[co55ie]

After the recent England / Lampard bashing threads etc if all players were available injury free what would your starting 11 look like ?

Mine would be as follows


David James


Neville Terry Carragher A Cole

Hargeaves

Lennon Gerrard J Cole


Crouch Owen

I am not 100% sure about wether to go for Ferdinand over Terry both make mistakes and dont read the game aswell as Carragher in my opinion. I would also make Gerrard captain as he is the one player that can turn a match around and he would also thrive given the resposibilty as he does for Liverpool.

[Steven]

For Estonia I would play
Carragher, King, Terry, Bridge
Carrick
Beckham, Gerrard, J.Cole
Crouch, Owen

Shame about the injuries. I do not believe Gerrard requires the captaincy - at least he is still making an effort, *cough*

[Sicknote10]

Green

Neville Terry King Cole

Lennon Gerrard Carrick Cole

Rooney Owen

[Steven]

Obviously Estonia are so poor I thought I would even things up by having an open goal

lol, England probably need that sort of help tbh

[Abbeygoo]

Not sure whether you mean for the game on Wednesday or in a hypothetical sense ..... my best XI at the moment would be

James

Richards Carragher Terry A Cole

Lennon Hargreaves Gerrard J Cole

Rooney Owen

[co55ie]

Its interesting to see people going for the owen Rooney combo, personally If I were using a nippy winger like lennon I would definitley have crouch in there trying to get onto the end of the crosses , even if he doesnt he causes the opposing defence to panic.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Abbeygoo

Not sure whether you mean for the game on Wednesday or in a hypothetical sense ..... my best XI at the moment would be

James

Richards Carragher Terry A Cole

Lennon Hargreaves Gerrard J Cole

Rooney Owen

Same as but I'd have Crouch instead of Rooney and Bridge instead of A Cole.

[dannius]

Robinson

G Neville Carragher Terry Bridge

Carrick

Beckham Gerrard Lennon

Rooney

Owen

I think a holding midfielder is a requirement these days, especially to allow Gerrard to bomb forward through the middle. Carrick is the natural choice for that imo.

I'm a fan of Joe Cole, and I realise that neither him nor Lennon are natural left wingers but I think that Lennon's pace could be of great benefit on the left wing. He's shown for Spurs he can play on the left.

I'd keep Beckham in at right wing for his passing and dead ball abilities.

[KevD]

With no injuries or suspensions, I think the best team we can field is :

Robinson
Neville
Ferdinand
Terry
A. Cole
Beckham
Gerrard
Hargreaves
J. Cole
Rooney
Owen

For the Estonia game Carrick, Crouch, Bridge & Neville in for Lampard, Rooney, Cole & Neville.


Second XI (for fun!):

Foster
Richards
Carragher
King
Bridge
Lennon
Carrick
Lampard
Downing
Defoe
Ashton

(Which would be a pretty good 1st XI!!)

[dannius]

Originally Posted by KevD

Second XI (for fun!):

Foster
Richards
Carragher
King
Bridge
Lennon
Carrick
Lampard
Downing
Defoe
Ashton

That's the thing about England isn't it, we've even got a good second string of players but we still can't win anything!

[danaldinho7]

David James


Neville Terry Ferdinand A Cole


Beckham Hargeaves Gerrard J Cole

Rooney .
Ashton

no injuries this would be the best team imo with this being the bench:

Robinson
Lampard
Carrick
Owen
Carrager
Bridge
Richardson

[thfccambs]

Robinson

Richards
King
Terry
A. Cole

Beckham
Gerrard
Hargreaves
Taylor

Rooney
Owen



Would like us to play 3 at the back more often.

Robinson

King
Terry
Carrager


Beckham
Gerrard
Hargreaves
Cole
A.Cole

Owen
Rooney

Originally Posted by KevD

With no injuries or suspensions, I think the best team we can field is :

Robinson
Neville
Ferdinand
Terry
A. Cole
Beckham
Gerrard
Hargreaves
J. Cole
Rooney
Owen

For the Estonia game Carrick, Crouch, Bridge & Neville in for Lampard, Rooney, Cole & Neville.


Second XI (for fun!):

Foster
Richards
Carragher
King
Bridge
Lennon
Carrick
Lampard
Downing
Defoe
Ashton

(Which would be a pretty good 1st XI!!)

If Mclaren could just stop J Cole embarassing himself with his stupidly slow stepovers, not to mention he nearly trips himself up in the process, those 2 teams will do for me.

[Steven]

Like Lampard, J.Cole is a different player for Maureen

[johnscarlet]

For me

Robinson

Neville
Terry
Rio
Cashley

Beckham
Hargreaves
Gerrard
Cole

Rooney
Owen

Wouldn't start with Crouch . England would resort to to longball to early . Excellent as a sub to induce panic however. I'd like to see Lennon instead of DB , but he has had a bit of an off season . Again excellent as a sub , like in Germany . You could play Lamps instead of SG, put I go for the scouser because of his ability to grab a game by the scruff of its neck . Not sure Lampard can do that
After the Euros replace DB with Lennon , Nev with Richards , but I'd like to see MR move to see how he would fare in Europe .

I have changed my mind about my team, if people would prefer Crouch to Roo then they should leave Rooney out and let him concentrate on Utd. Put the pressure of the nation (WC06) onto Crouch's shoulders (yeah right) instead and let England continue playing Watford style up to Crouch.

