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YOU ARE HAVIN A LAUGH CAPELLO


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lets just quantify...i do not earn from football.fabiocapelo does...my acid statement many moons ago, was,qualifiying yeah yeah,i worrried as soon as the capello index and initial 30 was named.my brain is mashed with the amount of reasons why this ITALIAN manager is a liabilty...loving the fact i was SOOOO right about carra being plop,barry being injured, and heskey should be put down....i should never be gloating,but .....yep i am

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Football Person, what did Carragher do wrong last night?? should never have been booked either! Granted, I think there are players that should be in front of him, but Capello picks him and he gives 100%

As for the rest of the rubbish, I would have taken Rooney off last night, he doesn't look fit, or interested at the moment! get Gerrard up with him and we might see something different. Lennon was gash, again! Lampard doesn't do much for anything and Barry done what we expected! Heskey put himself about a bit.

but most of it is all down to the overhype from the media and sofa loving fans, the England team are not as good as some think they are. The top 8 teams in the Premier League would probably beat them. 7/1 to win the World Cup at the start of the tournament??? should have been more like 16/1.

Technically we're nowhere near it. Algeria at times looked technically better than us. The FA need to look right down the level of youth football. Do away with competitive football up to the age of 14 or 15, and coach players the right way, get comfortable on the ball, from centre halfs to strikers!! if you've got the ball, the other team can't score!

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im not gonna slate any individuals as its a team performance at the end of the day

you cant just blame one like so many are doing, they were all bad, every two years i get

my hopes up and yet again england at the moment are killing me once again so im

giving them one more 90 minutes of my life if nothing happens then im never gonna support them

again because they dont give as much as the fans who support them do.

oh and fabio if your reading this the team to play on wednesday is

james

terry

upson

johnson

a cole

barry

lampard

lennon

j cole

gerrard

rooney.

COME ON ENGLAND

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My views on England are well documented. BUT I believe they will beat Slov and progress. AND then lose if they play a European team (Germ or Serbia). BUT the problem is/(will be) that the earlier performances will be swept under the carpet as some aberration and in 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 years the same crap will be rolled out again as to how Eng will be the best team in the next comp. Seen it, lived it, we aint that good. Live with it.

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England will win 3_0 on wed peter crouch will be the star player if england do loose spectators should boycott premier grounds and these over priced spoilt footballers should all have there wages reduced .They should bring back the home internationals then england will be playing better opposition in friendlies instead of some piddly little foreign team .So le sulk has been sent home for critiscing the french manager if all the players done that they would all be joining anelka on the plane ,Capello has got to go hes bloody awful as well as being a italian his tactics are all wrong gerrard and lampard just cant play in the same team but he cant see that .I would like to see martin oneil given the england job .So to wed afternoon when at 4 50 the streets could be awash with red and white flags in the gutter or they may still continue to flutter for a bit longer we will see .

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England will win 3_0 on wed peter crouch will be the star player if england do loose spectators should boycott premier grounds and these over priced spoilt footballers should all have there wages reduced .They should bring back the home internationals then england will be playing better opposition in friendlies instead of some piddly little foreign team .So le sulk has been sent home for critiscing the french manager if all the players done that they would all be joining anelka on the plane ,Capello has got to go hes bloody awful as well as being a italian his tactics are all wrong gerrard and lampard just cant play in the same team but he cant see that .I would like to see martin oneil given the england job .So to wed afternoon when at 4 50 the streets could be awash with red and white flags in the gutter or they may still continue to flutter for a bit longer we will see .

It was interesting to see the French team refusing to train and effectively going on strike. People will say they were wrong they should be thinking of their country above all else.

Anyone who has watched France in the World Cup is baffled at team selections and formations (that rings a bell). It seems everyone in France hates the coach who is also derided by their players. Anelka is sent home and the players revolt. So think of it. Who is actually thinking about France. It cannot possibly be the men in suits because they will not budge in backing the Coach and it cannot be the coach who has decided to go anyway after the world cup. So instead of sacking him he gets their backing. The players must be thinking ‘we want to do the best for our country but we are not getting the backing from our FA and we have to put up with a manager who has lost all our respect’. France is a proud nation but stubbornness and failing to see the point by their FA and their manager is not helping France’s cause.

So what is going on with England. It seems to me that the situation is exactly the same. Once again the suits make a statement in backing Capello but say nothing about the players. I have been one of John Terry’s greatest critics leading up to the world cup but I am very impressed with what he said today when he said ‘If players have something to say then they should say it, if it upsets a player or the manager then so what’. So is that not a direct challenge to Capello, is he not speaking up for the rest of the team, they know things are not going right. Terry talks openly about Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney. I don’t know if any of you saw another interview with Terry who couldn’t stop laughing when questioned about the players having to go to bed early along with other things in South Africa. You get the feeling that Capello’s only brief was to instill discipline on the players.

We forget that players are just like the rest of us, they are normal blokes who are good enough to earn pots of money in the game, but that does not stop that player having the same frustrations and feelings as the rest of us. They aren’t stupid, they come from well managed clubs only to be treated like children. Only a blind man can see that the players are suffering huge frustrations over team selection and tactics. Yes there was not the passion against Slovenia because on the pitch and they can be blamed for that and nobody seemed to have the courage to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Nobody seemed to know what they were doing.

Gerrard is no captain so why not hand the arm band back to Terry. Why was he not at the press conference but Terry was. When the manager can’t understand what happened then surely he should be shown the door. Saying this is not the team I see in training tells me the guy has lost it. Doesn't he realise that training is not the same as a competitive match, hence clueless Capello. I am sure if that happened the players would have become much closer for the cause and you would have seen a different attitude and approach from now on.

Don’t forget when the world cup is over Capello can return to Italy with his millions while the England players will carry the pain of defeat and the abuse from the fans for the rest of their lives.

I remember posting this on here after the France match.

The major point is Capello must stop picking players because of their reputation. He must pick the best team.

A very, very disappointing performance and the crowd duly let Capello know. The honeymoon is now over.

Posted 21 August 2008 - 06:01 PM

We just have to hope that the players have their say Capello listens and that drastic changes are made for Englands final match and that we go on and win it. If not and Capello wins the argument and we go out then the men in suits will have a lot to answer for.

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England will win 3_0 on wed peter crouch will be the star player if england do loose spectators should boycott premier grounds and these over priced spoilt footballers should all have there wages reduced .They should bring back the home internationals then england will be playing better opposition in friendlies instead of some piddly little foreign team .So le sulk has been sent home for critiscing the french manager if all the players done that they would all be joining anelka on the plane ,Capello has got to go hes bloody awful as well as being a italian his tactics are all wrong gerrard and lampard just cant play in the same team but he cant see that .I would like to see martin oneil given the england job .So to wed afternoon when at 4 50 the streets could be awash with red and white flags in the gutter or they may still continue to flutter for a bit longer we will see .

It was interesting to see the French team refusing to train and effectively going on strike. People will say they were wrong they should be thinking of their country above all else.

Anyone who has watched France in the World Cup is baffled at team selections and formations (that rings a bell). It seems everyone in France hates the coach who is also derided by their players. Anelka is sent home and the players revolt. So think of it. Who is actually thinking about France. It cannot possibly be the men in suits because they will not budge in backing the Coach and it cannot be the coach who has decided to go anyway after the world cup. So instead of sacking him he gets their backing. The players must be thinking ‘we want to do the best for our country but we are not getting the backing from our FA and we have to put up with a manager who has lost all our respect’. France is a proud nation but stubbornness and failing to see the point by their FA and their manager is not helping France’s cause.

