The Lions Team

[Deckydee]

Hi,

I was discussing the upcoming Lions tour with a couple of my friends recently when the topic of a Lions football team arose. Who would you pick? This is mine:

Given (Irl)

Ashley Cole (Eng) Richard Dunne (Irl) Gary Caldwell (Sco) Darren Fletcher (Sco)


Stewart Downing (Eng) Steven Gerrard (Eng) Aiden McGeady (Irl)

Shaun Maloney (Sco)

Wayne Rooney (Eng) Robbie Keane (Irl)


Bench

Wayne Hennessey (Wal)
David James (Eng)
Frank Lampard (Eng)
Damien Duff (Eir)
Liam Doyle (Eir)
Chris Iwelumo (Wal)
James McFadden (Sco)
Craig Bellamy (Wal)
David Healy (NI)


Ok, I have pushed Fletcher back to accommodate an already out of place McGeady. But I could not decide on my team without them. Anyone know better options?

[shakermaker1982]

Did you have to pick a certain number of players from each country because how else would you explain so many Scots?! :) then again you've totally forgotten about the Nordies. They won't be a happy bunch!

[Deckydee]

Did you have to pick a certain number of players from each country because how else would you explain so many Scots?! :) then again you've totally forgotten about the Nordies. They won't be a happy bunch!

I know, dont tell them :cool:

:)

[theworm2345]

Wayne Hennessey (Wal)
David James (Eng)
Frank Lampard (Eng)
Damien Duff (Eir)
Liam Doyle (Eir)
Chris Iwelumo (Wal)
James McFadden (Sco)
Craig Bellamy (Wal)
David Healy (NI)


Ok, I have pushed Fletcher back to accommodate an already out of place McGeady. But I could not decide on my team without them. Anyone know better options?
Who the **** is that?

[Dodge]

Whoever he is he's better than Caldwell. he's probably better than Ashley Cole right full and Darren Fletcher left Full. He's absolutely better than the Welsh Iwelumo. He's better than the current Scottish international of the same name too

[Deckydee]

Kevin Doyle, My apologies :o

[Lionel Ritchie]

He's absolutely better than the Welsh Iwelumo. He's better than the current Scottish international of the same name too

:D very good indeed.

[an_ceannaire]

Are you having a laugh??? Look, if your picking in a way that has to accomodate all then ok, but in the Real Lions test team they dont do that, so why do it in soccer??
If we were being honest and picking an 11 combination then it would look like this
Given
Cole
Ferdinand
Terry
Johnson
Giggs
Gerrard
Lampard
Cole
Rooney
Keane/Crouch

No real natural goal scorers so Robbie would have a chance alright.
You picked Caldwell :D :D DONKEY!!!

[OwlsFan]

Why are the players on the team from Irl and the players on the bench from Eir?

[Den Perry]

Hi,

I was discussing the upcoming Lions tour with a couple of my friends recently when the topic of a Lions football team arose. Who would you pick? This is mine:

Given (Irl)

Ashley Cole (Eng) Richard Dunne (Irl) Gary Caldwell (Sco) Darren Fletcher (Sco)


Stewart Downing (Eng) Steven Gerrard (Eng) Aiden McGeady (Irl)

Shaun Maloney (Sco)

Wayne Rooney (Eng) Robbie Keane (Irl)


Bench

Wayne Hennessey (Wal)
David James (Eng)
Frank Lampard (Eng)
Damien Duff (Eir)
Liam Doyle (Eir)
Chris Iwelumo (Wal)
James McFadden (Sco)
Craig Bellamy (Wal)
David Healy (NI)


Ok, I have pushed Fletcher back to accommodate an already out of place McGeady. But I could not decide on my team without them. Anyone know better options?

Presuming you are an Ireland fan, then this has to be the most biased team I have ever seen in my life. Dunne and Caldweel ahead of Ferdinand and Terry? you having a laugh? Caldwell is s hite, Dunne, though I rate him is having a bad season.Mcgeady? another laugh you're having. What about Joe Cole?S wright philips? James Milner? - all far superior players to MCgeady...

