Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry has been ruled out of Roy Hogdson's Euro 2012 squad after suffering a 'lower abdominal tear', which kind of sounds as though he's been ripped in twain by a vicious football demon (Nigel de Jong, perhaps?). Replacing him on the England squad will be Everton centre back Phil Jagielka.
Gareth Barry Ruled Out Of England’s Euro Squad
England midfielder Gareth Barry has picked up a muscle tear and will be unavailable for international duty during Euro 2012
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If you think that's strange, it's because it is - the Three Lions have a backup central midfielder available in Jordan Henderson and they have instead replaced Barry with a defender. I don't really know why they would do this, but it looks as through they're going to have to go with both Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in the same starting lineup. Again. Scott Parker looks like the choice to pair with Lampard in a deeper role.
Although Barry's hardly well loved by England fans, his positional discipline is almost certainly better thank Lampard's, with the Chelsea midfielder being a relative newcomer to a deep midfield role. England fans will surely regret Michael Carrick's self-imposed exclusion from the squad, since he's the most obvious choice to partner Parker, but the fact that Hodgson will be running with Lampard and Gerrard again will mercifully lower expectations ahead of the country's inevitable failure during the summer tournament.
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