Gary Cahill has been forced to withdraw from the England Squad for Euro 2012 with a fractured jaw suffered against Belgium on Saturday. His replacement is Liverpool’s one cap right-back Martin Kelly. He becomes the sixth Liverpool player in the 23-man squad.
To include so many Liverpool players seems baffling given how abysmal the Anfield club were this season. Perhaps Roy Hodgson’s mind is slipping and he is forgetting that he is no longer Liverpool manager as that seems the only explanation for packing the England Squad with so many below par Premier League footballers from Liverpool.
There is no questioning the inclusion of Steven Gerrard in the England Squad. While the Liverpool skipper has never performed as well for England as he has for his club, there was never any doubt over his selection. However it is very difficult to make a case as to why any of the other six Liverpool players are in the squad.
Glen Johnson: Johnson seems to be the first choice England right back although it is difficult to understand why. His main strength is often said to be attacking but on so many occasions is forays forward end with him bundling into the opposition and conceding possession. His major weakness is in defence where he wanders around like a child who has lost its parent. His place may have been under greater threat had Tottenham’s Kyle Walker not missed out through injury, but Johnson’s selection ahead of Manchester City’s Micah Richards is at best bemusing.
Stewart Downing: So often the subject of derision from all supporters even his own and it is not hard to understand why. Downing has always been around England squads largely thanks to his former Middlesbrough manager Steve McLaren being around the set-up for far too long. He has however never showed an ounce of quality and has been dismal since joining Liverpool last summer, not contributing a goal or an assist to repay his hefty price tag. His inclusion is thoroughly laughable, especially ahead of the likes of Adam Johnson.
Jordan Henderson: Henderson, like Downing, joined Liverpool last summer for a large fee and has been a massive disappointment. He has looked like a rabbit in the headlights who has lost all sense of how to play football for large chunks of the season. The fact he remained in Liverpool’s first team all season was mystifying enough but the decision to name him as Frank Lampard’s replacement for England at Euro 2012 really was a staggering choice.
Andy Carroll: What can you say about the inclusion of Andy Carroll? The £35 million pound flop has had possibly three ok games this season all at the back end of the campaign. That would seem to have been enough to earn him a place in the squad. Carroll who possesses all the skill and grace of a donkey on rollerblades has edged out the consistent international performer Peter Crouch as England’s target man. His inclusion also sees the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Grant Holt, both of whom scored far more goals than the Liverpool striker this season, miss out on the tournament. Carroll, a greasy haired version of Emile Heskey, has been chosen by Hodgson to the derision of the nation and needs to start to show some form pretty quick.
Martin Kelly: The latest Liverpool addition to the squad in place of Gary Cahill. Kelly has been picked ahead of Micah Richards and Rio Ferdinand despite only playing 18 games in total this season, only 10 in the Premier League. Hodgson said Ferdinand was left out for not having played enough for England in the last year, which makes the inclusion of the untested and inexperienced Kelly seem inexplicable.
It would have been entirely possible that the only Liverpool representative in the England squad was Steven Gerrard and nobody would have argued. Liverpool had a pitiful league campaign and many of those in this England squad are largely responsible for the abject performances we saw during the last campaign. It would seem that such flops are good enough to represent their country this summer which is a sad, sad state of affairs.
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This is the problem of having a yes man like Woy Hodgson as England manager. It just shows us all how out of touch the FA is with reality!
Maybe because Liverpool have more english players than most prem league teams. Who are fit and not over the hill
Lets not forget Liverpool’s run in cup competitions this season, which is what Euro 2012 is if i’m not mistaken.
All the players were beginning to gel towards the end of the year and you even said it yourself that Carroll had a good end to the season, when picking a player for a competition like the Euros you want someone who’s on form not someone who may perk up a bit after the end of the season.
GJ, I would probably have picked Micah Richards too
SD, I would probably have picked Adam Johnson, though Downing has put in some good performances in the League and FA cups (including scoring) and was on a run of decent performances at the back end of the season whereas Johnson wasn’t being played regularly.
JH, Again a player who was putting some decent performances together towards the end of the season, and someone who’s performed well for the England under 21 team
AC, As i’ve already said, it’s form and presence that won Corroll his place.
MK, I agree a little bemusing given Richards was available to be picked, however he will most likely not be used, but can do a job at full back on either side and centre back should he be needed.
