Sven-Goran Eriksson's provisional squad for the World Cup finals in Germany: Robinson (Tottenham), James (Manchester City), Green (Norwich), G Neville (Manchester United), R Ferdinand (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), A Cole (Arsenal), Campbell (Arsenal), Carragher (Liverpool), Bridge (Chelsea), Beckham (Real Madrid), Carrick (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jenas (Totenham), Downing (Middlesbrough), J Cole (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham), Rooney (Manchester United), Owen (Newcastle), Crouch (Liverpool), Walcott (Arsenal).

Standby players for his England World Cup squad: Scott Carson, Luke Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, Jermain Defoe, Andy Johnson.




And Eriksson's brought out the gambler in him. Taking Walcott is scary but justifiable as a wild card, but leaving of Defoe ? This means you have 4 strikers (rooney, owen, crouch, walcott), two of which are injured at best. And what role is Hargraves/Jenas going to play ? Take one, drop the other for Defoe. Additionally, why not name Ledley King in the provisional squad, knowing you can replace him, rather than going with Sol Campbell, who's looked well.. awful.

Also, why is Johnson in the standby as opposed to BEnt ? The latter's scored his goals at a significantly higher level .

Cambell has actually played well the past few games. Walcott seems like an odd selection, given the risk at striker. I thought he was more of winger anyway.

He's got Beckham which satisfies me! I'll be rooting for the Brits (only when they aren't playing the US of course!)

Mmmmmm - Beckham <sigh>

Not a great 24 hours for Defoe.

Taking Walcott is scary but justifiable as a wild card, but leaving of Defoe ? This means you have 4 strikers (rooney, owen, crouch, walcott), two of which are injured at best.

According to the BBC, Sven's explanation of that is that Joe Cole is also a striker. Which is complete nonsense, of course, but does suggest that Sven might be thinking about playing a 4-3-3 if Rooney's injured. In that case Cole can fill one of the forward roles, Walcott makes more sense, Gerrard & Lampard can work together with someone further back to cover for them, and there's still no point to Jenas. I mean, even if you don't want the spot for another striker, why is Jenas ahead of Reo-Coker?

Personally, behind Rooney, Owen and Crouch, who all have their very different skills and benefits #4 forward would probably be Gerrard - let him play between midfield and a lone striker.

This allows a midfield of Beckham-Lampard-Carrick-Cole, which has balance, and uses Gerrard's inexhaustible engine, drive and abilities to the maximum while providing the cover so he doesn;t have to worry about the defensive side so much.

Walcott is a strange one tbh, can't see the justification for him over Defoe, Bent (in particular), Ashton, probably even AJ (although I think he's in no way international quality). Just very strange - he was piss poor at Leicester earlier this year, but admittedly just one game, and before he had Wenger coaching him.

To be fair to Walcott, he's very very highly rated. When Wenger suggests to Eriksson that he should bring Walcott to the World Cup, it says a lot about Walcott's abilities.

And quite frankly, Bent, Ashton, Andy Johnson .. these aren't international strikers. They are decent Premiership strikers but opposing defences aren't going to be worried facing them. Walcott is an unknown quantity that Arsenal paid millions for and he just may have that star quality about him. Lest we forget, Rooney was a phenomenon as a teen as well.

The England keepers are suspect IMO. Robinson is alright, James has mental issues and Green, to me, is just a squad filler.

4-3-3? No, the back-up plan has to be 4-5-1 with Crouch up front.

I can't believe James is still getting call-ups for the England side. The GK situation in England must be more dire than when I left (1999).

If James could cut out the occasional (once every half dozen - ten games?) rushes of blood to the head, he would be #1 - the problem is that in a WC of (hopefully ;) )seven games, there is a better than even chance James will fuck up once, and in a WC you can;t afford this.

But as far as shot stopping goes IMHO he's better than Robinson, but Robinson wins by being more dependable

4-3-3? No, the back-up plan has to be 4-5-1 with Crouch up front.

