England squad to face Montenegro announced in the morning!
October 2nd 2010 22:25
Link: twitter.com/mattsaltmer
Following victories over Switzerland and Bulgaria in England's first two European Championship 2012 qualifiers, next week they host Montenegro in their third game. Not surprisingly, there has been the usual level of trials and tribulations leading up to the squad announcement tomorrow, and still a lot of questions to be answered. Two more players are said to be considering their retirement, or whether to join the squad. The captaincy is once again in question, and debates continue over picking players for the now, or future.
The easiest position to chose for Capello is goalkeepers. It is very clear that for the immediate future, Joe Hart is England's number one, and Ben Foster number two. With both playing regularly, and well, for their respective clubs, Man City and Birmingham, they are certainties for the squad. A decision is to be made over who will be third choice. The in form Robert Green looks to finally be over his World Cup nightmare, though he was given some dejavu when Clint Dempsey scored past him today. It will be Green, or West Brom stopper Scott Carson, who gets the nod.
Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott and Michael Dawson did well at centre back in the first two qualifiers, in the absence of first choice pairing, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry. But with those two back, you'd have to assume they will be in the squad. Dawson is currently injured, and with Lescott being unable to break into the Manchester City team of late, I think Jagielka, and Bolton's Gary Cahill, will probably join Terry and Ferdinand in the squad. West Ham centre back Matthew Upson is said to considering International retirement, so it will be interesting to see whether or not he is included, and what his reaction to the decision will be.
Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson will of course be in. Kieren Gibbs and Micah Richards are both in the Under 21s squad, so it will most likely be Baines and one other full back in. Personally, I'd like Capello to show faith in the young fullbacks Richards and Gibbs and include them, afterall, Cole and Johnson are bound to play anyway, so we should give the youngsters experience of being around the senior squad.
A youngster who's omission from the squad really surprises me though, is Jack Wilshere. The 18-year-old midfielder has been in fantastic form for Arsenal, establishing himself as a first teamer at one of Europe's top clubs. He is named in Stuart Pearce's Under 21s though, and will not add to his one cap next week. With Lampard and Walcott still injured, and Milner suspended, I'm interested to see what midfielders will make the cut. Obviously there will be Gerrard, Barry, and Adam Johnson. But besides that, places are definitely up for grabs.
Capello is likely to pick Carrick, despite his poor form of late. I think Ashley Young has done enough to merit his place in the squad, with good early season performances for Aston Villa. Wright-Phillips and Lennon have failed to impress, so there really are chances for some new faces to get picked. Players often on the brink of the England set-up, for example Stewart Downing, will be hoping for an inclusion.
In terms of strikers, there is good and bad news today for Fabio Capello. With Jermain Defoe, Gabby Agbonlahor and Bobby Zamora missing with injury, it is relief that the recently injured, and mentally missing, Wayne Rooney has declared himself 100% fit. Peter Crouch and Darren Bent are expected to be named as well. But given Carlton Cole's lack of first team football of late, there are calls from a lot of people for him not to be included. And the bad news today for the England manager, is that he failed in a bid to persuade in form Villa striker, Emile Heskey, to reconsider his International retirement.
So this could lead to a call up for Newcastle United's young striker, Andy Carroll. He isn't in the Under-21s squad, which is a huge hint he is in Capello's. As a Toon fan, it is obviously a great thrill seeing one of our players pull on an England shirt. But do I personally think Carroll is ready for England ... no! He will be a fine player, but at the moment isn't quite there. Yes he has four goals in seven in the Premier League this season, but three came in one match, where everything was going brilliantly, I may have scored two! But given the players missing, he is a good option, and if he is handed a chance due to all these injuries, I'd be delighted if he took it.
There may well be five strikers in the squad, so I'd like to see Michael Owen included. Having scored 3 in 2 games for United, he started today at Sunderland and barely touched the ball in a goalless draw. But he is a better finisher, and overall striker, than any other option Capello has for this squad. Based on the players missing, I'd go for Bent, Carroll, Crouch, Owen and Rooney as my five forwards.
The other pressing question, is who gets the captaincy. Capello ruthlessly stripped John Terry back at the start of the year, and appointed Rio Ferdinand. Rio has recently lost the Manchester United captaincy due to his injury problems, and could well face the same fate with England. Steven Gerrard has been an inspirational leader as stand in, and one of the only players to come away from the World Cup avoiding criticism. Gerrard has brilliantly lead us to six points in the campaign so far, so Capello has a huge decision to make on who will lead the country out against Montenegro, on tuesday 12th October.
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