Rooney may not have scored a lot recently (for England) but a lot of this is due to the long balls being played and thus completley bypassing Rooney who is vital to link the midfield and attack. Even in his not so good games he still works his arse off, shows desire and is mobile, unlike the bean pole. The problem with Rooney, this is both for club and country, is he passes too much and isn't as selfish as he was when he was banging them in for England in his early international career.

[co55ie]

I picked Crouch in my starting line up and not Rooney , But for me its either Rooney or Owen competing for a place . Crouch offers something that neither of these two do.

With the inclusion of some decent wingers capable of getting decent crosses into the box then I think Crouch could cause alot of defenses chaos and offer the team another dimension.

I dont think its about neccessarily picking the 11 best individual players (which is what the recent crop of england managers has done) . If Lampard was dropped then Gerrard could get forward and England would have a quality player capable of linking the midfield and attack.

I cant see the point in having wingers and using the width of the pitch if you have got Rooney and Owen in the box as they aernt going to win as many balls as crouch.

However good Gerrard is he cannot link the midfield and attack like Rooney can. Look at what happens when rafa plays him as a secondary striker he is like a fish out of water, he trys but its just not his position.
Gerrard is at his best when he is running the game from midfield. Not bashing Gerrard btw I rate him as a player(said through gritted teeth)

But playing Crouch and getting crosses in, not to mention the temptation of every England player to hoof it towards him when under any pressure, IS 1 dimensional the opposition would just cut off his supply.

Some of Englands best football was played when we had Gazza in the hole pulling the string which is what Rooney seems to be doing now or at least trying to. If England could actually pass the ball on the deck they wouldnt have to throw crosses in for Crouch. Look at Argentina they have a small forward line yet score goals, keep possesion and don't rely on long balls and crosses.

[Decadence]

Against Estoina

Robinson

Dyer (compensate for Beckham's lack of pace)
Carragher
Terry
Bridge

Beckham
Gerrard
P. Neville
Joe Cole

Crouch
Owen

The only part of this lineup I am not sure about is Dyer as right back but I have been swayed by the press on this and think it might actually be a half decent idea.

[co55ie]

Originally Posted by Adails

However good Gerrard is he cannot link the midfield and attack like Rooney can. Look at what happens when rafa plays him as a secondary striker he is like a fish out of water, he trys but its just not his position.
Gerrard is at his best when he is running the game from midfield. Not bashing Gerrard btw I rate him as a player(said through gritted teeth)

But playing Crouch and getting crosses in, not to mention the temptation of every England player to hoof it towards him when under any pressure, IS 1 dimensional the opposition would just cut off his supply.

Some of Englands best football was played when we had Gazza in the hole pulling the string which is what Rooney seems to be doing now or at least trying to. If England could actually pass the ball on the deck they wouldnt have to throw crosses in for Crouch. Look at Argentina they have a small forward line yet score goals, keep possesion and don't rely on long balls and crosses.

Agreed playing Gerrard as a secondary striker is not a good idea but he is at his best as when you say he is running things and driving forward linking up with the strikers.

I disagree geting quality crosses into the box is the one thing that England need to do and need to add to their repertoire to stop them being so one dimensional.. Hoofing the ball upfield isnt the way to succeed either but having an attack that can utilise the entire width of the pitch would be a major plus especially as England have the likes of Lennon etc available who should be able to supply these crosses.

Both Terry and Ferdinand are prime culprits for some of Englands poor distribution rather than just boot it upfield every time they need to clear the ball they need to distribute the ball and start another attack from within englands own half.

England dont have the technical players that can play the little intricate passes around in the style like Arsenal and as you make reference to Argentina do

Originally Posted by co55ie

Agreed playing Gerrard as a secondary striker is not a good idea but he is at his best as when you say he is running things and driving forward linking up with the strikers.

I disagree geting quality crosses into the box is the one thing that England need to do and need to add to their repertoire to stop them being so one dimensional.. Hoofing the ball upfield isnt the way to succeed either but having an attack that can utilise the entire width of the pitch would be a major plus especially as England have the likes of Lennon etc available who should be able to supply these crosses.

Both Terry and Ferdinand are prime culprits for some of Englands poor distribution rather than just boot it upfield every time they need to clear the ball they need to distribute the ball and start another attack from within englands own half.

England dont have the technical players that can play the little intricate passes around much like Arsenal and as you make reference to Argentina do

You can still utilise the width and not have to rely on on a target man and throw percentage balls in from the wing. Look at United particularly this season when Rooney played a lot up front on his own. We used the width yet didn't need a 7ft striker to score goals because we played football ie not route 1 like England when Crouch plays, evertime its the same they cant help it.

We played to feet because Rooney can't head a ball for toffee and most neutrals would say when we did we played an aesthically pleasing style of football. There is no reason why England cant play the same style of football we have the players to do so.

Rooney and Owen maybe small but given the right service they would bang them in. No team should have to rely on a guy who has one adavantage, his height, he isnt even that good at heading the ball.

[co55ie]

Agreed crouch isnt that good at heading but he creates space and draws defenders which would allow the Owens and Rooneys to score far more frequently.

Crouch has proved this season that he is an excellent finisher for both Liverpool and England, the fact is he is hitting the back of net more regularly for England than any of the other available squad members gives him a good case

I am not saying Crouch is better than Rooney or Owen but the stats and his previous appearances would suggest he is more effective