Three Lions Story

Squad Selection For Friendly Against Romania

Goalkeepers:
Butland, Hart, Ruddy
I picked these three as I thought that Hart is obviously the best Keeper for England, Ruddy had an impressive season last year and is a strong backup. And Butland will gain great experience from playing in a friendly.

Right Backs:
G Johnson, K Walker
I would have picked Johnson and Richards but with Richards being injured I saw it as the perfect opportunity to take Walker who has a great future.

Left Backs:
A Cole, Baines
Two easy choices but the tough decision will be who will be choosing which one is first choice.

Centre Backs:
J Terry, G Cahill, Lescott, P Jones
Yes I have picked myself as even though I've retired from club football I can still play internationals and I still have the itch to play so as it’s only a friendly I thought I would pick myself. Cahill and Lescott are both strong players and I chose Jones instead of Ferdinand as Jones is the future while Rio only has a couple of years left in him.

Central Midfielders:
S Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Cleverley, J Barton
Gerrard and Lampard, are two very good players and Cleverley has a great future and has impressed at Man United. I chose Carrick and Barton as Wilshere, Barry and Parker are all injured and I think Carrick and Barton are the two next best.

Wingers:
Walcott, Milner, A Young, Oxlade- Chamberlain
Four great players but it was tough to leave out Adam Johnson, Sterling and Lennon who are also very good players in their position.

Strikers:
Welbeck, Defoe, Zaha
Due to Rooney’s injury Zaha came in to gain some very much needed experience and I've told him he needs to move to a bigger club than Crystal Palace. While Welbeck and Defoe are two very good backups for Rooney.

Injuries:

Smalling
Wilshere
Agbonlahor
Rooney
M Richards
Osman
S Parker
G Barry

Cole Named As New England Captain

I don’t think there are many players who have been more consistent for England than Ashley Cole and that’s why I believe he’s the perfect choice to become England’s next captain. Gerrard has stepped down to Vice Captain and I think he will show his experience and deputize well whenever he is needed.



Cole has personally thanked me and has said he is eager to get going and hopes he will be available to be captain when he makes his 100th cap. This will be a moment I will proudly watch when he does it in a couple of months’ time.

Who would you have chosen as captain?

Please comment with who your choice of captain would be.

Tactics

I decided I would like England to play the Tika-Taka style which would allow us to hopefully dominate how oppositions. That is also why I arranged the friendly with Spain so we can see how England would do at playing them at their own game.

Formation:

Flat Back Four (LB- A Cole, RB- G Johnson, CB- Lescott, CB- Cahill)
Defensive Midfielder (Wilshere)
Two Central Midfielders (Gerrard, Lampard)
Two Wingers (Walcott, Oxlade- Chamberlain
Attacking Midfielder (False No9) (Rooney)

- I have put in brackets the players that I’d play in each position for the perfect scenario.

England VS Romania

I thought I would use this game to test out my new Tika-Taka style so I played as strong a team as I possibly could have done.

Line-up:
GK- Hart
RB- Walker
LB- Cole (Captain)
CB- Lescott
CB- Cahill
CDM- Carrick
CM- Gerrard
CM- Lampard
RW- Walcott
LW- Young
CAM- Milner

Subs- Butland, Johnson, Terry, Baines, Defoe, Zaha, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cleverley, Wellbeck.

Score- England 2 Romania 1
Scorers- Torje (35), Oxlade-Chamberlain (61), Terry (71)

I was very pleased with the performance of the boys as they've taken to the new style of football very well. The only problem was that our defense didn't start well so I put myself on and I got a goal as well! Also we had trouble scoring today but I hope that will rectify once Rooney comes back from injury.

We kept control of the match and got the win we deserved playing nicer football and keeping a lot of possession. I’m very hopeful that once the players get more used to this style we will start getting very good results from it.

