'Gland Squad.

This morning the provisional England World Cup squad was announced. Big names like Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott and Bobby Zamora have already missed out, and another 7 names need to be cut from the ranks to make our final World Cup squad.

Needless to say England are in deep shit when it comes to goalkeepers. We have a load of shit ones (Foster, Carson, Robinson, Kirkland, Harper, etc) and then you have these decidedly average at best keepers to take. Out of the three I'd call Hart our best, and James provides a lot of experience which we could actually do with if it ever comes to penalties. If you were to cut one it'd have to be Green, but should we really be cutting a keeper? This isn't a game of Pro Evo where we can leave out our back-up keepers because it is incredibly unlikely our top one will get injured or be sent off - we need those back-up keepers just in case. I'd take all three.

GONE: 0 (None)

LB: Baines, Cole, Warnock
CB: Carragher, Dawson, Feridnand, King, Terry, Upson
RB: Johnson

That is one lonely right back, luckily Carragher has played in that position before. Carragher is quite the choice - he isn't the best he's ever been, but he had a decent second half to the season. Carragher can also provide cover for centre back as well as right back, so I'd say he is an ideal, we just have to pray Glen Johnson never gets injured. As for everyone else, I'd say it'd be sensible to take a back up for every position, so 8 defenders preferably, or maybe 7 with Carragher's inclusion (he'd have to be a back up for centre back and right back). That said, Warnock is gone, no arguments. In centre back, Dawson, King and Upson? All are expendable to me, but Dawson is ... well ... wank, so bye. Upson however hasn't been doing well lately so he'd be the second CB cut if it was ever needed (at lease he has experience).

GONE: 2 (Dawson and Warnock)

RM: Lennon, Walcott, SWP

CM: Barry, Carrick, Gerrard, Huddlestone, Lampard, Parker

LM: Cole, Johnson

EVERYTHING: Milner

There is a lot of fat to trim in England's midfield. Our first dilemma though is what are we going to do with Gerrard and Lampard? In the past it has been solved by moving Gerrard to the wing, problem here is we already have 3 right wing players, and that is Milner's area as well. Milner, I feel, is vital for us at this point so he stays. Walcott, though inconsistent, can be very important as he can cut into the position of striker effortlessly - if we don't take Walcott we have to take all 5 strikers, but I'd keep him were he is. Lennon and SWP ... sorry guys. As much as I love SWP, and he is a proven goalscorer, I don't see much use for him, and I see even less for Lennon. The left wing is pretty untouchable, not due to quality, but because we really don't have anyone else that can play there, unless you want Lampard to go there as he has a strong left-foot. From centre I'd cut another two out of Barry, Carrick, Huddlestone and Parker, and sadly Huddlestone and Parker are players I see no use for. Unless Barry's injury lasts longer than we think.

GONE: 4 (Huddlestone, Lennon, Parker and SWP)

This is interesting. It'd be nice to take all the strikers, it really would, but we can't. Heskey gets lots of stick, but people ignore that he isn't in the England squad to score goals, he is there to bully the defenders in order to open windows for the midfielders and the other striker. Crouch does this as well, plus he has the scoring record, so I'd take him over Heskey, but for the second team you need him anyway. If you've done the math you know I only need to cut one more guy (unless you were to cut Walcott), so either Defoe or Bent? Both have the same weakness: they can only score when the team plays to their style, and that simply doesn't cut it in the England squad. This choice comes down to one factor then, and that is experience, which Bent has little of. The World Cup is not a place to test the waters, and Bent is completely untested, so sorry Sunderland fans, he is cut in favour of Defoe.

GONE: 1 (Bent)

TOTAL GONE: 7 (Bent, Dawson, Huddlestone, Lennon, Parker, SWP and Warnock)

All in all, my Starting XI would look like this:

Hart

Johnson - Terry - Ferdinand - A. Cole

Gerrard -- Milner - Lampard -- J.Cole

Rooney --- Crouch