Rooney Decision!!.....

[AustrianAndyGull]

Phil Jones is raw but looks the best prospect England have. Walcott, scored 3 vs Croatia about 25 years ago now and has done nothing since - he has been a regular for club and country for may years now and has plateau'd. Sturridge is brilliant against poor Prem sides but when i saw him away at Leverkusen he looked like a fish out of water indecisive didn't know what to do for the best etc. Young lad i know but not what England really need. Welbeck is IMO totally overrated leaving Bent, Carroll and Defoe really. With Bent you either get goals ( if he has a good supply line ) or absolutely nothing. I'm not sure that England are going to be creating millions of chances and attacking at will in this tournament so for me Jermaine Defoe is a certainty surely. Carroll has massive ability and is a huge presence up there. Defoe though gives you pace and an outlet if the chances are not forthcoming. Forget John Terry he 'went' months and months ago, Ashley Cole is also losing his sparkle and if anything happens to Joe Hart then you are buggered. All in all like i said before, Rooney in or out it doesn't really matter, England are simply not good enough to trouble any of the top nations in this tournament ( and before you say neither were Greece when they won it ), Greece knew how to keep the ball, not make stupid mistakes and had a gameplan. They also had no expectation.

[Regiment]

i always kid myself that england have a realistic chance in these tournaments, but i can't even kid myself into believing it this time, with or without Rooney. Will we beat France ? No. Will we beat Sweden ? probably not, and last game against Ukraine, i'd see it being a draw. so we'll be out in the group stages with 2 points i reckon. I'd love to be wrong, but looking at what i'd expect Capello to use as our "first XI", we are average at best, and we always choke at tournaments.

Joe Hart - Great keeper - hopefully no injuries, as we haven't got a decent 2nd choice.
Ashley Cole - past his best.
Glen Johnson - not bad, but i'd play Richards.
John Terry - pikey bully boy, well past it, wouldn't have him the the team.
Rio - pfft. as above, without the pikey bully boy bit.
Fat Frank - can't even hold down a place in the chelsea team, too inconsistent these days.
Stevie G - can't even hold down a place in the liverpool team, too inconsistent these days, injury free or not.
Walcott - you know he can do it, but never see it enough.
Left Mid - does it really matter ?? Young, Downing, Johnson, all ok on their day, but not great.
Rooney - world class on his day, provided he doesn't throw a strop and get sent off (again).
Bent/Defoe/Crouch/Zamora/Carroll/Wellbeck/Sturridge - oh dear god, no.

urgh, i've really talked myself out of any hope now........................

[Richinns]

Sturridge is looking better every game and Johnson would be a great player if he actually had some playing time but other than that I agree with the above judgements!

[stevegull]

I'm a big fan of trying to get some of the younger players involved. As most people have said, the likes of Lampard and Gerrard have failed to turn up for England consistently for the last 5 years. They were obviously all still performing for their clubs at that time, but not doing the business in an England shirt, so i would have benched them and shown them that they have to perform well to get into my team. For too long England sides have been picked based on what club they are at or how big a 'name' they are. I say chuck in the youngsters/ fringe players, as some of them are chomping at the bit to play, and really look interested, something that i can't say about too much of the old guard.