So what is going on with England. It seems to me that the situation is exactly the same. Once again the suits make a statement in backing Capello but say nothing about the players. I have been one of John Terry’s greatest critics leading up to the world cup but I am very impressed with what he said today when he said ‘If players have something to say then they should say it, if it upsets a player or the manager then so what’. So is that not a direct challenge to Capello, is he not speaking up for the rest of the team, they know things are not going right. Terry talks openly about Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney. I don’t know if any of you saw another interview with Terry who couldn’t stop laughing when questioned about the players having to go to bed early along with other things in South Africa. You get the feeling that Capello’s only brief was to instill discipline on the players.

We forget that players are just like the rest of us, they are normal blokes who are good enough to earn pots of money in the game, but that does not stop that player having the same frustrations and feelings as the rest of us. They aren’t stupid, they come from well managed clubs only to be treated like children. Only a blind man can see that the players are suffering huge frustrations over team selection and tactics. Yes there was not the passion against Slovenia because on the pitch and they can be blamed for that and nobody seemed to have the courage to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Nobody seemed to know what they were doing.

Gerrard is no captain so why not hand the arm band back to Terry. Why was he not at the press conference but Terry was. When the manager can’t understand what happened then surely he should be shown the door. Saying this is not the team I see in training tells me the guy has lost it. Doesn't he realise that training is not the same as a competitive match, hence clueless Capello. I am sure if that happened the players would have become much closer for the cause and you would have seen a different attitude and approach from now on.

Don’t forget when the world cup is over Capello can return to Italy with his millions while the England players will carry the pain of defeat and the abuse from the fans for the rest of their lives.

I remember posting this on here after the France match.

The major point is Capello must stop picking players because of their reputation. He must pick the best team.

A very, very disappointing performance and the crowd duly let Capello know. The honeymoon is now over.

Posted 21 August 2008 - 06:01 PM

We just have to hope that the players have their say Capello listens and that drastic changes are made for Englands final match and that we go on and win it. If not and Capello wins the argument and we go out then the men in suits will have a lot to answer for.

All England managers have picked players on reputation and not the one's that are in form.

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at the end of the day he needs to pick players who are going to put the jabulani in the net

I have come up with a simple plan for the players. To often managers say that 'once a player crosses the white line it is down to the players.' Not a problem. As soon as the game kicks off the players can decide how they want to play (they would have already talked about this) and get on with it. Capello can rant and rave as he likes on the touchline but he cant do a thing about it. Once England are through they can then send Capello back to Italy on the first available flight.

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at the end of the day he needs to pick players who are going to put the jabulani in the net

I have come up with a simple plan for the players. To often managers say that 'once a player crosses the white line it is down to the players.' Not a problem. As soon as the game kicks off the players can decide how they want to play (they would have already talked about this) and get on with it. Capello can rant and rave as he likes on the touchline but he cant do a thing about it. Once England are through they can then send Capello back to Italy on the first available flight.

It was interesting to note that the players meeting didn't happen at all. WHY! Because Capello shows up and lays down the law. So much for his interest in England. I expect having the FA suits on his side means he can do what he likes. For Capello to say he wasn't bothered about one or two players being unhappy just shows he is missing the point. Terry was right to air his grievance because to the best of my knowledge Capello wants nothing to do with Terry after he took away the captaincy. And come on. Where is the captain. Gerrard has gone AWOL when it is he who should be speaking to the press. Has he also voiced his opinions and the men in suits have stopped him talking. This is England for him to state the obvious that it is not a holiday is indeed crass to say the least. England have one last chance to qualify and with obvious differences in the squad, or is it most of them then we could see our boys go out because of a stubborn manager who wont listen. As I said above, once the England players get through by playing their way then send Capello packing.

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at the end of the day he needs to pick players who are going to put the jabulani in the net

I have come up with a simple plan for the players. To often managers say that 'once a player crosses the white line it is down to the players.' Not a problem. As soon as the game kicks off the players can decide how they want to play (they would have already talked about this) and get on with it. Capello can rant and rave as he likes on the touchline but he cant do a thing about it. Once England are through they can then send Capello back to Italy on the first available flight.

It was interesting to note that the players meeting didn't happen at all. WHY! Because Capello shows up and lays down the law. So much for his interest in England. I expect having the FA suits on his side means he can do what he likes. For Capello to say he wasn't bothered about one or two players being unhappy just shows he is missing the point. Terry was right to air his grievance because to the best of my knowledge Capello wants nothing to do with Terry after he took away the captaincy. And come on. Where is the captain. Gerrard has gone AWOL when it is he who should be speaking to the press. Has he also voiced his opinions and the men in suits have stopped him talking. This is England for him to state the obvious that it is not a holiday is indeed crass to say the least. England have one last chance to qualify and with obvious differences in the squad, or is it most of them then we could see our boys go out because of a stubborn manager who wont listen. As I said above, once the England players get through by playing their way then send Capello packing.

Just had an email from a London Journalist mate in South Africa about the England team and it is not good. It would appear that the players having a get together in the qualifying rounds under Capello put up with him because it was just that, a few days. Unfortunately Capello's schoolboy teacher antics wore off after a couple of days in South Africa and that players are deeply concerned that when Capello says the players are lacking in confidence what they are saying is they have a lack of confidence in him. Unfortunately when the players turn up for a clear the air meeting in walks Capello with his clunking fist backed up by the men in suits. If England go out there will be the biggest explosion in the FA for many a year. It seems the players have kept their heads down over the Terry interview, but will if given the opportunity, will play like an England team should play.

Lets hope the players get their way and play like England should do because the consequences are to dire for our game. It would also be interesting if Joe Cole is not included in the starting 11. Now that will tell us all what type of man Capello is. He comes first and England last. Keep your fingers crossed and hope we get through and then put Capello on the next plane back to Italy.

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ECPL - to me, your writings make perfect sense...terry tell's the truth, what were all thinking, capello cracks the whip, then closure from the players...

just a shame, we'll only get the truth when the autobiographies are released at christmas...

You are right. I will be interested in what James has to say.

But give credit where it is due fantastic England.

The Frank Sinatra song: ‘I did it my way’ was never more apt about this performance. This was an England side that decided no matter who Capello was going to pick they would decide how to play and my goodness didn’t they do well. A proper looking England team and performance. Yes there was mistakes as they had to forget lumping the ball up to

Heskey but by keeping the game wide which I thought we did well. Thankfully Lampard had no defensive job to do.

Rooney still isn't right but his eyes lit up when the game was played at his pace and with Defoe alongside him all England needed to do was get the ball in the box or if not draw the defenders out to give others a chance to score. The baffled look on Capello’s face when England were in full flight was a sight to behold. Even at the end when Terry called all the players together for the hug, they didn’t as you would expect go to the manager to celebrate. And when Capello came on to the pitch there wasn’t the rapport between player and manager. No wonder Capello was over the moon after the match declaring it was his change of personnel that won the match. Oh really – I would say forced upon him. If he had played Heskey the nation would have lynched him. I guess he owes the players a huge thank you for saving his job.

It will be even more difficult in the next round but as long as the players put England first and play like we know they can do then we have the slimmest of chances to progress, but at least we can now despite Capello

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ECPL - to me, your writings make perfect sense...terry tell's the truth, what were all thinking, capello cracks the whip, then closure from the players...

just a shame, we'll only get the truth when the autobiographies are released at christmas...

You are right. I will be interested in what James has to say.

But give credit where it is due fantastic England.

The Frank Sinatra song: ‘I did it my way’ was never more apt about this performance. This was an England side that decided no matter who Capello was going to pick they would decide how to play and my goodness didn’t they do well. A proper looking England team and performance. Yes there was mistakes as they had to forget lumping the ball up to

Heskey but by keeping the game wide which I thought we did well. Thankfully Lampard had no defensive job to do.

