Lets Talk about RIO...

i think he's acting like a child to be fair. nbf but why have rio and terry in defence all the time. they aint going to be around forever; and if we dont get 2 other players with more experience to play cb then we are left up the creek without a paddle. Well Done ROY.

i think he's acting like a child to be fair. nbf but why have rio and terry in defence all the time. they aint going to be around forever; and if we dont get 2 other players with more experience to play cb then we are left up the creek without a paddle. Well Done ROY.

The tournament last less than a month I think, not forever.

Kelly at CB over Rio?

Well, Kelly won't be at centre back over Rio, will he. I am sure everyone in the world is aware of that.

Instead of talking to the appropriate people or just accepting it Ferdinand has ... yep, gone on freaking Twitter. "OMG did you hear what Rio said on Twitter" and now loads of news stories about how Rio is angry and his agent saying it's a disgrace. Oh just shut up, sick of these players mouthing off when they don't get what they want and also doesn't exactly help Hodgson does it, how about that for a disgrace, just shutting up and accepting a decision

yeah rio has been a bit silly but this really isnt about rio or the manager

No it's just another attempt to get the 'John Terry shouldn't be there cause he did XYZ' going from his bum chum army of Twitter followers.

If Rio was called up he'd be cover for the centre back spot. If this happened there'd be more fans moaning about how he should be starting and so on and on

it's quite worrying how many liverpool players Hodgson is calling up.

As to Rio, think as a yahoo comment says, Rio's agent is saying it's disrespectful, but they're also being disrespectful to Hodgson.

If I'm right Alex Ferguson once managed Scotland and omitted Hansen.

Fergie omitted Hansen as he didn't really like the Liverpool contingent very much and moreso had McLeish and Willie Miller whom he knew from Aberdeen IIRC. He has also mentioned in the past that in a qualifier Jocks were playing Wales and he questioned Hansen (I think) and Steve Nicol about fellow Liverpool team mate Ian Rush and they were like a closed shop, didn't want to share information about their club team mate.

I am sure if this happened now and his United players did something similar at international level he wouldn't have a problem with it.

As I said above, it doesn't exactly help Hodgson but hey, as long as Rio gets his point of view across who cares how it effects the England Manager and team, eh

Rio the new Barton.

Whether he has a point or not, chucking his toys of his pram in such a public manner does nothing to help anything.

Well, Kelly won't be at centre back over Rio, will he. I am sure everyone in the world is aware of that.

Instead of talking to the appropriate people or just accepting it Ferdinand has ... yep, gone on freaking Twitter. "OMG did you hear what Rio said on Twitter" and now loads of news stories about how Rio is angry and his agent saying it's a disgrace. Oh just shut up, sick of these players mouthing off when they don't get what they want and also doesn't exactly help Hodgson does it, how about that for a disgrace, just shutting up and accepting a decision

Whom will it be then? Jones? It's as ridiculous as Kelly.

Whom will it be then? Jones? It's as ridiculous as Kelly.

Lescot will partner Terry.

I am just waiting for this to go full circle..Terry gets injured today in training and Roy calls up Rio..to which Rio will decline

Terry, Lescott and Jagielka before Phil Jones I would assume

... absolutely nailed on to happen as well, daylight

it's quite worrying how many liverpool players Hodgson is calling up.

However old or broken he is, Rio should have been called up initially or instead of Kelly as a replacement due to having tournament experience and not being currently injured, let alone his ability, even if he's on the bench and everybody who was called up to the initial squad is fully fit. Not calling him up to replace Cahill is a bit weird, calling Kelly up instead even more weird. It's not even a case of "who else would you call up then?", Rio was fit and available.

BUT

I'm not a fan of footballers using twitter to vent about every-****ing-thing. Whether his agent took it upon himself to vent on Rio's behalf or not, it's use in this case has now put a lot of pressure on the FA and Hodgson to explain themselves to the public. Which they won't, and conspiracy theories will grow.

Lescot will partner Terry.

I am just waiting for this to go full circle..Terry gets injured today in training and Roy calls up Rio..to which Rio will decline

Yes, Lescott will partner Terry but what are the back-ups for?

You shouldn't think as if Rio should've been the substitute for Cahill. A replacement is called to replace Jagielka as a 4-th choice CB.

Oh, and it was a pure centre-back who was injured. So it shouldn't be a problem that Rio can't play RB unlike Kelly.

