There are more effective players than Lingard in league one.
The 2004-2006 squad was infinitely more talented and had more quality.
England squad (Games against Bulgaria and Kosovo)
- Thread starter Sean_RedDevil
- Start date
The 2004-2006 squad was infinitely more talented and had more quality.
slight hip problem but will likely play this weekend, think we've been cautious as we had Fuchs available
I think one of the problems back then with the squad was a lack of balance and a huge drop off from the first team to back up players.
I think our front 3 of Sancho, Sterling and Kane is a lot better than anything we had back then.
Where is WC2018 starting leftback Shmashley Young??
And the defense and midfield were a lot better than they are now.
Are you just assuming he is bad because he plays for a mid table club or have you actually seen him play?Tyrone Mings?
I mean, it’s irrelevant who he picks because they’ll roll over Bulgaria and Kosovo regardless but...really?!
Mings has most clearances made by any defender so far in the Prem.
No chance.
Pick a first eleven from that time. You’ll have at least three no hopers.
What's with this picking 3 right backs nonsense? He's been doing it since the world cup. Also, you're picking three right backs, yet leave the best of the lot out? Really baffling considering how well Walker has started the season. 
Also, Lingard
Deserved call ups for Mount and Maddison. Surpised not to see Abraham to be honest. He's a lot younger than Wilson and has a much higher ceiling. Haven't seen Mings so can't comment. No Dier and Delph is good news.
Also, Lingard
Deserved call ups for Mount and Maddison. Surpised not to see Abraham to be honest. He's a lot younger than Wilson and has a much higher ceiling. Haven't seen Mings so can't comment. No Dier and Delph is good news.
Pickford
Trent Gomez Maguire Chilwell
Henderson Winks
Sancho Maddison Sterling
Kane
Trent Gomez Maguire Chilwell
Henderson Winks
Sancho Maddison Sterling
Kane
Lingard- A Forward?
He was excellent against Spurs. Had Kane in his pocket.Tyrone Mings?
I mean, it’s irrelevant who he picks because they’ll roll over Bulgaria and Kosovo regardless but...really?!
Didn't Kane score twice in that game?
Even more baffling considering that Walker can cover at CB too.
Depends how you look at it. Trent is better than Walker offensively and AWB better than him defensively. Walker hasn't shown his best form for England whilst Trippier has.What's with this picking 3 right backs nonsense? He's been doing it since the world cup. Also, you're picking three right backs, yet leave the best of the lot out? Really baffling considering how well Walker has started the season.
Also, Lingard
Deserved call ups for Mount and Maddison. Surpised not to see Abraham to be honest. He's a lot younger than Wilson and has a much higher ceiling. Haven't seen Mings so can't comment. No Dier and Delph is good news.
Pickford
Trent Gomez Maguire Chilwell
Henderson Winks
Sancho Maddison Sterling
Kane
England have so many good right backs at the moment that it's an interesting situation. Best to get AWB cap tied too. I think AWB could do crucial specialist defensive jobs in big tournaments too.
Yes chance, I have no time for attacking players with no output, waste of time and space.
He’s bad at what he does, he’s like a plumber who never fixes the sink, a year without an assist or a goal, get outta here man.
Robinson
Cole
Terry
Ferdinand
Neville
J.Cole
Lampard
Hargreaves
Gerrard
Beckham
Rooney
That’s one “no hoper” at worst, the goalie.
The rest are either very very good or world class.
I mean, there are 6-7 world class players in that side.
They beat the current lot 8 out of 10 (unless it gets to penalties of course).
The current squad does have better depth but the spine is significantly weaker.
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I doubt any of those players ever started together.
In 2006 World Cup we had Crouch, Downing, Robinson and Owen (at Newcastle) starting games. In the qualification process you had Bridge, Vassell, Alan Smith starting games.
Find me an England first eleven from that time period that would beat today’s squad. You won’t be able to.
Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Tom Heaton (Aston Villa)
Nick Pope (Burnley)
--------------------------
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka(Manchester United)
--------------------------
Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
Michael Keane (Everton)
Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa)
------------------------
Ben Chilwell (Leicester City)
Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur)
------------------------
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
Ross Barkley (Chelsea)
Declan Rice (West Ham United)
James Maddison (Leicester City)
Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool)
Mason Mount (Chelsea)
-----------------------
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund
Callum Wilson (AFC Bournemouth)
You're welcome.
It’s not the 1980s any more. Making a lot of clearances suggests a defender doesn’t have the composure to play out from the back.
He’s at a newly promoted team after playing most of his career as a Championship player. The only time he’s ever been at a “mid table club” was when he was a reserve at Bournemouth.
