As many of you will know, Roy Hodgson released his squad that he will be taking to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. Whilst there were no Aston Villa players included, it does make me question whether I miss having English internationals in the team.
Back when Stewart Downing, Ashley Young, James Milner, and Gareth Barry played for us, we were heralded as a bastion of English players, as if we were then the future of English football. For Villa fans, such a statement was invariably seen as a source of pride, with Villa not only having multiple players in the country’s squad, but also because it was an era where the club finish closer to sixth rather than sixteenth.
So why are Villa unable to buy British nowadays, or rather why are they unable to buy players who would be on the cusp of the England team, or full internationals already?
The main reasoning is simply the cost of English players. When we look at the cost of Rio Ferdinand going to Manchester United vs Vincent Kompany going to Manchester City, there’s a massive gulf in price, but one might argue no gulf at all in quality. Likewise Luke Shaw, a summer target for Chelsea, has been valued at around £27m. Pablo Zabaleta, then a 23 year old and now a title winning full back, joined the Citizens for less than £7m. With those kinds of disparities, is it any doubt why people buy non-English?
However, what I wanted to cover today was not the price differences in English players specifically, but rather the squad itself. Are we, as England fans, happy with who we’re taking? Could we have taken different people? Who has missed out?
Whatever your thoughts – and please let me know about them below – here’s my brief view on the squad:
Starting with goalkeepers, there’s a strong feeling that England lack any real depth. Yes, they will be taking three players with them to Brazil, but beyond Joe Hart, one has to ask just exactly how good the other options are. In addition, even Hart has been far from infallible with mistakes that have left the still comparatively young keeper red faced.
Perhaps with a Premier League that boasts so many footballing nations, we shouldn’t be surprised when England’s quality is diminished. Look around at the very best teams in the league and you’ll see that most of the teams pick non-Englishmen, though the title winners are the obvious exception.
Moving on to defence, it’s strange to consider a World Cup squad without the likes of Rio Ferdinand and John Terry included. Of course, the pair would rarely be seen in the same room together following supposed slurs by Chelsea’s captain on Ferdinand’s brother, but Terry in particular still has something to offer.
Villa’s only connection to the defence is previous player Gary Cahill, now at Chelsea, and arguably one of the most foolish sales in recent Villa history. Yes, the sales of Milner, Young and Downing had an impact on the team’s quality, but Cahill’s sale to Bolton illustrated succinctly just how the Randy Lerner era was to pan out with Cahill being sold for a similar price as Zat Knight was bought, and at a fraction of what was to be spent on Curtis Davies. In short, it is Cahill who is arguably one of the biggest losses Villa have had if cost is factored in – at least the sales of the previously mentioned trio all came with large price tags.
Moving on to midfield, there’s a mixture of potential (Ross Barkley) and experience (Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard). Perhaps Hodgson’s move from “stars” to a more balanced team is a wise – and to-be-lauded one – though there’s still the question of how many players make it who aren’t with a top four team. Of the midfield, there’s only Adam Lallana and Ross Barkley not currently playing for one of the elite teams, though Lallana has already been linked with a move to Liverpool.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the midfield does pan out in terms of formation. With the likes of James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana in place, there’s a strong argument to say this should be a team playing 4-4-1-1, though I still believe Milner is a far better player in the middle.
Getting on to the forward line, it is one of the areas where I feel we – as a country – are the weakest. Despite support from many in the media of Wayne Rooney’s “world class” tag, he still isn’t that great to me. That isn’t to say he isn’t a capable player, but when we’ve been spoiled in the Premier League with the likes of Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez or even our own Christian Benteke (when he’s on form), our attack doesn’t look that great.
In addition, if we’re to look at some of the players who will be going to the World Cup, can we really put Rooney in that same category as the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Falcao? Not in my eyes anyway.
Looking at that forward line – even if we include the standby players – there’s not much there to scare me if I’m an international manager facing England. Sure, many of the squad’s players would improve Villa if we had the chance to buy them but, given the restrictions – and likely changes at the club in future – I can’t see an English future back at Villa Park.
So, with the World Cup far from far away in our thoughts, what do you think of the squad? Have we taken the right players? Or are you supporting someone completely different? Finally, whoever you support – where do you think England will finish? I’m still unconvinced they are even going to get out of the group stage.
The Final Squad
Finally, here’s the final, and full, squad:
Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Hart (Manchester City).
Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton), Chris Smalling (Manchester United).
Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).
Forwards: Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United).
Standby: John Ruddy (Norwich City), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Stones (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham United), Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC).
Want to be kitted out for England? Support your country and be a hero in the new Nike England kit, available from JD Sports.
The Author
Matt Turvey
Matt is the owner of, and chief writer for, Aston Villa Life. He is also a columnist for the Wolverhampton Express & Star, appearing in the Kick Off pullout on Saturdays and the Final Whistle pullout the Monday after Aston Villa play, as well as every Thursday as a blogger on their website. He has previously been featured as a writer on Football365 and Life's A Pitch, and was a regular pundit for Sports Tonight TV on Sky.Comments 29
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It’s certainly going to be a more interesting summer than usual. New owners at the Villa and the World Cup.
This World Cup should be highly enjoyable simply because there is very little expectation or pressure on these players. They aren’t a great team but Hodgson is probably the right man to get the best out of an average team. The climate is the big concern. It will favour the South American teams greatly and also teams from Southern Europe.
Very exciting times at the Villa as well. Worst case scenario is we don’t get an owner for months. Even if that happens and Lerner puts a ban on transfers, our squad is plenty good enough to be doing OK when our injured players come back. If there is a ban on transfers then I don’t see why those from the bomb squad can’t be re-introduced. That’s worst case scenario.
Best case scenario is that we get a fabulously wealthy new owner quickly and we build the squad slowly. I hope the new owners will learn from Lerner’s mistake of trying to be successful too quickly. A top half finish should be aimed for with a few quality signings to add to the current squad. I would like us to be sensibly managed but with the financial clout to go for good players when required.
Matt
Unlike most on here I do love England, I see them as a bit of a parallel to the Villa, one big cup win, lots of decent or good teams over the years, with an overriding sense of under achievement and failure.
Iv always been proud when a Villan gets into the national side, and to a lesser extent into the Ireland side( stems from the likes of God, Staunton, Houghton etc when provided a fair chunk of the USA 94 side).
The expectation has been toned down where England is concerned after years of failure, the expectation and demand at Villa has been dumbed down to a new low level, where we see avoiding relegation as success!!!!
This summer is going to be full of ups and down where both sides are concerned, I feel if England give it a go and enjoy it we can get to a 1/4 final , we will need a bit of luck, but I’m thinking ahead to the euros in France( where I’m hoping to go!). As for the Villa, I feel we will be one of the favourites for the drop, There seems to be NO buyer, indeed no interested parties, it’s a real mess, and I can see us going to into the new season as we finished this last one, devoid of talent and enthusiasm, in turmoil, Lambert mumbling on and making a mess of things and prob without Delph, possibly Vlaar, Benteke injured, Okores trying to rebuild his career on a dodgy knee( be nice if was as good as McGrath ).
RL statement was a real let down and he even seems to be making a mess of leaving and finding us a new custodian. It’s gonna be a long summer, let’s hope it’s a hot one
Droyd
Your worst case scenario, of not being taken over for months, seems a likely scenario IMO.
If this is the path we’re forced to take, we will be lucky to survive next season. This current side is dogshit, it lacks talent, character and fight, and that’s just to start, Lambert is a walking disaster, he is absolutely clueless in his role as manager, his backroom staff are all suspended( and I refuse to believe he knew nothing about the goings on), any one worth any cash at all will be sold or moved on to cut wages ie Albrighton, Delph, Vlaar, Weimann. This would be fine if we were upgrading these players, but the rumour is we have around 7-10 million max, and they would prefer loans! It’s a real clusterfuck, my only hope is I’m wrong and there is a buyer or next season could be our last in the top flight for a very long time( the average time is 6 years from dropping to coming back up)
Could never get into England games during the qualification but come the WC I will want them to win as much anyone. The WC is just great in general. Lots of football matches 🙂 Italy first game though, they will be extremely organised. Uruguay, Cavani and Suarez. Oh god. I think Costa Rica only just beat us at Wembley I think. I’m in Turkey for our first game 🙂 can’t wait
On Villa, the worst that could happen is Lambert is still in charge who ever the owner is, even If it’s Randy. He’s shown he is simply useless. Randy and Lambert apparently meeting each other on Friday, maybe with the new owners ?
I hope it’s done before the WC anyway
I think a surprise package in the WC might be Columbia.
