Pre-tournament friendlies
 

Loads of friendlies coming up, including the England and Ireland games on Saturday. Probably makes sense to have a thread for all the 'warm-ups' if you will.

90 % of the crowd on Saturday will be for England.... 8-)

Is that right? Assuming the majority of those 90% are your fellow Norsepersons that's downright weird.

I get the "supporting a Prem team" thang (apparently the etymology of "Gooner" is from a Norwayanese Arse fan's pronounciation of "Gunner"), but to back perfidious Albion over Norway is an odd one.

Mildly sarcastic overreaction. There are stories of those who walked home from the 1981 match ('hell of a beating' etc) in tears because England were certain to miss the World Cup, though. And when Manchester United and Liverpool tour Oslo they fill up the 30,000 seater stadium at £60 a ticket, whereas European cup matches against Dutch or Polish opposition get barely 1,000 people through the gates.

Shame no-one told Egil in 1993 then.

Mind you, with the team we were playing back then, you'd have struggled not to beat us.

Kelly called up for Norway friendly
 

From the BBC.

Micah must have personal hygiene issues or something, surely?

It's just bizarre. And not a hugely encouraging indicator about Hodgson's judgement being up to par for the job.

Whilst Micah is the better player ATM and ahead of Kelly in terms of development I actually rate the Kelly pick. A smarter footballer and possibly future captain. For Liverpool, many think Kelly should be starting ahead of Johnson already. Good pace, good engine, mature, good delivery with both feet and can also be a CB - the kind who can actually bring the ball out from the back.

What do you get out of picking Richards at this stage, just before Euros? He wouldn't want to be there.

This was my thought. Doesn't tell us about a pecking order, just giving someone a go while the Chavs players put their feet up

Should HTFU then if so. Can't see any of the Chavs covering RB either.

Micah was on the standby list? Only takes a turned ankle from Johnson and he'd be in the squad.

Sutton effectively ended his England career by refusing to play for the B team back in the day.

Chris Sutton is a wanker though.

Every time I mention a former Celtic player I half-expect Furball to pop up at the nearest window to tell everyone he's a wanker.

England's Glen Johnson sparks fitness concern with infected toe | Football | guardian.co.uk

So Johnson has an infected toe and Kelly is going to start? So it seems Kelly is on the standby list and not Micah?

:D

Sutton was a complete **** though. Absolutely hated him when he played up here, he's the only player I've ever seen manage to fall forward when he backed in to defenders.