England v USA Starting XI

[Stumpy Tim]

Tim, I'm not sure it's necessarily what people "want", I don't think we've got too many viable options.

We're not in a position where we have to play this though. I would be staggered if Capello played them both in the centre. He's only done it for 20 minutes in a friendly since he's been manager - why would he change his policy at the World Cup? It won't happen

 

[Simster]

USA are shit we will piss this group

They're not shit. They just beat Australia 3-1 in a friendly and missed a hatful. All 3 of their goalkeepers would walk into our squad, and I think they're certainly better than the sum of their parts. I'd say they rank about half way in this competition of 32 teams.

That said, we ought to be winning this type of game if England are to be considered any sort of threat in this competition.


This would be my team:

.............Hart
Johnson King Terry Cole
Lennon Lampard Carrick Gerrard
........Crouch Rooney


Not happy about Carrick starting, to be honest, but you either play Gerrard on the left, or just behind Rooney - not alongside Lampard. If Gerrard plays in the alternative formation, then I'd drop Carrick and Crouch, and play Milner and Barry (when fit). Barry's lack of full fitness is why Capello's hand is forced here, IMO and it has to be Gerrard on the left.

 

[nwgull]

Greene

Johnson
Terry
King
A Cole

Lennon
Gerrard
Lampard
J Cole

Rooney

Crouch

I'm a big fan of the Heskey/Rooney partnership against better quality defence, but the USA are the sort of team that Crouch will get goals against.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Not happy about Carrick starting, to be honest, but you either play Gerrard on the left, or just behind Rooney - not alongside Lampard. If Gerrard plays in the alternative formation, then I'd drop Carrick and Crouch, and play Milner and Barry (when fit). Barry's lack of full fitness is why Capello's hand is forced here, IMO and it has to be Gerrard on the left.

This

 

[Tricky Dicky]

We're not in a position where we have to play this though. I would be staggered if Capello played them both in the centre. He's only done it for 20 minutes in a friendly since he's been manager - why would he change his policy at the World Cup? It won't happen

Sorry, yes, he'll play both, with Gerrard on the left as usual. I thought you meant that both should NOT play.

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

Never going to happen but I would go 4-3-2-1

Hart

Johnson
Terry
King
Cole

Gerrard
Lampard
Milner

J.Cole
Rooney

Heskey

 

[Marshy]

They're not shit. They just beat Australia 3-1 in a friendly and missed a hatful. All 3 of their goalkeepers would walk into our squad, and I think they're certainly better than the sum of their parts. I'd say they rank about half way in this competition of 32 teams.

That said, we ought to be winning this type of game if England are to be considered any sort of threat in this competition.


This would be my team:

.............Hart
Johnson King Terry Cole
Lennon Lampard Carrick Gerrard
........Crouch Rooney


Not happy about Carrick starting, to be honest, but you either play Gerrard on the left, or just behind Rooney - not alongside Lampard. If Gerrard plays in the alternative formation, then I'd drop Carrick and Crouch, and play Milner and Barry (when fit). Barry's lack of full fitness is why Capello's hand is forced here, IMO and it has to be Gerrard on the left.[/QUOTE


Bar the goalkeeper you couldnt fit any USA player in the England side on paper. They just beat Australia.....big deal. Another Country full of 2nd rate prem and European players.
Seroiusly we should and will piss all over this sort of side.
They are there for the taking i tell you. 2 or 3 nil no problems.

 

[TheFatBallBoy]

Why does everyone think James will start? He's probably not even going to be playing next season...

 

[Simster]

Bar the goalkeeper you couldnt fit any USA player in the England side on paper. They just beat Australia.....big deal. Another Country full of 2nd rate prem and European players.
Seroiusly we should and will piss all over this sort of side.
They are there for the taking i tell you. 2 or 3 nil no problems.

You are right that they read like a fairly ordinary Premiership team, but then so did Fulham at the beginning of the season.

We could easily win it 3-0, but equally I could see us falling behind and struggling to get back into it. Don't forget that the US beat Spain 2-0 last year, and were 2-0 against Brazil at half time before losing 3-2. Two teams who are better than England there.

 

[Acker79]

Will King start? I'm not going to argue that he isn't better than Upson or Dawson, but in the group stage do we need better than Upson or Dawson? I don't mean us to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks to be an easy group, do we really want to risk playing King in the group stages then have his knee stop him playing for several games, and have him be out in the next round when we might need him?


Having said that, I guess there's the argument USA are the strongest of our three opponents, play our best team in the first game to avoid an upset and get a win under our belts and momentum going, then give King a rest for the next two games, so he's ready to go in the next round...

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

we will draw 1-1 IMO. When was the last time we got 9 points in a World cup group?

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Will King start? I'm not going to argue that he isn't better than Upson or Dawson, but in the group stage do we need better than Upson or Dawson? I don't mean us to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks to be an easy group, do we really want to risk playing King in the group stages then have his knee stop him playing for several games, and have him be out in the next round when we might need him?


Having said that, I guess there's the argument USA are the strongest of our three opponents, play our best team in the first game to avoid an upset and get a win under our belts and momentum going, then give King a rest for the next two games, so he's ready to go in the next round...

