ROFL!!! Yet another England preparation is culminating in an injury ravaged disaster. I can't remember the last time we entered a major tournament without at least a few critical players missing through injury, and this time the squad was poor before the injuries.

No doubt they'll win it now.

I'll tell you one thing. If this shower of shite actually manages to win Euro 2012, what does it say about the other teams.

Top post Matty.

Just looking at Woy's playing career on Wiki. One goal in 59 appeawances with Gwavesend & Northfleet. Sign that man up now.

Well said Matty- couldn't agree more.

Rio not happy that Kelly has been called up instead of him, can't say I blame him

Hodgson's lost the plot calling Kelly up. Kelly is nothing more than a bit-part player in a mediocre Liverpool side.

Is Kelly even a CB? I thought he was an FB.

His other options can't be arsed, that's the problem. As each day passes it gets worse.

He is - I'm guessing the idea is for him to provide cover at RB, so that Jones can be available as a CB. I know Richards has effectively ruled himself out, but I can understand him being narked at having been overlooked initially, when he's the best RB in the country who can also play CB. Just a pity he isn't going.

I reckon he'll get the Olympics. A more worthy cause anyway.

Cahill is a big big loss more so than Lampard. Cahill has formed a great understanding with Terry and given that Hodgson has set England up to defend and to contain it makes the task even more difficult,

Rio does want to play though http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18311737

Naturally I wasn't talking about Rio.

I predict that if Woy isn't already wondering what the hell he's let himself in for, he will do by the time the tournament is over for England. Injury ravaged, full of internal issues between players, technically shite and lambasted from all angles, and that's before a ball has been kicked.

It's a complete mess already. The only good part about this tournament is the complete lack of hype. I'm going to enjoy watching the better teams play but England are going to get thrashed at some point, probably by Spain after limping through to the knockout rounds!

i don't think Sir Alex helped telling Hodgson Rio couldn't play 2 games in 4 days and add to the fact Rio has hardly played for England I can see why he wouldn;t of been selected to start BUT I would of thought he be in the 23 Man Squad IF he was willing to work alongside John Terry.

Something tells me there is more than meets the eye AND would Rio in the same place as John Terry bring a bad morale? would he of made it awkward around the place? So in that way Roy thought for a football decision only that he wanted 3 of Chelsea's Defenders in England's Back 4, Cahill, JT, Cole.

EDIT: You would of though Neville would of wanted Rio in? Interesting.

Yeah, I'm actually kind of looking forward to the decent games. Would love to see a Spain v Germany final if that's technically possible.

It is, I had a chart in the Paper Yesterday and I precited all the games and who plays who in the knockouts and I was down to Germany v Spain Final.

There be a few shocks though I reckon along the way in this Euros. I wouldn'r rule out a shock from Eastern Europe.

Indeed. Holland should be there or thereabouts too.

Germany to win - their invasion of Eastern Europe being more succesful this time round.

Not sure if its already been said, but what a crock! Why did england fail to qualify in the 70's for tournaments then when our leagues were full of, oh, wait, Englishmen?

As for the Rio/Cahill etc debacle Its clear that Woy is a yes man, and there are issues within the players present (guess who) as to why Rio hasn't been called up. I would even stretch to include the likes Richards in the 'issues' as AFAIC, he'd be a better defensive partner to 'guess who' than Lescott will ever be. So for footballing reasons Kelly was not called up, he'd have needed to have been good at it for that to be the case. Woy's been told who is available for reasons we can only guess at.

Yes, but English clubs were dominant in the various European competitions during that time, especially the old European Cup in the late 70's and early 80's. I suppose that at the time, that more than compensated for the national team's shortcomings. The English leagues didn't have just Englishmen though, as there were many Scots playing for the top Englih sides at the time; Souness, Dalglish, Hansen to name a few.

Remember though that after Holland finished as runners-up in the World Cups of 1974 and 1978, they then failed to qualify for two on the bounce (1982 & 1986), so even they went through a not so good period. Since winning Euro 1988 though, they have qualified for every tournament apart from the 2002 World Cup.