The old guard let us down time after time so the more of them who disappear the better, that means starting lots of unproven youngsters and suffering plenty of bloody noses until something better emerges.

Of course it could be that we'll never be a top dog in international football but we sure as hell weren't going to be by persevering with the old methods and people.

Might as well call up Carragher and Upson.

Surprised nobody else has mentioned Lineker brown-nosing Ferdinand on twitter. The ITV coverage will be bad enough, but if BBC just have Lineker brown-nosing Ferdinand and Lawro/Hansen/Shearer moaning about Richards/Carrick not going on standby etc then BBC will probably be just as bad to watch. -

I mean that one saying 'ferdy omission more obvious than ever now' is basically saying it's cause of the Terry thing. So what if it is really? If they can't be in the squad together then what can Hodgson do? Pick Rio for the tournament over Terry and then when Rio says 'that's my last tournament, I had a good run' or is injured for the quals at some point he brings Terry back in then drops him when Rio is ok?

Terry hasn't been found guilty but it's clear what Lineker thinks then. I think Terry is an odious man but I don't advocate chucking him out of the squad over something he's not been found guilty of. I also don't see the point in picking Rio over him when Terry most likely has more England life left in him and you have to look at it sensibly if they really cannot co-exist or it's gonna become an issue.

Media have been saying for months 'oh, it's one or the other' and the decision has been made then and I can see what the surprise is. If Hodge turns round and says 'look, I can't have them both in, too much hassle so gone with Terry' then what would people say, they still wouldn't be happy

Yes, Lescott will partner Terry but what are the back-ups for?

You shouldn't think as if Rio should've been the substitute for Cahill. A replacement is called to replace Jagielka as a 4-th choice CB.

Oh, and it was a pure centre-back who was injured. So it shouldn't be a problem that Rio can't play RB unlike Kelly.

To be quite honest I think if Roy had called up someone like Richards as the replacement there would not be so much being written today.

I think it is more down to the choice of Kelly as the replacement,who I think has 2 minutes of international experience that basically magnifies the snub to Rio.

If I was the manager I would not have taken Terry ..but then again I don't think I would selected about 6 or 7 in that squad.

Piece from Daniel Taylor (it's part Richards, part Rio but probably best placed here)

Football reasons, Roy Hodgson had said. "What reasons?????!!!" Rio Ferdinand responded on Twitter, and it is fair to say that keeping his finger pressed down on the question and exclamation marks made it clear what he made of Martin Kelly's callup and where it left his own England career. Finished, almost certainly.

Ferdinand was probably never going to go quietly after finding out, once again, he had been overlooked, this time in favour of a promising yet raw 22-year-old who plays predominantly at right-back. A serial Premier League winner, with a 14-year international career encompassing 81 caps, had just learned of his place in the new order of merit and the anger was understandable when, put bluntly, there is nobody in the world who can convince him it is genuinely about football any longer. For Ferdinand it is simple. All the different strands, the clues, the reading between the lines, and what is now staring him in the face. It all comes back to one man: John Terry.

The England manager has certainly left himself vulnerable to scrutiny and, in the process, it is easy to sympathise with Kelly, a talented player who has acquitted himself ably as Glen Johnson's understudy at Liverpool and can never have imagined that the initial exhilaration of being asked to join the squad, cutting short a holiday in New York, would be followed by the realisation that at least 95% of the country does not believe it is warranted.

Gary Lineker's own contribution to Twitter was revealing in another way: "Yet another injury blow. Gary Cahill out. Time for Rio Ferdinand? No. Micah Richards then? No. How remiss of me, has to be Martin Kelly." Lineker is hardly known for his sarcasm.

The Richards situation should certainly not be overlooked amid all the rancour about Ferdinand and, again, it is not an episode that reflects particularly well on Hodgson. Contrary to popular opinion, Richards would have loved the chance to board the plane to Krakow on Wednesday.

The first thing to consider, however, is that Cahill's absence, with a double fracture to the jaw, is a considerable setback given the understanding he has developed in defence alongside Terry and Ashley Cole and, most recently, a performance in the Champions League final that had a significant bearing on Chelsea overcoming Bayern Munich. Joleon Lescott has had a good season at Manchester City and the same applies to Phil Jagielka of Everton.

