GK: Roy Carroll (Derby)
CB: Sylvain Distin (Portsmouth)
CB: John Terry (Chelsea)
CB: David Wheater (Middlesbrough)
RM: Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd)
CM: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool)
CM: Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)
LM: Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth)
ST: Freddie Sears (West Ham)
ST: Brian McBride (Fulham)
ST: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
Manager: Roy Hodgson (Fulham)
Portsmouth's Croatian left winger
Niko Kranjcar might not be
popular round at Steve McClaren's house, or Matt Talyor's for that
matter, but by golly what a player he is. He might have help speed up
McClaren's England exit and forced Taylor to leave Pompey in search of
first team football at Bolton, but few at Fratton Park hold it against
him. Against Villa he pulled all the strings; sliding wonderfully
inventive passes into Defoe, delivering pin-point crosses at will,
driving shots from range, taking on defenders, and generally bossing
the game. All that was missing from a fine display was a goal, but deny
him a place here would be churlish in the extreme.
