England Squad Down to 20, now lacking Bent

August 10th, 2010 | by: Rob |

darren+bent So the England squad for the oddly-timed friendly against Hungary is now down to 20 players after Darren Bent had to pull out due to an injury. This follows Paul Robinson deciding that actually he can’t be bothered to play for England anymore, and Wes Brown decided that actually he probably shouldn’t.

The remaining squad then,

Goalkeepers: Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City)
Defenders: Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), John Terry (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Aston Villa), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
Forwards: Carlton Cole (West Ham United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Bobby Zamora (Fulham)

So what do we want from this friendly?

I’d like to see some of the younger guys get some game-time definitely. We’ll get that in goal, and I’m happy to see either Foster or Hart, though I suspect it will be the latter between the sticks.

I’d like to see Phil Jagielka in defence, and would like to see him partner anybody except John Terry. Even forgetting his performance against Germany, Terry has looked off the pace in pre-season, and we may as well give someone else a chance to get some international experience. Wingbacks, I suspect will be Cole and Johnson.

Wilshire in the great hope in midfield, and if he and Johnson play, that’d be a good result. Both Liverpool and Chelsea will want to see Gerrard and Lampard benched, and it’d be interesting to see how we’d get on without either of them after so many years of trying to pick between them.

Up front is Rooney + a big man, which shows that Capello isn’t going to change anything too drastically, and is probably never going to play Rooney as an out and out centre-forward.

It is just a friendly, and I hope we genuinely think the result doesn’t matter, and we just see the players go out and enjoy it (if that’s even possible).

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Seif

Capello confirmed that his WC flops will start; then i expect this starting line-up: hart- glen johnson- terry- dawson- a.cole- milner- barry- lampard- gerrard- rooney and zamora or c.cole; but also confirmed he will play wilshere and gibbs in the second half.
For me, what's interesting is that this squad of 20 boasts 7 left-footed players compared to the 3 players selected for the WC!!
Again i am surprised that he didn't replace the retired brown with another RB, for me it would be scott sutter (young boys-berne) rather than richards who will probably be benched for city. But Capello surely considers jagielka as a cover for that position.