All the same, Ferdinand is not demonstrating rampant big-headedness to believe he should be in the team, never mind just the squad. At 33, his fitness has been an issue for three seasons but he has not missed a game through injury since January, and Hodgson emphasised when he announced his squad that Ferdinand was being left out for football reasons rather than concerns about whether his body could hold up to tournament football. What he has never done is explain what those football reasons are.

Ferdinand's mood is not soothed by the fact that Phil Jones, one of his understudies at Old Trafford, is in the squad and that Hodgson was also planning to select another Manchester United player, Chris Smalling, until prevented by injury. In fairness to Hodgson, the fact that Jones and Smalling can also play at right-back was attractive to him but nobody will dissuade Ferdinand now from suspecting that Fabio Capello's successor may well have decided it would not be feasible to include him and Terry in the same squad when the Chelsea player is to stand trial on 9 July for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, Rio's younger brother. Terry denies the charge.

What particularly appals Ferdinand is that this case has nothing to do with him and, in his mind, it should have been Terry who was left out if he was facing such a serious allegation. Even after the FA made it clear Terry could play, Ferdinand was willing to travel with the squad and engage in a working relationship. Whether that would have been possible, it is difficult to say, but it is easy to see why Hodgson would have had misgivings. He is aware, for starters, of Ferdinand's popularity within the squad and that several players all but blanked Terry before the games against Spain and Sweden last October. Lescott is understood to be firmly in the Ferdinand camp and will now partner Terry after apparently cold-shouldering him during previous get-togethers.

The case of Richards is very different and would have been solved far more easily had Hodgson spoken to the Manchester City player. Instead, Hodgson asked the England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce to contact Richards to break the news that he had not made the squad. That was the first mistake because, once Richards had taken in the initial disappointment, he was entitled to be put out that the manager had not contacted him personally but telephoned everyone else himself. His pride was bruised, as it often is with footballers, but it was still a situation that could have been resolved with little fuss.

Perhaps it was that Hodgson felt Pearce, who knows Richards well, could handle it more sensitively. There could be any number of explanations, yet it was unusual in the extreme for a manager to delegate such an important call. Richards then had two conversations with Pearce. The first informed him he had not made the cut, which was a considerable blow given he was coming off the back of a title-winning season and Kyle Walker had already pulled out with injury. Pearce then arranged to phone back later to establish if Richards would go on the standby list. The background context here is that Richards had been almost permanently ignored by Capello, with one disappointment after another. Before the second conversation with Pearce, he spoke to his father, whose advice was to ask, politely, not to be considered – not in a fit of pique, but simply because he was so devastated.

Hodgson sent Richards a short text message the following morning saying he was "disappointed" with the decision and has not been in touch since. In the end Richards arranged a last-minute holiday to Barbados with Daniel Sturridge – in part, to get over the disappointment of missing out.

Ferdinand left on Sunday on a holiday of his own but before swapping rainy Manchester for the Greek sunshine, he was intrigued to find out the FA's reasoning is that Kelly has the advantage of being part of the squad since the Norway game, and that Hodgson was concerned calling up another player would mean bringing in someone who had not played since 13 May. Ferdinand has daily workouts at his home gymnasium, regularly goes into United's training ground and played in a charity match for Park Ji-sung in Bangkok on 24 May.

Fitness should not have been an issue for Richards either, given that he is always among the players at City to have the lowest percentage of body fat when they are checked over out of season. He is back from Barbados now and said to be in a state of mild shock – not by his own omission, but Ferdinand's.

Rio is better than Terry so he should've been picked for the squad, but Hodgson is punishing Rio for Terry being a racist scumbag.

Getting to the point where I wish we would just not pick Terry or Ferdy and move on with life.

what's the point of taking a 33 year old bench warmer? if he's not going to play then it's just going to be more disruption when he gets left out the team. better to take young players to get tournament experience so that when 2014 comes around they've got some experience of being in a tournament squad.

Surprised nobody else has mentioned Lineker brown-nosing Ferdinand on twitter. The ITV coverage will be bad enough, but if BBC just have Lineker brown-nosing Ferdinand and Lawro/Hansen/Shearer moaning about Richards/Carrick not going on standby etc then BBC will probably be just as bad to watch. -

itv has rained all over bbc's parade last two tournaments, just waiting for someone to sit up and realise it instead of crying that they "have adverts". better presenters, better pundits, better commentators.

what's the point of taking a 33 year old bench warmer? if he's not going to play then it's just going to be more disruption when he gets left out the team. better to take young players to get tournament experience so that when 2014 comes around they've got some experience of being in a tournament squad.

