England 25-man Squad to play Bulgaria & Switzerland

The Premier League is just three weeks on and already the players are heading off for International duty, as the English top flight takes a two week break. As far as us English are concerned, Fabio Capello has already hand-picked the 23 players chosen to represent their country in the latest, the first in actual fact, qualifiers for the 2010 European Championships – A tournament England didn’t even make in the last round of qualifying under Steve McClaren, also-known-as; the Man with the Brolly.

Of those named in the 25, just 14 remain from the team which participated in a miserable 2010 World Cup campaign which peaked at a pathetic 1-0 win over Slovenia but took a serious nose-dive when enduring an emphatic and humiliating 4-1 loss at the hands of Germany in the Last-Sixteen stage of the tournament. Of course, two players who were’t picked but would have been are Chelsea duo John Terry and Frank Lampard, who conveniently picked up a knock before England’s very next competitive fixture following South Africa. After all, we are in a day and age where club football seemingly comes way before country, and after an abysmal spell in South Africa in the summer, perhaps it’s understandable why some wouldn’t want to turn out for their country – Of course, that is a load of rubbish and those 11 new Lions are rightly chomping at the bit to be involved against Bulgaria on September 3rd and Switzerland on September 7th.

The eleven new players entrusted with getting the Three Lions back on track and roaring are as follows: Scott Carson & Ben Foster; Gary Cahill, Kieran Gibbs, Phil Jagielka & Joloen Lescott; Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott & Ashley Young; Darren Bent & Carlton Cole.

Two players that stand out from that list; Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson. These are two of our prominent players of the future, but are also at that sort of age where a spell at the finals of a major tournament would have served them well in their prosperous careers ahead. They are also two players which posses the ability to produce something special in an instance, a moment of brilliance which can unlock a defence or break any deadlock, and yet Fabio Capello thought otherwise and instead opted to take Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Philips, two players which made little or no impact in proceedings in South Africa.

The form of Walcott in particular has been poignant, a player tossed by the wayside by Capello in a somewhat shock final squad omission, although, going on form at the time, he was probably right to have adjudged Walcott surplus to requirements. Then again, I would have taken Walcott over SWP any day of the week. However, instead of spending the summer drowning on his sorrows and wallowing in self-pity, Walcott has worked tiresomely on his game, and my how his hard-work shows. Since returning to domestic life, Walcott has been in scintillating for for his club Arsenal, scoring four goals in his opening three league games, including an impress hat-trick against newly promoted Blackpool – One which brought back memories of a famous night in Zagreb when the same Speedy Gonzalez achieved the same feat while playing for England in a game which ultimately sent England on their way to South Africa.

I’m not entirely sure what Scott Carson has done as to earn himself a call up, although, saying that, their isn’t a great deal to choose from from an English goalkeeping point of view. Ben Foster has made a string of good saves at his new club Birmingham City, and the former Man Utd keeper is clearly a player Capello rates highly as one for the future. However, the number one jersey should be Joe Hart‘s for the foreseeable future now that David James is over the hill and far away, Paul Robinson no longer wants to represent his country – Good riddance there then, and Robert Green hasn’t yet to be forgiven for his howler in South Africa which cost England top-spot in their group, while the West Ham shot-stopper has done little stopping during the early stages of the season..

There wasn’t too many surprises in defence considering the circumstances. However, if you were to ask one-hundred fans who their strongest back four would be then of those available only Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson are likely to start both qualifiers, with Rio Ferdinand and John Terry both ruled out through injury while Jamie Carragher only came out of international retirement to help out in South Africa, although he proved more of a hinderence if truth be told. It does, though, provide an ample opportunity for two new centre-half’s to stamp their mark on proceedings in two significant games. If we were to second guess Capello, never the smartest move, then England’s opening centre-back partnership could contain Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott. Michael Dawson was suspect in a recent friendly with Hungary, so preference is for the aforementioned, although the performance of Lescott in particular is one to watch as had it not been for injuries hampering his first-team outings last season, the Man City defender would have definitely made the team and would have almost certainly partnered John Terry at centre-half in place of the one-legged Ledley King.

The usual suspects will make an appearance in midfield; captain Steven Gerrard playing somewhere, only Capello truly knows where, but with Frank Lampard missing both qualifiers this could be the chance for Capello to experiement a little or, in many eyes of the public, simply grow a pair and bin an old fashioned 4-4-2 formation which dogged us in South Africa.

We all know how effective Steven Gerrard can be playing just off the striker, while we all know how well Wayne Rooney has made the transition from being a forward/attacking midfielder to an out-an-out striker for United, and considering these two are England’s best players by a distance, it’s common sense to slap both in their familiar club roles. Fabio has the inventory to deploy such a formation, with James Milner outstanding in the central role for Villa, and new club Man City the other night against Liverpool when scoring from that position on his début, and he could form a sturdy and reliable partnership with Gareth Barry.

On the wings should be Ashley Young and Theo Walcott. The latter is just about a certainty to start against Bulgaria on Friday what with the form he’s currently in, but in putting Ashley Young out on the left you’re getting the best from a player which plays the majority of his club football out on the left, this instead of taking a natural right-midfielder out of his comfort zone and throwing him in at the deep end out on the left, like Fabio has done with Steven Gerrard on so many occasions, to the sheer dismay of fans.

Up front, well, if Capello opts for our formation and personnel, then it will be just Wayne Rooney, but the fact he’s called up five strikers could be the biggest indication yet that the stubborn Italian ISN’T ready to bin his gruesome 4-4-2 formation and try something more spicy and a damn sight more effective.

Darren Bent and Peter Crouch have both been in amongst the goals this season, with Bent scoring the winner over Man City at the weekend and Crouch bagging a hat-trick as Spurs qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history, but neither should start in our honest opinion against Bulgaria, with our clear preference being for Wayne Rooney in a lone striker role. It would appear as though Jermain Defoe has postponed his groin surgery as he’s also been called up, scorer of England’s winning goal against Slovenia – embarrassingly our solitary win at those finals – while Carlton Cole, despite being as wasteful and unproductive as Emile Heskey in front of goal recently, has also caught the eye of Capello, which is further evidence that Fabio is losing his mind!

Official England 23-man squad to play Bulgaria & Switzerland:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Ben Foster & Scott Carson
Defenders: Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Matthew Upson, Glen Johnson, Phil Jagielka & Kieran Gibbs
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, James Milner, Ashley Young, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips & Michael Carrick
Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Carlton Cole, Jermain Defoe & Wayne Rooney

Our Predicted Starting-11 against Bulgaria on September 3rd:

GK: Joe Hart
LB: Ashley Cole
CB: Joleon Lescott
CB: Phil Jagielka
RB: Glen Johnson
CM: Gareth Barry
CM: Steven Gerrard
LM: James Milner
RM: Theo Walcott
FW: Peter Crouch
FW: Wayne Rooney

Please bare in mind that this is our interpretation of how we expect Fabio Capello to set England up. Our strong preference is for a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Steven Gerrard playing off Wayne Rooney. However, after careful observation of Capello; taking into account his stubborness and 1930′s mindset, we feel there’s more chance of Titus Bramble earning an England call up than the Italian going with a formation favoured by the majority of the country and not just us!

Nevertheless, Good Luck England, who are a best priced 1.35 with bWIn to begin qualifying, thus putting their nightmare World Cup campaign behind them, with a win over the Bulgarians.