So Ferninand is out as well - at this rate Fabio will be down to 11 men before we even start - and Gerrard is captain no 3 is as many months - at least it means a fifth Tottenham player steps up the plate.
Redknapp for next England manager? - at this rate it will be a normal Saturday afternoon for him….

rio aint all that anyway, carragher is better than rio. Rio thinks he is a gangster, i have seen him get twisted inside out esp by Tores, although to be fair he does twist up most defenders especially vidic

and Dawson whats he gonna do at Center back, he plays for Spurs as center back Ledly is btter than him !!!

still think we are short on strikers,

Tend to agree - Dafoe,Rooney and Crouch are fine but Heskey? - no idea how he makes the England squad every time - and 7 days tomorrow we face the US of A -

the fact remains, when we have heskey in the side while he doesnt score he tends to help other people score

plus he’ll be useful if we ever need to resort to long balls, him and crouch up top with rooney off them will cause havoc

yeah heskey is more of a lamp post just plant him in the middle of the field and use him as a ref opint, he plays with his back towards the goal, holds up play basically.

Doesn’t and can’t score but outide of rooney is a sturdy striker,

i still think we are relying to heavily on rooney, i can’t see defoe producing the goods, crouch will but against quality defenders defoe tends to fall short

but anyway midfield is where its all going to be coming from, we need to get our wing men sorted that where the extra width will put england into a better attacking position, cole and johnson do a great job

but we need SWP and lennon/cole to turn up the heat

I think USA will be a tough game

And a piece of world cup trivia. Without recourse to Google does anyone know Heskey’s middle name?

i’d guess bruno - someone said he was a bit of a boxer when he used to play for leicester

am i right?

as for our strikeforce, i think defoe is key

because he has not been playing champions league football and has hardly played for england he is gonna be a pretty unknown quantity, but he is clinical in front of goal

he could be our gary linekar this world cup

Emile “Useless” Heskey i do believe is the correct answer

I did cheat - Ivanhoe? - Dear God…...

stevieb - 05 June 2010 11:15 AM

I did cheat - Ivanhoe? - Dear God…...

I’m shocked Stevie.   
I think his parents were into Saxon violence.

Although on reflection andyman’s answer was more accurate.

WARNING WARNING Extreme bad taste joke coming…

Emile Heskey has been replaced in the England squad by a Cumbrian taxi driver…

Apparently he’s had more shots on target this week than Heskey’s had all season

Heskey - Bit harsh chaps! Its not because I sort of know him as went went to the same school (and Gary Lineker to name drop) but more than one England manager has recognised his selfless work up front and Rooney, Owen and Sherringham have gone on record saying they like playing with Heskey as he makes them space and chances for goals. O’Neill saw this at Leicester and Heskey did very well. He was never a goal scorer as he is a bit lazy and keeps falling over. but at Leicester he was a good partner for the likes of Collymore and Claridge. When he went to Liverpool they bought him as a stiker. He was never this. Tactically Liverpool got it totally wrong but Heskey did OK. Owen like playing with him. The same tactics were employed by managers who appreciated his role at Birmingham, Wigan and now Villa. He is never a goal scorer but he makes your best striker chances. Even MacClaren stumbled upon his talents when he had no fit strikers… do u guys remember that game? He can score goals… remember the 1-5 vs Germany? Dare I say that Rooney prefers playing with Heskey up front than a a certain selfish little so so from Spurs? Using the words from King Kevin “I would love it” if Heskey got the Golden Boot with goals scored off his arse, elbow and massive dong!

Rio - Bit harsh as well chaps. As a Unite fan, I know he has had a bad season with injuries and lack of form and maybe he has lost the pace he once had. Yes, Torres made him look silly. And maybe this is a good thing for England. But I really feel for him and any other player (maybe Drogba) who is going to miss playing in the World Cup. No amount money can make up for that. And especially for Rio and his family who have a great footballing tradition… and missing out leading England at the world cup… a big shame.

Clubs - I see a lot of the club loyalties are coming in here. X number of players from this club etc… lol…. We should just all get behind England as a group and forget clubs for a second… but for me the best stat is that West Ham have (or had) 9 ex or current players in the squad! Not bad!

hear hear, says the man who supports arsenal (no representation in the england squad)

assenal barely have any english players, as far as I am converened arsenal is a business 1st and footie club 2nd.

They are simply a breeding ground for the future stars, no one big goes to arsenal, but players that leave arsenal become big

until wenger changes his policy of hope into something more tangible they will always be runners up !

First Ballack gets injured and is out of the world cup then Essien doesn’t recover from injury in time now Mikel is left out because he hasn’t recovered from knee surgery and now Ivory Coast captain Drogba might be out with a broken arm !!

At this rate we might not have a first team to start the season !!

In 1966 (Yes I saw The Greatest England Manager and His Team Win) West Ham gave us Moore, Peters and Hurst as the adverts say England Immortals (other players were also in the team).