To those saying Baines:
If your life depended on a 1 v 1 between
Robben v Cole or Baines
Which would you use?
Apologies for the hyperbole
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Right now Baines easily. We spent 27m on the wrong Everton player.

Not seen enough of Agbonlahor to really form an opinion - does he play on the left of a front three, rather than left wing?

I think I'd prefer to give Agbonlahor a go up front in a friendly tbh, he's in good form this season, and I don't think he's played on the wing much, if at all.

I reckon Robben would prefer to face Baines than Cole.

Cole when they come up against a Ronaldo or a Robben every day of the week for me otherwise Baines when we are likely to have more of the ball or need a win to progress in the tournament say

Baines is better than Cole. The modern top fullbacks are immense going forward, like Lahm, Alaba, Marcelo and Alba. Cole is better defensively but far inferior going forward. And on the balance of both qualities, I'd easily have Baines.

I think Agbonlahor plays left of a front 3 but I could be wrong. Even though he's naturally a striker he seems to work as well on the left. He'd be much more competent going forward than Welbeck, and I'd rather that from a winger than their defensive skills.

Sheriff John Brown - bring back David Dein (U7482)

The full backs you name play for teams that enjoy greater possession than England.

Which, for me, is the key reason why it should be Cole and not Baines in our WC games.

Take them both - they're both useful - it depends entirely on what kind of team we're facing, how we're going to be lining up and where their key threats are...

Spurtle2 (U1608)

Fair enough, but again it comes down to who is behind him.

How many times have we played James Milner because we don't think our right back is good enough?!

I'm with you; I'd go for my best defender, Cole, and my best attacking winger + Carrick.

I think Winston hasn't got a clue about the role of modern day fullbacks.

It's not as simple has which 2 is the better defender or better attacker it's more of a case of what each player brings to a team.

Baines may not need to defend as much as Cole as more often than not Baines natural attacking instincts mean the winger up against him will spend as much time in his own half than he would do in Englands half,playing Cole would mean the opposition winger would spend more time in Englands half meaning Cole would have to be the better defender because he would defend more.

Baines influences games far more than Cole,Baines also influences our right side of the team as the opposition know we can raid equally well down both flanks.Playing Cole would give the opposition only one flank to concentrate on to nullify our wing play.

Spurtle - I kind of agree, if we play that 4-3-3 type formation. Unfortunately for Welbeck he never gets played in his best position, centre forward. He has RVp and/or Rooney there for United and now Sturridge for England it seems.
Maybe Walcott could play left ?

Fair enough, but again it comes down to who is behind him.

How many times have we played James Milner because we don't think our right back is good enough?!

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Is that not why Welbeck was playing yesterday, as he is, in a way, very similar to Milner...

All we need is 10 players who are comfortable on the ball and cant negotiate themselves out of tight situations where they are surround by 2 players. Ive seen Cole in the last 2 seasons and he panics. There are other players in the team who are guilty of panicking. The sooner we eliminate these players, the better England will become.

can negotiate**

Winston

I don't think Milner is brought on because the full backs aren't good enough necessarily. The full backs could be playing blinders but Hodge will still want Milner on to add protection.

Agbonlahor should cope with whoever is behind him.

phil neville has three left feet (U13806)

I think I have more of a clue than you.

The modern full backs that you mention; firstly, having the ball is rather important.

Secondly, is Cole clueless going forward? I think not.

True Mr Chelsea - it's a British disease and will take a generation. Gerrard panics when closed down, Baines too, even Carrick. There are not many English players who can do that. Welbeck can...The likes of Silva,Nani,Mata,Oscar,Fabregas ,Modric all do this comfortably

comment by Hippo on Toast (mufc) - follow the new ja606 t... (U1301)
posted 22 minutes ago
play baines on the left wing instead of wellbeck, its obvious
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Then the whole balance of our attack is wrong, we are playing a 442 again.

Maybe even Lallana ahead of Welbeck?

comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 36 seconds ago
phil neville has three left feet (U13806)

I think I have more of a clue than you.

The modern full backs that you mention; firstly, having the ball is rather important.

Secondly, is Cole clueless going forward? I think not.

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If you play Cole, you need a left footed winger. Otherwise we have no threat from the left.

We aren't going to Greece our way to the final, so I don't know what your problem is. Do you want us to stay jn the dark ages?

Spurtle2 (U1608)

I disagree, I think Milner is almost exclusively played in favour of other wingers to provide added protection.

BusbysBabes (U9083)

We aren't going to get to the final.

If you're faced with a game where England will have less possession, the idea of playing an attacking full back over your best defensive full back is, to me, wrong.

comment by Spurtle2 (U1608)
posted 44 seconds ago
Maybe even Lallana ahead of Welbeck?
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You may not like Welbs (I can understand why because the average football fan has no clue about tactics and will only see the missed chances), but we need a player like him to allow our other attacking players to flourish. He breaks up play, his movement makes space for Baines/ Rooney and be could have had 4 or 5 assists yesterday has Sturridge had his shooting boots on and Townsend didn't his the bar.

The World Cup lasts for a month, what if Welbs manages to get on a goalscoring run alluring that period? He'd be phenomenal. And one thing I can tell you about Danny Welbeck, is he enjoys the big occasions and will do his job no questions.

His best performances halve come in big games, City, Arsenal, Madrid, the Euros, the big stage doesn't scare him.

omment by Winston (U16525)
posted 53 seconds ago
phil neville has three left feet (U13806)

I think I have more of a clue than you.

The modern full backs that you mention; firstly, having the ball is rather important.

Secondly, is Cole clueless going forward? I think not.

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You haven't got a clue Winston full stop.Cole is not in the same class as Baines is going forward and even in his prime he was nowhere near as good as Baines is now.

With this Baines can't do anything if England don't have the ball are you suggesting England should approach games like they did at Euro 2012 against France and Italy etc.Hodgson himself in an interview after the game said the England team and there approach to games have improved greatly since then.

One thing I can say that you can't deny,England with Baines at leftback won the 2 games they needed to.You can't say they would have with Cole playing with the same confidence