England squad announced today

Agreed.

The Neville bashers are daft to slate Gary. Who would they pick? Danny Mills? Do me a favour. Glen Johnson is good, but not quite ready.

Also how anyone can contemplate an England team without Scholes is beyond me.

I know people will then point to his poor recent goalscoring run for England.

But bollocks to that, he is our one player that would walk into any side in the world. No English player has his level of technique, time on the ball, passing ability etc etc. Name one other two-footed English player? We should be looking to build the whole team and system around this genius.

I do also agree that Lampard and Gerrard must both play because their form is outstanding. Therefore one of them will have to go on the left if Eriksson insists on 4-4-2. Or you play 3-5-2 which i know Sven is loathe to do and i know very few of the players play it week in week out. This also solves the left-sided balance problem.

Ah well unlucky for Smith

ive been saying for years that scholes is the best english player, always liked him, and although he can be a bit dirty, shows his commitment and willingness to win the ball back

Centre back was probs our strongest position but now it looks a bit weak. If one of Terry or Campbell gets injured we're in serious trouble.

And how Joe Cole is in the squad is beyond me. His team-mate Parker is a far better player

rubbish - King (and Carragher) can hold things together if called upon. That is quite an ignorant comment if you have only seen those players in 2/3 games this season. Thankfully Eriksson and Tord Grip are watching these boys 10-15 times a season

Gary Neville yes, there's no-one English and better. Using Lee Dixon as an example is laughable though mate

Now on to your Butt comments - he is NOT an outstanding midfielder. He does a good job anchoring midfield. Yes he did well in 2002 - but so did Trevor Sinclair Would you want him in the squad cos he did well 2 years ago??? Butt can tackle well however his passing is inconsistent at best on the international arena. I disagree very strongly over Scott Parker. He is a far far better player than Butt and has played more regularly. Parker imo should be starting for England now as he is an all round outstanding midfielder. I am not interested in what he has done in cameo roles for England in the past. Put him in (like Owen and others before him) and he will deliver the goods. Butt should not be picked ahead of Parker!

Agree on the Parker/Cole argument
I also agree with Benson in that Carragher can come in and play centre-half if required. He has filled in in that position for Liverpool this season and may not be that skillful but is efficient and rarely makes a mistake.

They're OK club players (although Spurs defence hasn't exactly been solid this year) but I wouldn't trust them against international strikers. They're probably our 7th and 8th choice centre backs

How often has he played centre half?

he's been playing there for a 6-10 games now? Versatile player - looks like it could be his best position to me

well fair enough. Don't blame King for our defensive problems though. He's had to be deployed in midfield for much of the season to sort out that mess. Since we bought Brown and got King at the back he's looked back to his best And he seemed to do pretty well against Henry and the like a few weeks ago?

He played centre half against US!!!!!!!

He was never any good at going forward from full back, your right stopper could be his best postion.

got caught out there then

Agree about his full-back capabilities. His passing is under-rated though I must say. Keeps it simple and never wastes a pass

Not blaming those players - just saying the centre backs don't look as strong as a few weeks ago when it was Campbell,Terry, woodgate and Southgate

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