Alright Mister Capello, I’ve had enough! Excuse my tone and let me explain: I had a glimpse of the future and it doesn’t look good at all, believe me! Well, I’m not a clairvoyant but I play Football Manager 2011 (you should do too I think). So, while playing FM 2011 I have noticed that the England team has gone from bad to worse. We all remember the disastrous campaign in South Africa but let me tell you that from what I see things will only get worse!
That’s right, worse! You did get the team to Euro 2012 but there were no medals there, England were knocked out by Croatia in the quarter finals. I don’t think that’s a good result, do you?
You decided to retire after Euro 2012 and the FA appointed Stuart Pearce, your right hand, as the new boss. Well, you should be proud: Mr. Pearce seems to have adopted the very same approach that you had in your day!
The result? A bigger disaster: England crashed out of the 2014 World Cup after three draws in the group stage! No, they didn’t play Argentina or Brazil, just Cameroon, Czech Republic and Australia!
The thing that surprised me the most is that your disciple, Stuart Pearce, preferred employing a first eleven that had no players under 25 years of age! The youngest player in this eleven is Micah Richards, aged 26 in 2014! That means that all the players that were under 21 years of age during your South African disaster were totally overlooked.
I wonder why… Was that because of a lack of young talent in the nation or was that a poor decision from the national team management? I decided to find an answer and also to try giving you a hand. I started a new game in FM 2011 and asked two of the best scouts in the game, Arsenal‘s Francis Cagigao and Steve Rowley, to travel the homeland and compile a list with the very best English youngsters. The first list had around 100 names, then I took their work further and narrowed it down to 38 players, talented youngsters that might deserve a chance to wear the Three Lions shirt sooner or later.
Here is the list Signor Capello, there are players for each position in there. If you’re not familiar with FM 2011 I can mention that the Current Ability and Potential Ability are measured in numbers (stars in the game) from 0 to 5. A player with at least 2.5 stars is well worthy of playing in the Premier League while a player with more than 3.5 has the talent to be a leading player in the English top flight. Oh, and you should know that if you click on a player’s name in the list below his profile will pop up so that you can see his abilities yourself.
| Name | Position | Curr. A. | Pot. A. | Personality | Age | Club |
| Alex Smithies | GK | 1.5 | 2.5 | Spirited | 20 | Huddersfield |
| Kyle Walker | D (R) | 2 | 3 | Fairly Ambitious | 20 | Tottenham |
| Matthew Briggs | D (L) | 3.5 (youth) | 2.5 | Balanced | 19 | Fulham |
| Ryan Bertrand | D (L) | 2 | 3 | Professional | 20 | Nottm Forest |
| Jack Robinson | D (L) | 2 (youth) | 3 | Balanced | 16 | Liverpool |
| James Tomkins | D (C) | 2 | 3 | Fairly Ambitious | 21 | West Ham |
| Jordan Spence | D (C) | 1 | 3 | Fairly Determined | 20 | West Ham |
| Phil Jones | D (C) | 1.5 | 3.5 | Professional | 18 | Blackburn |
| Eric Dier | D (C) | 2 (youth) | 3 | Fairly Ambitious | 16 | Sporting CP |
| Kyle Bartley | D (C) | 1 | 3 | Fairly Determined | 19 | Sheffield United |
| Luke Hubbins | M (R) | 3 (youth) | 2.5 | Fairly Loyal | 18 | Notts Co |
| Blair Turgott | M (R) | 1.5 (youth) | 2.5 | Balanced | 16 | West Ham |
| Marc Albrighton | M (R) | 2 | 3 | Fairly Sporting | 20 | Aston Villa |
