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38 Names for Mister Fabio Capello
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. ;)