On May 1st 2012, after 36 years coaching clubs
and countries all over the world, Roy Hodgson realised his lifelong ambition of
being appointed manager of England. He succeeded Fabio Capello – one of the
most decorated managers of the modern era – despite a campaign led by the
national media for Harry Redknapp to be given the job, and was left with around
five weeks to plan for his first major tournament.
Clearly Hodgson hasn’t been dealt the easiest of hands, but
that doesn’t excuse his decision to select what is a wholly uninspiring squad
to take to Ukraine/Poland next month. Admittedly I’m not an England fan, but as
much as I dislike them, I do find them oddly interesting and I’ve been thinking
quite a lot about their chances this summer.
When facing the press in the aftermath of the squad
announcement, Hodgson explained that he had decided to go with an experienced
set of players, and luckily for him the assembled journalists were too polite
to ask him exactly what sort of experience he was looking for. Not many members
of the squad have ever won anything, and with Wayne Rooney suspended for the
first two group games it’s difficult to see where the goals are going to come
from.
Of the 23 players picked only nine have won a major league
title (Hart, Cole, Johnson, Lescott, Terry, Barry, Lampard, Milner and Rooney),
while just two of them have a European Cup winners’ medal at home (Rooney
and Gerrard). Hodgson declined to call up either Rio Ferdinand or Michael
Carrick – both of whom have won several Premier League titles and played in
Manchester United’s 2008 Champions League triumph.
As for goals, it seems as though England’s best hope of
hitting the net in the opening two games lies with Jermain Defoe, who has a
decent record of 15 in 46 for England and scored 11 in 25 league games for Tottenham last
season. However, despite his decent return, Defoe hasn’t been first choice at
Spurs since the arrival of Emmanuel Adebayor, and isn’t a player who has ever
really made an impact at the highest level.
The other two strikers on the plane will be Danny Welbeck,
who has kept Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov out of the Man United side
for much of the season, and Liverpool’s £35m striker Andy Carroll. Welbeck has
shown a good understanding with Rooney but is still very raw, while Carroll has
scored 6 goals in 42 games for Liverpool and is an absolute carthorse. I’m not
expecting either of them to shine next month.
The fact Hodgson has picked nine midfielders and four
forwards suggests he is expecting the midfield to chip in with its fair share
of goals, so he must be concerned that only Frank Lampard (23) and Steven Gerrard
(19) have scored more than five times in an England shirt. John Terry’s six
goals make him the fifth highest international scorer in the squad.
I do think Hodgson deserves some credit for managing to find
a way around taking Scott Carson. Robert Green and John Ruddy aren’t exactly world-beaters,
but Carson is easily the worst goalkeeper to play for England since Richard
Wright. How he manages to make a living from professional football is well and
truly beyond me.
Micah Richards must be gutted at being left out, especially
with Kyle Walker’s injury and Glen Johnson’s inability to defend. Phil Jones
has also been a bit suspect in the latter months of the season, but there are
always a few who manage to make it on the versatility ticket. I imagine Terry
and Joleon Lescott will start at centre half unless Hodgson really rates Gary
Cahill or Jones. It’s been a long time since England have gone to a tournament
with such a poor selection of defenders.
For a team that is very rarely in a position where it’s
looking to close out a game in knock-out competition, England are taking a very
conservative set of midfielders. None of Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, James
Milner or Scott Parker are likely to make something happen in the final third,
while Lampard and Gerrard are both shadows of the players they once were.
Ashley Young is going to have to put in some very big performances.
It’ll be interesting to see how many opportunities Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
is given. There’ve been suggestions he may end up spending little time on the
pitch, a la Theo Walcott in 2006, but if he’s being picked at Adam Johnson’s
expense then the manager must surely intend to play him. Apparently Hodgson decided
to select the 18 year old after being impressed with how he handled Andrea
Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini during Arsenal’s Champions League ties against AC
Milan. It may interest him to know that Ambrosini didn’t feature in either game
and Pirlo plays for Juventus.
So far the pundits and journalists seem to be giving Hodgson
the benefit of the doubt, though that could be down to them all feeling sorry
for him after The Sun’s front page
ridiculing of his speech impediment a few weeks ago. Not much has been made of
him claiming that Ferdinand wasn’t selected due to him playing just once for
England in 12 months, only to name Gerrard, who has managed just 33 minutes for
his country over the last 19 months, as his captain.
As always, the highlight will probably be a load of Buster
Bloodvessel lookalikes being blasted with massive hosepipes by foreign police
forces.
