A few months ago I advocated my personal selections for the goalkeepers and defenders whom I would give a space on the plane to Ukraine and Poland for the European Championships in the summer.

Now the draw has been made and so it seems fitting to add the midfielders and strikers, who I deem to have the ball skills to take on France, Ukraine and Sweden.

Midfield

England’s midfield is forever plagued, or it would seem so, with an accumulation of injuries verging on a ‘crisis’ before each major tournament. Currently we can only assume that 2012 will be no exception.

Albeit, the quantity of young players desperate to break through is plentiful and so competition for places has intensified. This makes picking the midfield at this precise moment in time, actually very complex. The likes of Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere were guaranteed starters before both became injured. Now neither have kicked a ball in months. Will they be in good enough condition to make the squad?

Again, Tom Cleverley was in fine form at the beginning of the season, then he was crocked . Notably, United’s free flowing game seemed to simultaneously drop without him in the team. Yet, he has never played a first team game for England, so lacks experience. Does he make the flight? Scott Parker has made the defensive midfield role his own post World Cup disaster 2010, and will give good balance to the team. Jack Rodwell has impressed, and could be a decent understudy to him, but Phil Jones is more versatile and so Rodders may be the unlucky 24th player.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Frank Lampard, but he can so often be the man for the big occasion or almost (ghost goal vs germany). This season though, he has been one of Chelsea’s better players and still finds himself on the bench. At least he will have practice then.

Recently England have played their best football with two wing players, namely Theo Walcott and Ashley Young. Both can switch sides to shake it up a bit, cross the ball and chip in with goals. That and Walcott is just lightening. Andy Johnson is the perfect backup and can also play the role of super sub as he has done with City this season.

Gareth Barry and James Milner do not make my squad purely at the expense of some of the younger players. Michael Carrick does not make my squad because he isn’t very good.

Strikers

The lone striker is favoured by Fabio. Obviously the temperamental Wayne Rooney would be everyone’s number one choice, but he went and got himself suspended. Great. He will now only miss two games, but still the other three strikers must now be selected even more carefully. Daniel Sturridge is the man in form and is definitely worth a place. He can act as cover on the wings too. Peter Crouch is, perhaps, my surprise inclusion. Top teams will not let you play football, give Crouch a cross and you’ve always got a chance. Tony Pulis seems to be getting the best out of him too. Finally I’ll have Danny Welbeck, for his performance against Tottenham this season alone.
Here it is:

GK – Hart
LD – Cole
CD – Terry
CD – Lescott
RD – Walker
CM – Scott Parker
CM – Jack Wilshere
CM – Steven Gerrard
LW – Ashley Young
ST – Wayne Rooney
RW – Theo Walcott

In:
Hart, Ruddy, Stockdale, Cole, Terry, Lescott, Walker, Jones, Richards, Jagielka*, Baines
Parker, Cleverley, Gerrard, Young, Walcott, Cleverley, Lampard, A Johnson, Rooney, Sturridge, Welbeck, Crouch.

Out: Ferdinand, G Johnson, Smalling, Cahill* (switched since first article), Barry, Milner, Carrick, Defoe, Carroll, Zamora, Bent, Every other Englishman not included above.

What do you think?