Rooney still isn't right but his eyes lit up when the game was played at his pace and with Defoe alongside him all England needed to do was get the ball in the box or if not draw the defenders out to give others a chance to score. The baffled look on Capello’s face when England were in full flight was a sight to behold. Even at the end when Terry called all the players together for the hug, they didn’t as you would expect go to the manager to celebrate. And when Capello came on to the pitch there wasn’t the rapport between player and manager. No wonder Capello was over the moon after the match declaring it was his change of personnel that won the match. Oh really – I would say forced upon him. If he had played Heskey the nation would have lynched him. I guess he owes the players a huge thank you for saving his job.

It will be even more difficult in the next round but as long as the players put England first and play like we know they can do then we have the slimmest of chances to progress, but at least we can now despite Capello

I have missed something here? England have one way of playing, three touch's then HOOF! It does not matter who is up front, big or small they do not keep possession and don't know how to.Captain Stevie and John Terry pity England didn't have 11 player's of the same capacity and heart.Papered over the cracks today but at least we are through to meet the Germans ha ha!

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ECPL - to me, your writings make perfect sense...terry tell's the truth, what were all thinking, capello cracks the whip, then closure from the players...

just a shame, we'll only get the truth when the autobiographies are released at christmas...

You are right. I will be interested in what James has to say.

But give credit where it is due fantastic England.

The Frank Sinatra song: ‘I did it my way’ was never more apt about this performance. This was an England side that decided no matter who Capello was going to pick they would decide how to play and my goodness didn’t they do well. A proper looking England team and performance. Yes there was mistakes as they had to forget lumping the ball up to

Heskey but by keeping the game wide which I thought we did well. Thankfully Lampard had no defensive job to do.

Rooney still isn't right but his eyes lit up when the game was played at his pace and with Defoe alongside him all England needed to do was get the ball in the box or if not draw the defenders out to give others a chance to score. The baffled look on Capello’s face when England were in full flight was a sight to behold. Even at the end when Terry called all the players together for the hug, they didn’t as you would expect go to the manager to celebrate. And when Capello came on to the pitch there wasn’t the rapport between player and manager. No wonder Capello was over the moon after the match declaring it was his change of personnel that won the match. Oh really – I would say forced upon him. If he had played Heskey the nation would have lynched him. I guess he owes the players a huge thank you for saving his job.

It will be even more difficult in the next round but as long as the players put England first and play like we know they can do then we have the slimmest of chances to progress, but at least we can now despite Capello

I have missed something here? England have one way of playing, three touch's then HOOF! It does not matter who is up front, big or small they do not keep possession and don't know how to.Captain Stevie and John Terry pity England didn't have 11 player's of the same capacity and heart.Papered over the cracks today but at least we are through to meet the Germans ha ha!

So who will clueless pick for the Germany match.

I think he will go for the following:

James

Johnson

Terry

King

A Cole

Gerrard

Lampard

Berry

Milner

Defoe

Rooney

He has not got the players to go defensive. So there could be a lot goals or is that wishful thinking.

My view. Take Lampard out and replace him with Joe Cole. Lampard is lazy and apart from trotting around the pitch doing very little he does not know or does not even try to defend. Cole would run is heart out but I think having him in a midfield role pulling the strings could be of benefit to England. Germany are not the best team in the world these days they are so predictable and England could beat them, especially if they score first.

But hey, England have nothing to lose and you never know.

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I think england have got a very good chance of beating a young german side there young goalie would never of been in the squad if there 1st choice goalie had not committed suicide just before the world cup when he stood in front of a train which was very sad its good germany didnt win the war half of this german team would never of been allowed to play due to there nationallity .They are a very fine footballing side but i think england may win 1-0 rooney scoring about time he did something hes been crap .So come on england do it for the nation

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if he brings back carragher or king......disgrace

if same 11, then get rooney on the left and lets see lamps and gerrard in thier best position, as every other fan wants!!

for me though, drop defoe, bring in cole, 4-5-1

you say if he brings back king or carra its a disgrace, and then you same drop defoe for cole? Defoe played twice as good as rooney and scored the goal that kept us in the world cup, rooney missed a sitter and that was all i remember of him in the hole game!

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because we wont win the world cup playing 4-4-2, and defoe is best as a sub, coming on when the game is stretched.

stevie g has been along with terry and cole our best players so far. wide left against algeria, 0-0, everyone said he drifted in to much, does same against slovenia, win 1-0, people say he's a revalation coming in off the left linking with rooney!!! :clapper:

i said if same 11, get rooney high and wide left,then we will have all our players in thier best positions, i.e lamps and gerrard off holding midfielder

buzzing defoe scored, the same as i was buzzing that heskey played well against usa, but he should not be in our best starting 11, as that should be rooney up front alone :drink:

COME ON ENGLAND

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because we wont win the world cup playing 4-4-2, and defoe is best as a sub, coming on when the game is stretched.

stevie g has been along with terry and cole our best players so far. wide left against algeria, 0-0, everyone said he drifted in to much, does same against slovenia, win 1-0, people say he's a revalation coming in off the left linking with rooney!!! :clapper:

i said if same 11, get rooney high and wide left,then we will have all our players in thier best positions, i.e lamps and gerrard off holding midfielder

buzzing defoe scored, the same as i was buzzing that heskey played well against usa, but he should not be in our best starting 11, as that should be rooney up front alone :drink:

COME ON ENGLAND

RIP THE GAME WE GAVE TO THE WORLD.

In fairness what did we expect. I would imagine the combined pay of the England eleven must have been well in excess of a million pounds a week. But we don’t have a team. I actually feel for Rooney. He is our best front runner and yet Capello cannot find a system that helps him to score goals.

Yes the disallowed goal was shocking but you look at the team that played. The system they played, the selection and tactics. We have known for some time that Germany had pace up front and by not playing King or by not using a sweeper meant we couldn’t handle German attacks.

I am still at a loss why Lampard gets in the team and yet stroll’s around the pitch, yes he could have scored twice but we had no midfield. And what does Clueless do when we are chasing the game he brings on Heskey, mind boggling.

The goals

1. A 70 yard goal kick and Upson is beaten for pace.

2. A simple through ball and Terry is not only well out of position but again beaten for pace.

3. Another astonishing goal. We are in their penalty but for some reason Barry doesn’t shoot, they break and again we lack pace.

4. Again, we are on the attack but lose the ball and yet they break away and score.

When is the Premier League going to understand that having the vast majority of players who are not English the English game must suffer. Italy went through this as did Spain. It must tell them something. But their only interest is money and employing foreign managers and foreign owners who lets be fair are not interested in the national team and quite frankly why should they, then we will always have this problem.

People like Lampard and Terry play well for Chelsea simply because they have superb foreign minders who are foreign players.

Lets go through the players.

James. Played well and perhaps if he had played in the first match we would not have been in this situation of having to face Germany although in fairness it would have been the same result if we had played Ghana.

Johnson. He did not play as well as he can simply because he had to play behind a midfield which continually lost the ball so nullifying his best asset.

Ashley Cole. The same as Johnson, he rarely got forward simply because the game was so slow in front of him and he didn’t have any forward players to play with.

Terry. We have always known that he is a willing horse but he didn’t have his minder Ferdinand looking after him. Unfortunately his lack of pace was shown up terribly.

Upson. I’m a big fan of Upson but again he has no pace. Scored a great goal but continued like Terry to be caught out of position.

Gerrard. I’m sorry but you can’t continually play someone like him out of position. His one touch play is not good and he does not seem to have a role in the team he just seems to gallop around without any direction.