Same thing, basically. The only difference is how far forward the wingers go. You're probably right, though: given Sven's general cautious style, it's likely to be closer to a 4-5-1.

To be fair to Walcott, he's very very highly rated. When Wenger suggests to Eriksson that he should bring Walcott to the World Cup, it says a lot about Walcott's abilities.

And quite frankly, Bent, Ashton, Andy Johnson .. these aren't international strikers. They are decent Premiership strikers but opposing defences aren't going to be worried facing them. Walcott is an unknown quantity that Arsenal paid millions for and he just may have that star quality about him. Lest we forget, Rooney was a phenomenon as a teen as well.


But Rooney had been playing in the Premiership regularly for two years by the time he went to a major tournament. Michael Owen, when he went to France as an 18-year-old, had just tied for league's leading scorer. Walcott's never played a game in the top flight. Not quite the same situation.

And if you want to gamble on a youngster, you leave out a player from where your squad's deepest (ie Jenas/Hargreaves). You don't drop players from the squad's weak point.

Hmmm... and I wonder why include Jenas and leave off Parker if you wanted another midfielder (ie, another question as to Jenas' inclusion). And Walcott over Defore or Ashton? Huh?

Hmmm... and I wonder why include Jenas and leave off Parker if you wanted another midfielder (ie, another question as to Jenas' inclusion). And Walcott over Defore or Ashton? Huh?

I can understand Walcott - his ceiling is probably higher than Ashton and co. But Jenas and Hargraves make no sense - dump one of them for a Defoe.

AS for Parker, he must have run over Sven's dog, because he's been resolute in not giving him a chance.

Screw ceiling, the World Cup is not the forum to test a guy's potential UNLESS you have nothing to lose by playing him. I can only suspect that Sven thinks England doesn't have much of a shot to begin with, and is trying the unknown to try and catch lightning in a bottle.

AS for Parker, he must have run over Sven's dog, because he's been resolute in not giving him a chance.

Seems like it. Seems strange to not even consider someone who plays hard and can hang back a bit in central midfield to play a little defense.

To be fair, I think Parker has mono and has been ruled out - but it doesn't seem likely that he will be given a chance in any case.

To be fair to Walcott, he's very very highly rated. When Wenger suggests to Eriksson that he should bring Walcott to the World Cup, it says a lot about Walcott's abilities.

And quite frankly, Bent, Ashton, Andy Johnson .. these aren't international strikers. They are decent Premiership strikers but opposing defences aren't going to be worried facing them. Walcott is an unknown quantity that Arsenal paid millions for and he just may have that star quality about him. Lest we forget, Rooney was a phenomenon as a teen as well.

The England keepers are suspect IMO. Robinson is alright, James has mental issues and Green, to me, is just a squad filler.

Firstly nearly every manager will 'tip' at least one of their players for an International cap or similar, its good management to show your faith in them - I don't honestly think Wenger expected him to go, but now probably feels 'heck its good experience for him and seeing as I don't reckon he's good enough for the Arsenal first team its the only way he'll get it without going on loan' ;)

Walcott undoubtably has a lot of potential - BUT as a striker he's relatively untried, remember he was largely used as a winger in his earlier career pre-Arsenal.

Ashton imho would have been ideal for a call up, he's a big strong striker who uses the ball intelligently and can hold it up. He had no chance of getting a call up this year simply because he's not playing at a big enough club, however if he continue to perform as well in the future as he did this year I believe it'll come - hopefully he won't have to move club to be taken seriously .... but it does unfortunately play a big part in a players selection these days.

As it stands if Owen isn't fully fit* then I'd expect England to play a 451 with Lampard and Gerrard playing attacking roles from central midfield and a big lunk up front ...

If Owen is fit then I'd expect a 442 with him and Crouch.

*Rooney is never going to be fit for the initial games imho so I'll ignore him for now.