Euro 2012

[Matt]

He doesn't follow instructions well enough. That's why Man City dropped him for the latter half of the season and he's very much not a Roy Hodgson player.

And as I said last time, Phil Jones is in the squad.

lol Mertens. Somehow, I think that England have an even better chance now, because people are counting them out. No one expects much from them so the pressure's off.

There's still massive pressure on them, everyone will still be ready to slag them off when they inevitably fail.

[Summers]

I like him at RB, I do. Probably more than Johnson, to be honest. But I wouldn't fancy him at CB at this level.

[therockbox]

I like him at RB, I do. Probably more than Johnson, to be honest.

Watch him every week and that will soon change.

Kelly's decent enough but he's a centre back in the long term. Gets beaten far too easily on his outside and isn't anywhere near Johnson in terms of what he offers going forward (although that's not too much of an issue in a Hodgson team).

[Summers]

I like him at RB, I do. Probably more than Johnson, to be honest.

Watch him every week and that will soon change.

Kelly's decent enough but he's a centre back in the long term. Gets beaten far too easily on his outside and isn't anywhere near Johnson in terms of what he offers going forward (although that's not too much of an issue in a Hodgson team).

As you know, I've only seen him a handful of times, I thought he looked good though. You really think he'll make it long-term as a CB then?

[Pesci]

He doesn't follow instructions well enough. That's why Man City dropped him for the latter half of the season and he's very much not a Roy Hodgson player.

And as I said last time, Phil Jones is in the squad.

I really don't rate Jones as a right back but I like him in other positions and he has the versatility to make him a great squad player.

And yeah I don't like Kelly as a centre back with so little professional football there but maybe this means Jones will focus more on centre back duties and Kelly will be there to back-up Johnson?

[Matt]

In the modern game, I'd be more concerned about getting beaten on the inside as a full back. Not many top sides have "get to the byline and cross the ball" wingers, they tend to be more "cut inside and have a shot/lay it off" wingers.

Edit: Pesci, I was referring more to the fact that Phil Jones has a tendancy to bugger off and leave the rest of the defence exposed (something I doubt he's instructed to do), rather than saying Micah is a better right back - which he is, but that wasn't the point. Micah can play centre half too, so it's not as though he's much less versatile than Jones.

[Gazz]

He doesn't follow instructions well enough. That's why Man City dropped him for the latter half of the season and he's very much not a Roy Hodgson player.

And as I said last time, Phil Jones is in the squad.

lol Mertens. Somehow, I think that England have an even better chance now, because people are counting them out. No one expects much from them so the pressure's off.

There's still massive pressure on them, everyone will still be ready to slag them off when they inevitably fail.

The pressure has now become 'well Greece were shit when they won, so so should we'.

[therockbox]

I like him at RB, I do. Probably more than Johnson, to be honest.

Watch him every week and that will soon change.

Kelly's decent enough but he's a centre back in the long term. Gets beaten far too easily on his outside and isn't anywhere near Johnson in terms of what he offers going forward (although that's not too much of an issue in a Hodgson team).

As you know, I've only seen him a handful of times, I thought he looked good though. You really think he'll make it long-term as a CB then?

Yeah, that was his main position in the reserves, and he only really broke into the first team as a right back because of Johnson's injuries. He does ok on the right but I think you can tell he's naturally a centre back, sometimes he drifts towards the middle of the defence which leads to problems with wingers beating him easily.

Also given his problem with hamstring injuries I can't see him playing as a full back for much longer, having to charge up and down the flank can't be good for him and moving him to the middle should help with that. Hopefully Rodgers' arrival will finally see Carragher finished as a first team player, and I can see Kelly becoming a 4th choice CB (behind Skrtel, Agger and Coates).

[Summers]

He better than Danny Wilson? I thought he was meant to be a great up-and-coming CB.

[9 to 5]

Scott Dann got screwed over again.

[Pesci]

In the modern game, I'd be more concerned about getting beaten on the inside as a full back. Not many top sides have "get to the byline and cross the ball" wingers, they tend to be more "cut inside and have a shot/lay it off" wingers.

Edit: Pesci, I was referring more to the fact that Phil Jones has a tendancy to bugger off and leave the rest of the defence exposed (something I doubt he's instructed to do), rather than saying Micah is a better right back - which he is, but that wasn't the point. Micah can play centre half too, so it's not as though he's much less versatile than Jones.

