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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Italy Out!


HomerJay

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I'm not surprised, since the World Cup, Italy have shown nothing worthy of World Champions, poor in Euro 2008, Confederations cup, not really impressive in qualifiers and this world cup they have been worse than average, drawing to New Zealand and losing to Slovakia is really embarrassing.

 

I know England have had their problems, but we are nothing like Italy & France.

 

Great game that, an epic finish to the match, I thought Italy had nicked a place in the last minute when they put it wide.

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I know England have had their problems, but we are nothing like Italy & France.

Not yet, but give it four years.

 

Italy haven't been able to replace their best generation of players in modern times and now find themselves stuck with a mixture of has-beens and never-will-bes (and one or two never-really-weres like Camoranesi and Iaquinta). I suspect it will be a good while before they're back in contention for major international honours.

 

So think on:

 

Out of the current England squad (the, er, Golden Generation), only Hart, Johnson, Lennon, Milner and Rooney will be under 30 in 2014.

 

Lampard and Gerrard will be 36 and 34 respectively, Terry and Upson 33 and 35.

 

Presumably David James will still be going strong at 43.

 

You like doing stuff like this - pick us a possible England squad to go to Brazil and let's see what we've got to look forward to.

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Think Terry at 33 isnt necessarily a problem. He's never been quick etc. Interesting to see if Ashley Cole at 33 is still the smae player mind.

 

In terms of talent coming through.... I guess we made the final at last year's EuroU21's

 

But a quick look at the line-up, I cant see much tbh. Perhaps Johnson and Rodwell.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_UEFA_European_Under-21_Football_Championship#Final

 

GK 22 Scott Loach

RB 2 Martin Cranie

CB 17 Micah Richards

CB 6 Nedum Onuoha

LB 19 Kieran Gibbs

DM 12 Fabrice Muamba

CM 4 Lee Cattermole

CM 10 Mark Noble ©

RW 7 James Milner

LW 11 Adam Johnson

CF 14 Theo Walcott

Substitutions:

DF 18 Michael Mancienne

MF 15 Jack Rodwell

MF 8 Craig Gardner

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You like doing stuff like this - pick us a possible England squad to go to Brazil and let's see what we've got to look forward to.

 

thinking Wilshire, Walcott & Adam Johnson off top of my head

 

not that it's much of a guide, as not that many players who play U21s generally make the step up, but here's our current crop

 

based on reputation and what I've actually seen of them, I reckon the players in bold could make it

 

Goal

Scott Loach - Watford

Frank Fielding - Blackburn Rovers

Alex McCarthy - Reading

 

Defence

Michael Mancienne - Wolverhampton Wanderers

Micah Richards - Manchester CIty

James Tomkins - West Ham United

Kyle Naughton - Middlesbrough

Ryan Bertrand - Chelsea

Chris Smalling - Fulham

Kyle Walker - Tottenham Hotspur

 

Midfield

Fabrice Muamba - Bolton Wanderers

Lee Cattermole - Sunderland

Jack Rodwell - Everton

Tom Cleverley - Manchester United

Jack Wilshere - Arsenal

Fabian Delph - Aston Villa

Jack Cork - Burnley

Dan Gosling - Everton

Henri Lansbury - Arsenal

Victor Moses - Wigan Athletic

 

Forwards

Andy Carroll - Newcastle United

Daniel Sturridge - Chelsea

Danny Welbeck - Manchester United

Nathan Delfouneso - Aston Villa

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Not yet, but give it four years.

 

Italy haven't been able to replace their best generation of players in modern times and now find themselves stuck with a mixture of has-beens and never-will-bes (and one or two never-really-weres like Camoranesi and Iaquinta). I suspect it will be a good while before they're back in contention for major international honours.

 

So think on:

 

Out of the current England squad (the, er, Golden Generation), only Hart, Johnson, Lennon, Milner and Rooney will be under 30 in 2014.

 

Lampard and Gerrard will be 36 and 34 respectively, Terry and Upson 33 and 35.

 

Presumably David James will still be going strong at 43.

 

You like doing stuff like this - pick us a possible England squad to go to Brazil and let's see what we've got to look forward to.

 

ok i'll have a go i'll pick a couple or three players for each position but it will mostly depend on a few fulfilling their potential.

 

GK hart, green, foster

DR johnson, richards, onuha

DL cole (will be 33 but prob still our best) baines, gibbs

DC terry (33 again still prob best) dawson, lescott, cahill, jagielka,

MR walcott, lennon, milner

ML cole, young, wilshere

MC rodwell, muamba :whistle: , huddlestone, gerrard (33/34 as above) barry (32/33), cattermole

ST rooney, agbonlahor, bent, defoe(31), sturridge, wellbeck, delfouneso

 

looking at that we need a couple of better centre midfielders and a left back. everywhere else looks fairly strong imo!!

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