You look at Belgium and Ivory Coast team on paper also and it’s next level but Ivory Coast always seem to crumble
Frem..
Columbia will be more then a surprise package,, esp if Falcao is fit.. think they will go far..
Ivory Coast indeed to have a very good core.. Yaya and Bony will be on fire.. but they in previous years have always ended up in the group of death.. this time round they will get out of the Group IMO.. and a match against Uruguay could turn out to be the game of the tournament…
I’ll be cheering for England from afar. They’ll be alright this time.
Considering all the talent they have “on paper” Belgium should go far.
The advantage the other countries have over England is that they have more foreigners.
Can’t wait for the WC. I heard he has picked the team based on their penalty taking prowess 🙂 Boy do we need that ! Come on Engerland, Engerland !!! Footballs coming home – oh the sad memories !!!
The England team represents a solid balance in some positions and major lack in depth elsewhere – Glen Johnson as the only right-back, for example.
Outside of the squad I can’t see too many others that properly deserve to be there beyond good form from Curtis Davies, Fabian Delph, Jason Puncheon and Jay Rodriguez. But those four aren’t high enough quality to say their form alone should get them in. They should, however, be in the standby options above Cleverley, Carrick and Carroll. Stones gets the place over Davies for me. Other than that, I only see fault with Welbeck’s inclusion as he has always been just a slightly faster Andi Weimann.
I think England will make it out of the group, beyond that is anyone’s game. The climate, the atmosphere, injuries, they’ll all shift the favour of games massively in one way’s favour. I’m not expecting anything, as I never do with England, nor do I watch much of their games, but we still have an outside bet of getting to the final. I think Spain will continue their domination, though, with a Spain – Germany final.
I think brazil will win it with home advantage but its going to be close. Uruguay, argentina, can’t rule out spain and if ronaldo has a good world cup portugal will see at least the quarters although they are probably to much for him to carry all the way. love watching japan they never give less than 200%. Belgium have a great first eleven the rest not so good. obvoiusly the more athletic attacking teams will suffer in the heat after 1-2 matches so a good defence will be needed by england, unfortunatley its quite weak, terry should of gone as he has formed a good partnership with cahill even though he’s a knob. wish shaw was right footed because him and baines as fullbacks would be great, johnson not so good. our midfield has loads of pace and potential and I would be tempted to play like liverpool with rooney in suarez’s place but sterling and lallana rotating with him. essentially 451 or 4141 as we could spend long periods defending then hitting them with pace. we might surprise a few but the weather is against us although we did ok in Argentina . as for keeper hart is it, fosters ok on his day though. we have a bloody hard group and it will be close can’t say yay or nay but have a feeling we might squeak through.
josh
rodriguez injured I think. carrick is unlucky that gerrard has been playing in front of the back four, also the inclusion of lampard above him as I can see us playing with maybe 2 defensive mids probably gerrard and henderson. we are poor up top but I don’t think we will play 2 up top
will need some advice here , during the world cups/euros l have a BBQ and invite whoever , l get most of my beer from Church end brewery , last time one called “Fallen Angel” went down very well , you get a barrell of 44pints for around £66, this WC though as well as that beer , lm going to look at all the teams in it and try and get a couple of bottles of the wet stuff from them countries to drink during their games , it will most probably get messy and may need rehab after but its an idea l fancy doing , so if you know of any of the names of the beers please let me know , (last resort will be wines /spirits)
Steamer just so you dont feel left out when your here l will BBQ some Vegetables for you (no not SWW) and dont worry about cross contamination , l got 2 BBQs
a young nose mate has had the all clear from the big C ,but he has got to have some stem cell treatment and they have found a good match for him , trouble is its a 21yro German , so l have re- christened him Colin Gert Muller , and he gets to have 2 teams now in the world cup , mind he’s paying twice in the tote lm running ,
Ian if your reading mate , them jokes are top mate , think Prox would like the one ,
jenny xxxxx
The WC is (to me) a distraction from what is going on at VP … I’m afraid.
The Villa’s standard has fallen so much that we seem to have receded back into the dark ages of the worst of the 1950s and 1960s – between 1951 and 1975 – Villa only contributed 1 player (Hitchens) to the England team. And that was after he’d already played his last game for Villa and before he signed for Inter Milan.
Today’s state of affairs reminds me too much of those days and causes me to disconnect with anything else called football.
