Kevin Davies

[Chesney Christ]

Probably the weakist squad I have seen since the days of Carlton Palmer and Tony Daley


Ben Foster (Birmingham City), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City)

Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa)
Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Darren Bent (Sunderland), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

VERY harsh on Joe Cole there, who has been on of England's best creative players for the last 10 years.

Tom Huddlestone is a very gifted footballer with an absolute wand of a right foot but because he doesn't charge around like a moron flying into tackles and giving away possession, English people think he is no good.

Agree with your summary otherwise though (Rooney-aside) - it is a shocking squad and our striking options are so weak it makes me want to cry.

 

[Mellotron]

Might aswell of picked Heskey, at least he is in form !!!

I think he did the right thing, must've had enough of getting verbally abused while doing a very thankless task very well.

 

[Silent Bob]

VERY harsh on Joe Cole there, who has been on of England's best creative players for the last 10 years.

Tom Huddlestone is a very gifted footballer with an absolute wand of a right foot but because he doesn't charge around like a moron flying into tackles and giving away possession, English people think he is no good.

Agree with your summary otherwise though (Rooney-aside) - it is a shocking squad and our striking options are so weak it makes me want to cry.

Agree about Huddlestone.
Joe Cole is a player I like a lot but he hasn't started the season well. I suppose if other out of form or just rubbish players weren't picked then one or two such as Cole would be ok.

Rooney played well in the last two England games at least, and Bent is doing what he always does, same for Crouch in fact, so hopefully Davies will get no where near the team.

We do have three players in excellent form in Wilshere, Young, and Johnson, if they make up most of our attacking formation as they should then the striker should do ok.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Carroll hasn't actually scored for a few games and was on the bench for Newcastle at the weekend.

That, and he has a (Crown?) court trial later this month for assaulting someone in a nightclub. If Capello binned Terry as captain for poking another player's missus, he could hardly go and select a player who may well be going down for glassing someone.

 

[keaton]

Manchester City midfielder Nigel De Jong has been dropped from the Holland squad as punishment for his tackle which broke Hatem Ben Arfa's leg.

De Jong went in hard on Newcastle's France winger during the Barclays Premier League clash at Eastlands, with tests later in the day revealing Ben Arfa had suffered a broken tibia and fibula to his left leg.

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk had already expressed his concern at the tackle earlier in the day and a statement this lunchtime revealed the extent of his dismay.

The statement read: "I just informed the squad and told them I saw no other possibility.

"In the near future I will discuss this matter with Nigel but right now we have to focus on the upcoming two matches."


Van Marwijk described De Jong's challenge as "wild and unnecessary" in an interview this morning - even though match referee Martin Atkinson did not even award a foul at the time in a match City went on to win 2-1.

"I've seen the pictures back," Van Marwijk said in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper.

"It was a wild and unnecessary offence. He went in much too hard.

"It is unfortunate, especially since he does not need to do it.

"The funny thing is that the referee did not even show a yellow card for it. Apparently, there are other standards.

"But I have a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit. I am going to speak to him."

It is not the first time the 25-year-old has come under the microscope for his aggressive play, having caused Bolton's United States midfielder Stuart Holden a fractured right fibula on international duty in March and then got away with a chest-high challenge on Spain's Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final.

De Jong was last week named in Van Marwijk's Oranje squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Moldova and Sweden.

The World Cup runners-up, who picked up six points from their opening two Group E qualifiers against San Marino and Finland last month, take on Moldova in Chisinau on October 8 and Sweden four days later at the Amsterdam ArenA.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Manchester City midfielder Nigel De Jong has been dropped from the Holland squad as punishment for his tackle which broke Hatem Ben Arfa's leg.

De Jong went in hard on Newcastle's France winger during the Barclays Premier League clash at Eastlands, with tests later in the day revealing Ben Arfa had suffered a broken tibia and fibula to his left leg.

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk had already expressed his concern at the tackle earlier in the day and a statement this lunchtime revealed the extent of his dismay.

The statement read: "I just informed the squad and told them I saw no other possibility.

"In the near future I will discuss this matter with Nigel but right now we have to focus on the upcoming two matches."


Van Marwijk described De Jong's challenge as "wild and unnecessary" in an interview this morning - even though match referee Martin Atkinson did not even award a foul at the time in a match City went on to win 2-1.

"I've seen the pictures back," Van Marwijk said in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper.

"It was a wild and unnecessary offence. He went in much too hard.

"It is unfortunate, especially since he does not need to do it.

"The funny thing is that the referee did not even show a yellow card for it. Apparently, there are other standards.

"But I have a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit. I am going to speak to him."

It is not the first time the 25-year-old has come under the microscope for his aggressive play, having caused Bolton's United States midfielder Stuart Holden a fractured right fibula on international duty in March and then got away with a chest-high challenge on Spain's Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final.

