I'm a bit surprised. He's good at grinding out results, but with the perceived talent that England has, I don't know if that's a good fit. I think Klinsmann would have been a better fit, particularly because of his experience in the EPL and being able to speak English. It'll be interesting to see how or if Beckham will be used. Unless Wright-Phillips or Lennon are on blistering form, you have no choice by to start Beckham at the right.
Becks at least gets his 100th cap. I think Capello takes England where they should be. It may not be pretty, but it will be effective.
Becks will be a sub in a meaningless friendly so he can get cap #100, and that will be it. Capello will likely NOT try to make his system fit the players available - he'll pick players that fit his system. Amongst other things, the days of Gerrard and Lampard both being on the pitch may be limited.
Hargreaves/Gerrard would be a disaster against the class Euro sides. Both are midfield runners with weak positional discipline. Gerrard is at his best when paired with a true DM (Mascherano) or a DLP (Alonso) or both, particularly when his CM partners possess positional discipline. They compensate for his "chicken with his head cut off" approach. Hargreaves plays the same way. Italy, Spain and the like would cut them to pieces while they are chasing the play out of position if they are the only CMs. I don't know if England has the players they need to be an effective side in the Capello model. They really don't have an elite DM in the set-up. Scholes is by far the best holding MF they have but he isn't coming out of international retirement. Hargy is a defensive runner. Gerrard is an attacking runner. I would not be surprised to see Capello play Hargreaves as his defensive runner and pair him with someone he identifies as a satisfactory DM (e.g., Barry). Put Gerrard in front of them with Bentley or Agbonlahor on the right, Joe Cole or Ashley Young on the left and Rooney up front. Against weaker sides, play a DLP (Carrick) instead of the DM. Lampard is probably done as a starter. Rio is by far the best CM they have. Terry gets the other spot as he is captain but he has regressed a lot IMO. Richards at RB maybe and LB is obviously Ashley Cole. Green is the best English keeper right now. Beckham has no future in this team.
ASIDE - I think it's time for the home countries to give up on having separate teams. This side would look a lot better with Gareth Bale, Craig Gordon, etc. CARLITOS - I think you have some good ideas. A 4-2-3-1 seems likely. I can see this: --------------------------Green----------------------- Richards-------Terry---------Rio-----------Cole ------------Hargreaves------Carrick-------------- Agbonlahor----------Gerrard------------Young ----------------------Rooney------------------------- He'll need to develop some others at DM (Huddlestone?, Muamba?, Wesolowski?). Other key reserves: Owen, Crouch, Joe Cole, Lampard, Carrager (if Capello can talk him into it), Lescott, Barry, Foster, Downing. HOGS SUCK - I'd be willing to bet Beckham does NOT receive a start (much less than armband) for his 100th Cap. Please review recent history regarding Capello and Becks. He'll be lucky to get a meaningless late sub.
Carragher is a must for that side but he isn't going to get in the team in front of Terry, which is debatable. I doubt he willingly goes back into the squad again as a CB reserve. I agree that Rio must start. He is the only England CB with the speed and technique to stay with the class Euro forwards. Tim, I agree than a DLP is a necessity for the England side if they go with a 4-2-3-1 but Carrick isn't going to start for England if he can't start for United and he will be buried there more than he is already is once Scholes returns. I have no idea what Capello does with that position. Beckham will probably get at least a couple more games but the English media is actually questioning whether he should be made captain again. Hilarious.
