And sure enough the supporters of Lampard, Terry, Gerrard and Ferdinand were quick out of the blocks to slate a lack of experience in Stuart Pearce’s first squad.
Please don’t listen to them. And there-in lies the reason why Harry Redknapp could be a disaster as next England boss.
We have a simple choice at Euro 2012 – take an experienced squad and get knocked out in the quarter finals or take a youthful squad and get knocked out in the quarter finals.
We are going into a major tournament against some of the best teams on the planet with no idea of who is in charge or how we will play.
Let’s concede now that we can’t win the thing and use the Euros to blood some fresh talent and start getting them used to tournaments.
Taking a mixture of youth and experience would be a cop out.
And what would the old guard pass on? – Tips on how to get knocked-out early and behave like out-of-touch prima donnas.
The job looks Redknapp’s if he wants it. But I’m sure he won’t be able to resist one last go at getting the best out of the Golden boys.
He would need to be an alchemist to do that and they don’t deserve another chance.
Scott Parker should go as a wise head and a captain who leads by example.
Compare his last-ditch blocking on Wednesday with Gerrard’s 15 minutes. We were all supposed to be grateful the Liverpool man was risking injury by turning out for his country ahead of a big game on Saturday.
That didn’t seem to affect Parker. Or more stellar talents on the Dutch side like Robben and Sneider.
The only two players in recent memory to have made a major impact on a major tournament are Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney.
One is now mainly a horse owner but the other should be in the squad in case he can recapture that spark. And we’ve got no-one better.
If I was the FA I’d save the £10m plus Harry will cost and look elsewhere.
A team with our record shouldn’t have the highest paid international manager.
But enough of our national woes – how can we make up the cash Arsenal’s second half meltdown cost us last week?
We’ll turn to North London again where Man Utd can win at 6/4 at Spurs while a rejuvenated Arsenal look a tad overpriced at 11/4 to beat a Liverpool side who may suffer a Carling Cup hangover.
The double also comes in at a touch over 8/1 and that looks worth a little interest as well.
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