Ledley King

[6ft Kerplunk]

With Ferdinand's injury plagued last couple of years you need to have a fully fit standby, a tweak of his back in the first group game and he'd be out for the tournament.

[Hoop Blah]

You would also have someone like Upson there as the other backup. I don't think it's that likely that all 4 centre backs would be utilised and so even if you took King and he broke down at the same time as Ferdinand (quite unlikely really) then I think you've got enough cover.

You could even take Lescott as left back cover and leave Bridge at home to give you further insurance if you wanted it!

[Wax Jacket]

take two for each position - Lescott is no top-level left-back as Russia so ruthlessly exposed

[Hoop Blah]

I don't think you ever need to take 8 defenders though, they just don't get used often enough.

I think you're much better off taking an extra attacking player that you might want to throw on to win a game or do something different from the others. At the back though consistency is more of the aim and you're much less likely to make a change back there barring injury or suspension.

With Cole now out for a while it might change things a bit, but I still think Lescott could cope against most sides if he needed to. That Russia game was a bit of a fluke and he'd coped excellently at left back against better players over that season for Everton. One game where the whole team was disfunctional doesn't mean he can't play there if needed.