England vs. Moldova & Ukraine: lineups and predictions?

[Finnegan]

Sturridge really does need to stop warming the bench at Liverpool.

[Uncle Albert]

That is a shocking eleven, that wouldnt even qualify for a major tournament, let alone represent you in one.

The future of English Football in my eyes doesn't look bad in my eyes. When we had just Gerrard and Lampard as our own quality midfielders we were looking to people like Huddlestone, Carrick and others to be the future after them and we had to go to players like Barry and Parker, they're good players but were Parker and Barry real world class international players? I think not.

Now after Gerrard and Lampard, we have Wilshire, a deeper Wayne Rooney, few years time Will Hughes and Chalobah, Livermore, Rodwell if he can get himself 100% and out of Man City, Henderson is slowly progressing, don't think he will ever be international class mind.

Width wise, we currently have Walcott, years time we do seem to have real prospects for once, ones who are more exciting than when we were told Lennon, Johnson, Milner and Ashley Young were our saviours.. Zaha, Sterling, Redmond, Ibe and Townsend. I wouldn't put Scott Sinclair at that level.

Striker wise I think we will struggle in the future, Rooney, Sturridge and Welbeck to lead in England in the coming years, that's not enough. Along with the defence, Smalling and Jones will be the future pairing in the middle you would think, can Wisdom, Keane make the international level? Time will tell. Full backs we seem ok, Walker, Naughton and Clyne and left back? Shaw seems to be the future, again that's it though at left back.

[Guest MattP]

The point is Matt that we really do not know how good some of those players would be if they were playing regularly.

 

They are not, so you a right but think how good the more experienced players, i'm thinking Lescott, Milner or Young could have been if they had not been sitting on the bench for so much of their careers.

 

Many of the younger players are now doing much the same thing, how many 'important' games are Smalling and Zaha going to start for United this season, for example?

 

I picked an XI to illustrate a point, not because it is a great side, England have few enough good players as it is, shame to see so many being wasted by not getting to play for their clubs.

 

You can't put them in an International side though just in case they might be good enough, if these guys are on the bench they arent good enough to be playing for the national side.

 

Smalling doesn't start for Man Utd because he isn't that good, in fact when he has came in he has looked very poor, Young has always been pretty average and Zaha shouldn't even be representing this country.

 

You can put part of the blame on the players themselves, it's a dreadful shame they would rather trouser loads of cash and sit on a bench that play all the time.

[kingfox]

I'm thinking of an England side something very much like this.

 

Stockdale

 

Naughton--Smalling--Lescott--Gibbs

 

Milner--Rodwell

 

Zaha--Young--Sinclair

 

Sturridge

 

Why? Because that is a side of decent, young(ish) players who have, and in some cases still are, warming the bench at big clubs, getting few starts and hardly ever getting one in a 'big' game.

 

I accept that some of these players might not have what it takes to be true international class, but by not playing regularly in games that really matter they are not developing properly, so we might never know.

 

 Rodwell & Sinclair

[marbelladave]

None of you get it do you?

 

My selection was not meant as a serious England side for selection anytime soon, I thought I made that clear, but obviously not clear enough.

 

It is simply a team of players who are, or who have, showed considerable promise, more than promise in some cases, only to see it wasted by going to big clubs too early in their career and not getting a game, certainly not any that actually matter anyway. You may disagree with the talent or otherwise of some of the players but there are a fair few others that you could chose instead.

 

It is my contention that players such as Young, Lescott and Milner could, if they had been given the games be much better players than they are now, and possibly even established internationals. No point saying they are not good enough now, that is not the point.

 

Some of the younger players I have named look like they could be going the same way, stuck on the bench for 'big' clubs when they could be playing more pivotal roles at decent Premier league sides and really improving their game. This situation is holding up the development of many of our better young players and I think it is a big problem.

 

Sturridge is a case in point, a season and a half on the bench at Chelsea (some time on loan), then almost as soon as he gets to play regularly for a decent side he is scoring for fun and a prospective England centre forward.

 

Anyway, rant over, if you don't get it now I can't be bothered to explain further.

[kingfox]

None of you get it do you?

 

My selection was not meant as a serious England side for selection anytime soon, I thought I made that clear, but obviously not clear enough.

 

It is simply a team of players who are, or who have, showed considerable promise, more than promise in some cases, only to see it wasted by going to big clubs too early in their career and not getting a game, certainly not any that actually matter anyway. You may disagree with the talent or otherwise of some of the players but there are a fair few others that you could chose instead.

 

It is my contention that players such as Young, Lescott and Milner could, if they had been given the games be much better players than they are now, and possibly even established internationals. No point saying they are not good enough now, that is not the point.

 

Some of the younger players I have named look like they could be going the same way, stuck on the bench for 'big' clubs when they could be playing more pivotal roles at decent Premier league sides and really improving their game. This situation is holding up the development of many of our better young players and I think it is a big problem.

 

Sturridge is a case in point, a season and a half on the bench at Chelsea (some time on loan), then almost as soon as he gets to play regularly for a decent side he is scoring for fun and a prospective England centre forward.

 

Anyway, rant over, if you don't get it now I can't be bothered to explain further.

 

Doesn't matter, just thinking on those lines is pure embarrassing. 

[Guest MattP]

None of you get it do you?