Subs Made-
Butland for Hart (72)
Terry for Cahill (45)
Baines for Cole (45)
Zaha for Walcott (72)
Cleverley for Milner (45)
Oxlade-Chamberlain for Young (45)

England’s Man of the Match- Michael Carrick

Its been a good story so far, but maybe add some screenshots to your game, and interesting choice that you picked Barton, will be following this closely

2013-02-12 17:47#80855 TheFMBeast : Its been a good story so far, but maybe add some screenshots to your game, and interesting choice that you picked Barton, will be following this closely

Barton had been impressing in friendlies for Marseille.

And for some reason screenshots won't work. Whenever I press printscreen it takes an image of my desktop and not football manager?

You tried pressing f12 instead of the printscreen button then accessing your screenshots through steam?

oh yeah that works, Thanks :).

I will add screenshots in the next posts

Squad Selection For Qualifying Games Against Montenegro and Poland

I think that these two games Montenegro (Home) and Poland (Away) are two very important games for our qualifying campaign. Therefore I have chosen the strongest squad from those that our available. But two of our key players are injured in Gerrard and Cole which is annoying!

Goalkeepers:
Hart, Ruddy, Butland
Same as last time and Hart will be first choice for the two games.

Right Backs:
G Johnson, K Walker
Even though M Richards is now fit, the performance of Walker against Romania has made me decide to pick him instead. But I've yet to make my mind up of who’s first choice.

Left Backs:
Baines, Bertrand
The injury to Cole means that Bertrand will come in as back-up and Baines will start in the two games. The injury to Cole is disappointing as he’s currently on 99 caps.

Central Midfielders:
Barry, Carrick, Cleverley, Lampard, Rodwell
Carrick will play in the defensive midfielder role and Lampard will play in central midfield, but I've yet to decide who will partner him, at the moment it will be Barry. But that could change!

Wingers:
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Young, Walcott, Milner
I've still not made my mind up over who will play where as they’re all very good players and all have different have strengths and weaknesses, the decision of picking these four was easy though.

Strikers:
Rooney, Defoe, Welbeck
These three pick themselves due to their great form and Wayne will start in the False 9 role in the games and it should be interesting to see how he gets on, as long as he's fit that is!

Injuries:
A Cole
Gerrard
J Cole
Smalling
Wilshere
Parker

England VS Montenegro

Squad Changes Due To Injury:
Oxlade-Chamberlain OUT Lallana IN
Milner OUT Downing IN

Pre Match Press Conference:
Q: Wayne Rooney has been absent with injury recently but will he be fit for the next game?
A: It’s going to be touch and go whether he’ll be fit for kick-off!

Q: Your decision to omit Lennon has puzzled many; will he ever feature in your plans?
A: If Aaron plays well for Spurs then yes he will be back in the side but at the moment he hasn’t played a game yet.

Q: How do you feel about the upcoming game?
A: It will be tough non doubt about it, Montenegro got two draws against us in Euro 2012 qualifying so we will have to be at our best to get the win today.




Line-Up:
GK- Hart
RB- Walker
LB- Baines
CB- Cahill
CB- Terry
CDM- Carrick
CM- Lampard (Captain)
CM- Cleverley
RW- Walcott
LW- Young
CAM- Welbeck

Subs- Butland, Johnson, Lescott, Barry, Defoe, Downing, Rooney




England 4 Montenegro 2
Scorers- Welbeck (15) Vucinic (16) Vukcevic (20) Cleverley (28, 63) Young (65)

Very impressive performance and we have improved our style and now a passing looks much more fluid. We looked to win every loose ball and put a lot of pressure on Montenegro when they had the ball. The only disappointment was a poor defensive performance and in particular Hart was poor.
For Montenegro’s second goal Hart cam out of his net ball then passed it straight to one of their midfielders who then hit a great shot from around 50 yards into the open net. I will be looking from an improvement against Poland from Hart.
Our first three goals were all great moves with Cleverley central to all three them and he had a very impressive performance and I’m sure Gerrard will quaking at his boots! While the fourth goal was a fantastic free-kick from Ashley Young. Other players who played well were the two wing-backs Baines and Walker who both defended well and attacked with real intent.

Subs Made:
Lescott for Cahill (63)
Downing for Walcott (73)
Defoe for Welbeck (82)

England’s Man of the Match- Tom Cleverley