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The Newcastle star who should have made England’s Euro 2012 squad

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Newcastle defender Danny SimpsonRoy Hodgson unveiled his England Euro 2012 squad this afternoon and there was not a Newcastle United player in sight. However, official data released today by the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index reveals that Newcastle defender Danny Simpson should have been boarding the plane to the Ukraine.

The 23-man squad has been chosen using the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index (PPI), the only official player-rating index of the Barclays Premier League. The index measures a player’s all round contribution to the success of his team. Those scores over the course of the season have been used to identify the 23 players who should be representing England this summer.

Dr Ian McHale, Senior Lecturer in Statistics at Salford University, and the data crunchers behind the PPI, said: “The selection of the England squad for the Euros will divide opinion up and down the land, whether at work, on your games console or in the corridors of The FA.”

“There’s some shock inclusions in the EA SPORTS Euro 2012 squad but the math doesn’t lie. The PPI provides objective ratings for players’ performances in a match and over a season.”

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Danny Simpson is an inclusion that may raise eyebrows, but he is the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s highest ranking English full back, securing his place in the 23-man team. Simpson’s won an impressive 79% of tackles this season and made 43 clearances including several match saving goal line clearances that could make all the difference in Poland and the Ukraine.

Here is the full squad, including Danny Simpson…

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Man City), Ben Foster (West Brom), John Ruddy (Norwich)

Defenders: Danny Simpson (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Spurs), Leighton Baines (Everton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Joleon Lescott (Man City), John Terry (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Shawcross (Stoke)

Midfielders: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Matt Jarvis (Wolves), Matthew Etherington (Stoke), Ashley Young (Man Utd), Danny Murphy (Fulham), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Gareth Barry (Man City), Michael Carrick (Man Utd)

Strikers: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Danny Wellbeck (Man Utd), Grant Holt (Norwich), Danny Graham (Swansea)

What do you think about the inclusion of Simpson, the squad as a whole and how it compares to Hodgson’s selection of 23?

Choose your England squad and lead your country to glory in EA SPORTS UEFA EURO 2012, available to download now on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Visit www.EA.com/UK/Football/euro12 for more information.

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Papiss Cisse vs Chelsea

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6 comments

  • BillytheFish says:

    Simpson? England? HaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!

    Thanks mate, you have cheered me up no end..

    • opisafag says:

      lol douche bag the stats prove hes done better then all the other little faggots or are you so stupid you would rarther a “big name” who plays like a twat play for england?

  • Toon69 says:

    Tbh if that squad was picked instead of the one the FA, sorry I mean Hodgson picked, then I think I might have decided to watch the England team play again but as it hasn’t, then I think I’ll be watching the paint dry in the spare room when England games are being broadcast on TV….

    How half the players that are going to the Comp got picked is beyond me, I mean G.Johnson, Gerrard both from Cessepool who did nowt all season & spent most of the season on the injury list… pathetic….

    I mean, how could we participate in a European competition without a single Cessepool player in the team, it’s unheard of & thats why players from other teams like Toon, Stoke & Swansea have no chance of getting England Caps even when the Sports Index shows without a doubt they played far better than those picked….. waste of time!!!

  • Toon Stew says:

    If Simpson ever gets picked for England then I think then will finally be the time to give up on England!

  • Archie Brand says:

    Excellent article – because this shows once and for all what a complete load of crap the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index really is and how it is completely irrelevant.

    Please please please let us end this American style fascination with the idea that you can replace what you see hear and feel with a bunch of numbers.

    Simpson simply plays a game that is compatible with the criteria used to calculate the Index

    You cant quantify Taylors committment, Coloccini’s reading of the game, Ben Arfa’s wizardry of Cisse’s exquisite technique.

    Simpson doesn’t deserve to be in the England team. Hell there are times when he shouldn’t be in the Newcastle team.

  • joe says:

    i would have simpson over glen johnson any day the man is shocking,but the best rb is richards by a country mile

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