Roy Hodgson submitted his final 23-man squad to UEFA today. Presumably, the 23 finest footballers the country has to offer are off to Poland and Ukraine next Wednesday. However, even though Roy has chosen the best at his disposal, it should be worth the warning that England's squad is likely to be eclipsed by many this summer. Low expectations could work to our advantage, but we'll need more than a few star players to make this tournament a success.
The main problem we have is the squad selection. The vast majority was very easy to pick - the Gerrards, Lampards, Terrys etc.. Some players have some convincing to do though, such as the Milners, Downings and Welbecks. James Milner has played hardly any games for champions Man. City, yet gets the nod ahead of the likes of maybe Aaron Lennon or Adam Johnson. To be fair to Milner, he certainly deserves a place in the team ahead of Stewart Downing who played almost every game last season, yet contributed as much the Anfield cat. Welbeck, on the other hand, has proven he can score but without his pal Rooney? Don't think so, but hopefully a surprise is in store.
There were a couple of 'better' players who should be on that plane. The obvious is Jack Wilshere who is the next Paul Gascoigne (no bias - except without the drinking), but Roy does have limited healing powers, you can't blame him for that. But you can point the finger for leaving out Micah Richards who is our best right-back by some distance, and he had plenty opportunity to replace him after Glen Johnson got an infected toe but chose a Liverpool amateur instead. The most baffling thing is that Manchester City could buy any right-back in the world yet they stick with Micah - does that not count for anything? If you could pick Barry, why not Richards?
One player Roy won't have any bad feelings about rejecting is Michael Carrick, the ungrateful little tool. He didn't want to be considered just to be on the bench. What kind of attitude is that to show towards your country? You should be ready to put in a service for your country when they need you - I'm sure he doesn't want to be on the bench, but someone's got to - and sometimes you may just be required for a vital job to save your country. If he's concerned about next season's fitness, that quite rich coming from someone like him. There was the weeks after the season finished until now for a holiday, and the chances are we aren't going to get very far anyway - there'll be enough time for a bit of rest. Anyways, sitting on the bench with your teammates cheering your team on beats sunbathing on some average beach in Marbella any day.
All petty excuses aside, although the squad isn't perfect, it is pretty good considering, except the only other issue that England have is dealing with the opposition. If you look at it from that perspective, our squad is pretty poor. I would say there at least 5 teams that beat us on paper, and you never know what talents these teams are hiding up their sleeves. We'll do very well to get out of the group but that moment on it just looks like a very steep, downward slope to me. If we get lucky, maybe even win on penalties, we'll get to the semis at best.
(Just saying, doing absolutely terrible in the Euros would be the perfect opportunity for the FA to ditch Roy and bring in Harry, just imagine...)
Please excuse all this negativity, it's only my personal opinion. Feel free to disagree and cheer us on to probable doom in a couple of weeks, we're not good enough - but you never know - maybe we'll surprise a few people, maybe the favourites will massively underachieve, maybe we'll get a little lucky, and maybe we'll do a Greece.
Come On England!
The main problem we have is the squad selection. The vast majority was very easy to pick - the Gerrards, Lampards, Terrys etc.. Some players have some convincing to do though, such as the Milners, Downings and Welbecks. James Milner has played hardly any games for champions Man. City, yet gets the nod ahead of the likes of maybe Aaron Lennon or Adam Johnson. To be fair to Milner, he certainly deserves a place in the team ahead of Stewart Downing who played almost every game last season, yet contributed as much the Anfield cat. Welbeck, on the other hand, has proven he can score but without his pal Rooney? Don't think so, but hopefully a surprise is in store.
There were a couple of 'better' players who should be on that plane. The obvious is Jack Wilshere who is the next Paul Gascoigne (no bias - except without the drinking), but Roy does have limited healing powers, you can't blame him for that. But you can point the finger for leaving out Micah Richards who is our best right-back by some distance, and he had plenty opportunity to replace him after Glen Johnson got an infected toe but chose a Liverpool amateur instead. The most baffling thing is that Manchester City could buy any right-back in the world yet they stick with Micah - does that not count for anything? If you could pick Barry, why not Richards?
One player Roy won't have any bad feelings about rejecting is Michael Carrick, the ungrateful little tool. He didn't want to be considered just to be on the bench. What kind of attitude is that to show towards your country? You should be ready to put in a service for your country when they need you - I'm sure he doesn't want to be on the bench, but someone's got to - and sometimes you may just be required for a vital job to save your country. If he's concerned about next season's fitness, that quite rich coming from someone like him. There was the weeks after the season finished until now for a holiday, and the chances are we aren't going to get very far anyway - there'll be enough time for a bit of rest. Anyways, sitting on the bench with your teammates cheering your team on beats sunbathing on some average beach in Marbella any day.
All petty excuses aside, although the squad isn't perfect, it is pretty good considering, except the only other issue that England have is dealing with the opposition. If you look at it from that perspective, our squad is pretty poor. I would say there at least 5 teams that beat us on paper, and you never know what talents these teams are hiding up their sleeves. We'll do very well to get out of the group but that moment on it just looks like a very steep, downward slope to me. If we get lucky, maybe even win on penalties, we'll get to the semis at best.
(Just saying, doing absolutely terrible in the Euros would be the perfect opportunity for the FA to ditch Roy and bring in Harry, just imagine...)
Please excuse all this negativity, it's only my personal opinion. Feel free to disagree and cheer us on to probable doom in a couple of weeks, we're not good enough - but you never know - maybe we'll surprise a few people, maybe the favourites will massively underachieve, maybe we'll get a little lucky, and maybe we'll do a Greece.
Come On England!
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