Moloney? Come on....

In fact the only non-english players that realistically would start would be Given and maybe Giggs and Keane....

PS...as for Downing, I wouldn't even let him wheel the luggage

[frog-gufc]

1- shay given
2- alan hutton
3- richard dunne
4- john terry
5- ashley cole
6- aidan mcgeady
7- stewart downing
8- steven gerrard
9- gareth barry
10- david healy
11- wayne rooney

1- kevin doyle
2- frank lampard
3- joe cole
4- boaz myhill
5- john o shea

midweek team

1- craig gordon
2- steve finnan
3- gareth bale
4- joleo lescott
5- rio ferdinand
6- ryan giggs
7- damian duff
8- barry ferguson
9- michael carrick
10- peter crouch
11- craig bellamy

1- robbie keane
2- maik taylor
3- jack collison
4- gabriel agbonlahor
5- ashley young

[shakermaker1982]

Given would be the only cert to start for us.

A fit and in form Finnan would be in contention and the Duffer (Chelsea first two seasons) would walk into a left wing slot.

Ashley Cole would not be in the squad on the grounds of being a complete ****.

[the-blue-harp]

Given would be the only cert to start for us.

A fit and in form Finnan would be in contention and the Duffer (Chelsea first two seasons) would walk into a left wing slot.

Ashley Cole would not be in the squad on the grounds of being a complete ****.

nobody who spends more time in more magazine than a football mag is allowed on the lions team, thats a new rule. so thats ashley cole out the wee gob****e.

[gustavo]

nobody who spends more time in more magazine than a football mag is allowed on the lions team, thats a new rule. so thats ashley cole out the wee gob****e.

Whereas I would adopt the more controversial approach and just select the best players regardless of any misgivings about their personality and as such he would be a shoo in to my team.

Could only really think of Given who would be a certainty to start in this team and possibly Dunne in the squad for us.

[as_i_say]

I suppose if we did have a lions team at least they would have a chance of beating New Zealand for once.

[NeilMcD]

The first post is the funniest post I have read on this site for a long time, fair play Dodge for a great retort also.

GK Given
Right back is the only slot I have difficulty with as there is nobody really great at this position. Hutton has the potential and is probably the best long term but Wes Brown, Glen Johnson and Steve Finnan could all get the nod. Probably give it to Wes Brown though.

CB Ferdinand
CB Terry
LB Cole
LMF Giggs
CM Carrick
CM Lampard
RMF Gerrard
Rooney CF
Keane CF

[EalingGreen]

Hi,

I was discussing the upcoming Lions tour with a couple of my friends recently when the topic of a Lions football team arose. Who would you pick? This is mine:

Given (Irl)

Ashley Cole (Eng) Richard Dunne (Irl) Gary Caldwell (Sco) Darren Fletcher (Sco)


Stewart Downing (Eng) Steven Gerrard (Eng) Aiden McGeady (Irl)

Shaun Maloney (Sco)

Wayne Rooney (Eng) Robbie Keane (Irl)


Bench

Wayne Hennessey (Wal)
David James (Eng)
Frank Lampard (Eng)
Damien Duff (Eir)
Liam Doyle (Eir)
Chris Iwelumo (Wal)
James McFadden (Sco)
Craig Bellamy (Wal)
David Healy (NI)


Ok, I have pushed Fletcher back to accommodate an already out of place McGeady. But I could not decide on my team without them. Anyone know better options?

"Lions"? "Donkeys" more like...:eek: I really can't believe that any rational football fan would start with Dunne, Caldwell, Fletcher, Downing, McGeady and Maloney etc.

If I were picking such a team, it would be Giggs (definitely), Given (maybe) and whatever combination of nine Englishmen Fabio Capello advised me to pick. Keane might make the bench.

And if I were picking a team for 2013 (i.e. the next Lions tour), it would likely be two or three from the current (exceptional) crop of Welsh U-21's, hopefully Jonny Evans, possibly John Fleck and seven or eight Englishmen.

P.S. If Stephen Ireland ever sorts his head out, and continues to develop as a player, he'd be in contention for 2013 as well, I should think.