| Andros Townsend | M (L) | 1 | 3 | Balanced | 18 | Ipswich |
| Aidan White | M (L) | 1 | 3 | Fairly Ambitious | 18 | Leeds |
| Kieran Gibbs | M (L) | 2 | 3 | Resolute | 20 | Arsenal |
| Dan Gosling | M (C) | 1.5 | 3 | Spirited | 20 | Newcastle |
| Fabian Delph | M (C) | 2 | 3.5 | Fairly Determined | 20 | Aston Villa |
| Henri Lansbury | M (C) | 2 | 3.5 | Fairly Ambitious | 19 | Arsenal |
| Jack Wilshere | M (C) | 2.5 | 4 | Resolute | 18 | Arsenal |
| Jonjo Shelvey | M (C) | 1.5 | 3.5 | Fairly Determined | 18 | Liverpool |
| Jacob Mellis | M (C) | 1 | 2.5 | Fairly Ambitious | 19 | Chelsea |
| Jack Cork | M (C) | 2 | 2.5 | Fairly Professional | 21 | Burnley |
| Michael Potts | M (C) | 3 (youth) | 2.5 | Resolute | 18 | Blackburn |
| Josh McEachran | M (C) | 3.5 (youth) | 3.5 | Fairly Ambitious | 17 | Chelsea |
| Jack Rodwell | M (C) | 2.5 | 4 | Fairly Ambitious | 19 | Everton |
| Ryan Tunnicliffe | M (C) | 2.5 (youth) | 2.5 | Resolute | 17 | Man Utd |
| Theo Walcott | ST | 3 | 3.5 | Resolute | 21 | Arsenal |
| Rhys Murphy | ST | 0.5 | 2.5 | Balanced | 19 | Arsenal |
| Alex Nimely | ST | 1 | 3 | Fairly Professional | 19 | Man City |
| Nathan Delfouneso | ST | 1.5 | 3.5 | Balanced | 19 | Aston Villa |
| Connor Wickham | ST | 1.5 | 3.5 | Fairly Determined | 17 | Ipswich |
| Andy Carroll | ST | 2.5 | 3 | Fairly Determined | 21 | Newcastle |
| Daniel Sturridge | ST | 2.5 | 3.5 | Determined | 20 | Chelsea |
| Harry Kane | ST | 2 (youth) | 3 | Fairly Professional | 16 | Tottenham |
| Thomas Hitchcock | ST | 2.5 (youth) | 2.5 | Resolute | 17 | Blackburn |
| Victor Moses | ST | 2 | 3.5 | Balanced | 19 | Wigan |
| James Vaughan | ST | 2.5 | 3 | Fairly Determined | 21 | Everton |
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Rooney shouldn’t play in 2014! But, as you can see from the picture below, it would be nice to have some fresh determined youngsters as alternatives.
I hope this was helpful dear Fabio and if you do play Football Manager 2011 I have a nice surprise for you: I have made a shortlist with these great youngsters, you can download it by clicking on the picture below and then you can easily import it in you game ;)
Mr. Capello, I hope that you were not offended by my opinions. This post took a lot of time to write, the research was especially difficult, so feel free to promote it on Facebook or Twitter, I’m sure that you have loads of followers. If you don’t use Facebook or Twitter then I strongly recommend joining our own Social Network, we have some witty football fans in there and I guarantee that they will give you a warm welcome. ;)
ravenie
19 февраля, 2011 at 19:02
Very good shortlist, will be very useful for Fabio ;)
Johnny Karp
19 февраля, 2011 at 19:19
If not for him then maybe at least for you and the other FM players ;)
Sayam Khan
19 февраля, 2011 at 19:10
Great post Johnny! England are always rubbish in FM, sadly :-(
Johnny Karp
19 февраля, 2011 at 19:19
Thanks Sayam. I might add that England’s results are not great and that’s not only in FM unfortunately…
Sears
20 февраля, 2011 at 00:49
Well I think England are just over rated.. They’ve flopped in nearly every major international tournament since 1966, aside from Italia 90′ and Euro 96′. I hope they sack Capello and bring in a manager like Holloway or Redknapp. Holloway will bring heart to the team whilst Redknapp would be more adventurous. C’mon Ireland :-)
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 11:32
I’d pick Redknapp but I’m afraid that we’ll be seeing Stuart Pearce in charge after Capello.
