England are going to be SHITE in 10 years...

[Easy 10]

My rant for today.

England are going to be SHITE. We're halfway there already, and its getting WORSE.
The increasing volumes of average or downright piss-poor foreigners clogging up the Premiership is getting to be an absolute joke, and unless something is done about it,it's going to get beyond epidemic proportions. The number of potential World class England Internationals coming through the ranks in club football is steadily diminishing, and to my mind, we are already at the stage where we find ourselves scratching around trying to cobble a squad together that we KNOW is simply not going to have the strength in depth to make a sustained impact at International level.

Who are England's truley World Class players ? Our Crown Jewels must be Owen, Beckham, Gerrard and Scholes. Whether they are TRULEY World-class is debatable, but those four would probably feature in most International squads at least. But if any one of them are injured going into a Tournament, we have big, big problems - where's the backup ? Where's the strength in depth ? It just isn't there. Rooney has potential, but is still a rookie. Lampard is more than useful and I like him a lot as a player, but can he really cut it on a World stage ? Where are the rest of our "Superstars" coming through who can strike fear into the opposition ?

My point is, for a footballing nation of our size, wealth and pedigree, with our huge Premiership football clubs and the multi-millions washing around in our game, its nothing short of a national DISGRACE just how badly lacking we are in genuine World-class talent coming through. We should have quality International players fighting for a place in the England team all over the pitch, in every single position. Instead, we have 3 or 4 bloody good players backed up by a whole frigging legion of mediocre ones. Lose one of our stars, and we are STUFFED. And the reason ?

Postiga. Cheyrou. Djemba-Djemba. Biscan. Maccarone. Diouff. Smertin. At best, average. At worst, downright f***ing SHIT. And our top flight is absoluetly STUFFED to the rafters with crap like this. It is already having such a detrimental effect on our options for the International stage. We're already lacking a genuine top-class International goalkeeper, as almost every Premiership club now has a foreigner between the sticks. Instead we have a dodgy D1 keeper keeping goal for England, and the only reason HE gets to play is because he's the only one with any bloody experience. Behind him, there's...ummm...Robinson. And thats it. The goalkeeping situation is a stark preview of whats to come for the rest of the England team. If things continue at their current rate, then in the not-to-distant future we will have the same problems with the outfield.

Make the most of the Euro's and the next World Cup...I think its gonna be downhill from there. Cheerful, arn't I ?

 

[fatboy]

I think Robinson and Kirkland have potential. Remember keepers peak later. And Man City aren't in Div 1 yet!

I think the likes of Ferdinande, Gerrard, Beckham and Scholes are world class. And Owen when fit.


I watched Holland last night. They won 4-0. They were passing the ball around brilliantly. Just keeping possesion and stringing together about 15 passes. It was a joy to watch; it reminded me of their world cup final against Germany in the first minute when Cruyff won a penalty.

But their team is made up of players like Zenden and Van Hooijdonk, who were probably average, if not downright shit, in The Premiership.

 

[Easy 10]

And what happens with some of the best young foreign stars with real potential ? The likes of Ronaldo, Reyes, van Persie, van der Vaart etc etc...they get signed up by the top English clubs and nurtured over here. When does that EVER happen with a young English player ? I'll tell you - it doesn't.

On the rare occasion that an English player goes to a top European club, he is already the finished article. You never see the potential stars of Englands future being groomed at Milan or Madrid, because we simply don't seem to produce them like the Dutch or the Spanish. The one possible exception is Hargreaves at Munich - decent enough player, but he's never going to be an international of great standing.

 

[CAFC Matt]

You are a proper GENIUS. We are shite now

 

[Easy 10]

We're not shite now - the World Rankings and our record in competetive games will tell you that. But at the current rate, I firmly believe we will start tumbling.

 

[CAFC Matt]

IMO after watching the friendlies and things we look shite. No one fears us and I can't see us getting anything in the Euro championship. In my books that makes us shite

 

[Easy 10]

IMO after watching the friendlies and things we look shite. No one fears us and I can't see us getting anything in the Euro championship. In my books that makes us shite

But we SHOULDN'T be shite. England should be WORLD BEATERS.
I just cannot believe the lack of quality we now have to draw upon outside of our 3 or 4 main players in the England team. It is absolutely shocking that a so-called footballing nation of the importance of England can't even find a left-sided midfielder. Not just there though. Outside of the Crown Jewels, we are just so average, its frightening.

Looking at what Eriksson will have to choose from in a couple of weeks to make up a 23 man squad could make you weep, and I fear it can only get worse over the coming years.

 

[Icy Gull]

But we SHOULDN'T be shite. England should be WORLD BEATERS.
.

Just like Liverpool should be champions eh

 

[CAFC Matt]

I know we shouldn't be shite but the bottom line is we are. Well lets face is all Ebgland have done under Eriksson is beat Germany 5-1. There ian't been much else to be proud of.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

It's not so much that England are getting worse, I really don't believe that.