Surely as a bench warmer 33y old is much better than young player. If suspension/injury happen, it's more likely to be at later stages and that "bench warmer" is unlikely to play too much. For that purpose Rio is many times better than Jones/Kelly.

itv has rained all over bbc's parade last two tournaments, just waiting for someone to sit up and realise it instead of crying that they "have adverts". better presenters, better pundits, better commentators.

Not having adverts during the game might help their cause.

Pearce then arranged to phone back later to establish if Richards would go on the standby list. The background context here is that Richards had been almost permanently ignored by Capello, with one disappointment after another. Before the second conversation with Pearce, he spoke to his father, whose advice was to ask, politely, not to be considered – not in a fit of pique, but simply because he was so devastated.

Hodgson sent Richards a short text message the following morning saying he was "disappointed" with the decision and has not been in touch since. In the end Richards arranged a last-minute holiday to Barbados with Daniel Sturridge – in part, to get over the disappointment of missing out.

I think it's clear that this is pretty pro-Richards.

Maybe Richards shoudn't listen to his Dad then. He's declined the back up list then not cause he's a knob, of course but out of disappointment ... riiiight. Then he goes on holiday 'to get over the disappointment of missing out' ... how about reaching out to Hodgson or even Gary Neville that he is available and expressing disappointment and then, I dunno here this may seem revolutionary, but not going on holiday and waiting to see what happens?

I think Richards should be in but if Hodgson doesn't call you but someone else does then deal with it. If Hodge is calling everyone then I am sure there will be leaks by the time the calls are made notifying those that are in and also out. Pearce called, he's part of the set up, deal with it. What has happened to 'I am disappointed but obviously I'd love to go'?

It doesn't matter who ITV pundits are as they hardly say anything as they're always going for a break

Surely as a bench warmer 33y old is much better than young player. If suspension/injury happen, it's more likely to be at later stages and that "bench warmer" is unlikely to play too much. For that purpose Rio is many times better than Jones/Kelly.

but if not called upon you've got one extra senior player disgruntled that he's not getting game time, not to mention that he's a particularly vocal senior player to boot. kelly won't be disgruntled.

itv has rained all over bbc's parade last two tournaments, just waiting for someone to sit up and realise it instead of crying that they "have adverts". better presenters, better pundits, better commentators.

I'm not a lover of BBC coverage at all but ITV have advert breaks every 10 minutes, Adrian Chiles as lead presenter and have a tendency to go to advert breaks/news programs in the middle of games - even doing it as recently as the CL semi final in ET between Madrid/Bayern.

but if not called upon you've got one extra senior player disgruntled that he's not getting game time, not to mention that he's a particularly vocal senior player to boot. kelly won't be disgruntled.

i'd have Richards everyday over rio and kelly everyday of the week. at cb or rb. and i'd have Richards over Glen Johnson, i dont rate johnson at all but thats just my opinion.

We also, as a nation, hate bowing towards player egos. We hate player power, we despise international retirement or refusing call-ups, players who decided they don't want to warm up, play golf for 6 months, then say "pick me boss!", or players that tweet their every negative feeling. etc. etc.

I'm sorry, but to me, you make yourself available at all times to be picked for your country, try your hardest no matter how far down the pecking order you are and be respectful to the management and the other players in the public eye. That's not asking a lot at all, and players who don't do any of the above should be banned from being called up. A clear "you're either with us, or against us" rule so that there's no ambiguity over why a player has or hasn't been picked.

What has Rio said now? I thought it was just the one tweet? There is no way Razzler is spazzing out this much over one tweet.

Drives me nuts how everyone always moans how we should give youth a chance and then when we do, everyone goes 'why aren't we picking these quality players with experience?!'.

I have to say are they really giving youth a chance?

Kelly getting a call up stinks a bit like when Theo Walcott got the call up from Sven.

Also so many talented young players in England that got passed over,Adam Johnson and Daniel Sturridge spring to mind,the latter I thought would be a no brainer with the system Roy is playing.

Also if Lampard was fit then the first 3 players on Roy's team sheet would still be Gerrard,Lampard and that mug Terry.