Scorekeeper
9 декабря, 2011 at 01:17
Of course they’re overrated, but not in talent. It’s the attitude of England thinking «Well we invented the darn game and certainly created the modern sport, so heck, we need to win EVERYTIME we step out onto the field.» Even 2nd place would be a failure (as opposed to, say, the USA getting 2nd, which if they did there’d be celebrations all over the country). The English pride is pushed up so much, it negates the fact that in a World Cup, 31 teams lose and only one team win, so already, odds are England doesn’t really have more or less of a chance of winning than any of the other teams on paper. But mentally, since they think they’ve made the game what it is today, they should always win everything they’ve ever competed in.
hils
20 февраля, 2011 at 07:25
Good shortlist there!!!!!!!!!!! I personally think since the world cup the only good piece of football was the match against Denmark!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 11:32
That game against Denmark went pretty well but it was just a friendly, those don’t count for much…
Laxeyman
20 февраля, 2011 at 11:35
Great list Johnny, at least we have Jack Wilshere coming through and judging by his performances for Arsenal this season he’s going to be the heart of the team for the next 10-15 years. I hope they get Redknapp once Capello finally goes, and that FM is wrong otherwise it’s going to be a painful time for England fans.
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 13:23
I agree, Wilshere seems to be the best prospect in England at the moment but I think that some of the others should be given more chances to play. Hats off to Mr. Wenger for breaking him into the first team at such a young age, that takes courage. Most of the other managers would have preferred to buy a 28-year old from someplace else instead.
Laxeyman
20 февраля, 2011 at 14:27
There is also Jordan Henderson, who made his debut in November, and Martin Kelly, who will surely be in future squads as they seem to have a lot of potential.
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 20:22
Henderson is quite talented, I have watched him in an Under 21 game and he was quite impressive.
Lye
20 февраля, 2011 at 14:28
Hi Johnny,
Great list for Fabio’s considerations. I saw Thomas Hitchcock on that list.I really like him in FM. Will be asking for his loan again for my league 1 challenge.
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 20:23
Hitchcock is on my shortlist as well but I never managed to bring him to Vauxhall.
Darren Smith
20 февраля, 2011 at 15:37
Great post Johnny, very well written and I like the way you’ve made it into a letter.
England are crap on FM, even the top talent can’t touch the likes of Brazil and Argentina.
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 20:26
Thanks Darren. Actually your statement that England are crap just put an idea into my head: I might try to start a career as Capello’s replacement and see whether I can do any better in FM.
Sears
20 февраля, 2011 at 22:38
That would be interesting :-p
Kevin
20 февраля, 2011 at 19:21
Hi Johnny
There are some very good players there and thanks for given us this insight. As Sears said englabd are overrated though if we stopped playing the long ball all the time we do have the talent to change things around. Personally Harry Redknapp is the man for the job and I think he will get it after Euro 2012 through media pressure. The Sun :)
Most of my S.American work colleagues still see the dream World Cup Final as Brazil v England except those who are Argentinian of course..LOL!
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 20:32
The clubs will also play an important part, they will have to promote some of these youngsters sooner or later instead of spending ridiculous amounts of money on some so-called stars.
Kevin
20 февраля, 2011 at 21:40
And theirin lies the the problem with English football. Import instead of bringing youngsters through which of course I’m just as guilty of doing in FM.
Sears
20 февраля, 2011 at 22:42
Truthfully, English football is dominated by foreign players and that’s why it’s rated the best league in the world. Something has to be done soon about it!
James
20 февраля, 2011 at 19:45
You tell him Johnny! lol
Johnny Karp
20 февраля, 2011 at 20:35
;)
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Iain
21 февраля, 2011 at 12:56
being Scottish i dont mind seeing england be bad at football because they now know how every Scot feels while their country play. Anyway a good list of young exciting players like Wilshere, another good player is Gary Hooper who plays for Celtic he’s still quite young and has been brilliant this season in the SPL.
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2011 at 18:27
Thanks for the comment Iain. Hooper is older than 21 I believe, that’s why he wasn’t considered for this shortlist.
