England - The Road to 2012 (now featuring Wayne Rooney) but not his touch

[skybluedave]

Looking at the squad and I quite like it really. Hudd in the squad is great. Wilshere too. Joe Cole back is debatable but he always does well for England.

Didn't even notice Rio was back. Hopefully he'll get a full 90mins, which will probably help United as well tbh

[CaptainPlanet]

Is Milner injured?

[skybluedave]

Suspended

1010101

[djvandyke]

Kevin Davies? It’s a bloody disgrace that such a limited footballer is selected to represent our nation he is an abomination of a footballer with a passion for hacking. How did it ever come to this?

[skybluedave]

Also when does the squad get together? Because we aren't playing this weekend, only playing on the Tuesday. Nice of us to only play one game. So the squad will be together without the interuption of a matchday for quite a bit.

[skybluedave]

Kevin Davies? It’s a bloody disgrace that such a limited footballer is selected to represent our nation he is an abomination of a footbalerl with a passion for hacking. How did it ever come to this?

Haha overeaction ftw

[G-Man11]

That's a typical djvandyke post tbh.

[mag man]

I actually quite like Kevin Davies.

[brett.spurs]

Tom

Glen Johnson just awful, can't wait for Kyle Walker to replace him.

[skybluedave]

That's a typical djvandyke post tbh.

He always seems to say something random and outrageous then legs it, and never explains anything

[SCIAG]

Kevin Davies? It’s a bloody disgrace that such a limited footballer is selected to represent our nation he is an abomination of a footballer with a passion for hacking. How did it ever come to this?

Hacking? Elbows, maybe.

Davies is short termism. Okay, he'll do a job, but I'd rather have Carroll or someone.

[aggressive minor]

Thank god Huddlestone is FINALLY back in, pretty obvious choice that was.

And as for Carroll, 4 goals in the Premiership and suddenly an outrage he isn't in? ffs how low are peoples standards now. Not a problem that Davies is in, I agree it would be nicer to pick Carrol because of his age, but he hasn't deserved it yet. Carroll has to prove himself at the top for at least half a year first.

[foolsgold]

Would have preferred to see Michael Owen in than Davies tbh.

[G-Man11]

I didn't know Owen could play the target man role.

[Michael F]

So the stories regarding Stuart Pearce falling out with Andy Carrol seem to be true

He has a knock Eric

[Crazy_T]

disgusting decision by fabio capello this. kevin davies haha.

[foolsgold]

I didn't know Owen could play the target man role.

Because a target man is always necessary.

[Vynal Seven]

Well it is when your midfield can't keep the ball.

[skybluedave]

We do have Crouch as the target man. Sometimes frustrating that Capello always goes for 2 target men, and 2 goal poachers even when we've been playing Rooney/Defoe upfront.

Owen/Rooney was a good partnership. Would of been quite awesome to see them together again for England.

[Rob1981]

Such a tragedy that Rooney and Owen were never consistently fit at the same time. I think in their entire time in the England set up they only started about a dozen games together, if that.

[aggressive minor]

Owen has only had one decent season since he had that serious injury.

His days are long gone I'm afraid, was awesome in his pomp though, twice the player of Defoe and Bent put together.

[Mr Adam]

No Jordan Henderson! booooo. Not long lad, not long.

[Rob1981]

Still feel if Owen had moved somewhere else from Newcastle he would still have a lot to offer. Wonder if he regrets moving to Old Trafford... sure Man Utd looks good on his CV and he might just about play enough games off the bench to get a Premier League medal at last, but if he'd gone to a Villa or a Birmingham or a Sunderland or somewhere he would be playing every week.

[mkr2010]

Still feel if Owen had moved somewhere else from Newcastle he would still have a lot to offer. Wonder if he regrets moving to Old Trafford... sure Man Utd looks good on his CV and he might just about play enough games off the bench to get a Premier League medal at last, but if he'd gone to a Villa or a Birmingham or a Sunderland or somewhere he would be playing every week.

He wouldnt be playing every week, if he was playing often he'd be injured all the time same as he was at newcastle

Davies anywhere neer the squad specualy at 33 is just laughable, what happened to all the 'building for the future' crap?

[Rob1981]

Seriously rot off, this idea that Owen is constantly injured is a myth. last season he was available for all but about half a dozen of United's first team games and SAF just didn't play him. Check the stats.

[DeafParrot]

He got injured in the league cup final and came back in August? Thats more than 6 games imo.

[Didier]

last season he was available for all but about half a dozen of United's first team games and SAF just didn't play him.

hmm, anyone would think those two things are related....

[brett.spurs]

We do have Crouch as the target man. Sometimes frustrating that Capello always goes for 2 target men, and 2 goal poachers even when we've been playing Rooney/Defoe upfront.

Owen/Rooney was a good partnership. Would of been quite awesome to see them together again for England.

Rooney not really a poacher though, certainly not when playing with Defoe anyway - thought the partnership between those two looked good against Bulgaria/Switzerland

[aderow]

Stunned SWP is in the team at all.

