Reds take lions share of England

Five Manchester United players have been named in the England squad for the friendly against Greece next Wednesday at Old Trafford.

Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Kieran Richardson and Ben Foster all feature in Steve McClaren's first England squad.

There could well have been seven United players if it wasn't for the fact that Wayne Rooney is suspended and Michael Carrick is injured.

Giuseppe Rossi has also been called up to the Italian U21 squad for the first time for the friendly with Croatia on Tuesday.

Rosh 16 said on our message board:

I think with Steve McClaren omitting David Beckham from the England squad due to face Greece in a friendly next week he is going in the right direction.

After Beckham I think Frank Lampard is next on the line. I might be a bit biased but I think once Michael Carrick recovers from his injury he can pose a real threat to Lampard's starting place and I firmly believe Carrick should be part of the starting England 11 and that unfortunately would be at lamps' expense.

Lampard was off colour at the world cup and time is running out for him and another lacklustre display against Greece might well open the door for Carrick who was used in the holding role against Ecuador and I had thought before the World Cup if Sven Goran Eriksson would go for the 4-5-1 formation then Carrick would have been the ideal choice. However after watching the World Cup I feel McClaren should stick with Bayern Munich's versatile Owen Hargreaves (who is said to be a target for Manchester United)

At the same time Eriksson should have taken some bold decisions like bringing on Carrick for Lampard and Tottenham's Aaron Lennon for Beckham during the course of the tournament.

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