[Dodge]

I'd imagine Stephen ireland would have no problem playing for this team...

[DeNiro]

Would this team have any particular national anthem? :D

[Closed Account 2]

Almunia for sub goalie

[Colbert Report]

Shay Given woud be the only player with any kind of chance of making the squad, never mind the starting team.

Darren Fletcher at left back? Are you serious?

[Den Perry]

"Lions"? "Donkeys" more like...:eek: I really can't believe that any rational football fan would start with Dunne, Caldwell, Fletcher, Downing, McGeady and Maloney etc.

If I were picking such a team, it would be Giggs (definitely), Given (maybe) and whatever combination of nine Englishmen Fabio Capello advised me to pick. Keane might make the bench.

And if I were picking a team for 2013 (i.e. the next Lions tour), it would likely be two or three from the current (exceptional) crop of Welsh U-21's, hopefully Jonny Evans, possibly John Fleck and seven or eight Englishmen.

P.S. If Stephen Ireland ever sorts his head out, and continues to develop as a player, he'd be in contention for 2013 as well, I should think.

I agree with your points re Moloney, Fletcher, Caldwell and Mcgeady. However, Given as a maybe? Come off it. None of the other keepers alligned to the five national teams come close to him.

In addition, Robbie Keane would at least make the bench. There is no Scottish,or Northern Irish striker ahead of him...and the only English strikers better are Rooney and Owen...though Defoe wouldn't be far behind. As for Bellamy, he'd make my squad

[rambler14]

---------Given

----Dunne Ferdinand Terry

Fletcher Carrick Lampard McGeady

---------Gerrard
----------------Rooney

[EalingGreen]

On an historical note, something similar to a "Lions" side was picked in 1973 to commemorate the accession of the UK, ROI and Denmark ("The Three") into the Common Market ("The Six").

The manager of "The Three" (Sir Alf Ramsey) will doubtless have been under pressure to make sure his selection was truly representative of all five international teams he could select from, yet he was always very much his own man (including hating the Scots!)

I'd guess Jennings, Giles and Lorimer fully justified their selection, but I'm surprised at (Scot) Colin Stein getting a look in, despite his goal. Don't know enough about Jensen (and Sub. Olson) to comment. No Taffs, mind.

As for Helmut Schon's "Six", with the exception of the Belgian keeper (Piot), the Frenchman Beretta, and the Luxembourger Pilot (did he actually play?), that was a hell of a team.

The predominance of Dutch and Germans at the expense of French and Italians shows where the power lay in Europe in the mid 70's (unless the best Italians weren't available/interested).

03/01/1973, London (England), Wembley, 36500

NEW ECM 2 (Henning Jensen 47', Colin Stein 69')
OLD ECM 0

New ECM: Pat Jennings [Northern Ireland], Peter Storey [England], Emlyn Hughes [England], Colin Bell [England] (John Steen Olsen [Denmark] 74'),
Norman Hunter [England], Bobby Moore [England], Peter Lorimer [Scotland], Johnny Giles [Ireland], Colin Stein [Scotland], Bobby Charlton [England], Henning Jensen [Denmark] (Alan Ball [England] 60').
Old ECM: Christian Piot [Belgium] (Dino Zoff [Italy] 46'), Marius Trésor [France] (Wim Suurbier [Netherlands] 46'), Franz Beckenbauer [West Germany] (Ruud Krol [Netherlands] 46'), Horst Blankenburg [West Germany], Berti Vogts [West Germany], Wim van Hanegem [Netherlands] (Herbert Wimmer [West Germany] 46'), Günter Netzer [West Germany] [c], Johan Neeskens [Netherlands], Jürgen Grabowski [West Germany], Gerd Müller [West Germany], Georges Bereta [France].
Referee: Norman Burtenshaw (England).
Coaches: New ECM: Sir Alf Ramsey (England).
Old ECM: Helmut Schön (West Germany).
Note: It is also reported that Louis Pilot [Luxembourg] played instead of Herbert Wimmer [West Germany].
http://www.cantab.net/users/nfm24/football/1973oth.html

