Roy's Boys don't offer much to be excited about

Roy Hodgson has named his England squad and I can't be alone in going through the names and then coming to the end with something of a feeling of deflation.  Is that the best we can do?  Erm, yeah, actually.

Hart, Green, Ruddy Hell it's Softcell
Baines, Cahill, Cole, Johnson, Jones, Lescott, Terry (boo)
Barry, Downing, Gerrard (c), Lampard, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Parker, Walcott, Young
Caroll, Defoe, Rooney, Welbeck

As I say, not exactly the most stellar cast ever assembled.  However this is absolutely not a criticism of Roy Hodgson at all, the sad fact of the matter is that I think England had a real dearth of options going into this tournament.

Looking through that squad I'd say you would only really pick out Joe Hart, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney as leading players in their positions.  They for me would be the only three English players that any of the other participants in Euro 2012 would slot into their team without too much in the way of hesitation.

Based on that 23, and given the fact that Rooney the idiot is unavailable through his own stupidity (it really winds me up that, for once he approaches a tournament not injured and his hotheaded idiocy has cost him and us, dickhead) I would plump for the following starting 11 for the France game:
Ruddy (as if, it's Hart)
Jones, Cahill, Terry (I know, I know) Cole
Parker, Barry
Walcott, Gerrard, Young
Carroll.

Again, it's not the most awe-inspiring team that England have ever set out, but my real takeaway from this whole thing is that actually this is healthy.

It's refreshing to see that pundits are coming out with the view that I fully agree with - to qualify from their group will be an achievement for England here.  We face strong opposition plus a host nation who should always be handled with care.  We are missing our best player and biggest goal threat until it may be too late.  We have a series of players who have either passed their peak and are sliding into irrelevance, or are yet to hit the heights that their careers may produce. 

Too often England go into tournaments with unreasonable expectations, nay, demands, that they will win the thing.  Only twice in my life have we ever made the semi final, and the last one of those got me a Year 7 after school detention for my language the next day.

This time, anyone with any knowledge will understand that we don't have the greatest of options, we are in transition, and we probably need to build for the future rather than worrying too much about the present.

Nowhere is this made more starkly obvious than in relation to our striking options.  Carroll got good in the FA Cup Final, so we all seem to be forgetting the previous 12 months of calamity.  Welbeck may well become a fine player for his country but that seems too big of an ask right now, and Defoe has rarely played for his club in recent months.  Other options that have been rejected didn't exactly set the heart fluttering either - a far cry from the days when we could leave out the likes of Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright and Andy Cole.

As I say though I don't find it too tragic, this is the squad we have, it's deemed the best we've got and with a few possible arguments (Adam Johnson instead of Downing, Rio instead of Tosspot, Rickie Lambert just because) there is not really much that anyone would change.  Consider the omission of Gazza (and Le Tiss) in 98; there is no-one really screaming out to be included this time in my opinion.

Now that the squad has been chosen, the next job is simple: get behind them.  Let's take the fact that we have shed the golden generation tosh as a positive, here's a decent enough team that are probably going to struggle so more than ever they need strong support.  The divisive tabloids have had it out for Roy since Day One, and I have no doubt they will pounce on anything as soon as they can - but if they can point to a better choice then I'd love to hear it. I wouldn't actually, I despise them all and all who sail within them, but that's beside the point.

There is less than a month until England kick off their Euro 2012 campaign against France, and now that the squad is out there, it's time to look forward.  As understated as our chances might be, it's impossible not to get a bit excited, so I'll just throw out one ridiculous prediction...The Ox to be the breakthrough star of the tournament, leading us to a semi final walloping from Ze Germans.

Come on England!