Wayne Rooney

[mcshane in the 79th]

I'd genuinely never allow him to play for England again if I was manager.

Really?? That's crazy in my opinion

 

[Trigger]

Wayne dosen't deserve to be singled out

Well, no, I guess not BUT he's hyped up to be one the top three players in the World when quite clearly he isn't, he's not even in the top twenty or maybe fifty, he is in fact UTTER GASH compared to other countries top players, when will people and especially the media realise this?

 

[Buzzer]

It would send out the right message. He has been truly awful in this tournament and England should pick a team on form. I would end the careers of Lampard, Terry, Gerrard, Heskey, Barry and James now, and drop Rooney for a very long time at least.

Agree with all that except maybe Barry.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

It would send out the right message. He has been truly awful in this tournament and England should pick a team on form. I would end the careers of Lampard, Terry, Gerrard, Heskey, Barry and James now, and drop Rooney for a very long time at least.

Barry is clearly not back to fitness. He played - but he was not fit.

Same for Rooney.

Lampard, Terry, Heskey, and James I'd agree with.

Actually I would make a choice between Lampard and Terry.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Agree England need some big changes, but we haven't got that many good young players coming through yet. Who would play in the middle for example?

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

What's the point in ending the careers of players when we've only got inferior alternatives?

Face facts - we're NOT a particularly good footballing nation. The same team didn't even manage to qualify for a European Championship, let alone the world cup! But we've got there - it's only because people believe the hype that they suddenly turn on the players when we're out.

Whatever you've got out there just won't be good enough. We haven't got any players that are world class at passing the football over a variety of ranges. Gerrard and Lampard switching the ball the width of the pitch doesn't do anything - it's the quick passing moves that Spain, the Argies, even the Germans can manage, and that's why they are better.

If anyone seriously thinks bringing in the likes of Huddlestone and Adam Johnson will change anything then they are clueless.

 

[clapham_gull]

Let's be honest, Barry is fat. Not as a human being obviously, but in professional football terms his physique is a disgrace. Check our his arse in those England shorts today as he was desperately trying to turn (like a ship) away from a young, quick and skilful German. He can go.

David James has done nothing wrong but clearly isn't going to be in goal in 2 or 4 years so should go now. The other three will probably still be playing at the top level in two years, but the point now is they have failed in two world cups and two euro championships. They are not going to get any better now they are 30/31, in fact they are only going to get worse - something that I have thought has been the case with Terry for the last 12 months. So, if we stick with them we KNOW we won't win the euros in 2012. If we bring in a load of youngsters and mould them around 2 or 3 existing ones, like the Germans have done funnily enough, it MIGHT work out. I'd rather risk it all just to have a chance, even if it is a small one, than stick with proven failure.

The key in this country is to get the Premiership Global PLCs on side to producing a decent side.

No sorry, force them. Make it part of their very existence.

Funny isn't it. One of the reasons they gave for being to allowed to break away financially was that it would improve the England side.

You couldn't make it up, you really couldn't.

Can't see it changing anytime soon either.

The major problem I still believe it the hype surrounding the Premiership and the pay. It attracts the best players from all other the world and the English ones get squeezed out.

The Premiership in his current state and a championship winning England team simply cannot co-exist.

 

[Joey Deacon's Disco Suit]

If anyone seriously thinks bringing in the likes of Huddlestone and Adam Johnson will change anything then they are clueless.

Apologies if it seems like I'm stalking you but it's this debating style that gets up my nose and probably other people's too. 'I'm right. You're stupid.'

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

The key in this country is to get the Premiership Global PLCs on side to producing a decent side.

No sorry, force them. Make it part of their very existence.

Funny isn't it. One of the reasons they gave for being to allowed to break away financially was that it would improve the England side.

You couldn't make it up, you really couldn't.

Thing is, haven't all the big clubs invested shit loads in all these new training schools for the kids? And didn't Labour invest loads in sport (hence the Olympics improvement?)

And yet no footballers are coming through at the moment, with all the clubs looking abroad for anyone any good.

Worrying.

 

[Acker79]

We had a team of individuals who, on paper, were better than their counterparts in the german side, but the german team played better.

We get too stuck on "he's a great player, let's pick him" instead of picking the eleven that make the best team. That very well may not include the best english striker, the best english left winger, etc.

 

[clapham_gull]

And yet no footballers are coming through at the moment, with all the clubs looking abroad for anyone any good.

Worrying.

.. and there lies the problem. Unless the Premiership clubs take a little of responsibility of producing a good international side we won't get anywhere.

There will always be somebody better abroad if you have a world market to pick from.

That's the problem in a nut shell.

If we just sit back and wait for the English players to suddenly become better that all the non English ones we will having this conversation in 20 years time and beyond.

I say it again - the Premiership used as a reason to break away financially that they would be able to produce better English born international players.

They haven't, and if we are serious in wanting a world beating team the Premiership needs to start delivering what it promised would happen.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

I'm not saying we have to dump EVERYBODY who has gone to this world cup. But the serial failures, the likes of Terry, Lampard and Gerrard, will not get better now. They have proved they can't win anything or even get close. I would rather see someone like Milner in the middle of our midfield for the qualifying campaign. He's not quick enough to be a winger at the top level, but he is a good ball player.

But who else can play in the middle? We're in agreement Lampard and Gerrard have had their chances and choked, but I don't know who could replace them. Milner and Barry are good shouts, Hargreaves if he can get fit would be an absolute godsend, but in terms of youth there isn't really anyone ready yet.

 

[Nobby's Betamax Video]

I'd agree with WW. Channel 4 news interviewed an England fan who attended the game today and he summed it up perfectly for me by saying that "the Germans were technicians and England were hod carriers".

England looked, on the whole, wooden, rigid, inflexible and pedestrian. The Germans had much more movement, drive and vibrancy about their play & were more disciplined as a TEAM. Where was Milner for their 2nd goal for example?

We had a warning 2 years ago when the Spanish became European Champions with their modern brand of football. Other nations have started to show signs of following suit at this World Cup. Englands' performances, to me, have shown we're going backwards.

I've no idea why this is the case. Shearer & Motson imply it may be due to "unrest" in the camp. God knows.

But what I do think needs to happen is that the FA (Brooking?) needs to consider other ways to develop football in this country to support our national team. Whether that be through training schemes at youth level upwards, how to influence the Premier League, media etc.

After years of seeing England fail at the major tournaments, I'd set my expectations low and wasn't going to be taken in by the media hype and general WC fever this time, just to keep my own sanity. To be honest, I wasn't then expecting England to follow suit & put in 4 below par performances after spending 2 years qualifying!

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Let's be honest, Barry is fat. Not as a human being obviously, but in professional football terms his physique is a disgrace. Check our his arse in those England shorts today as he was desperately trying to turn (like a ship) away from a young, quick and skilful German. He can go..

I will check out Barry's arse.

I'd rather risk it all just to have a chance, even if it is a small one, than stick with proven failure.

This I agree with. If we get a new manager and start discussing whether Lampard and Gerrard can play together I might lose the will.

 

[clapham_gull]

If I could introduce one rule it would be a limitation on the number of foreigners in each squad.

However, another problem I don't think ever crosses the media's mind (although it does occur to many fans) is the lack of depth of the premiership. By that I mean the top 4 or 5 teams are as good as any club teams in the world.

Glad you pointed that out. There seems to a common problem doesn't there ?

This so called "greatest league in world" is actually killing our national squad.

And why wouldn't it ? It's already done a good job in dampening the aspirations of many teams below it.