*Official* England Squad Thread

[sledger]

Pretty sure any member of the current squad would warrant inclusion over Darren Anderton tbh.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Think people are being very generous when they look back on players in the 90s.

Someone like Les Ferdinand for instance - he's just the same calibre as someone like Darren Bent as far as I'm concerned. The EPL now is much stronger than it was then, before the statistical comparisons start. The influx of foreigners and so on has spread the English players out. A good English player back in the early 90s would have probably been snapped up by one of the title contenders. Now they'd generally be looking at Aston Villa, Tottenham or worse.

 

[Jarquis]

Tottenham or worse.

Does not compute.

 

[grecian]

Think people are being very generous when they look back on players in the 90s.

Someone like Les Ferdinand for instance - he's just the same calibre as someone like Darren Bent as far as I'm concerned. The EPL now is much stronger than it was then, before the statistical comparisons start. The influx of foreigners and so on has spread the English players out. A good English player back in the early 90s would have probably been snapped up by one of the title contenders. Now they'd generally be looking at Aston Villa, Tottenham or worse.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you say, that '98 squad doesn't look that great to me. Yet this England side has massive form worries (Terry, Gerard, Rooney), injury-plagued players, missing personnel, and a lot of unproven/or proven****e which means there's massive gaps in our side at centre-back, right-back, gk, and one decent striker. If Rob Green or David James start, we'll be 1-0 down effectively right away, that 98 side at least had decent starters in every position except one. Which did cause us problems then, with one weak spot, we've now got about 5.

Hope to be proven wrong, of course

 

[Pothas]

Naaaah. God bless you for trying to put a positive spin on it tho. Sir Les was a proper goal scoring target man we'd kill for now.

Wouldn't have Barry or Joe Cole in their current states of repair ahead of Batty or Merse or Anderton either. Lennon ahead of Lee, maybe.

Anderton being picked because his fitness is better.....what has the world come to.

Think Joe Cole and Barry have decent claims to be honest.

Agree about Les though, a mile better than any striker in our squad outside Rooney, could really do with any of those strikers from 98 right now.

 

[GIMH]

Naaaah. God bless you for trying to put a positive spin on it tho. Sir Les was a proper goal scoring target man we'd kill for now.

Wouldn't have Barry or Joe Cole in their current states of repair ahead of Batty or Merse or Anderton either. Lennon ahead of Lee, maybe.

Don't care enough to argue about Batty or Merson but if you ever wanted Anderton above cole you must be on crack. And you call yourself a ****ing gooner!

 

[sledger]

Yeah, Les Ferdinand was far superior to Darren Bent and Jermaine Defoe, they shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath. It was only a few seasons back that Ferndinand was still playing for West Ham and Leicester and still doing a good job in the very final days of his career let's not forget. A far better out and out centre forward than either of them, would comfortably make this England side. As would Teddy Sheringham I would suggest.

Also, wasn't the fitness of Darren Anderton a bit of a running joke anyway? I remember he was always being lambasted for being unfit, and generally crap.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Think people are being very generous when they look back on players in the 90s.

Someone like Les Ferdinand for instance - he's just the same calibre as someone like Darren Bent as far as I'm concerned. The EPL now is much stronger than it was then, before the statistical comparisons start. The influx of foreigners and so on has spread the English players out. A good English player back in the early 90s would have probably been snapped up by one of the title contenders. Now they'd generally be looking at Aston Villa, Tottenham or worse.

Ferdinand was signed up by title contenders, tbf. Newcastle finished 2nd twice in the mid 90s, lest people forget. I'd take him ahead of any of this year's mob, save Rooney, obv. Had touch, control and was amazing in the air.

 

[Pothas]

Also, wasn't the fitness of Darren Anderton a bit of a running joke anyway? I remember he was always being lambasted for being unfit, and generally crap.

Sick note was a pretty decent player when he was fit, that just did not happen very often.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah but I'd say Joe Cole is a class above what Anderton was at his best, and an unfit Cole is better than an unfit Anderton. IMO.

