England

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  1. McLaren has to go, he was the wrong decision at the time and is the wrong man now! The FA bottled the decision when Sven went. I believe Allardyce, O’Neill or Curbishley would have all been better choices.

  2. Despite the constant talk that the manager should do better with the talented (golden era) group of players, the the reality is we don’t have the strength of depth in the squad. How many of those that played last night are World class or European class, how many would make a World or European XI?

Carson: Should not have been playing to start with, not enough experience for such an important game. Even calamity James would have been better!
Richards: Still learning his trade but one of our best young talents, not there yet!
Campbell: Past his best 5 seasons ago!
Lescott: World class centre half, I don’t think so!
Bridge: 2nd choice for his club, says it all!
Wright-Phillips: No end product, plenty of running but only any good as a sub!
Gerrard: One of the only truly world/european class players we have, we spoil his game by where we play him.
Barry: A decent club player but that’s it!
Lampard: Very rarely does it at international level, can’t play him and Gerrard in the same side, we prove it every time!
Joe Cole: Plenty of effort but has one god game three bad, not good enough!
Crouch: Took his goal really well but never a world/european class centre forward! Crazy to play him up front on his own, asks to much of him.

Defoe (46): Again can’t get in his club side.
Beckham (46): Still the best crosser of a ball we have and plays with 100% pride for the nation, maybe past his best but still offers something.
Bent (80): £16 million worth of striker, I don’t think so!

Subs Not Used:
James: Although his national career looked over and has never excelled for England his club form should have made him first choice last night.
Ashley Cole: As everyone acknowledges, Ash the Cash is more bothered about the pay cheque! Still our best left back (behind Brownhill of course)!
Brown: Again, struggles to get into his club side. Sub at best.
Hargreaves: Despite lots of criticism his performances for England have been better than most, should have played for Barry or Lampard.

Out of all the above Gerrard is the only real World/European class player. We were missing Terry, Rooney, Ferdinand and Owen who all would have started, but you cannot disguise the fact that the squad as a whole is very poor.

We have arguably created one of the best leagues in the World with the Premiership but this is all down to the volume of foreign players. How many English players are playing in Argentina, Spain, Italy, France - not many! The problem is the cost of British players, Chelsea paid Man City something like £21million for Wright-Phillips - you could but a Serbian, Croatian or pratically another nationality for less. If we reduced the quota of foreign players that a side can field then the British player values will only increase!!!

The FA have to look carefully at all sorts of proposals to move our game forward, for example they could at least cap the number of foreign players that can play in domestic cup competitions (FA Cup and League Cup), thus forcing home grown players into the game. These competitions are already lower value to the top sides but if European places in the league were reduced to the winner only then cup competitions could be taken more seriously if they offer a european entry! There is no easy and quick answer to the problem but the people running the game carry the responsibility to make some changes!

Anyway, a much bigger game to look forward to this Saturday!!!

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Appreciate what your saying Rabbit and I agree with most of it especially the bit about foriegn players in the Premier.Think your a bit wide of the mark with Curbishley as I don’t rate him.O’Neill and Allardyce a bit better. I’m happy anyway because England being out of it means Rod Thornley will not be as involved with the England team which in turn means he’ll be playing for us a lot more especially in the run in to the title.
As you say far more important match on Saturday. It’s ironic that the wage bill for say Mr Lampard per week would probably keep us going for a year.Thats why I watch Witton Albion because we have a bunch of honest players giving their all without the large wage packets that the England "Failures" demand. The under achievers have struck again. As I keep telling everyone here at work go and watch "Brazil" every week at Wincham Park. For £9 its a bargain!!

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Nice one Rabbit. Agree with you almost 100% :wink:

"Gerrard: One of the only truly world/european class players we have, we spoil his game by where we play him."

We do indeed spoil his game by where we play him i.e. On the Pitch!

He will join the long, long list of Liverpool players who have consistently failed to carry their obvious talents at club level to the international arena.

The only true world/european class midfielder we have has ginger hair and is currently plying his trade at OT - thank you very much - and you can blame Svennis for that!

:wink: Come on you Reds ;D

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He is a far better manager than McLaren, when he left Charlton looked what happened to them, he worked a minor miracle to keep West Ham up last year (helped by the FA’s decision to fine them and not dock points) and if you want more evidence West Ham are now 10th in the Premiership (which just happens to be a position above Newcastle where Allardyce is manager).