Mental to give caps out to 26 year olds after doing alright in a grand total of three Premier League matches.
Pretty sure the team he posted was literally the starting XI for the World Cup quarter final against Portugal.
Van dijk makes more clearances per 90 mins than Smalling, does that mean he lacks composure compared to Smalling?
He isn't getting just for doing something alright in 3 PL games, he was very good for Villa in championship too.
That’s literally the first eleven that started against Portugal in the quarters.
Midfield was stacked with many similar players and while there was depth at CB. At RB, I'd take the current set of RBs over the Neville brothers and at LB, while we had A. Cole, Wayne Bridge was our second choice and I think we have a few players comfortably better than him.
He's been picked ahead of Dunk & Tarkowski to replace the injured Stones, he probably won't even play a minute
I suppose it depends how you define a clearance. I certainly wouldn’t consider it to be an inherently positive statistic for a central defender though.
Being good in the Championship is totally irrelevant though. The gap between that level and the Premier League is huge. If I were one of those bang average centre backs at Burnley or Brighton or whatever with 100 odd PL games under my belt, I’d be fuming that this lad got a call up.
Well that’s me an idiot then!
Well yeah, they’re nothing players but they’ve earned it a lot more than a guy who was a Bournemouth reserve a few months ago. Just a really weird selection.
He is !!
Supposed to be very close to playing but not sure about match fitness.
He wasn't called up when he was doing well in championship though, he was called up when he continued that form and played well in PL too. Like @Jimmy Skitz mentioned, he was called up ahead of few average defenders, not like he was called ahead of very good CBs.
Three games!
Call me an old fart but I still think an international call up should be earned.
Is he eligible for another country like Zaha was? If so then yeah I agree.
if he's in better form than them then he deserves the call up, he's also naturally left footed and can provide cover at left back, something the others cannot
Yeah, but there are players like Mason Mount who was championship player last season and played 3 PL games. Ox barely played last season and played around 100 mins this season, Lingard who didn't contribute to a goal since December. Delph was called up when he barely played for City.
I agree with the general point but harsh to point out only on Mings, who did well for Villa.
It wasn't too long ago that people on here were calling for Mings to be banned for life after he stamped all over Olivira, and that was after he stamped all over Ibra the year before.
Now some of you are praising his inclusion in this squad.
I'm with those who think he should have been banned for a couple of years at least.
Now some of you are praising his inclusion in this squad.
I'm with those who think he should have been banned for a couple of years at least.
There’s definitely a difference though. Mount has gone through all the England youth teams and is a young player who has been destined for the senior team for years. Players like Chamberlain, Lingard and Delph have all had experience at the top level and have usually played well for England when selected. They’re all different to the Mings situation, a guy who is essentially a journeyman who’s had a few good months, mostly in a crap league.
I’ve always thought the “picking on club form” mantra was nonsense anyway. The most important thing you can do as an international coach is build a core group of players and try to keep it as consistent as possible due to the lack of time the staff actually get to coach the side. Guys like Lingard can be useless for United but always seem to perform well for England and know their jobs inside out and that’s what matters.
Democratic Republic of Congo. He actually played for their u20 in an 8-0 loss to our u17s a few years back.
No Mason Greenwood in the squad?
Defenders clearing the ball is not some sort of negative, and never will be.
Mings is a very good defender. He was a big money signing for Bournemouth when they went up, but never got to settle as he did his cruciate within 5 games. The club had to move on without him and he ended up on loan at Villa to rebuild himself, but he was clearly a level above the Championship there, and his price reflected that he wasn’t any old random Championship clogger.
My point is, his story took a bit of a detour due to a bad injury, but it was written a few years ago for him to possibly end up an international player, hence his £11m price tag 4 or 5 years ago.
It's not like Mings is some 30 year old player, he is 26. His form deserves call up.
26 is ancient to be earning first international call ups tbh. I can only think of Jamie Vardy who’s debuted for England past his early 20s and had a half decent England career.
And I totally disagree about the form. He’d have to have played three games like prime Beckenbauer to have earned an international call up on form.
Maguire, Trippier all made debuts later in their career IIRC.
He is also not keeping likes of Beckenbauer out of the team.
Maguire was called up at 24. Good shout with Trippier though. I’m actually surprised that he didn’t get called up for England until after two seasons with Spurs and an impressive debut PL season with Burnley. Feels like he’s been around forever.
Even with these “underdog” players, it seems like they’ve always been on the radar though. Trippier played through all underage levels and even Maguire was capped by the U21s back in 2012. Mings seems so random because he’s never, ever looked like playing for England at any level. Before now, the only talk of him playing international football has been with Barbados.
Good luck to the guy, but it’s got a bit of the Jay Bothroyds about it.