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Trying Not To Mourn The England Squad

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BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 01: Darren Bent of Aston Villa celebrates with Gabby Agbonlahor after scoring their second goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic at Villa Park on October 1, 2011 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)

The FA just released Fabio Capello's squad for England v Montenegro, scheduled for Friday, October 7. No surprises from Don Fabio as he aims to win trophies in the "Most Predictable Manager" category. Here's the Three Lions squad, courtesy of TheFA.com:

Goalkeepers
Scott Carson, Joe Hart, David Stockdale

Defenders
Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones, Micah Richards, John Terry, Kyle Walker

Midfielders
Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young

Forwards
Darren Bent, Andy Carroll, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Bobby Zamora.

Quick quiz, Villans: how many of these players have played for Aston Villa? And how many still play for the club?

But rather than mourn the loss of players like Ashley Young and James Milner, instead, we could consider how on earth Gareth Barry is still managing regular call-ups for the national team. Seriously....what does he do? I'd love it if someone could explain.

And then there's the exclusion: Gabby Agbonlahor. Bobby Zamora has had 3 goals in 4 Premier League matches for Fulham, while Gabby has started 7 matches and scored 4. Yeah, better ratio has Zamora, but should the cap automatically be handed to him? And Andy Carroll -- one goal in seven, and that one just came in the Merseyside Derby. Really, Capello?

Yeah, I know. Agbonlahor and Carroll are certainly not the same type of player. But I have to wonder if Capello even considers anything new and different, or if he simply has a group text list that he pushes to announce a squad. Gabby's been on fire this season, and he deserves to have that recognized.

(You can argue that Gabby's back spasms kept him out of the squad. I'm willing to bet Capello didn't even know about them).

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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