darren bent has scored more goals than crouch, heskey and defoe and hes playin for sunderland. i think that hes better than defoe and heskey and crouch yet hes not in the england squad. also joe hart has been brilliannt this season so i think he deserves a place in the world cup
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Darren Bent should go, but wont!
I wish it were otherwise.
What about Joe Hart as well? I'd probably have him as number 1 given the form he's been on this season. Robert Green and David James in reserve.
Therefore, barring injury or a really really surprising call, there is no place in the final 23 for Bent, Zamora, Agbonlahor, Cole or even Kevin Davies...
Agree. I think we all know Bent isn't going to be in the starting 11 but I don't feel he's the type of player that can grab a goal after coming on in the 80th minute. Instead, he proves his worth over the full 90 minutes.
I can't recall any goal Defoe has scored for England that I didn't think Bent could score. What do you think the problems are with Bent's style? I must confess he has excelled in teams that relied on counter attacking, whereas for Spurs he was up against teams who would sit back a bit more and he wasn't quite as effective (I guess this is a parallel to the sort of tactics England might come up against).
Capello won't take 2 left wingers though will he? The only English candidates playing regularly on the left wing in the Prem are Downing and Ashley Young and they play for the same team! Even Adam Johnson is playing right wing for Man City. You only need 2 players who *can* play in a certain position, so it's definitely possible to take 7 midfielders/defenders who can cover all 4 positions across the pitch in a 2 players per position ratio, which would allow us to take a 5th striker.
The counter-attacking point is the only reason I can think of. He did well for the U21s but its the difficulty he's had getting into the game when he's played for England that's really disappointed - however I can't disagree with you about Defoe's goals. I'd love to see him go but would be wary of too high expectations.
You can make a case for it but for me that's as far as it goes. Firstly, when you say he won't take 2 left wingers you haven't included Joe Cole as a contender there, a role he has played in the vast majority of his international caps. To say he'd take 2 of Downing, Young, Johnson (only playing at RW now because Bellamy is so left-footed) and Cole is a fairly logical bet. Secondly, you've picked a very specific position there. If you'd have said "wingers"... I'd bet he'll take 4. The fact three might be predominantly right-sided is fairly irrelevant to the fact that they'd all be "wingers" as a cohort, that might be the flexibility you are referring to.
It's just the way I see it. Capello is 4-4-2. Capello is methodical, considered and consistent in his tactics. He has also expressly stated his "two" philosophy as far as positions go. Personally I'd make a case for deploying Rooney alone in a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 variant and perhaps not taking such a rigid 3-8-8-4 squad but it's just not what I think Capello will do.
Can't argue with too much of that. I think you're right that he will stick to 3-8-8-4, I was merely arguing the sort of squad I would go for. I only left out Joe Cole from the left wing discussion because I don't really class him as a left winger (haven't seen much of Chelsea recently - is he playing left wing for them?). Take your point on me being specific about left wing as opposed to general 'wingers'. There is a lot of specialisation in that position though - I couldn't see Lennon, Walcott, SWP or Beckham (I know he's injured) being anywhere near as effective on the left.
I would go for a 4-4-1-1 with Gerrard just off Rooney. I'm not that big a fan of Gerrard but if we play him in his best position he'd be far more of an asset. If we played him centre midfield Lampard would get overrun so SG can't play there- he rarely plays there for Liverpool either.
Not sure about Bellamy being left footed either, but that's a bit irrelevant
that was rubbish off the top of my head to be honest, I think Mancini is playing him there as he likes odd-footers cutting in from wide not because he's left-footed, wasn't thinking that part of my post through before I wrote it!
And he was still Spurs top scorer last year I believe.
Problem with Bent, (& this sounds so stupid saying this) but he doesn't seem to do anything else apart from score! Whereas Rooney & Defoe are capable of scoring from nothing, a mazy run or a thunderous strike, and Crouch & Heskey are good for others to play off, hold it up, bully defenders, bit awkward etc, Bent sort of doesn't excel at either.
Almost all of his goals have been tap ins. Right place, right time, can't teach that, fantastic. But doesn't seem to offer much else. & on the international stage you need to offer a little more or be so clinical in front of goal that the one half chance a game is in the net. Bent doesn't do that either.
I like him & I'd take him, but I feel the above is why so many ain't keen on him.
And yes Lineker was VERY clinical - however he got that through playing football at the highest level - if Bent got a run of games for England and played for Liverpool or another top 4 side and was their man goalscorer - his game would improve ten fold.
I see what you're saying, but I think I'd rather have a player who scores goals but does nothing else, than someone like Heskey who rarely scores. It's taken Heskey 5 seasons to score as many goals as Bent has this season! I realise you say you rate him, I'm trying to just add a bit more to Bent's case for going.
http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/823514-mark-bright-sunderlands-darren-bent-wont-go-to-world-cup-with-england
He should probably go as the fifth striker simply because he's on form, but I can see why he probably won't. If England need a goal, Capello would always put Defoe on first. He might only take four strikers and instead take a midfielder that's different to what we have.
It's just that I've always thought he was capable of that but he hasn't shown much of that since and as Scoham says, he is probably better alongside a big man rather than playing the big man role.
Shame really because after the season he has had if anyone deserves to go it is him.