[Leejo]

---------Given

----Dunne Ferdinand Terry

Fletcher Carrick Lampard McGeady

---------Gerrard
----------------Rooney


Ehhhhhhhhhhh

[lionelhutz]

Given

Finnan Carragher Ferdinand Cole

Walcott Scholes Gerrard Giggs

Rooney Doyle


Think a Doyle Rooney partnership would work much better than Keane Rooney - see Heskey Rooney. I think Doyle is a better all round player than Heskey

[DeLorean]

---------------------Given-------------------------

Hutton-------Terry------------Dunne----------Bridge

-------------------Hargreaves----------------------

-----Gerrard-------------------------McGeady------

------------Bellamy-----------Rooney---------------

----------------------Keane------------------------

Possibly the most attacking formation known to man. Especially with those full backs. Poor Hargreaves is gonna have to get through an amount of work covering for those fellas ahead of him when he gets back from Colorado!!!:o

[Hibernian]

Given (no question)
Finnan, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole
Ireland, Gerrard, Carrick, Barry
Rooney, Agbonlahor

Subs
James
Bridge
Carragher
Scholes
Giggs
Keane
Doyle

have not really seen s,ireland in last 5/6 games but before that was impressed.

Given is dead cert imo fantastic goalkeeper

[Not Brazil]

Would this team have any particular national anthem? :D

A would propose a UK version of "A Nation Once Again":D

[co. down green]

A would propose a UK version of "A Nation Once Again":D

Sorry, that's an Irish song.

I would presume the 06 supporters would campaign for 'Rule Britannia' to be the anthem as its a favoured song of England and the supporters of the IFA team.;)

[Cymro]

Chris Iwelumo is Scottish, not Welsh. And he's crap. Also to make this authentic we should only pick players who actually play internationals, so no Almunia or Carragher or Giggs, etc.

My team:

Given

Bale
Ferdinand
Terry
G Johnson

A Young
Gerrard
D Fletcher
Beckham

Bellamy
Heskey

On current form, all those guys are well worth their place, despite some of them not having great reputations per se. OK, so Bale's having a bad season, but the alternative's Ashley Cole and there's no way I'm giving that greedy ******* a place :D

[Razors left peg]

It is tough to pick:

Given

Hutton Dunne Ferdinand Ashley Cole

Gerrard Barry Carrick Duff

Rooney Doyle


Subs:
Keane
Terry
Owen
Steven Reid
McGeady
Joe Cole
Evans

[FahyForever]

Hi,

I was discussing the upcoming Lions tour with a couple of my friends recently when the topic of a Lions football team arose. Who would you pick? This is mine:

Given (Irl)

Ashley Cole (Eng) Richard Dunne (Irl) Gary Caldwell (Sco) Darren Fletcher (Sco)


Stewart Downing (Eng) Steven Gerrard (Eng) Aiden McGeady (Irl)

Shaun Maloney (Sco)

Wayne Rooney (Eng) Robbie Keane (Irl)


Bench

Wayne Hennessey (Wal)
David James (Eng)
Frank Lampard (Eng)
Damien Duff (Eir)
Liam Doyle (Eir)
Chris Iwelumo (Wal)
James McFadden (Sco)
Craig Bellamy (Wal)
David Healy (NI)


Ok, I have pushed Fletcher back to accommodate an already out of place McGeady. But I could not decide on my team without them. Anyone know better options?

I can only hope that this guy was taking the mick, it´s the only way to explain that selection apart from certified insanity. However, it´s followed closely by the (many) people who think Dunne would make the starting eleven, the few who consider Aiden Mc Geady a better player than Ryan Giggs, and the guys who wouldn´t pick Ashley Cole because they don´t like him. Good craic though, and a genuine insight into how much some people on this forum actually know about football!!! ;)

Here´s mine anyway, so it can be criticised...

Given

Brown, Terry, Ferdinand, Cole

Gerrard, Barry, Lampard, Giggs

Rooney, Heskey

I opted for eleven players rather than ten Rambler14 ;)

[GreenStar]

pathetic thread!