De Jong was last week named in Van Marwijk's Oranje squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Moldova and Sweden.

The World Cup runners-up, who picked up six points from their opening two Group E qualifiers against San Marino and Finland last month, take on Moldova in Chisinau on October 8 and Sweden four days later at the Amsterdam ArenA.

I saw this and other reactions from Holland and they're quite funny. Imagine the English press and football sages all queuing up to condemn, say, David Beckham because he injured someone in a MLS game.

One of the pundits- can't remember who- has suggested De Jong must have "mental problems"

 

[Silent Bob]

Carroll hasn't actually scored for a few games and was on the bench for Newcastle at the weekend.

That, and he has a (Crown?) court trial later this month for assaulting someone in a nightclub. If Capello binned Terry as captain for poking another player's missus, he could hardly go and select a player who may well be going down for glassing someone.

He didn't drop Terry from the team, it wasn't a moral judgement on his actions. It was supposedly for the dressing room (as if they really care), but more likely to placate the media and theiir/our pretensions about what 'the armband' means. If England dropped every player that was involved in any kind of sex scandal or violent incident in a nightclub there's be about three players left.

I'm not a fan of Carroll as a player and judging by the off field things that he's been involved in he's probably not that good a person either. But he's at least as good a player as Kevin Davies (!), probably better, and with more chance of having a future with England due to his age.

 

[Mellotron]

How long 'til Daniel Sturridge will be worth a sniff? Looked good in a couple of cup games.

 

[Mackenzie]

I like Kevin Davies. He's makes it difficult for defenders.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I'm not a fan of Carroll as a player and judging by the off field things that he's been involved in he's probably not that good a person either. But he's at least as good a player as Kevin Davies (!), probably better, and with more chance of having a future with England due to his age.

Oh I agree, though to be fair to Davies, he's done bloody well over the years to maintain his position.

I guess with Carroll, Capello thinks the court case is potentially a distraction, and he wants to wait and see what the outcome is.

I work a lot with a bona fide Geordie who goes back home a lot- massive Newcastle fan- and even he says Carroll is basically a complete chav who'd probably be unemployed and spending all his time drinking and scrapping in pubs if he wasn't good at football. Says the same about Steven Taylor too actually, which probably explains how the two of them ended up knocking seven bells out of each other last season

 

[Gwylan]

I like Kevin Davies. He's makes it difficult for defenders.

He's one of those players you'd generally like on your side than playing against you.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

He's one of those players you'd generally like on your side than playing against you.

Agree. Not going to win any goalscoring competitions, but opposing managers hate him because he makes their defenders sweat.

I suspect he'd have come to notice sooner if he'd been playing for a slightly more attractive team than Bolton.

 

[Gritt23]

Surely it's not about who is in (Davies) it's who has been left out to accomodate him. If the best anyone can offer is Newcastle sub, Andy Carroll, then surely Capello has picked the best available. That's what he's there to do.

Perhaps we may get our expectation levels down to a reasonable level sometime soon.

Btw, I really like Huddlestone, and can't quite understand why others don't see it.

 

[Napper]

Davies has been brilliant this season and deserves it.

We pick a few players that didn't fail at the world cup and everyone moans.

They may show more passion than the old guard so go with it.

Best players don't always mean best team !!

I hope Davies does well, deserves this chance

 

[wallington seagull]

I like Kevin Davies too, a good old fashioned centre forward who will cause defenders trouble at whetever level he plays. OK, not a prolific goalscoring record and whilst I welcome his inclusion, I feel it is too late.

 

[Silent Bob]

If the best anyone can offer is Newcastle sub, Andy Carroll

Alright then, they should have picekd Ameobi.

Davies is rubbish. There are numerous strikers better than him in the Premiership whether they're playing or not.

Capello being there to pick "the best available" is half the problem, England need to bring through a new generation, not 33 year old Bolton elbow merchants, Capello is out the door in 2012 whatever happens so he has no reason to think beyond qualifying for that tournament, by hook or by crook. That's not what England needs.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Personally, I think Davies is a pretty good player.

My reservation though is that international referees will blow for a free kick against him, every single time he challenges for the ball.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Personally, I think Davies is a pretty good player.

My reservation though is that international referees will blow for a free kick against him, every single time he challenges for the ball.

Agreed.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

After watching the programme entitled: 'Will England win the next World Cup' last night I agree with Mr Lineker's summing up.

We are not producing enough international quality players in England.

 

[murphy's law]

Capello is a joke and he seems to be forever shooting himself in the foot. Wright-Phillips? Really? He calls up Wilshere (well done) but then Davies aswell! 33 years old so hardly someone for the long term, doesn't score, good replacement for Heskey I suppose then.

His actions seems to contunually stir media and publiv scorn, yet he stubbornly carries on regardless. His has a good club record, outstanding you would say, but his achievements at International level are modest at most.