Lampard. What can I say, Lampard has spent his career hiding away on the pitch. He can do what he does at Chelsea through others taking the donkey work role. England does not have that type of player.

Barry. It comes to something when Barry a good honest player was according to Capello the man he had to play. I though he played well for England but he can’t do it all.

Rooney. Something has not been right with Rooney in this world cup. I don’t know if he is injured or what but how he has kept his temper in the four games he has played is a minor miracle. Why play our best player if you don’t give him the ball.

Milner. I have got a lot of time for this lad who I think will come on in the years to come.

Defoe. I felt it was the right decision to play him but like most of the England players he has a poor first touch.

Lennon. Did his best but there has to be a proper plan when you play someone wide like him. I wonder sometimes what is being coached at the camp.

Heskey. An honest worker but he just cannot score goals so why on earth did he go to South Africa in the first place.

Joe Cole. It was a crying shame that the only player who can actually hold on to a ball and pass it played a bit part And yes Chelsea have said goodbye. What a travesty.

Crouch. Again if you are going to use a big man then you use one that actually scores goals. He must have been baffled at continually being overlooked.

Wright-Phillips. A real tryer but how on earth did he make the flight. Baffling

Carragher. This selection had to be the joke of the season. It doesn’t matter what we think of him at Liverpool but he does not have any pace at all and he is a loose cannon.

King. Again like Barry, Capello took a chance in taking him going against all his beliefs. I think a fit King would have given us a chance to progress.

Warnock. This along with Carragher was a mind boggling decision. You just cannot comment on someone who wasn’t good enough to go. But somehow slipped on to the plane and was never heard of since. .

Hart. I think he is the next England goalkeeper.

Green. You have to feel sorry for Green he has had a shocking season. It is not his fault that Capello picked him but we suffered because he did.

Capello. It is difficult not to feel you want to punch his lights out. I don’t care what his record is in club football nut he had no idea at international level. His team selection, tactics and then you lose the dressing room showed the man has no man management skills. I hope for England’s sake he either resigns or is sacked.

So what is England’s problem. When you have golden boy injured you look at the squad and say ‘is this it’. We have been shown up as a team bereft of talent.

We can look at the whole set up in England and I have one view the FA and the Premier League are all to blame. There was a time when we said we learnt a lot by having foreign players in the Premier League, but when the league is completely overwhelmed by their presence then it is no surprise that a foreign manager will be happy to spend money on those players and ignore the young talent coming through. But all this does is hide the deficiency of our so called top players. Quite frankly we just do not have them any more. You look at local kids being coached at a very young age but somebody somewhere decides they are not good enough when they get older. WHY!

What about our coaching. We have been saying for years that our players just do not have the touch or the skills of the foreigners. So what do we do about that?

To be honest I get a great deal of pleasure watching local football and would not pay a penny again to watch the professional game. When players like Terry are on £170,000 A WEEK and was made to look like a cart horse then the game has gone completely daft.

It will also make the fans of our game look at the way the game is run and say to themselves, do I want to pay a shed full of money to watch a match, and do I want in my thousands to blindly follow an England team that are just not good enough.

The FA should be ashamed of themselves. The men in the suits are responsible for bringing in a man who quite frankly does not know the English mentality. His school teacher antics have completely destroyed any spirit the players had.

This story will run and run, but I am sure nothing will happen and we will be saying the same old things in years to come. We gave the world the game and now we will spend years trying to catch up.

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SHOWPONIES THE LOT OF THEM !!!!!

Outrageous. Capello wants to stay and the suits are giving him an answer in two weeks time whether he stays. I think they have only just realised the huge error they made in re negotiating his contract last month. Instead of being able to show him the door they now know it will cost them £12m.

There were some interesting comments made on TV that the players weren't fit enough. I'm sorry that does not wear with me. We had two tennis players playing over 11 hours over 3 days and our players are tired!!!!. The clubs have all got their physios, fitness coaches etc so why should they be tired. There are talks of a winter break etc, clubs wont go for that as they lose out financially but saying that off the clubs go on money spinning end of season tours.

Don't forget Capello complained about the ball, then the disallowed goal and now the fitness. If fitness was such a problem then why hasn't this been addressed earlier.

I think two things. Capello was the wrong man for the job, I can see why he was selected but this is not a club. Managers, especially foreign ones who cant handle England's players. They have a different mentality.

Secondly it is the whole way we play the game in this country that has to be addressed. I'm not saying we should cut out competitive football at a young age because that interferes badly with our need for competition. But there has to be something that can be done about our technique. I watched a group of 7 or 8 year olds last week being coached and they did not have fun running up and down getting fit, thats a laugh. There was no coaching with a ball where the youngsters could have fun The only time they enjoyed it was when they played a six a side match. They could hardly kick the ball. And this was from a guy who was level 3 coaching. What on earth do they teach these coaches.

We have so many youngsters coming through the system but when it comes to signing them on they lose out because we train up or buy young foreigners.

We must accept that the Premier Division managers and owners have no interest in the England national team and will do what they like. It is what we do about it that matters.

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because we wont win the world cup playing 4-4-2, and defoe is best as a sub, coming on when the game is stretched.

stevie g has been along with terry and cole our best players so far. wide left against algeria, 0-0, everyone said he drifted in to much, does same against slovenia, win 1-0, people say he's a revalation coming in off the left linking with rooney!!! :clapper:

i said if same 11, get rooney high and wide left,then we will have all our players in thier best positions, i.e lamps and gerrard off holding midfielder

buzzing defoe scored, the same as i was buzzing that heskey played well against usa, but he should not be in our best starting 11, as that should be rooney up front alone :drink:

COME ON ENGLAND

RIP THE GAME WE GAVE TO THE WORLD.

In fairness what did we expect. I would imagine the combined pay of the England eleven must have been well in excess of a million pounds a week. But we don’t have a team. I actually feel for Rooney. He is our best front runner and yet Capello cannot find a system that helps him to score goals.

Yes the disallowed goal was shocking but you look at the team that played. The system they played, the selection and tactics. We have known for some time that Germany had pace up front and by not playing King or by not using a sweeper meant we couldn’t handle German attacks.

I am still at a loss why Lampard gets in the team and yet stroll’s around the pitch, yes he could have scored twice but we had no midfield. And what does Clueless do when we are chasing the game he brings on Heskey, mind boggling.

The goals

1. A 70 yard goal kick and Upson is beaten for pace.

2. A simple through ball and Terry is not only well out of position but again beaten for pace.

3. Another astonishing goal. We are in their penalty but for some reason Barry doesn’t shoot, they break and again we lack pace.

4. Again, we are on the attack but lose the ball and yet they break away and score.

When is the Premier League going to understand that having the vast majority of players who are not English the English game must suffer. Italy went through this as did Spain. It must tell them something. But their only interest is money and employing foreign managers and foreign owners who lets be fair are not interested in the national team and quite frankly why should they, then we will always have this problem.

People like Lampard and Terry play well for Chelsea simply because they have superb foreign minders who are foreign players.

Lets go through the players.

James. Played well and perhaps if he had played in the first match we would not have been in this situation of having to face Germany although in fairness it would have been the same result if we had played Ghana.

Johnson. He did not play as well as he can simply because he had to play behind a midfield which continually lost the ball so nullifying his best asset.

Ashley Cole. The same as Johnson, he rarely got forward simply because the game was so slow in front of him and he didn’t have any forward players to play with.

Terry. We have always known that he is a willing horse but he didn’t have his minder Ferdinand looking after him. Unfortunately his lack of pace was shown up terribly.

Upson. I’m a big fan of Upson but again he has no pace. Scored a great goal but continued like Terry to be caught out of position.