 

[sledger]

Yeah but I'd say Joe Cole is a class above what Anderton was at his best, and an unfit Cole is better than an unfit Anderton. IMO.

Yeah I'd agree. My memory of Anderton is that he was a player of style over substance who flattered to deceive and was a favourite of Gelnn Hoddle, hence why he played so many times. Really cannot see why he was given a place in the squad over Gazza or even Le Tissier.

Edit: There are obviously plenty of reasons why Gazza should not have been included to be fair. But in terms of ability, he was light years ahead of Anderton.

 

[grecian]

Yeah I'd agree. My memory of Anderton is that he was a player of style over substance who flattered to deceive and was a favourite of Gelnn Hoddle, hence why he played so many times. Really cannot see why he was given a place in the squad over Gazza or even Le Tissier.

Edit: There are obviously plenty of reasons why Gazza should not have been included to be fair. But in terms of ability, he was light years ahead of Anderton.

Anderton played on the left for England, wasn't in contention with gazza iirc, Rob Lee, and Rio (who was never going to play) were the two that probably kept him out.

 

[sledger]

Was Jamie Redknapp injured for 98? If not, I would say he should have probably been in the squad ahead of Rob Lee as well. Ray Parlour probably unlucky to miss out too.

 

[GIMH]

Was Jamie Redknapp injured....?.

What a stupid question

Of course he was

He was literally dying from the pain

 

[sledger]

What a stupid question

Of course he was

He was literally dying from the pain

Use full stops ffs.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Ferdinand was signed up by title contenders, tbf. Newcastle finished 2nd twice in the mid 90s, lest people forget. I'd take him ahead of any of this year's mob, save Rooney, obv. Had touch, control and was amazing in the air.

Yep, he looks better because he's surrounded by weaker teams, players. That Newcastle side would be mid-table these days, competing for a UEFA spot. Like a weaker equivalent of Man City for me. Instead of getting 30 a season it would be 15-20.

 

[Uppercut]

Definitely think there's an element of rose-tinted specs around regarding Les Ferdinand. In 1995 he was the answer to England's problems. In 1998 he was an injury-prone striker coming off the back of a poor season who played up front for a bottom-half Spurs side. Still better than Crouch though.

Goalkeeping really stands out there. I'd take any of 1998's three over any of those in the current squad. Twice as many world-class strikers, too. Although it's worth mentioning that players like Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville weren't half the players they later became.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Goalkeeping really stands out there. I'd take any of 1998's three over any of those in the current squad. Twice as many world-class strikers, too. Although it's worth mentioning that players like Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville weren't half the players they later became.

Disagree quite strongly with Neville, in fact he'd probably already peaked as an international player by 98. In Euro 96 he'd looked like the answer to England's right back issues with his marauding overlapping runs, but it wasn't to last and he slowly regressed to the niggly, solid whiner he eventually proved to be.

 

[Ikki]

LOL, it seems you cant read the news without Spain praising the English team or her players. Now Xavi is praising Gerrard and Lampard: SportingLife | World Cup 2010 in South Africa | News | Xavi backs Lamps and Gerrard

And Vidic fears England: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/794043/ce/uk/?cc=3436&ver=global

 

[Agent TBY]

Have to say that, in terms of depth, it's one of the worst squads we've sent for a while. When you look at the players we took in 1998, say, the difference is enough to make you weep. Wiki:

Keepers: Seaman, Martyn, Flower
Right back: Neville
Left back: Le Saux
Centre-Halves: Adams, Campbell, Southgate, Keown, R Ferdinand
Midfield: Ince, Batty, Lee, Beckham, Scholes, Anderton, Merson, Scholes, McManaman
Strikers: Shearer, Owen, Sheringham, L Ferdinand.

Aside from at least one too many centre-halves it looks a much better squad. How many of the current mob would make it? Cashley, Terry, Gerrard, Fat Frank, Rooney & maybe Lennon at a stretch.

Also one Scholes too many.