Kait Borsay profiles the new members of the England squad and rates the displays of those who played.
Kait Borsay profiles the newest members of the England squad and rates the performances of those who played at Wembley
The England team were looking much more youthful in last night's friendly against France; the average age of the squad was just over 25. Compare this with the side that went to South Africa, which as England's oldest squad had an average age of just under 29 and Fabio Capello seems to be finally doing what he's been threatening to do for so long: giving a taste of England's future.
But was the introduction of so many inexperienced senior international players a useful exercise? Kait Borsay profiles the newest members of the England squad and rates the performances of those who played at Wembley.
Kieran Gibbs
From a family of Arsenal supporters the left-back actually began his footballing career at Wimbledon as a midfielder and left winger. When Wimbledon disbanded in 2004 he moved to Arsenal where he signed as a professional. After a loan spell at Norwich in 2008 he rejoined Arsenal, and got his chance at a run of games at first team level in April 2009 when Gael Clichy became injured. With Clichy still out, he started the new season a fixture in the first team, but devastatingly, just as he was starting to show great promise he broke his metatarsal in November 2009.
Although injury has again hampered him this season Arsene Wenger has said Gibbs will get several games and mooted a move back to the player's old stomping ground in midfield. Gibbs lists Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright as his football heroes - not forgetting a throwback to his days at Wimbledon with a mention for Dean Holdsworth. He's learning Spanish and has a twin brother, Jayden, who plays in midfield for Guildford City F.C.
The Game: I think we can glean that the 21-year old is not fully match fit, and this would make sense bearing in mind the injuries he's had and the so far lack of first team action for his club. Yes he was caught out with France's second goal but he had a lot to do in the game. Our poor performance in midfield left little option but for the defence to mop up as much as they could - and I don't think Gibbs did a bad job at all. Won't threaten Ashley Cole's place for a good few years to come though.
Andy Carroll
For all the new wave of disciplined, non-drinking, modern professional young footballers that are breaking through into the England senior squad Andy Carroll's antics off the field seem to have caused enough headlines for the lot of them.
There's no doubting his ability though, and Capello and co think so too - enough to break with the usual protocol of sending any player unfit to train home 36 hours before a friendly (Carroll had a groin injury ahead of this fixture). Instead it was decided to see how he would fare in the time left before the game.
The 21-year old has had a blistering time for Newcastle so far this season, scoring seven goals. But as Capello so bluntly put it on Tuesday 'Carroll needs to improve in his private life' before disclosing that he had considered picking Carroll for earlier games, but after advice from Stuart Pearce and the FA, had gone against the decision.
Born in Gateshead, the striker joined Newcastle at the age of nine after playing football for the local side where Paul Gascoigne had been developed. He had spurned his family's wishes for him to join Sunderland after deciding that he wanted to emulate Alan Shearer.
He
