England Squad: Gabby & Ash in

[darren woolley]

I could'nt agree more JD.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Dissappointed Downing isn't in the squad but pleased for Young & Abonlahor

[charlie659]

Fabio obviously liked what he saw from a 2/3 fit Gabby today - the ability to completely destroy two of the best centre halves in European football.

....but missed Stewie and Marc tearing Brown and Evra new arseholes obviously! I have a feeling had MON had his way Bothroyd would be a Villa player now btw & I don't actually think he's that bad, just maturing a little late.

[The Man With A Stick]

Fewer Villa players in there the better.  I really don't want to see Gabby and Ashley risking injuries playing a pointless fixture for these pricks.

And I can't see the problem with selecting Carroll.  If it's a prerequisite that all England players must be clean-cut, wholesome characters, then they'd struggle to find 11 eligible players throughout the four divisions.

[MonsXI]

Dissappointed Downing isn't in the squad but pleased for Young & Abonlahor

I'm happy he isn't! Wish Gabby wasn't there still not fit he doesn't need extra football.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Bothroyd is a wel known underachiever, he's had a few clubs and disappointed at all, one good season so far and he get's in the England squad.

[JUAN PABLO]

The quicker they can fook that muppet off the better..     Then Redknapp should get it and watch Spurzz go into downfall...

[N'ZMAV]

I'm glad Gabby is in. Capello will only give him an hour at the most, that's if he starts. The match fitness will be good for Gabby. As long as he doesn't get crocked.

[Risso]

Why not give 14 goal Jay Bothroyd a shout? It's not like it's Shearer and Sheringham keeping Andy Cole and Les Ferdinand out of the side.

I suppose because about the only consistent thing in his career has been his inability to score regularly in the Premier League.

So... the alternative to picking the top scorer in the league below the Premier League? There's not a lot of point leaving an empty space in the squad.

I'm not saying he's a great, or even a good player. But if you're supposedly picking players on form, it's not the stupidest choice in the world.

In which case you'd go for Kevin Davies surely, especially as he was in the last squad.

[JJ-AV]

Carlton Cole called up now cos Carroll and Gabby have injury doubts.

[paul_e]

Bothroyd - look at the stats on right, if he had a scoring record like that but was 21 he'd be worth a punt, at 28 it's not good enough.

Wilshere - If the media weren't already bigging him up as being better than god no one would've taken notice of him from his performances this season, certainly not to be calling for him to start for england.  Albrighton has had a much better season.

Smalling - he's just not ready yet, playing in defence is as much about experience as it is ability and I don't think Smalling's ability is good enough to make up for the lack of experience.  Give him a season with regular starts for manyoo then he might be ready.

Carroll - I agree with this call up, very good young striker with a good record on the pitch.  Needs to sort his head out off the pitch but he deserves a chance to grow up, if he's still a dick in 3-4 years then dump him on the joey barton pile.

Henderson - Agree with this too.  He's been very good all season, probably on a par with albrighton for the effect he's had on their play.

As for who else, that's not my job, but there must be a 20-21yo striker who would benefit from being in the squad more than us taking people like davies and bothroyd.

[JJ-AV]

The days of an England call up being an honour are gone, because there's just not enough quality English players in the league.

6 years ago 'we' had Campbell, Rio, Terry, King, Woodgate, Carragher as senior centre halves playing for big clubs regularly.

Now England have an ageing and injury prone Rio and Terry. After that there's Dawson and Jagielka who aren't quite the same class as those before them.

Smalling is potentially an England player, with a couple of injuries he could be first choice. So the quicker the likes of him, Gibbs, Wilshere and Carroll are involved in squads and given experience the better - because like or or not these players will probably be involved at the Euro's.

[paul_e]

But would smalling be there if he was still at fulham, I doubt it, ditto gibbs and wilshere at arsenal.  Don't get me wrong, they may well turn out to be top players but at the moment it's a gamble on potential without enough real evidence to show they can turn that potential into performances.

[Shrek]

Great gabby is an injury doubt, he is vital for Villa.

[The Man With A Stick]

Great gabby is an injury doubt, he is vital for Villa.

I'm hoping this is GH doing "a Fergie".  Gabby will be far better off spending the week at Bodymoor, preparing for the Blackburn game.  Last thing he needs is a couple of days spent kicking his heels around the Three Lions circus.