Scott Hunt … What an apt rhyme for my opinion of you…
Johnson has proved over years to be the England right back and any manager would have included him.
Downing, despite the selective stats re no goals or assists, hit the woodwork 7 times and delivered more crosses than any other player in the league. So he did his job and was let down by the lads in the box.
Which brings me on to Carroll. He was poor for most of the season and was injured, then lazy, then struggled to adapt to liverpools passing style as he was used to being a target man. But he was awesome..not ok! In the last month of the season and has been picked on form plus also as the different option.
Henderson hasn’t played badly at all this season and has been included as about the 9th choice midfielder after a series of withdrawals. He won’t be starting but can play on the right or middle and I can’t think of many other options here.
Kelly.. A couple of people on sky sports have said exactly this… He is a very good player but it is a surprise as he hasn’t played that many games etc.. But again, he can play right or centre and isn’t going to play! So it’s better to take the players of the future, give them the experience and maybe not use them. (they will be fine if they do play a part).
When asked to be on a standby squad Micha Richards refused, as did a few others. So I completely agree that although he is an obvious choice, he has let himself down and doesn’t deserve a chance now.
He and rio, we’re not in the original squad and therefore not starting, so what mood would they bring to the camp if called up and then not even put on the bench…. Kelly and Henderson are perfectly good enough and wouldn’t sit with he hump when being the last choice… Rio and Richards for example, would.
Damn you sir! I was just going to write exactly what you said!
Spot on mate, could have made much better argument for the players me self! 🙂
You forgot to mention that Walker,Cleverly,Wlishire,Huddleston,Dawson and Smalling are injured! Walker could have started in front of G Johnson and Kelly and Henderson would have not even been considered if the others were fit. Sturridge lost his way has the season went on where has Carroll improved Holt and Crouch are 31.Richards and Johnson were edged out in the City team and so was Milner not considered big game players by their own manager.
Sturidge lost his way but still double carrol in goals hahaha.
Carrol had 3 ok games but still scored how many in the last month??
Overated and def shouldn’t be used!
Plus henderson should if anything be lucky to start in a coca cola league team. No disrespect to that league ofcoarse!!
Funny that you know it all so great, but not playing in the England shirt, or coach the England squad. 😛 😉
Oh, and another thing: If Carroll (IF!) would score the goal that wins England the Eurocup, don’t come with: Ooooh, he was soooo great, etc.
Carroll had 3 good games when it mattered and while Sturridge was warming the Chelsea bench just like Johnson and Richards at City while Downing and Henderson were playing!
It’s all painted with a rather broad brush. Sounds more like a gut-feel appraisal rather than anything substantial. Do you just not like these players or is “Liverpool were rubbish this season” actually a valid argument in your mind? At least take the time to evaluate the players in some detail if you’re going to dismiss them.
Johnson hasn’t been poor for Liverpool this season. Far from it. Liverpool had, for a substantial period of the league, the best defensive record. Go and check the detailed stats on Johnson and you’ll be surprised. Especially compared to Micah Richards. Johnson wins more one-on-ones and more headers and generally proves the more capable defender. Nothing bemusing about that. People just seem to make assumptions about him and then get stuck on it, constantly watching to see him make mistakes to back up their evaluation. A more objective analysis doesn’t support that. He’s actually a solid defender.
You don’t even mention possible alternatives for Henderson or Kelly. Ferdinand doesn’t even play the same position so who else would you have slot in that position ahead of Kelly? And do you have anything else other than “he only played 18 games this season” as a reason to not pick him? He’s a very good young defender. Again, if you’re going to dismiss the player you probably need to come up with some concrete rather than this vague criticism that you don’t think he’s good enough.
Carroll and Downing I’ll give you. Sturridge should feel robbed to lose out and neither of these Liverpool players have shown enough form to make the squad. However Roy didn’t coach either of them while he was at Anfield so there is no conspiracy theory. He just honestly sees qualities in those players that you and plenty of other people don’t.
What astonishes me more than anything else is that England fans are already whinging about the team and the competition hasn’t even started. Do you have the first clue how ridiculous that sounds? At least let them play a match or two before you write them off as no-hopers. It’s no wonder you don’t enjoy watching your national team: you’re already negative before the matches start and all you do is complain when they don’t meet your unrealistic expectations.