I give you. Paul Mariner, Alan Smith (old one not new), Carlton Palmer, Kenny fuckin Samson, John Barnes.


It's that everyone else is getting better faster than England are.

 

[CAFC Matt]

It's not so much that England are getting worse, I really don't believe that.

I give you. Paul Mariner, Alan Smith (old one not new), Carlton Palmer, Kenny fuckin Samson, John Barnes.


It's that everyone else is getting better faster than England are.

BUT we have one of the best leagues in the world so the english layers in that should be world beaters

 

[bhafc99]

Agree entirely with Easy 10, you hit the nail on the head.

Though don't forget Jake Robinson will be at his peak in 10 years time!

 

[On the Left Wing]

I would add Woodgate and Lampard to that mix .... both could be England players for a long time

 

[Barnet Seagull]

BUT we have one of the best leagues in the world so the english layers in that should be world beaters

Don't delude yourself.

England have 3 good teams.

Arsenal (mostly foreigners)
Chelsea (mostly foreigners)
Man U. (mostly foreigners)


There isn't the quality across the board like there is in Spain or Italy.

 

[fatboy]

Most of our good players are foreingers.

We are a tiny country.

 

[Uncle Buck]

But then in tournaments I think teams do fear us, look at Sven's record, 1 defeat in competitive games.

The issue this summer is we have a lack of centre backs, due to untimely injuries and a suspension. Only our FA would impose a ban so that our best defender misses a tournament.

 

[Spiros]

Don't delude yourself.

England have 3 good teams.

Arsenal (mostly foreigners)
Chelsea (mostly foreigners)
Man U. (mostly foreigners)


There isn't the quality across the board like there is in Spain or Italy.

But look at the positives:
Arsenal - mostly top French players, but also Campbell, Cole and the likes of David Bentley can only improve by training with someone like Thierry Henry everyday
Chelsea - their core includes John Terry, Frank Lampard and they also have Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge and Scott Parker. I feel good about us playing France because John Terry is not frightened of facing Henry, because he has dealt with him 4/5 times already this season.
Man U - as much as I hate them they do bring English players on. Beckham, Scholes, Butt have been key to our midfield. Ferdinand and Wes Brown will feature in the future.

Easy - the players you mention are mostly very young in international terms and (aside from Beckham) should be around post 2006. Gerrard and Owen are only 23 aren't they? Although it would be better to see more english players feature in the Premiership I think those that do get through will learn a lot from the imports. More might come through if they didn't have such unrealistic wage demands though.

 

[Easy 10]

All I am saying is, I think we have a RIGHT to expect more than the mediocrity we get with England. As an International footballing force, we are being dreadfully held back by the DELUGE of shite foreigners that have utterly flooded the top flight. As a result, we are really floundering to find any decent players for the England squad, and to get any strength in depth.

We get the odd decent player with potential. The likes of Lampard, Woodgate, Jenas, Joe Cole, Alan Smith etc. But in World terms, they don't really look like ever being truely World class, do they ? With England, Eriksson should have a plethora of players really pushing hard for a place in the first XI. He should have "nice" problems and dilemmas all over the pitch with who to choose over who. But the reality is, the quality just ain't there in any depth. And until we start limiting the number of foreigners you are allowed to field in the Prem, its only going to deteriorate further.

 

[Brovion]

But we SHOULDN'T be shite. England should be WORLD BEATERS.

Why? What divine right have we to be world-beaters? We've ALWAYS been rubbish at football: before a baby boy is born God looks at him and says "Well you're going to have intense difficulty kicking a ball to a person wearing the same color shirt so you'd better be English."

We've won one trophy in one final - and that was when we played every match at home and were helped by the most famous 'wrong' linesman's decision of all time. Oh sure, look at the records and you'll see we;ve beaten teams like Norway 30 times or whatever and they've only beaten us once (I'm making these figures up). But if you look closely you'll see that the majority of the wins were before World War 2 (or even WW1) when something like the Norwegian side would have been made up of fur-trappers and a couple of minke whales - with Father Christmas in goal. When it matters in competitive internationals we always come up short. In fact we can't even beat Sweden in competitive internationals OR friendlies and haven't been able to for over 30 years - and yet some people would still maintain that we're stronger than Sweden!

 

[Spiros]

Not sure I can agree. In the 1970's there were limits on the number of foreigners allowed to play here and we were really poor - didn't make world cup finals in either 74 or 78 when it was easier to qualify than it is now. We gradually got better during the 1980s, around the time that more foreigners started coming here. I'm not saying this is the reason for our improvement, but it goes against your idea that more foreigners means England are worse.

I think the real reason we look so poor in friendly internationals is because the players are under pressure from their managers not to get injured. Typical of this was when we lost to Australia last year. The 'world class' players got taken apart and refused to tackle in the first half, yet the 'kids' held their own in the second half.