Gerrard. I’m sorry but you can’t continually play someone like him out of position. His one touch play is not good and he does not seem to have a role in the team he just seems to gallop around without any direction.

Lampard. What can I say, Lampard has spent his career hiding away on the pitch. He can do what he does at Chelsea through others taking the donkey work role. England does not have that type of player.

Barry. It comes to something when Barry a good honest player was according to Capello the man he had to play. I though he played well for England but he can’t do it all.

Rooney. Something has not been right with Rooney in this world cup. I don’t know if he is injured or what but how he has kept his temper in the four games he has played is a minor miracle. Why play our best player if you don’t give him the ball.

Milner. I have got a lot of time for this lad who I think will come on in the years to come.

Defoe. I felt it was the right decision to play him but like most of the England players he has a poor first touch.

Lennon. Did his best but there has to be a proper plan when you play someone wide like him. I wonder sometimes what is being coached at the camp.

Heskey. An honest worker but he just cannot score goals so why on earth did he go to South Africa in the first place.

Joe Cole. It was a crying shame that the only player who can actually hold on to a ball and pass it played a bit part And yes Chelsea have said goodbye. What a travesty.

Crouch. Again if you are going to use a big man then you use one that actually scores goals. He must have been baffled at continually being overlooked.

Wright-Phillips. A real tryer but how on earth did he make the flight. Baffling

Carragher. This selection had to be the joke of the season. It doesn’t matter what we think of him at Liverpool but he does not have any pace at all and he is a loose cannon.

King. Again like Barry, Capello took a chance in taking him going against all his beliefs. I think a fit King would have given us a chance to progress.

Warnock. This along with Carragher was a mind boggling decision. You just cannot comment on someone who wasn’t good enough to go. But somehow slipped on to the plane and was never heard of since. .

Hart. I think he is the next England goalkeeper.

Green. You have to feel sorry for Green he has had a shocking season. It is not his fault that Capello picked him but we suffered because he did.

Capello. It is difficult not to feel you want to punch his lights out. I don’t care what his record is in club football nut he had no idea at international level. His team selection, tactics and then you lose the dressing room showed the man has no man management skills. I hope for England’s sake he either resigns or is sacked.

So what is England’s problem. When you have golden boy injured you look at the squad and say ‘is this it’. We have been shown up as a team bereft of talent.

We can look at the whole set up in England and I have one view the FA and the Premier League are all to blame. There was a time when we said we learnt a lot by having foreign players in the Premier League, but when the league is completely overwhelmed by their presence then it is no surprise that a foreign manager will be happy to spend money on those players and ignore the young talent coming through. But all this does is hide the deficiency of our so called top players. Quite frankly we just do not have them any more. You look at local kids being coached at a very young age but somebody somewhere decides they are not good enough when they get older. WHY!

What about our coaching. We have been saying for years that our players just do not have the touch or the skills of the foreigners. So what do we do about that?

To be honest I get a great deal of pleasure watching local football and would not pay a penny again to watch the professional game. When players like Terry are on £170,000 A WEEK and was made to look like a cart horse then the game has gone completely daft.

It will also make the fans of our game look at the way the game is run and say to themselves, do I want to pay a shed full of money to watch a match, and do I want in my thousands to blindly follow an England team that are just not good enough.

The FA should be ashamed of themselves. The men in the suits are responsible for bringing in a man who quite frankly does not know the English mentality. His school teacher antics have completely destroyed any spirit the players had.

This story will run and run, but I am sure nothing will happen and we will be saying the same old things in years to come. We gave the world the game and now we will spend years trying to catch up.

ECPL That is a cracking write up pal :clapper:

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doesnt matter wat manger it is they will always play second fiddle to the top flight

CAPELLO IS STAYING. Everything that is coming out of the FA is pointing to Capello staying. On Sky TV today even the respected Trevor Brooking doesn't feel that sacking him will not change the underlying problem. I'm sorry Trevor but isn't that your brief on development. Looks like the FA are going to capitulate over this one because it will cost them to much anyway. So lets put the cross of St George away for the next umpteen years.

I was given some food for thought over the fitness angle. I have already quoted tennis where a player plays almost all year round so if an average player reaches the third round of a competition he/she will have played three 2 hour high octane games in a week. Take swimming. The average club swimmer is putting in a five day shift of getting up at 5 am in the morning and coming back in the evening for another couple of hours training. I'm sure people can give examples of other sports. And these guys don't get a penny unless they actually win something.

We all know something is wrong with a sport that pays top players more in a day than most people earn in a week. Fitness, technique has to be top of the agenda. We wait with baited breath

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doesnt matter wat manger it is they will always play second fiddle to the top flight

CAPELLO IS STAYING. Everything that is coming out of the FA is pointing to Capello staying. On Sky TV today even the respected Trevor Brooking doesn't feel that sacking him will not change the underlying problem. I'm sorry Trevor but isn't that your brief on development. Looks like the FA are going to capitulate over this one because it will cost them to much anyway. So lets put the cross of St George away for the next umpteen years.

I was given some food for thought over the fitness angle. I have already quoted tennis where a player plays almost all year round so if an average player reaches the third round of a competition he/she will have played three 2 hour high octane games in a week. Take swimming. The average club swimmer is putting in a five day shift of getting up at 5 am in the morning and coming back in the evening for another couple of hours training. I'm sure people can give examples of other sports. And these guys don't get a penny unless they actually win something.

We all know something is wrong with a sport that pays top players more in a day than most people earn in a week. Fitness, technique has to be top of the agenda. We wait with baited breath

At last someone agrees with me, I don’t often agree with what Martin Samuel says but on this occasion he is right. I have been saying for ages and on this web site that the Terry’s and the Lampard’s of this world look great for Chelsea only because a foreign player, or in England’s case Ferdinand does all the work for them and makes them look good.

Football is now a thinking mans game, I laugh when people come back from courses having got level three or something coaching award. Quite frankly I would have thrown those manuals away years ago. Many years ago when I was in the Army I refused to go on a coaching course when I found out from those who attended how rubbish it was. Yes I could come away with what was then called a half badge leading to a full badge, when you knew what was being taught was largely garbage.

We have coaches at all levels from local football to international level completely clueless because they live and die by the coaching manual which is almost a complete waste of time. We also seem to insist that a person should have played at a certain level before they can become a coach. Cobblers, it’s a thinking mans game now, for a game that for goodness sake is so simple to play. There are sets I used to do as a young man that we never see at all today and yet I was a right footer whose left foot became just as good as my right. Do they teach it. No they say bad luck it was on his wrong leg. What complete and utter garbage. How many players can actually pass the ball with the outside of the foot. Remember years ago when the defence pivoted on the centre half. Do any coaches actually know what space on the field is and how it can be utilised either attacking or defending. Brazil taught us all those years ago about total football and we still do not have a clue. And yet England have a manager so successful in club football that he himself has been left behind when it comes to tactics, selection and formation.

Don’t blame players when they are only doing what they are taught. I feel sorry for the England players when people say how rubbish they were and they didn’t break out in a sweat. I thought they did their best and did try and do not deserve to be critisised for their effort. They did their best trying to play in a system that did not suit any of them. Critisise them for earning wads of dosh but if clubs are that stupid they are prepared to pay that type of money. Don’t blame the players, would you turn down that type of money. Of course not and neither would I. The players did their best but like Samuel said ‘they were out thought’.

MARTIN SAMUEL: If England had a brain, they could almost be dangerous

England departed the World Cup beaten by the oldest trick in the book. That is the truth we have yet to face in all this big talk of winter breaks and quotas of foreign players.

