I do feel that it is in these wide areas where the team is weaker, Ashley Young for example is a good player who at this time was probably playing the best football of his career to date, but has never been anything special at this level. Capable, but that's all. Walcott is a dangerous player at this point who can be devastating or anonymous. While he garners praise from people like Sir Alex Ferguson, Leonel Messi and Danielle De Rossi during the 2009/2010 season before the world cup, he also went missing in far too many games, made poor decisions and was painfully inconsistent to the point of not being selected by then coach Fabio Capello for the finals at all. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though, and Walcott was certainly deserving of his place in my 11 using that great benefit. As for the fullbacks, Cole was the total package, and unrivaled in his position for England at this point, while being one of if not the best left backs in football. On the other side, Glen Johnson was a very good attacking player, but did lack positional sense and defensive ability, which he is still questioned on to this day, though is much improved on.

To summarize, I feel that with the above 11 supplemented by hardworking grafters who chase, harry and close down opposition, James Milner springs to mind in place of Lampard, the oldest and least defensively able of the central spine of the team,

(RB) - Ferd. - Terry - (LB)
--------Milner - Carrick--------
(RW)-----Gerrard-----(LW)
------------Rooney------------

to break up play and add energy and bite to the team when required, I see little reason as to why this team of players was unable to galvanize and deliver during 2010. Especially so when you consider they could be backed up by players like Joe Hart, Ledley King, Jamie Carragher, Jermaine Defoe, Leighton Baines, Aaron Lennon and others who could all have been important squad members in a tournament.

All in all, as easy as it is to paint a picture of the players and squad never being good enough, I honestly believe it could have been, and find it very disappointing that, for whatever reasons, it just wasn't.

Rio missed it in 2010 and the inept Matt Upson stepped in - largely to blame for the defeat to Germany IMO.

2006 was an infinitely stronger team with most of the "golden generation" at the peak of their powers:

Robinson 26

Neville 31 Ferdinand 27 Terry 25 Cole 25

Beckham 31 Lampard 27 Gerrard 26 Cole 24

Rooney 20 Owen 26

Plus the likes of Campbell and Hargreaves.

Player for player, that must have been one of the top sides in the world at the time...but we probably suffered from tactical naivety, the insistence on playing Lampard and Gerrard together, and maybe a lack of pace out wide with Cole and Becks.

comment by Wings Fan (U17875)
posted 4 minutes ago
2006 was an infinitely stronger team with most of the "golden generation" at the peak of their powers:

Robinson 26

Neville 31 Ferdinand 27 Terry 25 Cole 25

Beckham 31 Lampard 27 Gerrard 26 Cole 24

Rooney 20 Owen 26

Plus the likes of Campbell and Hargreaves.

Player for player, that must have been one of the top sides in the world at the time...but we probably suffered from tactical naivety, the insistence on playing Lampard and Gerrard together, and maybe a lack of pace out wide with Cole and Becks.
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I agree that it was one of the strongest teams in world football at the time, though I would have picked Campbell (31) ahead of John Terry (25) certainly.

Honestly, (and perhaps controversially) I think the 2010 England team of,

James 39
Johnson 25 - Ferdinand 31 - Terry 29 - Cole 29
Lampard 31 - Carrick 28
Walcott 21 - Gerrard 30 - Young 25
Rooney24

is stronger than,

Robinson 26
Neville 31 - Ferdinand 27 - Campbell 31 - Cole 25
Beckham 31 - Lampard 27 - Gerrard 26 - Cole 24
Rooney 20 - Owen 26

without THAT much in it, but definitely stronger by an amount.

Tbh the fact that SWP went over Theo tells you everything you need to know about the last WC squad.

Heskey went ffs.

Key differences are that 2006 has Michael Owen, who was really beginning to break down at that point, in spite of him being a tremendous striker VS an experienced and almost peak Gerrard playing as part of a non-conventional front 2. The introduction of Carrick as an orchestra-tor in the midfield and more dimension in the play as opposed to the flat midfield 4 being employed by England at the time, mainly due to Beckham's brilliance in his wide right role. I feel the 2010 side has a much more rounded and prepared feel to it than the more star studded but imbalanced 2006 model.

Basically, even though,

Neville > Johnson
Beckham > Walcott
Campbell (31) = Terry (29)
J.Cole = Young
and Owen and Carrick not being comparable, I think the TEAM you could build in 2010 if certainly superior. Better goalkeeper in 2010 comfortably also.

Tbh the fact that SWP went over Theo tells you everything you need to know about the last WC squad.
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Walcott not going was well deserved. Capello was DESPERATE for Walcott to go and selected him in several internationals to prove himself but his form was utterly shocking and he gave Capello no choice.

The options in 2006 were far superior to those in 2010, unfortunately we had Sven in charge.

In hindsight, this would have been a great side.

---------Robinson
Nev Rio Terry Cole
-----------Hargreaves
--------Gerrard---Scholes
Beckham----------------Cole
--------------Rooney

That's a bloody good side.

There was a BBC programme the other day picking the worst England internationals of all time and Gerrard and Lampard both got a mention for their mistakes (Gerrard) and lack of competition goals (Lampard). Then it showed how much better Scholes was for England from midfield for goals and assists at competitions.