Sorry I had technical difficulties with my computer, that's why my post is late! On Tuesday morning I was reading the newspaper and I saw a section for the English team reporting that Capello wants to structure a new team. That afternoon, I read a magazine and this time there were three pages for the exact same thing!!! Given the title and the intro, I guess you know what this blog is about; just to make sure though: It's my advice to the English national team and my opinion on the line-up:
How should Capello structure his national team?
To start, I am going to pick out two players who fill the position I am analyzing and I'm going to compare them and find out who should LB or GK for an example. First up, GK: Goalkeeper.
GOALKEEPER
JOE HART ROB GREEN
Both players have pros and cons. We'll start with Hart: He's technically a very good player and he plays a lot for Manchester City; on the other hand, he doesn't have much experience and still has his slip-ups.
Green has a lot of experience and doesn't warm the bench either, but maybe he wouldn't feel comfortable in the English shirt since his slip-up against the USA. Hart plays for a better club and might be a tiny bit better than Green, so I think Hart is the right keeper for the English team and Capello.
LEFT BACK
ASHLEY COLE LEIGHTON BAINES
This seems like an easy decision, but I don't think Cole is that good. I think Baines has a good chance of playing for the national team. Cole has a lot of experience though, and has already played 87 caps for England, so you can't just push him out. On the other hand, Cole is already 30 years old and Baines is four years younger. Baines has also got serious quality and could bring in some beautiful passes or free-kicks. My advice is to keep Cole until the 2012 European Cup and then put Baines up for the job.
CENTRE BACK
JOHN TERRY MICHAEL DAWSON
Terry is the clear winner here, because he's experienced, is an amazing player and keeps his personal life distant from his soccer life. What I mean with that is, if the tabloids find something out about his personal life, there's a big scandal, but it doesn't mess him up like it did to Rooney, he stays strong and fights through it. Dawson is also a good player and can easily be a very good man for the job. He is a frequent player, is strong and has got a lot of self esteem, but still I'm going with Terry.
CENTRE BACK
RIO FERDINAND MICAH RICHARDS
You probably thought I was going to take Gary Cahill instead of Micah Richards, but I think Gary Cahill doesn't deserve a place
even on the bench! Frankly, I think he's half as good as Ferdinand wouldn't stand a chance. Ferdinand is the winner though because he's good and can compete with good teams and not be outrun. Richards can't play in two positions at once.
RIGHT BACK
GLEN JOHNSON MICAH RICHARDS
That's why I said Richards can't play in two positions at once; I just think he's a good player and is going to play for the national team at one point, the question is when. Johnson is a good player. He is also a regular national player, he's got quality and has already played 31 caps while Richards has only played 12 caps. Even though Richards was already in the running for a position, I'm going to have to go with Johnson, but like I said: I believe we are going to see him in the national team at one point.
LEFT MIDFIELDER/WINGER
JAMES MILNER ASHLEY YOUNG
Both of these guys are youngsters breaking into the first team, they both play for the same national team and both are great players. Capello took Milner for his left midfielder against Denmark, but I think Young should play in front of Milner as left winger instead of being Rooney's substitute, because he's faster, has a great shot and Young is more of an attacker which I think is a better choice for England instead of a left midfielder. I find Young a bit underrated and Milner a bit overrated.
CENTRE MIDFIELDER
STEVEN GERRARD GARETH BARRY
This one was clear to me, I have to say that although both of them had a lot of success in their careers, the thing that set me to the right player was their quality. This led me straight to Gerrard. Barry is a big overrated idiot; he doesn't make a big impact on his team and if he does it's a bad one. On the other hand, we have Gerrard, who played (and currently plays) for a very successful club, so my final answer is that Gerrard is the winner.
CENTRE MIDFIELDER
FRANK LAMPARD JACK WILSHERE
The two centre midfielder's were clear from the very start, but it's good that we take the other players into consideration. Lampard is 32 and is not going to be around half as long anymore as Wilshere will. Wilshere is 19 years old and still has an amazing career ahead of him since he is playing almost every game for Arsenal.
RIGHT MIDFIELDER/WINGER
THEO WALCOTT ADAM JOHNSON
They have the exact same style of play. They both come down the side and shoot or cross the ball. Walcott has a better shot, but Johnson has a bit more self esteem. If you look at Walcott, he goes down the line a lot, if you look at Johnson he goes down the line the whole time. However, Walcott plays more and that's why he's my choice for right midfielder/winger.
STRIKER
DARREN BENT JERMAIN DEFOE
Defoe is a huge player in England but he can't be satisfied and moves from club to club. This is not good because it shows in the clubs he's played for that he's not an Arsenal or a Chelsea star. Bent is also not a world-class player but he scores more then Defoe in the league. Defoe has scored two, while Bent has scored eleven. However, in the national team Defoe has better statistics. You're probably thinking it's going to be Defoe, but for me it's Bent.
STRIKER
WAYNE ROONEY ANDY CARROLL
Now finally we've gotten to the last position, where the two players to choose from are Carroll and Rooney. The first thing that comes to mind is, why don't you take out Bent and put Carroll and Rooney in to the starting line-up? I think Carroll is overrated and is not too good, (yeah he's good but I think Bent is better) and that is why I choose Rooney. Rooney was in a life crisis when he never scored, wanted to go and his wife wanted to leave him, but he's back in the race after he pulled himself together and scored a lot of amazing goals.
To sum up all the "winners", I put the final line-up below:
J. HART
GK
G. JOHNSON J. TERRY R. FERDINAND A.COLE
RB CB CB LB
T. WALCOTT S. GERRARD F. LAMPARD A. YOUNG
LM CM CM LM
ROONEY BENT
ST ST
This is my advice to Capello and I hope you like it because it's probably the longest post I will ever write...........I hope (just kidding).
Thanks for reading this post and enjoy the rest of your week.
Your Yor the SOCCER FANATIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My Opinion/Answer: Teams have always got their ups and downs and the reason the big teams (Example big teams: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern München) that always go for the championship have such instability is because when a team gets a new coach, the old one leaves for another club or national team (Example: Ottmar Hitzfeld when he took a job offer from Switzerland's national team and went from Bayern München to the national team of Switzerland). The team isn't good until they get to know the coach, and with a lot of teams the players don't have time to get to know him and don't play amazingly well, don't reach their expectations like they're supposed to and right when they get to know him - he's fired! This happens all the time for the big teams. For the smaller teams, there is another completely different reason. Teams that actually make a breakthrough become a part of the big teams, and they are now under pressure because they have higher expectations to fulfill, that is too much pressure for them. Then they are back to the bottom of the table like VFL Wolfsburg. That is my answer. 