This

I actually quite like Kevin Davies.

I kinda do too...

Tom

Glen Johnson just awful, can't wait for Kyle Walker to replace him.

Im really glad that tom will get his chance. Quite underrated imo.

Aren't you hyping up kyle a little too much?

[Samamatara]

i thought naughton was more highly rated than walker? not seen either play much, mind.

love kevin davies' call up, as a neutral and as a big fan of his ability to dominate defenders. the way he gets targeted by the referees is ridiculous. who cares about age if he can keep the performances up? it's only 2 years away

[Rob1981]

Can't believe how much press attention Kevin Davies is getting today, he is clearly fourth in line behind Rooney, Crouch and Bent. Not as if he is going to get off the bench.

[skybluedave]

I know. People get worked up so easily. Like when we called up Loach and Fielding. The outrage! Without actually looking at the reasons.

[Rob1981]

Not sure when the squad is even getting together this time. Last I heard Capello was giving them all a few days off, when actually we could have squeezed in a friendly at the weekend and had them in training from yesterday morning.

In other news, UEFA have at last confirmed the final dates and kickoff times and venues for Euro 2012:

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/ExecutiveCommittee/01/54/33/93/1543393_DOWNLOAD.pdf

Sensibly pairing two cities up for each of the groups in view of the ridiculous travel distances. Look out Gdansk

[crouchaldinho]

So do we think Capello will move from the 4-4-2 or will it be more of the same?

Anyone care to have a guess at the starting line-up?

[skybluedave]

Hart

Johnson

Terry

Rio

Cole

SWP

Gerrard

Barry

Johnson

Rooney

Bent

More 4411 then 442 I guess. Capello's been bigging up Bent, and he's more like for like replacement for Defoe. So I reckon he'll start. Maybe Jagielka will start again. Could get the nod over Terry,or more likely Rio will get injured. Infact JT has been having injuriy problems so he might pull out/get rested. Barry and Gerrard dead certs in the middle.

The only thing I'm not sure about is out wide. Johnson is in great form and was great in the last 2 games so he will start. But with Milner suspended, Lennon out of form, Joe Cole out of favour. We all know it's gonna be SWP

[Razzler]

I don't have a problem with Davies being in, surprised is all mostly cause it's not a double header so thought we might just take someone like Carlton Cole even if he's not playing all that well. He's a good target man, most likely won't even get on the pitch.

It's not Capello's job to 'plan for the future'. We want him to have an eye on the future but he's leaving after this campaign anyway, he's gonna go with a team/squad to win matches. It's not like Zamora is a spring chicken either that we're bothered about Davies' age. Davies has been in some provisional squads in the past. Totally ruins one of the answers to the 'most expensive players in England and not winning a cap' quiz thing (answer, Kanu btw).

I simply do not understand SWP's inclusion :puzzled:

[goon]

Davies is utterly useless unless we plan on playing long balls.

[Barry Cartman]

Don't see how you can pick SWP over an out of form Lennon, SWP hasn't even been playing

[skybluedave]

Don't see how you can pick SWP over an out of form Lennon, SWP hasn't even been playing

I was just going with what I think Capello will do, Capello loves SWP and he's never been fussed with his club form

[Rob1981]

Squad gets together on Thursday apparently

[crouchaldinho]

What I don't understand is Capello's obsession with playing 4-4-2, so much so that he has called up Kevin Davies potentially to fit into his system.

Why can't he be more tactically flexible? Or is it perhaps that he fears our players can't be more tactically flexible? :confused:

[skybluedave]

tbf the formation has changed a bit. Rooney playing a lot deeper then he did in WC qualifiers. More of a 4411. Rooney was everywhere in the Bulgaria game.

We played 451 against Hungary at the start of the season. So we have been quite flexible in the 3 games post WC. Lets see, could easily go 451 when Lampard is fit.

[SCIAG]

i thought naughton was more highly rated than walker? not seen either play much, mind.

In FM terms, Naughton has higher CA, Walker higher PA.

[aderow]

I really hope rooney doesn't play.....let alone start.

[TigerTime]

Why Davies has been called up is beyond me. Shouldn't we be preparing our players for Euro 2012? Is a 35 year old Kevin Davies realistically going to get in the England Euro 2012 squad? No! We should be giving his place to somebody who actually has a chance of getting in the Euro 2012 squad.

[SCIAG]

Can't believe how much press attention Kevin Davies is getting today, he is clearly fourth in line behind Rooney, Crouch and Bent. Not as if he is going to get off the bench.

I know. People get worked up so easily. Like when we called up Loach and Fielding. The outrage! Without actually looking at the reasons.

I hope that helps.

[Heartwork]

Would love him to come on and score 2 or 3 goals now, just to see the reaction if he plays a blinder.

[Crazy_T]

well even the experience of meeting up with the full squad and everything would do a young lad more good than having kevin davies (who has no future with england) there wouldn't it?

[Smallen]

you'd have thought so

[Crazy_T]

maybe that's the reason people are outraged. capello has a disturbing need for the presence of a big person in the squad.