Right Wing:
Hodgson’s choice: James Milner/ Theo Walcott
Alternatives: Adam Johnson has not yet fulfilled his potential. He did do something to change that though: he went in search for first team football and ended up in Sunderland. He hasn’t played too badly, but he still has a lot more to offer.
Time now for (perhaps) the most talented young player: Wilfried Zaha. Zaha played brilliantly this season for newly promoted Crystal Palace. In fact, he is the main reason they are newly promoted. Zaha has used his skill, pace and goals to get him a £15m transfer to the Premier League champions. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a regular in his first season at Old Trafford. Injuries permitting, if Zaha is not on the plane heading for South America in a years time and James Milner is, I shall eat nothing but my own excrement whilst England are in the tournament (I won’t really but I will be unhappy)!
Left Wing:
Hodgson’s choice: Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
Alternatives: Danny Welbeck has shown in previous internationals that he can do a job as a left sided midfielder. Chamberlain is a more exciting option but Danny is a safer bet. Raheem Sterling is another young talent who will hopefully recapture some of his form. He had a reasonable end to the season but a magnificent start. Hopefully next season will be better all round for him. Another player I am looking forward to seeing in the future is Callum McManaman, who recently got relegated with Wigan, but has an extremely bright future.
Centre Midfielders:
Hodgson’s choices: Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard
Alternatives: Frank Lampard is a very good footballer. Steven Gerrard is a very good footballer. But have we not learnt that they can’t play together? Euro 2004, World Cup 2006, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012, four tournaments where Fat Frank and Stevie G played together and we didn’t get past the quarter finals. Could there possibly be a link? Jack Wilshere is an excellent midfielder, one who can defend and attack equally as well, he is one of the last of the Roy Keane breed, a box-to-box action man. He is certainly good enough to break up the Lampard-Gerrard partnership.
In my opinion Gerrard is the marginally better one out of the two. He is certainly a better holding midfielder, the type that Wilshere plays well alongside. Tom Cleverly is having a tough time breaking into the Manchester United first team. Yet, he is still a possibility for the squad. A few times this season defender Phil Jones (I promise this is the last time I will mention him) has been preferred to Cleverly. Jones plays well as a man marker from midfield. He has played well against Fellaini, Bale and even Ronaldo this season. However much you hate him, you can’t deny Wayne Rooney is still a great player. He has showed this season that he can also operate efficiently in a midfield role.
Strikers:
Hodgson’s choice: Wayne Rooney and Danny Wellbeck.
Alternatives: Daniel Sturridge has been in top form since his move to Merseyside he has scored 11 premier league goals compared to Welbeck’s 1 strike. Rickie Lambert is a name that rarely gets mentioned when it comes to talking England, but why? He has scored more Premier League goals than any other Englishman and still hasn’t played one game for his country. Theo Walcott wants to play through the middle so why don’t we let him? Play him in a friendly just to try him out. He has been scoring goals for Arsenal.
The 2014 world cup could be the best England has had since 1990. All we need to do is let the kids play.
Who would be in your starting team for the World Cup?
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