Like.
If Richards didn’t agree to be on standby list, he can have no claims for not joined instead of an injured player. Henderson and Kelly worked hard in the last two weeks knowing they might stay at home if no player will have an injury. In those two weeks Richards had a pleasant vacation and now can only blame himself.
We were all waiting for the press to turn on Hodgson, but to use the inclusion of Liverpool players in the England squad is bemusing.
Liverpool may not have had a great season in the league but did well in the cup competitions and what is the Euro 2012.
Hodgson included Rooney who can’t play for 2 games and is coming back from injury, Welbeck is a kid just like Kelly Carroll will now have people who can cross.
This is not a pissing contest between Liverpool and Manu who have 4 players in the squad and if Ferdinand, (who this is really all about), had been included there would have been all sorts of trouble in the dressing room between him and Terry.
Most Liverpool supporters and the new manager would prefer it if none had been picked especially with the preliminary rounds of the Europa to play with a totally depleted squad then the friendlies and new season to come. And of the 6 players going at least 3 will come back crocked.
The guy has been crippled by injuries to his choices so you must be very pleased with yourself to enjoy putting the boot in!
this reporter is a twit, clearly he doesnt like LFC, the only player that i would no thave in the squad is Kelly, all other deserve there chance and rightly so have been picked.
Mate your surname should start with a K
Crap article. Liverpool played some great football last season. The results did not match their performances. Stop confusing performances with results. I suppose you think Chelsea were brilliant because they won Champions League even though they were totally outplayed twice by Barça and by Bayern in the Final!
The amount of Liverpool players in the squad goes to show that despite a poor season we have some talented youngsters and players with potential for the future. As said above, if everyone had been fit then definately there would have been less players in the squad but more on the standby list.
Seems to me that Uncle Roy is actually thinking about the future as well as this tornament and good on him I say.
Also, Rio, as a Black man, I really wish you hadn’t played the race card again, even though you just knew it was coming… Campionship for you matey in the next 2 seasons… Good luck Martin kelley…
Sounds like you’ve just got a downer on Lpool. Don’t be so bitter mate
I’ll vote for Scott hunt to replace hodgson. He obviously knows best. Henderson is the u21 captain so his inclusion shouldn’t be such a big surprise to you. I can see that there is a lot of other candidates, but it didn’t come out of the blue. Johnson has been first choose at rb for England for a ling time so to call his inclusion bemusing is laughable!
obviously lil scottie hunt is a typical biased manure worshiper
Learn to write objectively otherwise you won’t get very far. History should tell you with England club performances seem to go out of the window.
Ever thought that before selecting his squad Roy went and spoke to Rio and John and Rio said that he wouldn’t be willing to play with JT but JT said the opposite and that it wouldn’t affect him. If this is the case I know for sure that I would pick the more mature attitude here (which is JT). And as for the inclusion of Kelly, Johnson, Downing, Henderson and Carroll I find it hard to find anyone to replace them that has the same run of form over the last 4 games they played for their clubs. You need players that are on form, not ones that are loosing it. Although I do think Crouch should have been included. I don’t get why everyone is hating on Liverpool players, yes as a team they were below par this season and didn’t live up to expectations. But with saying this it is clear to see that the club is currently rebuilding itself and that the team has really come along lately.
Also with so many players from the same team the spirit within the camp will be high and the atmosphere relaxed. This is because they get on a lot better then what Rio and JT would. I think people need to stop criticising the England team before the tournament has even begun. We have no idea how they are going to cope with the pressure or anything, some players might surprise you and exceed your expectations.
And one last thing if this was FUT the England team would be amazing because the chemistry would be so high.
Well responded lads another piece of crap journalism (if it can be called that).
Although I use it I hate the internet as it gives complete morons a platform to express their opinions that have no credence or foundation.
Micah was not fancied by Capello OR Mancini then said ‘no’ to stand-by. OUT!
Rio is a sweeper. Doesn’t attack ball. Great player but not Roys style. Also, Rio on bench will unsettle Terry’s partner. OUT!
Sturridge? Doesn’t pass. OUT!
No other decent experienced players availabe so go with young players who’ve played regularly. Walcott, Chamberlin and Liverpool players. Who else is there?
Easy to critisise, so make suggestions.
Only Milner surprises as he’s played little, but is consistent and can play anywhere.