Should have just forgot about this competition and took ALL young guys out there for the experience with an eye on 2014.

I like this post from dion last year when Liverpool played Utd.

4. How long do you think it will be before Kelly knocks Johnson out of the England side aswell as the Liverpool one? Kid was class, did brilliantly against an in form Giggs and Evra with not a lot of help.

I like this post from dion last year when Liverpool played Utd.

Kelly is an excellent young player, I'm not aware I've ever said otherwise. He's not progressed at quite the rate I expected (although that's more down to Liverpool's season than his) but the potential is there and if I had to put money on a youngster breaking through and establishing himself for Liverpool it would be him. All that being said, he's not worthy of a place in this England squad yet.

Yeah I wasn't meaning it as a dig, just that it's rare to get any player compliments from you lot

It's the argument between taking an old head as backup, compared to blooding in someone who is likely to break through in to the team in the near future.

I can understand taking the best starting 11 you can, but when you have low chances of winning whoever you take, there's a decent strength argument there to say take the kids as backup for experience instead of taking the best 23 as of right now.

What I do know is that Ferdinand must be greatest ever england player not to play in ANY EURO CHAMPIONSHIPS.

dropped at "pre-squad" for euro 2000, failed drug test in 04, not in 08 and now euro 12.

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Why did Theo getting a call up stink? I'd say the call up of Ox is more in line with the Walcott call up and not too many are complaining about that. In fairness Roy managed Kelly (albeit it relatively briefly) at club level so must have seen something which impressed him. He was originally only called up as a backup due to certainly players not willing to be on the backup list. To be fair if I was someone like say Danny Simpson or Steven Caulker I'd be quite annoyed to be overlooked in favour of Kelly, but as said clearly Roy saw something when he managed him to suggest to him he'll be eventually become a long-term member of the England squad.

I think everyone knew when he was picked he was never going to step foot on the park,I think the same goes for Kelly...I am sure Ox will be playing even if it is from the bench.

Carroll,Henderson and Downing have hardly been lighting up the Premiership this season now have they but have been selected over other youngsters that have played better.

In all honesty did anyone actually envision so many Liverpool players in the England shirt this summer?

I can't help but think his team selection has something more to it than just "footballing reason's"...and I am not just talking about Rio getting left out.

In all honesty did anyone actually envision so many Liverpool players in the England shirt this summer?

I can't help but think his team selection has something more to it than just "footballing reason's"...and I am not just talking about Rio getting left out.

Well with problems at centre half, maybe Jamie Carragher for re-call

I think everyone knew when he was picked he was never going to step foot on the park,I think the same goes for Kelly...I am sure Ox will be playing even if it is from the bench.

Carroll,Henderson and Downing have hardly been lighting up the Premiership this season now have they but have been selected over other youngsters that have played better.

In all honesty did anyone actually envision so many Liverpool players in the England shirt this summer?

I can't help but think his team selection has something more to it than just "footballing reason's"...and I am not just talking about Rio getting left out.

Help me out, I'm struggling to think of a striker like Carroll but better and younger... Crouch and to a degree Holt are better and older, but all England's other young strikers are small and nippy. Except Wickham, but that would be even stranger than calling up Carroll.

Help me out, I'm struggling to think of a striker like Carroll but better and younger... Crouch and to a degree Holt are better and older, but all England's other young strikers are small and nippy. Except Wickham, but that would be even stranger than calling up Carroll.

I am failing to grasp your question.

Why does it have to be a tall target man?

Even Roy said himself he is not looking to just kick the ball up to the forward but rather try to play it through to him.

If you are going to use pace on the wings then why not use Wellbeck or indeed give Sturridge a call up as he could play through the centre or out wide which helps the squad out.

Carroll has been pretty poor this season but to give him a call up just because what?he has the height?

Sir Stanley Matthews and Duncan Edwards would disagree.

I think it was Bobby Charlton who said Duncan Edwards was the only player to make him feel inferior. Rio has had his chance along with the rest of the so called golden generation and they achieved nothing. I think are biggest problem at the euro's is going to be scoring goals.

Carroll gives us an option and a type of player not that many international defenders will be used to playing against. Height, power and to be fair a player who isn't too bad technically.

Sorry but that is just not right,international defenders put up with this type of player all over Europe in domestic leagues and to be fair much better players than Carroll.

Ibraminovic and Llorente spring to mind.