England Manager's Picks For The Euro Squad

England Euro 2012 Squad – Did Roy get it right? 

16^th May 2012

Roy Hodgson today announced his England squad for Euro 2012. Last week TN5 gave you our view of who should be selected. So, did Roy go with TN5’s thinking, or make some surprise decisions?

The Changes

Roy’s squad has 6 different players to that of TN5, two of these were as a result of injuries that weren’t known when TN5 made their selection.

The differences were:

In England 2012 Squad: Ruddy, Johnson, Downing, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lampard, Defoe

In TN5 Squad: Carson, Walker, Richards, Ferdinand, Carrick, Lennon.

With Walker and Ferdinand not fit enough to include, we would have picked Johnson as the reserve right back and Jagielka (who is on the reserve list for Roy) to replace Ferdinand.

The other differences need much greater debate.

Goalkeeper

We can understand the reason for this. Ruddy is playing in the Premier League and Carson in Turkey so we can see why he’s gone for Ruddy. Ruddy has not had a good year though and has let in a lot of soft goals, but as it is for the 3^rd goalkeeping spot they are unlikely to play anyway so we won’t lose any sleep over this difference of opinion.

Right Back

This is a very strange one. Richards is one of the best full backs in the Premier League and should be pushing Walker close for a starting spot. Yet even with Walker injured Johnson is the only recognised right back and Richards isn’t in the squad at all. We appreciate the adaptability of Jones and Milner to play right back, but Richards should be ahead of Johnson (who’s had a poor year) and with only 4 centre halves, Jones may be required to play in the middle.

Central Midfield

Again a strange decision to take Lampard, who has found a little form since RDM has taken over at Chelsea but obviously not the swashbuckling player he was, ahead of Carrick. From the squad selection we can only assume he is planning a 4-4-2 line up with a Gerrard or Lampard alongside Parker or Barry. We will be wide open to the counter attack when the former empty the midfield, bombing forward along with the attacking full backs, which is why we need to play two holding midfielders so that Parker or Barry aren’t exposed – remember Germany in the World Cup and Robben in our last friendly?

Wide Midfield

Unless he’s planning on playing Young centrally behind the main striker (which doesn’t make sense to then include Gerrard and Lampard as he would occupy their space) we can’t understand why he would take Downing and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Downing has struggled in a tough league campaign for Liverpool and is probably the player who’s shown the least form in the entire squad. Oxlade-Chamberlain has only played a handful of games and it is too soon for him. If Roy plays him, we fear it will be to avoid the ridicule Sven suffered when he took Walcott. We can only think there is a worry about Lennon’s fitness, as on his day his pace makes him a potential match winner.

Centre Forward

The inclusion of a fourth forward in Defoe to us suggests Roy sees Rooney as the man to play behind the main striker, rather than Rooney as the front man. Again though, this seems at odds with the selection of Downing and the Ox along with Young. We’d prefer to see Rooney up top with a Gerrard or Young supporting him, but if we were to take a 4^th forward it would be Defoe as a proven goal scorer.

Overall

The two squads are largely the same (17 the same, 2 changes due to injuries, plus the non-issue of 3^rd choice goalie), but we struggle to see the rationale for the other changes. As we mentioned in our first blog, we believe you have to pick a squad around the formation you are looking to play, and the choices Roy has made seem to contradict each other as to whether he is planning a straight 4-4-2 or something a little more adventurous.

We guess we will have a better idea in about a months’ time as to whether his squad is on track, but we’re afraid to say our optimism has dampened a little after seeing the squad.