The default position is to advocate grandiose reform of the professional game because it stops us confronting a significant failing that is harder to correct: when it comes to football, English players are not very bright.

Good, yes; clever, no. Talented, yes; insightful, no. Skilful, yes; ruminative, no. Whenever England exit a major tournament there is always the false allegation that the players are overrated: it is not true. They are, however, easily out-thought. That is what happened at Bloemfontein on Sunday. Germany thought about the game and England did not. Miroslav Klose said he knew his team-mates had the beating of England within six minutes.

Joachim Low, Germany's manager, explained after the game that the plan was to drag John Terry out of position. He did not spell out that he had identified Terry as England's best defender and therefore the man that had to be distracted if the trick was to work, but that was plainly his scheme. If he could get Terry out of the way that would leave his striker one on one against Matthew Upson.

If this sounds simplistic in concept, don't worry, it is. Low's gambit was to install Mesut Ozil as a deep forward, operating between the banks of four in England's midfield and defence. This then gave Terry a choice, Should he remain in place at the back and leave Ozil free, or step in to mark him, leaving Upson alone with Klose?

It is a ticklish problem, yes, but not without its solution. The deep striker is swept up by the holding midfielder and the central defenders remain intact behind him, two against one.

The very best in this position, such as Zinedine Zidane or Lionel Messi, are still adept at finding space and can be devastating unless closely guarded, but Ozil is not at that level. Not yet.

The problem for England was that nobody thought to do the basics. Gareth Barry left Ozil for Terry to mark and the rest is history, as were England. Germany's first goal came straight out of a tactical manual entitled Suicidal Defensive Strategies Vol 1 (aka How to Get Stuffed).

England did not lose to Germany because they couldn't play; they lost because they couldn't think straight. They went chasing a single goal deficit in the second half as if they needed to score eight, and were left exposed; but the biggest gap was an intellectual one.

This is not about being exam smart, by the way; it is no treatise on our education system. Yes, it is very impressive to visit the German training camp and hear Philipp Lahm take questions in English with no quibble over translation, but there are plenty of bright guys knocking about the England dressing-room, too, and plenty of GCSE qualifications.

Everybody knows that Lampard got Latin. Big deal. England did not fail against Germany because there are not enough linguists in the squad, nobody knew the timeline of the Protestant Reformation or could get to grips with calculus.

They do not think about football enough, that is the issue here. They are game stupid, match stupid, pitch stupid. They become confused by the simplest concepts; a counter-attack or a deep-lying forward. Simultaneous equations, this ain't.

The familiar cry can now be heard. We put these players on a pedestal in the Premier League, but when it comes to playing against the very best, they just aren't good enough.

Not true. The talent in the Premier League makes it a world class competition, in its biggest games as ferociously challenging as the World Cup. Play Liverpool and you will face, among others, Spain striker Fernando Torres, Argentina captain Javier Mascherano, and Holland wide forward Dirk Kuyt.

There are 736 players at this World Cup and 106 play in the Premier League, a greater percentage than any other domestic league. There were only six countries in South Africa - Italy Japan, Slovenia, North Korea, Uruguay and Germany - without at least one Premier League player, although Chelsea would have laid claim to Michael Ballack, the Germany captain, had he not been injured, and Robert Koren, captain of Slovenia, spent the last season winning promotion to the Premier League with West Bromwich, but was released in the summer.

Only a single Premier League club, newly promoted Blackpool, are not represented. Chelsea have 14 players here, Liverpool 12, Arsenal 11, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Everton have nine.

So the achievements of English players are significant, the challenges real and their talent acknowledged deservedly.

Lampard does consistently score more than 20 goals each season for Chelsea. He did make more goals than any other Premier League player in the last campaign (James Milner was third in the assists table, behind Cesc Fabregas, Aaron Lennon was sixth).

Wayne Rooney was on course to outscore Cristiano Ronaldo's 42 goals in one season for Manchester United until injury intervened. Steven Gerrard did have more influence on Liverpool's Champions League victory in 2005 and FA Cup final win in 2006 than any other player on the pitch. Take him away and they would have lost both matches. Nobody is making this stuff up.

What goes wrong, when these players stride out into the international arena, is that the brain of the operation is absent. Lampard remains Lampard, but he no longer has the guy from France, Ghana or Nigeria to make his talent shine.

Claude Makelele would have known what to do with Ozil on Sunday, so too Michael Essien. These players have the selflessness and the football intellect to stick to a job that, done well, nobody notices.

When Chelsea played Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in 2006, I had a seat at pitch level, where the speed and intensity of the play was frightening. Every midfield player had trouble that night, bar two.

Claude Makelele

Claude Makelele: One of the finest holding midfielders the game has produced

For Barcelona, Deco was exceptional, making time when there was none; and for Chelsea, Makelele had the quickest feet. No sooner had the ball arrived, it had been moved on; if he was a boxer no opponent would have laid a glove on him.

Players say the same of Xavi now. Yet Makelele, this diamond of a footballer, spent most weeks on sentry duty, while Lampard racked up the goals and the glory. Mascherano performs the same duty for Gerrard at Liverpool. His worth to his country is so great that his manager, Diego Maradona, has described Argentina as 'Mascherano and 10 others', no faint praise when Messi is casually bundled with the rest.

Yet what is England's greatest problem? Discipline: persuading a player, specifically Barry against Germany, to think about the collective good rather than his individual desire.

Barry is not a holding midfield player with Manchester City because another little foreign brain box, Nigel de Jong, plays that role. Barry gets up and back, as Lampard and Gerrard do for their clubs, although with considerably less impact as a single goal for City since September indicates.

So when it comes to the national team, Capello does not need a lite version of his two attacking midfielders, he needs one with passing ability and the defensive instinct to mind the shop. Yet what did Low say when reviewing Germany's win? 'We knew all the English midfield go up to support the forwards and there would be space behind.'

In other words, he knew Barry would not think hard enough about where Ozil was playing, and he could then drag Terry out of position. It would not have happened the other way around. Why do you think Rooney found space so hard to come by?

As a group, England's players are not football literate. Is it a lack of interest in the game, is it laziness, is it arrogance? Gerrard, for instance, has spent most of his career coveting a role in central midfield that managers will not give him because he deserts the position. Why, then, will he not make the adjustments to his play so that both sides get what they want?

It reminds of the old Jewish joke about the man who goes to the synagogue each morning and prays to win the lottery. This goes on for weeks, his pleas to the Almighty growing ever more desperate. Finally, one day, the clouds part and a voice from above booms: 'Manny, meet me halfway. Buy a ticket.'

ABOUT TIME, TOO

For once, and about 10 years too late, Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, has got something right. Football needs goal-line technology, but not video replays. Goal-line technology would have informed referee Jorge Larrionda that Frank Lampard’s shot was over the line. Video replays, with the restart issues and conflicting judgment calls, would create as many problems as they solved.

We should not be surprised. Think back to October 2006 when England lost to Croatia in Zagreb. Steve McClaren, England's manager, never recovered from asking his team to play three at the back, even though neither goal had much to do with the defensive formation. English players cannot adapt to such alien tactical changes, we are told, and the system is challenging for central defenders.

What about the rest of them, though. Is it really so baffling to Gary Neville and Ashley Cole to do everything they would traditionally do as a full back, but to do it 15 yards farther up the field? Do you think this task would be beyond Lahm, who plays at left or right back for Germany as it is, if Low requested it?

Take Maicon, of Brazil, who plays in an entirely different way for his club side, Inter Milan, to his country. Jose Mourinho, his former club coach, is devoted to a flat back four, but Brazil's methods have long been a variation of 3-5-2.

