Happens all the time, the football press has spent most of the last week talking about Rio Ferdinand rather than those who have been selected

there's a bit more to that story than Morleys increasing age and diminishing form though.



anyway, well done to all those selected, just wish we had a decent coach in charge of the side.

Hit the nail on the head there.

totally different scenario though,ferdinands omission is political as he is clearly still one of our best defenders

Very debatable!

Must admit i thought Morley looked old last season....

Same as Ogre living of past reputation and the odd big carry and hit now but not internationals any more and Peacock isnt far behind IMO

The point being the press will talk about whatever they believe they can get the most mileage out of. They always have and always will. In this case they believe the omission of Morley is the big story, rather than the inclusion of any particular individual. And yes I understand the Ferdinand situation is slightly different if you believe that it's motivated by other than his football ability (however he's only played about 4 times for England in the last couple of years anyway).

Nail on head, past his sell by date by a mile, spends more time on the treatment table than owen did

Hodgson could have kept up the pretence of omitting Ferdinand for footballing reasons as opposed to the stuff with his brother and Terry, [iif [/ihe had replaced Cahill with for instance Micah Richards, a player that can play right back and centre half as well as being a current champion. Replacing him with a right back that made 10 appearances for the side that finished 8th is where he has unfortunately shown himself up.



Anyways sorry for going OT and well done Tom, Danny and Danny H.

Anyone who thinks Rio was left out for footballing reasons are deluding themselves.



Anyway back to England.

Weak how?

Well done to Briscoe and Tickle.



As for Morley, his omission - whilst the correct decision - is newsworthy as he is a highly capped player.

His positioning still needs work, although I'm not sure if that's what was meant by the previous comment.

Happy for them both well deserved.



At the minute though I wouldn't be disappointed if neither of them played + Manu actually purely for injury reasons.