I am with you John — i am looking forward to the world cup and expect brazil to win but my eyes are on villa hoping that everything can be sorted out in time that we can try and get some decent players in
i hear PL is in the USA and if its good news he will be sack or advised to start looking around for a job
If it bad news Randy is giving him a budget to get players in and continue with his excuse for football or a new owner will do so
Ha ST75–I am skulking. It will be a while before you buy Canadian beer for the world cup as Canada always brings up the rear at about 105th rank in the world. Mind you the ladies have a world class team. Hockey is heating up and getting interesting. And Steamer, all the hockey players are foreign so you would like it. Hockey on Wiziwig, as are the Whitecaps.
Dusan tadic. So far nobody is looking at him. And he is what we need offenSively.
I was writing you a list of recommendations for beers/lagers/general drinks, ST75, but Opera fucking Internet Browser decided to crash on me so I can’t be arsed to write it all again.
So just go to this list instead.. http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/top-50/ as for the African and Asian beers, leave well alone except for Japan who have some decent ones.
Who’s this Ian Gibson bloke, seen him somewhere before.
The voices are telling me ………. Red Bull.
Not for St75’s jamboree, i mean our new owners,got me ouija board out and the pointer spelled out P then i then s then another s and it all came together Red Bull, Jeergan the Jeerman as manager, it all fall into place now, genius.
Frem will be delighted, Red Bull gives you wingers.
Or even the St. Etienne gaffer, Houllier must know him.
Apparently McMumble resigned on Sunday night but Chubby rejected it.
Well if PL has resigned – wait for the constructive dismissal claim . Wouldn’t surprise me – it worked for MON didn’t it .
And to be fair to PL – he’d probably have a good case .
Good to catch up with everyone’s comments once more, after another busy week.
Still no news, but i am sure there will be plenty on the return of Lambert and Faulkner, and strangely enough I was having thoughts of Red Bull coming back into my head, so perhaps Steamer is right.
Not sure how Lambert would fair on constructive dismissal
1. I was not aware my coaches were bullying and harassing everyone. Someone should have told me.
2. I created the Bomb Squad because Mr Lerner said he did not want to pay high wages anymore, and i thought if I don’t play them we wont have to pay them.
3. I bought lots of players for cheap money because they were happy with low wages and liked the freebies we offered them.
4. I was never told that I had to win matches and please the fans, i was just asked to keep the team in the Premiership.
5. Nobody told me that zonal marking does not work with average type players, and that man to man marking is better.
6. I was not asked to play any bright young players who showed potential, but just to use my own judgement.
7. The owner has not contacted me since Xmas, as i did not give him a decent present.
Paul
Lol
Very witty. We rest our case.
Matt
how about a AVL meet up on 30th july for the chesterfield away friendly , , minibus/train/ steamers car ?
just a thought
This WC will pass me by with the same wimper that the last one in South Africa did, I cannot bear to watch players dressed in our countries colours capitulate to teams of a lower level purely because they lack the passion to play for England. I honestly believe the players earn so much money in this country that playing for the International team is more of an annoyance and they would rather be sat on a beach in the West Indies sipping pina coladas.
Do most England fans really believe that in general the majority of these players are actually proud to pull on the three Lions, I watched the performances in SA and barring the bloody vuvuzellas I thought England were pitiful, so to be fair I will not be putting myself out to watch them, and before anyone accuses me of not being patriotic I have watched England in all competitions and went to Germany in 2006 where again our players decided they could not be bothered to turn up, thankfully the fans did and to be fair the organisation in Germany was superb and made it a great occasion it is a shame our players were a load of shite.
UTV
Paul 🙂 very good .
Is it coincidence that PL has been complaining publicly that there’s no funds and of the problems behind scenes – get this in first then make your claim ? MON walks out 5 days before start if season and AV end up paying him off for CD .
The other thing is this. PL praised IC for his talent and scouting skills . He was the one who bought in the players . Who is going to do this now ?
I watched a fly on the wall tunnel vid on u tube from the Man City game. It’s fascinating – seeing the players come in – go to dressing rooms – then prepare to go out on pitch . One of the man city officials directing to changing rooms and coaches rooms , commented when Given went to coaches room , with great surprise ” is he a coach now then !?” Doesn’t this sum up the fragile situation we are in . We have a mgr without back room staff qualified or experienced to prepare for new season ie – getting in new players and sorting team out. Articles suggest that PL’s role in this aspect was minor .
Could be a feasible option ST75