No Owen again, what is the fucking point in Downing, Jenas and Bridge !!!!

Why no Ashley Young...??

England squad:

James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Carson (West Brom);

Brown (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Lescott (Everton), Upson (West Ham), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea);

Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Walcott (Arsenal), Barry (Aston Villa), Jenas (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City);

Heskey (Wigan), Crouch (Portsmouth), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth).

i'm surprised.


I'm very surprised


I'm worried if he ever gets to play for England.

Not much change there then, I think they're saving Young for the Under 21's, not sure, Owen should be given a chance, as I'm sure with better quality midfielder's, he would do well, at Newcastle, he's been feeding off scraps and still finding the net.

I doubt that.


Agreed.

Capello has said that Owen isnt in the squad because Newcastle arent doing well...

Erm what about Jenas, Lescott..Everton & Spurs arent exactly setting the world alight ???

Owen hasn't earned a call up. Neither has half the squad to be honest, but him not being there isn't a problem, it's actually a good thing. his era has passed. Isn't Young with the u21 squad?

Green is still a good keeper. Sure he had a complete nightmare at the weekend but he's been pretty good over the course of the season.


I'm also surprised by that decision to be honest but then we've done well without Owen in the last match so Capello may either think we either don't need him right now or leaving him out means we're not overly reliant on him.

Totally disagree, he's made a series of mistakes this and last season. Dont rate him at all. In fact for consistency I dont rate any of our keepers.


As much as I love Defoe, I don't think he's ever stepped up to international level.

Downing - Complete waste of time
Defoe - Scores for fun in the Premier League, but has had soo many chances....He'll probably score a hat-trick against the Borat's and then we'll have a false sense that he's international class. Owen has nothing to prove to anyone when it comes to stepping up to the plate at International level, except it seems Capello.
Ashley Young - Arguably Villa's best player this season and should be in the squad. Capello say's he plays the players who are in form regardless of their reputation. Young fits into that bracket and people like Green, Downing, Lescott, Bridge and maybe Heskey don't.

I've never really rated Owen. He scored one quality goal against Argentina and has built a career around that. He's got the touch of a rapist. He completely lost his pace after that big injury spell he had. The most annoying thing about Owen is that he repeatedly puts in poor performances for england but always manages to scuff one in off his shin and gets himself a starting place in the next game. Now some people may say it's the sign of a good striker but for me it's really not. And i know if he always scores then it's great for England, but i'd rather have someone in there who would provide more for the team and be part of build up play more often. The chances are obviously coming, he rarely crafts a chance out of nothing, so it's all provided by the team so put anyone could be on the end of the chances. I just wish it wasn't Owen.

I remember when Owen decided to leave Real Madrid and come back to the Premiership the press where trying to force him on to a host of clubs. Liverpool was the obvious choice but they didn't want him. Then Man United where thrown in, they didn't want him. Spurs, Arsenal, Villa etc. He's a good Premiership footballer but he's not good enough for international football

You prefer Heskey then ?

Maybe. I can't comment on his performances for England in the last couple of games because i haven't seen them due to shitty sultana but why not?

Heskey only really plays well alongside Owen - it shows our lack of top quality forwards when someone like him can still get in the side.

Can anyone tell me if Owen was bought / sold or both by Capello at Real ??...I wonder if there's bad history between them....Mind you he (Capello) dropped Beckham and then ate humble pie and picked him regularly to the benefit of Real who went on to win the league that season so I wonder....

Heskey's actually played pretty well for England the last few times. He's more of a team player though and helps to bring the attacking midfielders into the game more by holding up the ball well. You can;t really compare him to Owen cos they are two different types of player and depending on what Capello wants out of the team it would seem Heskey fits better which could be why he's chosen him.

Either that or he's on drugs.

I wish spurs had signed Heskey.

So 5 goals for Newcastle so far this season in an appalling team isnt worthy of a call up...

If you pick a team based on stats then yes. However if performances matter, then no!

This is just absolute bollocks. If there's one person I'd want in my team to nick a goal at international level, it would be Michael Owen. His record speaks for itself - nearly a goal every two games. No one else in the squad even comes close to that. I know we're on a high after the Croatia game, but Theo is still inconsistent, and I don't see many other players stepping up to score the goals.

Surely Owen is worth including at the expense of a Downing or Jenas? Also, no Ashley Young is a disgrace.

I really hope Capello rewards Lampard with a start ahead of Gerrard after his excellent performance in Croatia and fine form for Chelsea.

You know we're gonna be back to normal now they are both fit......they will both play mark my words !

Interesting comment in one of the red tops todat re: MO Capello isn't interested in players who offer nothing for 89 mins then score a goal in the 90th he wants players who play the whole 90 mins and offer something to the team as whole.. In contrast Graham Taylor said of John Branes "the thing about him is he can do nnothing for 89 mins and then gives you one piece of magic and a goal"

I never rated John Barnes in an Engalnd shirt but it shows the blind faith previous managers have had re: certain players ... Thankfully Cappello doesn't seem to pick players on reputaiotn...