Let's get through the group stage first before we think about resting players. King will be fine to play every 5-6 days and hence should start if Capello think he's the best centre half alongside Terry

 

[severnside gull]

Seroiusly we should and will piss all over this sort of side.
They are there for the taking i tell you. 2 or 3 nil no problems.

unfortunately we don't do "nil" very often and I think you are under-rating the USA so for me 2-1 would be good (oh and I think we will start with Heskey up front and replace him with Crouch later on)

My main worry after the two recent friendlies is that we will start slowly which could be a total disaster - we have to play our own style which means playing at pace for 90 minutes to have any chance in this competition

 

[Acker79]

Let's get through the group stage first before we think about resting players. King will be fine to play every 5-6 days and hence should start if Capello think he's the best centre half alongside Terry

Will he? His appearances this season suggest not.

 

[perth seagull]

Hopefully Barry will be fit and Milner will also be given a start. These are two players who could make a difference instead of more of the same from the old boys club.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I thought he was ok to play once a week, which is practically what he'll need to do. Maybe give him a rest if we win the first two games, but an international side cannot plan on resting a single player... Especially a central defender. If King isn't going to be fit for the tournament then he shouldn't be first choice

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Will he? His appearances this season suggest not.

He played 3 games in 9 games, in last week and bit of season. He can do it.

 

[Acker79]

He played 3 games in 9 games, in last week and bit of season. He can do it.

Which would be great if that wasn't so noteworthy for him. When was the last time he played so frequently without an ensuing period of time off? When he played a game after that period, two weeks later, he was slow and not up to the pace. In a friendly.

16-08-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool 0
23-08-2009 English Premier West Ham 1-2 Tottenham 0
29-08-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Birmingham 0

12-09-2009 English Premier Tottenham 1-3 Man Utd 0
20-09-2009 English Premier Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham 0

17-10-2009 English Premier Portsmouth 1-2 Tottenham 1

31-10-2009 English Premier Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham 0
07-11-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-0 Sunderland 0

26-12-2009 English Premier Fulham 0-0 Tottenham 0
28-12-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-0 West Ham 0

20-01-2010 English Premier Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham 0
26-01-2010 English Premier Tottenham 2-0 Fulham 0
30-01-2010 English Premier Birmingham 1-1 Tottenham 0
06-02-2010 English Premier Tottenham 0-0 Aston Villa 0
14-02-2010 English FA Cup Bolton 1-1 Tottenham 0
21-02-2010 English Premier Wigan 0-3 Tottenham 0

14-04-2010 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal 0

24-04-2010 English Premier Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham 1
01-05-2010 English Premier Tottenham 1-0 Bolton 0
05-05-2010 English Premier Man City 0-1 Tottenham 0
09-05-2010 English Premier Burnley 4-2 Tottenham 0


He was only fit enough to play in 20 premier league games. Playing once a week for more than a month was a struggle for him. As you can see he managed 6 games between Jan 20 and Feb 21 (32 days), he then needed 50+ days off.

If we make it to the final, he would have to play 7 games in four weeks. Only two weeks after he last played, not 52 days.

I'm not against him being there, but I think we have to pick and choose what games we use him in.

 

[WhingForPresident]

James/Hart
Johnson
King
Terry
Cole
Gerrard
Lampard
Barry/Milner
Cole
Crouch
Rooney

Then Lennon on for Cole after about an hour, maybe stick Heskey on for Crouch to hold the ball up if we're leading narrowly.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Which would be great if that wasn't so noteworthy for him. When was the last time he played so frequently without an ensuing period of time off? When he played a game after that period, two weeks later, he was slow and not up to the pace. In a friendly.

16-08-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool 0
23-08-2009 English Premier West Ham 1-2 Tottenham 0
29-08-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Birmingham 0

12-09-2009 English Premier Tottenham 1-3 Man Utd 0
20-09-2009 English Premier Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham 0

17-10-2009 English Premier Portsmouth 1-2 Tottenham 1

31-10-2009 English Premier Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham 0
07-11-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-0 Sunderland 0

26-12-2009 English Premier Fulham 0-0 Tottenham 0
28-12-2009 English Premier Tottenham 2-0 West Ham 0

20-01-2010 English Premier Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham 0
26-01-2010 English Premier Tottenham 2-0 Fulham 0
30-01-2010 English Premier Birmingham 1-1 Tottenham 0
06-02-2010 English Premier Tottenham 0-0 Aston Villa 0
14-02-2010 English FA Cup Bolton 1-1 Tottenham 0
21-02-2010 English Premier Wigan 0-3 Tottenham 0

14-04-2010 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal 0

24-04-2010 English Premier Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham 1
01-05-2010 English Premier Tottenham 1-0 Bolton 0
05-05-2010 English Premier Man City 0-1 Tottenham 0
09-05-2010 English Premier Burnley 4-2 Tottenham 0


He was only fit enough to play in 20 premier league games. Playing once a week for more than a month was a struggle for him. As you can see he managed 6 games between Jan 20 and Feb 21 (32 days), he then needed 50+ days off.

If we make it to the final, he would have to play 7 games in four weeks. Only two weeks after he last played, not 52 days.

I'm not against him being there, but I think we have to pick and choose what games we use him in.

Bit misleading as he suffered a hamstring injury, which you could argue could be connected to his knee but I dont think it was.