Brazil start with a back four and two guarding midfield players, but when they attack, one of the holding players steps backward into the middle of defence, making three, while the full backs operate like wingers. One imagines an English mind would explode; Maicon - and every Brazilian full back - just gets on with it.

There is no easy answer to this. England may soon possess a thinking holding midfield player if Jack Rodwell's progress at Everton continues, but Fabio Capello, the England manager, did not even mention Rodwell on Monday in his list of players for the immediate future.

Instead we continue to marvel at Germany's ability to play between England's straight lines and never realise that their ability is intellectual, not technical.

Watch Messi in action for Argentina, and see those moments when he just stops and works out where he needs to be next. With the ball at his feet he is inspired, entirely natural. The rest of the time he is calculating, plotting, working it out.

It is one of football's great red herrings that the best players perform without even having to think about it. You do have to think about it. You always have to think about it. Otherwise you end up like England.

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doesnt matter wat manger it is they will always play second fiddle to the top flight

CAPELLO IS STAYING. Everything that is coming out of the FA is pointing to Capello staying. On Sky TV today even the respected Trevor Brooking doesn't feel that sacking him will not change the underlying problem. I'm sorry Trevor but isn't that your brief on development. Looks like the FA are going to capitulate over this one because it will cost them to much anyway. So lets put the cross of St George away for the next umpteen years.

I was given some food for thought over the fitness angle. I have already quoted tennis where a player plays almost all year round so if an average player reaches the third round of a competition he/she will have played three 2 hour high octane games in a week. Take swimming. The average club swimmer is putting in a five day shift of getting up at 5 am in the morning and coming back in the evening for another couple of hours training. I'm sure people can give examples of other sports. And these guys don't get a penny unless they actually win something.

We all know something is wrong with a sport that pays top players more in a day than most people earn in a week. Fitness, technique has to be top of the agenda. We wait with baited breath

At last someone agrees with me, I don’t often agree with what Martin Samuel says but on this occasion he is right. I have been saying for ages and on this web site that the Terry’s and the Lampard’s of this world look great for Chelsea only because a foreign player, or in England’s case Ferdinand does all the work for them and makes them look good.

Football is now a thinking mans game, I laugh when people come back from courses having got level three or something coaching award. Quite frankly I would have thrown those manuals away years ago. Many years ago when I was in the Army I refused to go on a coaching course when I found out from those who attended how rubbish it was. Yes I could come away with what was then called a half badge leading to a full badge, when you knew what was being taught was largely garbage.

We have coaches at all levels from local football to international level completely clueless because they live and die by the coaching manual which is almost a complete waste of time. We also seem to insist that a person should have played at a certain level before they can become a coach. Cobblers, it’s a thinking mans game now, for a game that for goodness sake is so simple to play. There are sets I used to do as a young man that we never see at all today and yet I was a right footer whose left foot became just as good as my right. Do they teach it. No they say bad luck it was on his wrong leg. What complete and utter garbage. How many players can actually pass the ball with the outside of the foot. Remember years ago when the defence pivoted on the centre half. Do any coaches actually know what space on the field is and how it can be utilised either attacking or defending. Brazil taught us all those years ago about total football and we still do not have a clue. And yet England have a manager so successful in club football that he himself has been left behind when it comes to tactics, selection and formation.

Don’t blame players when they are only doing what they are taught. I feel sorry for the England players when people say how rubbish they were and they didn’t break out in a sweat. I thought they did their best and did try and do not deserve to be critisised for their effort. They did their best trying to play in a system that did not suit any of them. Critisise them for earning wads of dosh but if clubs are that stupid they are prepared to pay that type of money. Don’t blame the players, would you turn down that type of money. Of course not and neither would I. The players did their best but like Samuel said ‘they were out thought’.

MARTIN SAMUEL: If England had a brain, they could almost be dangerous

England departed the World Cup beaten by the oldest trick in the book. That is the truth we have yet to face in all this big talk of winter breaks and quotas of foreign players.

The default position is to advocate grandiose reform of the professional game because it stops us confronting a significant failing that is harder to correct: when it comes to football, English players are not very bright.

Good, yes; clever, no. Talented, yes; insightful, no. Skilful, yes; ruminative, no. Whenever England exit a major tournament there is always the false allegation that the players are overrated: it is not true. They are, however, easily out-thought. That is what happened at Bloemfontein on Sunday. Germany thought about the game and England did not. Miroslav Klose said he knew his team-mates had the beating of England within six minutes.

Joachim Low, Germany's manager, explained after the game that the plan was to drag John Terry out of position. He did not spell out that he had identified Terry as England's best defender and therefore the man that had to be distracted if the trick was to work, but that was plainly his scheme. If he could get Terry out of the way that would leave his striker one on one against Matthew Upson.

If this sounds simplistic in concept, don't worry, it is. Low's gambit was to install Mesut Ozil as a deep forward, operating between the banks of four in England's midfield and defence. This then gave Terry a choice, Should he remain in place at the back and leave Ozil free, or step in to mark him, leaving Upson alone with Klose?

It is a ticklish problem, yes, but not without its solution. The deep striker is swept up by the holding midfielder and the central defenders remain intact behind him, two against one.

The very best in this position, such as Zinedine Zidane or Lionel Messi, are still adept at finding space and can be devastating unless closely guarded, but Ozil is not at that level. Not yet.

The problem for England was that nobody thought to do the basics. Gareth Barry left Ozil for Terry to mark and the rest is history, as were England. Germany's first goal came straight out of a tactical manual entitled Suicidal Defensive Strategies Vol 1 (aka How to Get Stuffed).

England did not lose to Germany because they couldn't play; they lost because they couldn't think straight. They went chasing a single goal deficit in the second half as if they needed to score eight, and were left exposed; but the biggest gap was an intellectual one.

This is not about being exam smart, by the way; it is no treatise on our education system. Yes, it is very impressive to visit the German training camp and hear Philipp Lahm take questions in English with no quibble over translation, but there are plenty of bright guys knocking about the England dressing-room, too, and plenty of GCSE qualifications.

Everybody knows that Lampard got Latin. Big deal. England did not fail against Germany because there are not enough linguists in the squad, nobody knew the timeline of the Protestant Reformation or could get to grips with calculus.

They do not think about football enough, that is the issue here. They are game stupid, match stupid, pitch stupid. They become confused by the simplest concepts; a counter-attack or a deep-lying forward. Simultaneous equations, this ain't.

The familiar cry can now be heard. We put these players on a pedestal in the Premier League, but when it comes to playing against the very best, they just aren't good enough.

Not true. The talent in the Premier League makes it a world class competition, in its biggest games as ferociously challenging as the World Cup. Play Liverpool and you will face, among others, Spain striker Fernando Torres, Argentina captain Javier Mascherano, and Holland wide forward Dirk Kuyt.

There are 736 players at this World Cup and 106 play in the Premier League, a greater percentage than any other domestic league. There were only six countries in South Africa - Italy Japan, Slovenia, North Korea, Uruguay and Germany - without at least one Premier League player, although Chelsea would have laid claim to Michael Ballack, the Germany captain, had he not been injured, and Robert Koren, captain of Slovenia, spent the last season winning promotion to the Premier League with West Bromwich, but was released in the summer.

Only a single Premier League club, newly promoted Blackpool, are not represented. Chelsea have 14 players here, Liverpool 12, Arsenal 11, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Everton have nine.

So the achievements of English players are significant, the challenges real and their talent acknowledged deservedly.

Lampard does consistently score more than 20 goals each season for Chelsea. He did make more goals than any other Premier League player in the last campaign (James Milner was third in the assists table, behind Cesc Fabregas, Aaron Lennon was sixth).