Big Sam would be my choice but is too controversial for the FA! I think he is able to bring together a group of individuals and make them play as a team - possibly the biggest challenge for any England manager!

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Of those available; Jose The Special One.
Of the English managers; Big Sam (should be been appointed last time out).
If neither, Martin O’Neil.

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According to 5 Live The Special One is not interested - I have to say that whilst he is obviously a tremendous coach he has become incredibly annoying over the past few months! With Mourinho it is all about him!!!

Harry Redknapp is one of the favourites according to them!

I think it will be a couple of months before they make an appointment!

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Fair do’s Rabbit you’ve presented a fair case on Curbishley and no doubt the FA boys will consider him favourably. As long as they keep their hands of Vinceio I don’t care really. As I’m watching a higher standard of entertaining football each week at Wincham Park, the most successful team in the land with a goal average of 33, it doesn’t worry me too much!! I’ve just been showing some lads at work the goals from Saturday on my PC.They were all impressed and several say they will go and watch a game at Wincham. I’ll keep on at them till they do!!

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I agree with most of the above, the only thing I can add is - thank goodness for Croatia! They didn’t just settle for an easy draw, and their positive attitude to the game made sure that England got exactly what they deserved - nothing! If England had managed to scrape the draw that seemed to be the limit of their aspirations, then the English game could have carried on in the same old complacent way for a few more months, until another humiliation in the summer. As it is, we might now just be forced to take a long hard look at ourselves.

I can’t pretend it’s easy - our footballers may be a bunch of lazy over-paid prima donnas, but I’m afaid they reflect the current ethos of the country as a whole. Too many people here are used to having a relatively comfortable life for very little effort.

I’m sorry if that offends, and I know there are plenty of honourable exceptions - not least at Wincham Park, where we can say with pride that we have a decent honest club whose endeavours are a credit to everybody involved.

Jim Vinceo for England?

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I lost virtually all interest in the Premiership when - thinking of my role then as Albion’s man on the mike - I couldn’t pronounce let along spell the names of what increasingly became the majority of players.

Last night’s fiasco epitomised the main reason why England will never ever be a main footballing nation again. Until the Football authorities clamp down on "foreign imports" then we will still only have "bit part" players pulling on the white shirt.

The main problem though is that the clubs - most of them run by businessmen as businesses - will not relish the thought of watering down the fare on offer for their punters.

Let’s be honest do the season ticket holders at any of the clubs really give a fig as to whether a player comes from Milan or Marston etc. As long as they can boast "their club" is winning titles or in European club matches that’ll do for them.

No the answer in getting the best out of what’s currently available is to take a leaf out of Jim Vince’s book. If you want to play reserve / squad players then instill in them the whole passion of performing for their team. We saw it at Altrincham in the CSC Final and it was again more than evident at Colwyn Bay the night before.

What an amazing contrast in the two matches within 24 hours. At least I’ll personally be able to follow Spain next summer. I thought last Friday night well at least England have got to play in one of the countries staging the Finals next summer.

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I think it’s wide of the mark to blame the foreign imports on how bad our national team is. We’ve won nothing since 1966, yet it’s only the last 10 years or so that has seen a massive increase in the overseas players in the english game. Arguably the players that pull on the England shirt now are the best collective we’ve had since the 66 squad. Our players make their club sides IF THEY ARE GOOD ENOUGH. Look at last night; Lecott plays for Everton week in week out - he was terrible. Wright-Phillips is a winger who can’t even cross the ball!!

I think as big a reason is the lack of our players who go and play abroad. The Premier League is one of the fastest, most physical leagues in the world. Our club sides play quick football, and press the opposition. Then when we get them all together for England we try to get them to play different tactics, systems, formations than what they are used to. No wonder our top players look very average when playing for England!!

For a better understanding of why we fail, follow the link below;

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/martin_samuel/article2910642.ece

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We were lucky in 1966 !

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Very good article robbo, I am only confused by one thing and that is…what are you doing reading The Times website (did you click on it by mistake)!!!

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We were lucky in 1966 !

if by havin players like alan ball an nobby stiles, then yes.

who said that big is best?. pure pride when puttin that shirt on.

yes rattin deservered to go,also the ball was over the line, the linesman said so???. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Actually a colleague alerted me to it…