Richards tends to look shakey at centre-back and quite uncertain of himself. I definitely wouldn't want him there personally. Jones is more reliable in more positions, including midfield where we have a lack of defensive players. Jones is obviously far from the finished article but I trust him more than Richards to stay compact.

[therockbox]

He better than Danny Wilson? I thought he was meant to be a great up-and-coming CB.

Hasn't really played for us, spent the second half of last season on loan at Blackpool but only played a few games. We've not done too well with young centre backs over the last few years largely as a result of the three previous manager's inability to drop Carragher, so it's always been him + 1, which Sktel and Agger basically had wrapped up. It's also why Kelly broke through as a right back rather than a central defender, if we'd have had adequate cover there when for when Johnson gets injured Kelly would probably have only played a handful of games for us, all in the early rounds of the cups.

[Matt]

In the modern game, I'd be more concerned about getting beaten on the inside as a full back. Not many top sides have "get to the byline and cross the ball" wingers, they tend to be more "cut inside and have a shot/lay it off" wingers.

Edit: Pesci, I was referring more to the fact that Phil Jones has a tendancy to bugger off and leave the rest of the defence exposed (something I doubt he's instructed to do), rather than saying Micah is a better right back - which he is, but that wasn't the point. Micah can play centre half too, so it's not as though he's much less versatile than Jones.

Richards tends to look shakey at centre-back and quite uncertain of himself. I definitely wouldn't want him there personally. Jones is more reliable in more positions, including midfield where we have a lack of defensive players. Jones is obviously far from the finished article but I trust him more than Richards to stay compact.

Again, my point wasn't Richards > Jones, just that "he doesn't follow instructions" isn't a valid reason to not include him in our top 10 defenders (assuming Kyle Walker would have been selected) when Jones is in there.

[Pesci]

Ooh, apparently Richards threw a tantrum at not being included in the full squad and refused to go on the stand-by list, so say journos on Twitter. So that'll be why he's still not involved. There's a growing number of players thinking they're too big-time to be back-up for England which is a real worry going forward. I'd feel more confident if players like Carrick and Richards were there, certainly.

[Matt]

Oh, well if that's true he can join Carrick, Scholes, Carragher and Foster on the "fuck off, you don't pick and choose when to play" list.

Edit: OK, to be fair, Scholes did say he'd retired full stop, it was the media/fans wanting him back.

[TCO]

To be fair, if I were Micah Richards and I didn't get picked considering Kyle Walker was injured and Phil Jones made it in, I'd tell Hodgson to fuck off in the unfriendliest manner too.

[Pesci]

In the modern game, I'd be more concerned about getting beaten on the inside as a full back. Not many top sides have "get to the byline and cross the ball" wingers, they tend to be more "cut inside and have a shot/lay it off" wingers.

Edit: Pesci, I was referring more to the fact that Phil Jones has a tendancy to bugger off and leave the rest of the defence exposed (something I doubt he's instructed to do), rather than saying Micah is a better right back - which he is, but that wasn't the point. Micah can play centre half too, so it's not as though he's much less versatile than Jones.

Richards tends to look shakey at centre-back and quite uncertain of himself. I definitely wouldn't want him there personally. Jones is more reliable in more positions, including midfield where we have a lack of defensive players. Jones is obviously far from the finished article but I trust him more than Richards to stay compact.

Again, my point wasn't Richards > Jones, just that "he doesn't follow instructions" isn't a valid reason to not include him in our top 10 defenders (assuming Kyle Walker would have been selected) when Jones is in there.

But you said Richards isn't much less versatile than Jones, that's what I was addressing just there :/

[Summers]

Disgusting attitude by our countries players. Look at the Spain squad. Some of the names playing back up there are world class.

[Sam]

To be fair if you're Alonso or Fabregas you don't mind sitting on the bench for Busquets or Iniesta or Xavi.

England don't have that squad depth and I can understand why players like Richards, Carrick and Scholes got pissed off with the way they were used and treated in the past.

I mean are Barry, Lampard, Gerrard and Milner really so superior to Carrick that he's only managed one game in two World Cup squads?

Edited June 3, 2012 by Sam

[Summers]

I bet Alonso and Cesc DO mind, but they're proud to be called up for the national side and to be involved.