Borisinho
21 февраля, 2011 at 15:56
hope you don’t mind but I have quite a bit to say on this subject.
firstly, excellent list Mr Karp but I, personally, believe there is one glaring absence from it…..Manchester United’s attacking midfielder Tom Cleverley. Watford’s player of the year for the 2009/10 season, continued that with good performances for United in pre-season before going to Wigan and starting really well there, before an injury halted his progress. Also Chris Smalling should be on there
That being said, looking at that list there are some names that he will give game time too……Jack Wilshere (who he’s said he wants to build his team round) and Theo Walcott (he admitted not taking him to South Africa was a mistake), Andy Carroll will be a regular starter soon, how Albrighton hasn’t been called up yet is beyond me.
I think, deep down, Capello knows most the current crop aren’t worthy of representing us and needs to bring more youth in. The thing that baffles me is Stuart Pearce is his right hand man, he manages the U21’s and should know how good alot of these players are. Having gone nearly 20 years without involvement, they are about to particiapte in their 3rd successive U21 European Championship, having reached the FINAL 2 years ago. Capello needs to talk to, and more importantly LISTEN to, Stuart Pearce
Borisinho
21 февраля, 2011 at 16:07
here’s the team that played in that final
22 Scott Loach
2 Martin Cranie 79′
17 Micah Richards
6 Nedum Onuoha 46′
19 Kieran Gibbs
12 Fabrice Muamba 78′
4 Lee Cattermole
10 Mark Noble (c)
7 James Milner
11 Adam Johnson
14 Theo Walcott
Substitutions:
18 Michael Mancienne 46′
15 Jack Rodwell 78′
8 Craig Gardner 79′
how many of those have claimed a regular place with the full squad having done so well to reach the final in 2009, topping a group that included both Germany’s and Spain’s U21’s, and beating Sweden’s U21’s in the semi final (Sweden were the host nation and, more often than not, that’s not an easy game…a point proven by the fact extra time and penalties were needed to get through to the final itself)
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2011 at 18:28
Thanks a lot for the very detailed comment, I agree that Capello should pay more attention to the Under 21 team and promote players from there on a regular basis. About Cleverley, he was on my initial shortlist but when I narrowed it down I decided to leave him out of the final version. It could have been a mistake though, I admit that.
Borisinho
21 февраля, 2011 at 18:37
what can I say, I have strong feelings about the state of our national team. i think Cleverley’s as much of a prospect as Wilshere, hard to seperate the two for me, Cleverley will get you more goals tho and it’s goals that win games
Geordie6
21 февраля, 2011 at 22:03
Hey guys,
FM base linked to this on facebook this morning and its a fascinating read. Great work Johnny.
In case anyone is interested, in my current game I got the England job after Stuart Pearce bombed out of Euro 16 in the quarters. In qualifying for the World Cup 2018 I’ve played 7 won 7 and, although there are a few regens knocking about, if i went 442 with existing players it would look like this.
Joe Hart
Jordan Spence Phil Jones Ryan Shawcross Ryan Bertrand
James Milner Jack Rodwell Jonjo Shelvey Tom Cleverley
Wayne Rooney Andy Carroll
Good players, plenty of back up and competition for places and you’re right, its no different for Capello.
So long as the likes of Upson, Downing, Jenas, Carlton Cole etc continue to be on Capello’s radar the longer we will have to be content with mediocrity.
Also to chip into the Cleverley debate, i have him in my Everton team and he is top class on either flank. He was immense at Watford last season and Martinez was quoted as saying the only thing he wanted in January was Cleverley to extend his loan and when he did he was ecstatic. A real top prospect and considering he is playing well in the top flight but for a poorly performing, unfashionable side it is a travesty and yet totally predictable that the most hype he gets is on FM blogs :)
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2011 at 08:59
Thanks a lot for the comment mate. I have to say that I like the first eleven that you suggest, looks pretty good. I guess you’ll qualify for 2018, let us know how the World Cup goes. I wish you the best of luck for the tournament!
Geordie6
14 марта, 2011 at 09:33
Well my game has got past the world cup and England have won it!!!
Amazingly England won every game in normal time and never really looked like stuttering
In the final vs Portugal I won 3-2 and this is the team I played
Hart
DR/DM Regen
Phil Jones
DC Regen
Jordan Spence
Ross Barkley
Jack Wilshere
Jack Rodwell (57)
James Milner
Wayne Rooney (55, pen 79)
Andy Carroll
The subs were
Alex Smithies
ST Regen
Ryan Bertrand
Tom Eaves
RWB Regen
CB Regen
Tom Huddlestone
ST Regen
Jason Steele
Also Tom Cleverley, Jonjo Shelvey, Theo Walcott all got injured during the tournament.
