My squad is not the one I expect Roy Hodgson to pick for Brazil but the one I would like to see on the plane...
Strikers x 4
The forwards are blindingly obvious really - Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck are all absolute certainties.
There's only one left for me and again I think it's a no-brainer. With all due respect to Andy Carroll, Rickie Lambert is a better all-round footballer and has played such a significant part in our qualification; everyone remembers the pride he had when he came on the pitch in that England shirt and that fact that he played with a smile on his face. He'll also work well with Shaw and Lallana if they get the chance and of course, if we get to a penalty shoot-out we've got to make sure he's on the field.
Don't get me wrong, if I was a centre-half I would not want to be playing against Carroll. But, he doesn't have a good goal-scoring record and I'm hoping, even if we get to the stage where with 10/15 minutes left we need a goal, we've not got to the stage where we're just lumping it forward towards a big man up front in the hope that a knock-down might come. I'm hoping that we will still be trying to play our football and trying to play through the likes of Barkley and Lallana.
Flair
We've got a squad with loads of flair and style and yes, it is hard to go to South America, but people shouldn't be over pessimistic about it. Let's look at the group: Italy are probably not what they were and if we don't beat Costa Rica we don't deserve to go any further. Uruguay have got a good side but we saw what can happen to Luis Suarez if you play him the right way, as Chelsea did in the Premier League.
Now, all that is easy for me to say because I'm not the man in charge, Roy is. It's easy for all of us pundits to say 'come on you've got these flair players, play them', or 'go and play the kids because they'll be better in two or four years' time', but Roy wouldn't be human if he wasn't thinking, 'in two or four years' time somebody else will get the benefit from that, not me'. Remember, he may not be the England manager any more if we end up getting thoroughly turned over.
Let's concentrate on our own game not the players we're playing against. Let's go and play with some flair and some style and some belief.
Don't forget you can give it a go yourself with the
Sky Sports England Squad Selector.
JEFF'S GEM OF THE WEEK
Chelsea's great result at Liverpool last week has to be up there but I'm going further down the leagues as I usually do.
Colchester beat Brentford 4-1 in League One last weekend. The Essex side were a point off relegation going into the game and have been struggling to win their home matches. It was a fantastic result against a Brentford side who have had a fantastic season.
Freddie Sears got two goals and he's had a difficult time since he first burst on to the scene with West Ham, scoring on his debut. I'm pleased that he's come back and in terms of 'goals scored' this has been his best season and those goals have helped keep Colchester up.
Well done to them, they came up with the goods when required.