Wayne Rooney was on course to outscore Cristiano Ronaldo's 42 goals in one season for Manchester United until injury intervened. Steven Gerrard did have more influence on Liverpool's Champions League victory in 2005 and FA Cup final win in 2006 than any other player on the pitch. Take him away and they would have lost both matches. Nobody is making this stuff up.

What goes wrong, when these players stride out into the international arena, is that the brain of the operation is absent. Lampard remains Lampard, but he no longer has the guy from France, Ghana or Nigeria to make his talent shine.

Claude Makelele would have known what to do with Ozil on Sunday, so too Michael Essien. These players have the selflessness and the football intellect to stick to a job that, done well, nobody notices.

When Chelsea played Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in 2006, I had a seat at pitch level, where the speed and intensity of the play was frightening. Every midfield player had trouble that night, bar two.

Claude Makelele

Claude Makelele: One of the finest holding midfielders the game has produced

For Barcelona, Deco was exceptional, making time when there was none; and for Chelsea, Makelele had the quickest feet. No sooner had the ball arrived, it had been moved on; if he was a boxer no opponent would have laid a glove on him.

Players say the same of Xavi now. Yet Makelele, this diamond of a footballer, spent most weeks on sentry duty, while Lampard racked up the goals and the glory. Mascherano performs the same duty for Gerrard at Liverpool. His worth to his country is so great that his manager, Diego Maradona, has described Argentina as 'Mascherano and 10 others', no faint praise when Messi is casually bundled with the rest.

Yet what is England's greatest problem? Discipline: persuading a player, specifically Barry against Germany, to think about the collective good rather than his individual desire.

Barry is not a holding midfield player with Manchester City because another little foreign brain box, Nigel de Jong, plays that role. Barry gets up and back, as Lampard and Gerrard do for their clubs, although with considerably less impact as a single goal for City since September indicates.

So when it comes to the national team, Capello does not need a lite version of his two attacking midfielders, he needs one with passing ability and the defensive instinct to mind the shop. Yet what did Low say when reviewing Germany's win? 'We knew all the English midfield go up to support the forwards and there would be space behind.'

In other words, he knew Barry would not think hard enough about where Ozil was playing, and he could then drag Terry out of position. It would not have happened the other way around. Why do you think Rooney found space so hard to come by?

As a group, England's players are not football literate. Is it a lack of interest in the game, is it laziness, is it arrogance? Gerrard, for instance, has spent most of his career coveting a role in central midfield that managers will not give him because he deserts the position. Why, then, will he not make the adjustments to his play so that both sides get what they want?

It reminds of the old Jewish joke about the man who goes to the synagogue each morning and prays to win the lottery. This goes on for weeks, his pleas to the Almighty growing ever more desperate. Finally, one day, the clouds part and a voice from above booms: 'Manny, meet me halfway. Buy a ticket.'

ABOUT TIME, TOO

For once, and about 10 years too late, Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, has got something right. Football needs goal-line technology, but not video replays. Goal-line technology would have informed referee Jorge Larrionda that Frank Lampard’s shot was over the line. Video replays, with the restart issues and conflicting judgment calls, would create as many problems as they solved.

We should not be surprised. Think back to October 2006 when England lost to Croatia in Zagreb. Steve McClaren, England's manager, never recovered from asking his team to play three at the back, even though neither goal had much to do with the defensive formation. English players cannot adapt to such alien tactical changes, we are told, and the system is challenging for central defenders.

What about the rest of them, though. Is it really so baffling to Gary Neville and Ashley Cole to do everything they would traditionally do as a full back, but to do it 15 yards farther up the field? Do you think this task would be beyond Lahm, who plays at left or right back for Germany as it is, if Low requested it?

Take Maicon, of Brazil, who plays in an entirely different way for his club side, Inter Milan, to his country. Jose Mourinho, his former club coach, is devoted to a flat back four, but Brazil's methods have long been a variation of 3-5-2.

Brazil start with a back four and two guarding midfield players, but when they attack, one of the holding players steps backward into the middle of defence, making three, while the full backs operate like wingers. One imagines an English mind would explode; Maicon - and every Brazilian full back - just gets on with it.

There is no easy answer to this. England may soon possess a thinking holding midfield player if Jack Rodwell's progress at Everton continues, but Fabio Capello, the England manager, did not even mention Rodwell on Monday in his list of players for the immediate future.

Instead we continue to marvel at Germany's ability to play between England's straight lines and never realise that their ability is intellectual, not technical.

Watch Messi in action for Argentina, and see those moments when he just stops and works out where he needs to be next. With the ball at his feet he is inspired, entirely natural. The rest of the time he is calculating, plotting, working it out.

It is one of football's great red herrings that the best players perform without even having to think about it. You do have to think about it. You always have to think about it. Otherwise you end up like England.

So thats it then CAPELLO has the backing of the FA and he can keep his job. Now we know that the world cup was just a little challenge for him to negotiate. Really. Try telling that to the many thousands of fans who paid out thousands to support his pathetic team selections and tactics. And what about the millions back home who could not believe how bad we played under Capello's direction. Oh silly, silly me, it has nothing to do with Capello's ability its the 12 MILLION QUID they would have to pay out to get rid of him.

Cant wait to see the wrath of the fans at England's next home match.

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The best thing that could happen at Englands next match is for nobody to turn up at the match to watch and no one to tune in to a t.v to watch the game or highlights

Naturally this will not happen because football fans all over the world are a very fickle bunch and no matter what sh*t gets thrown at them and no matter how much they get ripped off they will always go and support the team they love

We all know that gone are the days when football was football, It is all about the pound notes now and nothing else, Football is a huge business and until we stop the international players getting paid to play for the country and continue to pay foreign managers millions to have a go at running OUR national team we will continue to get ripped off and we will continue to do what they ask

Lets be honest here, How many people on this forum purchased an England football shirt before the world cup, How many of you spent fortunes down the pub for the 4 games England were involved in and how many of you stupid buggers bought a VUVUZELA :D :D

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The best thing that could happen at England’s next match is for nobody to turn up at the match to watch and no one to tune in to a t.v to watch the game or highlights

Naturally this will not happen because football fans all over the world are a very fickle bunch and no matter what sh*t gets thrown at them and no matter how much they get ripped off they will always go and support the team they love

We all know that gone are the days when football was football, It is all about the pound notes now and nothing else, Football is a huge business and until we stop the international players getting paid to play for the country and continue to pay foreign managers millions to have a go at running OUR national team we will continue to get ripped off and we will continue to do what they ask

Lets be honest here, How many people on this forum purchased an England football shirt before the world cup, How many of you spent fortunes down the pub for the 4 games England were involved in and how many of you stupid buggers bought a VUVUZELA :D:D

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Fans should boycott england games and also premership games then maybe they will have to reduce the cost of watching these overpaid pampered people and it was obvious the fa would not get rid of capello they wouldnt give him £10 million just to walk away the whole thing stinks ,also you got man city spending money like its gone out of fashion what chance have the young local players got none at all bring in a limit on foreign players at each club whats the point of academy and youth set ups.

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Fans should boycott england games and also premership games then maybe they will have to reduce the cost of watching these overpaid pampered people and it was obvious the fa would not get rid of capello they wouldnt give him £10 million just to walk away the whole thing stinks ,also you got man city spending money like its gone out of fashion what chance have the young local players got none at all bring in a limit on foreign players at each club whats the point of academy and youth set ups.

So who do you suggest should be the next England manager?

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If you want someone English, with passion, there is only 1 candidate ... Stuart Pearce.

Don't think Roy Hodgson is available anymore. Course , there is always Becks .. Can't be any worse that Keegan!

So why pick him then?

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