The Independent Armchair Football Manager Survey, in association with SurveyMonkey

Fans Back Capello and England Team to Succeed

Thanks to everyone who entered SurveyMonkey’s Armchair Football Manager survey in association with The Independent. We had almost 2,500 entries and we’re delighted to announce that the winner is Tom Valentine.

The survey was commissioned by SurveyMonkey to provide Capello with advice from the nation during the tournament, and judging by the lacklustre start by the England team in the tournament, he needs all the help he can get. However, despite mounting criticism from the media, it seems that Capello and the England team still have firm support from the fans.

Despite various pundits claiming that England would benefit from playing a 4-5-1 formation, just 7% of real fans feel this is the solution, with 39% advising Capello to stick with 4-4-2, which served the team well in qualification. Also, following his blunder against USA in the opening fixture, just 21% of England fans believe that Robert Green should have retained his place in the starting line-up, with 48% preferring David James over Joe Hart, who received 31% of votes. Again another well received decision from the manager.

One area, however, where fans are divided is over who should partner Rooney up front. The majority want 6 ft 7 in, Crouch with 36% of the vote but 20% believe that Gerrard should play off the front man and 14% feel that Heskey has done enough to keep his place. Defoe’s cameo appearance against Algeria wasn’t enough to convince fans and he received just 8% of the vote.

There’s a long way to go with no guarantee that England will even make it to the next stage but one thing is for sure – 9 out of 10 people want England to win. Sadly only 27% of us feel England can lift the trophy but we can but dream. Come on England!

The full survey results can be found here .

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