 

My selection was not meant as a serious England side for selection anytime soon, I thought I made that clear, but obviously not clear enough.

 

Sorry it was the....

 

 

I'm thinking of an England side something very much like this.

 

...that made me think you were suggesting an England side. I'll try and understand better next time.

[marbelladave]

Doesn't matter, just thinking on those lines is pure embarrassing. 

 

Does not embarrass me, you on the other hand......

 

Sorry it was the....

 

 

...that made me think you were suggesting an England side. I'll try and understand better next time.

 

Perhaps you are right, I thought selecting players as an XI would make my point clearer, obviously not.

[kingfox]

Does not embarrass me, you on the other hand......

 

Will be having sleepless nights, after reading it.

[Dan]

I think you've got to question the mentality of a lot of those players too though. I know I'm a cynic when it comes to footballers' attitudes - but if these are players not getting games, why is that? If they can play for England, then they can certainly play for a lot of respectable club sides (regardless of what we all think of England), would you seriously want a team full of players who aren't overly arsed about getting games at club level? If they were arsed enough, they'd get them elsewhere.

 

I think having players with that attitude (Sinclair being the best example) would kill us off. They'd be OK occasionally but they'd be nowhere to be seen when we fall behind in Kiev.

 

England are destined to fail because the majority of players don't even seem to enjoy playing for us.

[marbelladave]

Will be having sleepless nights, after reading it.

 

I know, football does make me fret sometimes too.

 

I am kind thinking that I might be suffering exactly that after tonights game in Kiev......

 

Still, who knows we might play well and win at a canter, then Jeri Ryan turns up with a nice bottle and I get totally assimilated.

[Stadt]

I don't rate Phil Jagielka at all, if he's the 2nd best centre back we have available for our national team then we've got 99 problems and he's all of them.

I think James Milner will have a blinder tonight.

Cahill doesn't fill me with confidence, getting skinned by a now retired, 34 year old Scotland international playing in the MLS isn't a world class CB.

[Finnegan]

BEEB:

 

 

 

TON UP FOR LAMPS - Ukraine v England (1945 BST)

Unless you've been sleeping rough, working in an underground bunker or perhaps camping in the Scottish Highlands for the past few days you will no doubt know that Frank Lampard wins his 100th cap for England tonight.

The Chelsea midfielder - who has scored more penalties for his country than anyone else - joins the list of centurions 14 years after his debut at the Stadium of Light.

To put into context how long Lampard has been around, he was replaced in that win over Belgium by Dennis Wise, with some of the other players on display that day Tony Adams, Paul Ince and Nigel Martyn, with Kieron Dyer and Steve Guppy as wing-backs...

 

 

[Ashley]

Hart

Walker Cahill Jagielka Cole

Gerrard Lampard Wilshire

Walcott Lambert Milner

[Tom17LCFC]

Can see them scoring soon if we're not careful.

[MooseBreath]

This is shaping up to be a tasty game. Actually finding myself urging England on for the first time in ages

[Soar Fox]

What the fvck was that nonsense before the game with the two captains reading out some rubbish.

[marko]

What the fvck was that nonsense before the game with the two captains reading out some rubbish.

 

More importantly, I'm amazed they could actually do it!

[Stadt]

Walker is just another Glen Johnson

[Soar Fox]

More importantly, I'm amazed they could actually do it!

[Guest MattP]

What the fvck was that nonsense before the game with the two captains reading out some rubbish.

 

Embarrassing, cringeworthy stuff from FIFA.

[whoareyaaa]

James Milner - Garbage.

[Vacamion]

James Milner - Garbage.

I think Frank Lampard and Kyle Walker have had a worse 45minutes than Milner.

[Jimothy]

Doesn't matter, just thinking on those lines is pure embarrassing.

Embarrassing to think along what lines? Embarrassing to think that if some of England's decent young players had stayed at or joined mid table premier league teams and played some games, rather than sit on their arses at big teams watching a lot of football and picking up a big lay cheque they might actually have improved as players.

Sinclair is a case in point. Looked decent at Swansea, like he might at least become a decent squad player for England, but I'm sure a season sat in his backside at the Etihad has helped him improve as a player. Sturridge, when he was at Bolton and got a run of games looked very good, so I'm sure returning to Chelsea and twiddling his thumbs helped him develop. Smalling could have been the bench mark of Fulhams central defence, now he just sits on the centre of Man Utd's bench. Zaha would have played every game for Palace this year, and been the star and really grown as a player, realistically how many games will he get at Man Utd this year? Rodwell was making some waves at Everton, and granted he got injured at Man City, but he was barely playing before that anyway. I'm sure it's very tempting for these players to join big teams, and I'm sure they dream of playing big games and winning trophies, but they have to be realistic. I'm ok with them being confident, but when Sinclair joined Man City, and they had Silva, Nasri, Milner, and occasionally moved Tevez or Aguero into deeper roles, did he really think he'd get much game time. Another season or two at Swansea, playing week in week out and he really could have developed as a player, then he might have been ready for a big move.

But of course you just type a one line comment, because you can't add anything to the debate, because you know you can't really argue it. Don't know how often I have to say it but you're an idiot.

[whoareyaaa]

I think Frank Lampard and Kyle Walker have had a worse 45minutes than Milner.

 

I think the whole team have had a bad half but Milner offers us absolutely nothing attack wise and defensive.