TorquayFans.com | Torquay United Fans Forum

The squad

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion), Fraser Forster (Celtic).

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (England), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton), Chris Smalling (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).

Attackers: Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Daniel Welbeck (Manchester United).

Standby: John Ruddy (Norwich City), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Stones (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham United), Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC).

So what do we reckon then?

Personally its not too bad, roughly how I would have called it, if Roy tries the Ling method this time like he did in the Euro then we will get stuffed. With the attack minded youth we have then I would say just bloody go for it, what have we got to lose.

Seen some people surprised Carrol and Carrick aren't in the squad! What have they done this season?

It's time for the younger lads to have a go, majority of that squad is in on merit, especially the Southampton lads.

If it doesn't go well, never mind, they can have another 2 years and build on that experience and be ready for the a Euros

My thoughts exactly!

I have been a little bit perplexed that a player like Tom Huddlestone never even got tried in any friendlys, Roy doesnt even seem to acknowledge his existence yet has played someone like Tom Cleverly often.

I know Huddlestone had a patchy career at Spurs but he has been superb at Hull. There are games he has totally bossed, has superb short and long passing ability and he is great in dead ball situations. However looking at the final squad I am not sure who he would have ousted anyway. Maybe Lampard, but then again we need to keep a bit of experience also.

Cannot Believe James Milner is in it I hate this bloke also Danny Welbeck!? he is just useless!

Milner is a squad player but provides an option for the bench as he can play in a variety of positions. He is no better than average but the fact he is average in 3 different positions got him on the plane!

Given the players available (meaning those fit that have some recent caps from Roy) this is probably the squad I would have selected.

I'm not a fan of Smalling, I always hoped Ryan Shawcross would develop in to this role but he seems to have avoided the International limelight.
I'm not sure what Frank Lampard has done to warrant inclusion, I would much rather have seen Fabian Delph, he has been by far the best player in a crap team and I'm sure would be a perfect partner for Gerrard in the middle. Otherwise as previously mentioned by chunkygull I would have Thuddlestone in there.
As for Danny Welbeck. He really isn't very good but with Jay Rodriguez being injured he is the best of the rest, sadly.

I am actually quite confident going in to this World Cup, more so than I have been for a long time. With players like Lallana, Barkley and Rooney we have some properly exciting talent

For me the starting eleven against Italy would be:

Hart
Johnson Cahill Jagielka Baines
Gerrard Henderson
Sterling Sturridge Rooney Lallana

it's about time we got rid of the "James Milner is rubbish" narrative. He has never done anything wrong. He's a solid, if unspectacular player, that will always do a decent job for you. It doesn't matter if you're a goal up with 5 minutes to play in the Champions League, or if you're taking on a league 2 side in the third round of the FA Cup; once thing you can always be sure of is that James Milner Shows Up. The same is true for England, and how many players can you honestly that's the case for?

Every single international team that is halfway decent has at least one similar player. Not every team has the capacity to put 11 world class players on the pitch every single time. I mean, hell - he's at Man City; do you really think he'd be getting regular time for them (under several different managers) if he wasn't any good?

I've always rated Milner. Not only does he work hard and always put a shift in but he is actually a really good footballer too. Played as winger far too often in his career, put him in the middle and you see just what a great team player he is.

Currently watching the Ecuador v England game. This really is why we have absolutely no chance of winning a World Cup. We're trying to play like Spain, passing it around until we eventually get an opportunity, but it isn't really working. Why? Because none of the players can be bothered to **** move. The most crucial part of the Spanish game is movement. You can have all the passing ability in the world, but if you're trying to pass to a bloke who's standing behind an opposition player, you're probably not going to get it to him.

The sheer amount of times that a player in our midfield hasn't got the faintest idea what to do because nobody wants the ball is ridiculous. Is that really beyond the sight of England's best manager?

So yeah, we're going out in the group stages based on this evidence.

Realistically, how many of those that played today will play in the group matches though?!

Rooney, maybe Lambert and possibly Barkley...second string team with Milner at right back, two centre backs that have about as much chance of starting v Italy as I do and playing in conditions they are not used to.

Not saying they will win the World Cup - nowhere near, but you can't base much on tonight's game. (IMO)

I understand that but these were the young players, the future of English football and they obviously haven't been taught the most important part of the modern passing game.

Totally agree with Scott here, but do take on board Cambgull's point as well. You've got to look at how experimental that line up was last night, Milner at Right back ? where was Rooney playing etc.

The England team was all over the place last night at the back, but then, it was to be expected, Foster, Milner, Smalling, Jones, Shaw. The starting back 5 for Italy will be Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines, all of a sudden has a very different, more balanced and experienced look about it.

Don't think it's a case of our players not being taught to move of the ball, this is international football, your talking about the worlds best footballers, some times it can be a combination of the opposition and your own in-experience can bring unforced errors to the fore, last night we had Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlian and Barkley in midfield they do not have 40 caps between them, not all of these will start in the world cup, again add in Gerrard and things look different again. You can't measure success by how many world cups you've won, only 1 team can win it every 4 years, and there's only a small elite band of nations that have won it.

Our expectation is low, and rightly so, it would be an achievement to make it out of the group stages, but you've got to be in it, to win it, and we are there once again, we've hit a crossroads with this England team, we have a lot of players either at the wrong end of their careers or have little or no experience at this level, there's no middle ground with this current England squad.

Think Hodgson is doing a fantastic job to be honest, he's the first England manager in some while not scared to blood youngsters, sensibly and at the right time. I don't think our international team has had such a bright looking future for some time. Look at the age some of these players will be in 4 years time, which will be; Smalling 28, Jones 26, Shaw 22, Wilshere, 26, Oxlade-Chamberlian 24, Barkley 24, Sterling 23, Stones 24, Flanagan,25, Walker 28, Sturridge 28, these player will be going into 2018 W/C with good world cup and Euro championship experience behind them and coupled with some very promising players in our current U21 set up, not saying we're going to win the WC in 2018, but going to have a significantly better chance than this time around.

Baring in mind the back four was made up of a left-back, two right-backs and an attacking-midfielder and that the midfield trio of Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlian and Barkley barley have 40 starts this season let alone 40 caps and I think the performance was okay. As others have said, this will not be anything like the starting eleven we see against Italy.

Scott Brehaut wrote: Rooney, maybe Lambert and possibly Barkley...second string team with Milner at right back, two centre backs that have about as much chance of starting v Italy as I do and playing in conditions they are not used to.

While this is true, Miami yesterday was 80 degrees F and 70% humidity. Manaus, location of the first game, was 85 degrees and 80% humidity. seems like the ideal place to prepare, really. Plus, with another game on saturday, no surprise Hodgson put in a couple of the scrubs.

Sidenote: I really think Phil Jones must be struggling with his injury cos John Stones (who I think is going to be *really* good) got a game, despite only being a standby.

I think Sterling will be one of the first guys off the bench if England are chasing the game. Just hope he can avoid getting sent off.