Tom Cleverley was named as the tournament’s best player and Wayne Rooney came 3rd in the goalscorer’s with 5. Carroll and Cleverley both got 4.
There you go Mr Capello, that’s how you do it.
Johnny Karp
14 марта, 2011 at 11:49
Thanks for your input Geordie, much appreciated. And congrats on winning the World Cup!
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Albyedw
23 февраля, 2011 at 19:07
Great shortlist Johnny,
even with me being italian i think mr.capello has got a bit out of hand, don’t you think!
I would just like to say your blog and the fm community has inspired me to start blogging about my fm game with catania! please can you follow and comment as it would be nice to know I have someone following and othering their advice! it is called http://www.everythingfootballandotherstuff.blogspot.com. i started it in December writing about football in general and there is also a mention to you when writing about notts county!
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2011 at 09:42
Thanks mate, I have just checked out your blog. Keep up the good work! You can have your website added to our community module, check it out and let me know: https://footballmanagerstory.com/community/?page_id=2
hammers07
1 апреля, 2011 at 17:56
thanks for the list massively helpful
Paul Hunter
15 апреля, 2011 at 16:46
i just completed Euro 2012 as England manager playing a simple 4-3-3 with very few big names in the squad let alone the starting eleven… this consisted of
HART
G.JOHNSON TERRY SMALLING BERTRAND
MILNER WILSHERE HUDDLESTONE
WALCOTT ROONEY JOHNSON
we beat Holland, Croatia and Belarus in the group before beating Spain in the QF, Germany in the SF and Russia in the final… in my view there are many players missing from the list above such as F. FORSTER, SMALLING and M. CONNOLLY, HENDERSON and CATTERMOLE, andJARVIS
Johnny Karp
16 апреля, 2011 at 12:18
I agree with some of the names that you have suggested but not with all of them. Anyway, well done on winning the Euro, that’s a great achievement.
Alexander Ahkar
23 апреля, 2011 at 12:49
My line-up for the Future England is…..
J.hart
K.Walker Smalling R.Shawcross M.Richards
J.Rodwell
J.Wilshere J.Henderson
T.Walcott A.Johnson
A.Carroll
How abt tht? Hope It’ll be successful in da future….:)
Johnny Karp
23 апреля, 2011 at 15:30
Looks good :)
FM_addict
12 августа, 2011 at 16:47
Johnny what skin are you using on FM11
Darren Smith
12 августа, 2011 at 18:39
Johnny is currently away on holiday but will be able to answer your question next week. Maybe ask again on Wednesday if he hasn’t replied.
Johnny Karp
15 августа, 2011 at 14:13
The skin is called Dominion, you can grab it from here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/239583-FM11-Released-Dominion-2011
qwerty
15 августа, 2011 at 17:32
where is oxlade-chamberlain
max-101
22 августа, 2011 at 18:23
Jordan Cousins, Callum Jenkinson, Diego Poyet, sterling (liverpool) Wallace centre mid at everton.
Quite a few big youngsters coming through. Ross Barkley had a great debut on Saturday.
Markus
17 января, 2012 at 20:18
Luke Shaw in Southampton U-18 is also a star in 5 years
Johnny Karp
19 января, 2012 at 21:07
Thanks for the suggestion.
Lewis
19 марта, 2012 at 11:09
This list is shocking an so unrealistic.
First of all why would shaw Ross be in the England line up when there’s players like smalling, jones, jagielka, Dawson etc and second in what universe would you play walcott upfront and Kieran gibbs at left mid
Johnny Karp
19 марта, 2012 at 20:11
I guess you didn’t really understand the logic of the post. And there’s another fact: FM is a game after all and, as realistic as it can be, it can’t be 100% realistic. What I did was to go through in-game scout reports and pick the best youngsters from there. Folks like Jagielka were way beyond the age limit I have set, I believe that is stated in the post as well.