[Rovers fan]

---------Given

----Dunne Ferdinand Terry

Fletcher Carrick Lampard McGeady

---------Gerrard
----------------Rooney

Who got sent off?

[Razors left peg]

pathetic thread!

Lighten up a small bit

[gola11]

Only considering current internationals:

1 Given G
2 Brown RB
3 A. Cole LB
4 Terry CB
5 FerdinandCB
6 Carrick CM
7 Gerrard RM
8 Lampard CM
9 Doyle CF
10 Rooney CF
11 J. Cole LM

12 James
13 O'Shea
14 Barry
15 McGeady
16 Keane
17 Heskey

[RogerMilla]

Old ECM: Christian Piot [Belgium] (Dino Zoff [Italy] 46'), Marius Trésor [France] (Wim Suurbier [Netherlands] 46'), Franz Beckenbauer [West Germany] (Ruud Krol [Netherlands] 46'), Horst Blankenburg [West Germany], Berti Vogts [West Germany], Wim van Hanegem [Netherlands] (Herbert Wimmer [West Germany] 46'), Günter Netzer [West Germany] [c], Johan Neeskens [Netherlands], Jürgen Grabowski [West Germany], Gerd Müller [West Germany], Georges Bereta [France].

http://www.cantab.net/users/nfm24/football/1973oth.html

What a feckin team !! utter quality

[rambler14]

---------Given

----Dunne Ferdinand Terry

Fletcher Carrick Lampard McGeady

-- Gerrard------Giggs
---------Rooney

[DeLorean]

Lighten up a small bit

Well said Razor

[colster]

Given

Finnan Terry Ferdinand Cole

Barry

Gerrard Scholes Giggs

Rooney Doyle

[colster]

Given

Finnan Terry Ferdinand Cole

Barry

Gerrard Scholes Giggs

Rooney Doyle

Or with at least one from each nation

Given,

Finnan Evans Ferdinand Cole

Gerrard Fletcher Scholes Giggs

Rooney Doyle

[Razors left peg]

Alex Ferguson as manager. Martin O Neill as assistant manager....... Steve Staunton as media liason

[backstothewall]

With someone from all 4 countries on the panel:


---------------------Given--------------------


--Brown-----Ferdinand-----Terry--------Cole--


-Beckham-----Gerrard------Barry------Young-


------------Rooney-------Agbonlahor---------

Subs

Gordon
McGeady
Keane
Owen
Lescott
McCartney
Hargreaves

Finnan was close, and a year ago Dunne would have been in there somewhere.

[EalingGreen]

With someone from all 4 countries on the panel:


---------------------Given--------------------


--Brown-----Ferdinand-----Terry--------Cole--


-Bechham-----Gerrard------Barry------Young-


------------Rooney-------Agbonlahor---------

Subs

Gordon
McGeady
Keane
Owen
Lescott
McCartney
Hargreaves

Finnan was close, and a year ago Dunne would have been in there somewhere.

Don't you mean "all 5 countries"? :rolleyes:

Unless you aren't counting Wales in your selection...:eek:

[The Legend]

Basically it would be the english team with Given in goal.

[backstothewall]

Don't you mean "all 5 countries"? :rolleyes:

Unless you aren't counting Wales in your selection...:eek:

Your right, i only have 3 countries in there. Giggs on the left in place of Young ;)

[backstothewall]

Basically it would be the english team with Given in goal.

And Martin O'Neill in the dugout.

The issues holding back Englands team are more in the stands and press box and a Lions team would have the same problems unfortunately

[Cymro]

Basically it would be the english team with Given in goal.

Bellamy would be in the side on current form in my view

[an_ceannaire]

Kevin Doyle on a Lions team....:eek:
would ye come in out of the fog for the love of God!!! One half decent season in the premiership and ye think he is better than Keane/Defoe/Crouch etc....
Come down from the clouds lads! The only Irish with any hope of the team would be Given for definite, and MAYBE McGeady, but only maybe.
As said before, in truth, it would be Given, and an English 10
FACT