club football.

Foster could probably have the best possible season and he still wouldn't be number one over Hart, simple as. And there's no real problem with any of this either, because England finally have a keeper who looks pretty bloody great and is only going to get better. And of course will likely be the number one for quite some time.

Edited May 11, 2011 by JohnnyPerfect

[TCO]

It's insane that Spearing wasn't in that 40 man squad to begin with.

I understand Foster's reasoning. He could concieveably travel with the England team for the next 10 years and never play given the age of Hart who's the clear no.1. That's a lot of missed time with his family to go across the world for no reason. I know most of us would gladly sit on the bench for our country for any amount of time, but he's a professional footballer with a hectic schedule, he doesn't need it.

[stokeriño]

Personally, I'm only really bothered by the excuse. If he'd simply said "fuck the England team", I would have been impressed.

[Colly]

Exactly. I'm taking an indefinite break, I.e. Joe Hart can fly round Europe qualifying for the Euros and World Cup with someone else on the bench, but if he gets injured in 2014 give me a bell. How about no?

[Starvinho]

All this says to me is Foster is a second rate keeper. He may have talent on the field but he's obviously not tough mentally and insecure. Travelling around Europe and the World with England as a #2 is valuable experience, and if he had anything about him as a player he wouldn't give up so easy on getting the #1 spot. Joe Hart could go and have 3 or 4 shocking games for England in the next few months and Foster may have missed his chance.

And the bullshit excuse of resting his body, I'm sorry but he's only 28 and if he can't play a 40 game season and make a few England call-ups he obviously hasn't been looking after himself. Fuck knows how he's gonna manage next season if Birmingham have a lengthy European run, he'd probably have to retire after a 60 game season and thousands of miles of travel.

[Pesci]

And the bullshit excuse of resting his body, I'm sorry but he's only 28 and if he can't play a 40 game season and make a few England call-ups he obviously hasn't been looking after himself.

Oh, so if a player has trouble playing 40 games they should just say "ah well, should've looked after myself better" and continue to play excessive amounts of games as opposed to trying to help the issue.

Kind of surprised at the reactions to this. There's a chance he thinks he's too good to sit on the bench for Joe Hart (even though he did it for so many seasons at Man Utd and a lot of the time didn't even make the bench) but he's had a few niggling injuries over the last few years so I don't blame him for wanting to take it steady for a while, and Birmingham's qualification for the Europa League probably had an impact on his decision too - he could be looking at 50 games next season, give the guy a break. Playing for England shouldn't be seen as a duty.

[MDK]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13358827

Football bodies Fifa and Uefa have appealed against a European ruling that the World Cup and Euro Championships must be on free-to-air TV in the UK.

Bla bla bla etc

Poor FIFA and UEFA.

[Lineker]

ECJ normally do tend to oerturn things but in this instance I don't see FIFA having a leg to stand on.

[Starvinho]

Looks like Robert Green maybe following Ben Foster but going one step further and retiring altogether from international football.

[therockbox]

I would also like to announce my retirement from international football.

[Colly]

We're getting closer and closer to Steve Harper getting an England cap at this rate.

[Pesci]

I on the other hand will remain available in the vague hope enough people will retire for me to sit on the bench for Joe Hart, a lifelong dream of mine.

[Dynamite]

Panic over. David James says he's still available.