Just saw the England team for tonight....

[mike]

Oh no, not again.

Wayne is having a very lean time and who partners him up front ? Dear old Emile again. Record speaks for itself:

Appearances for England - 59
Goals - 7
of those 4 - yes 4 - were scored in friendlies.

Peter Crouch
Appearances for England - 38
Goals - 21

So, on the field we currently have an out of form Wayne (excellent player that he is) partnered by a centre forward who hardly knows which way to face to score a goal.

And, in defence ?
Jamie Carragher who hardly knows how to kick a ball toward the opposition. If you want some comparison between him and Michael Dawson for headers won, tackles made and passes forward in last seasons premiership go take a look at the statistics. For the record Dawson was best, Upson was 2nd and Carragher ? Guess ?

Ye gods, with the currently surprises in matches I think dear Fabio has got it very wrong again.

We can put pray !!

[Graeme]

I did have a rest day booked for Wednesday, I am going to cancel it on Monday.

[Phreddy]

Poor old England. If it's not the "Hand of God", it's the "Balls-up in Bloemfontein."

Once again their World Cup campaign's been undermined by incompetent officiating. Lampard's "goal" was so far over the line they're now calling it the "David Fane."

Would it have changed the outcome of the match - No. Will it induce Sepp Blatter and FIFA to finally concede video technology must be introduced into the sport - also, sadly, No. Will it be forever mentioned in the long list of English sporting injustice - emphatically, Yes!

The truth is England, under Capello, laboured their way through this tournament and their second round exit is a pretty accurate reflection of where, in world football, they currently stand.

None of their (supposed) stars fronted when needed most. Rooney went awol on arrival, Gerrard scored early against the USA then did very little else, Lampard was virtually anonymous until the afore-mentioned goal-line incident,

Terry was cruelly exposed as the lumbering ill-organised overrated player he always was, while (overall) their squad lacked sufficient depth or class to do anything other than continue to disappoint.

So much for England's so-called "golden generation". Far more knowledgeable football brains than any of ours will continue to struggle with why such skilful players, so dominant at premiership and European club competition level, cannot perform to similar levels when representing their country.

Is it because the formation's wrong? Is it because their club sides, stacked with "imported talent", are in fact better than the national outfit?

Is it because petty personal jealousies/conflicts prevent total team commitment when drawn together? Whatever the answers to those questions might be, the ongoing failure of Gerrard and Lampard (especially) to gel in an England shirt is only symptomatic of a malaise that's long prevented this squad's true potential ever consistently being realised into big-stage performance.

Yes Lampard was robbed of a certain equalising goal against Germany. And yes the Germans, on balance, were still the far better side.

The fact that a refereeing blunder looks likely to completely overshadow everything else about another average English effort, might well be (for Three Lions fans) the biggest injustice of all.

[mike]

Very well put. Fabio should have had the courage of his convictions and not played Rooney who was totally inept. Don't, just don't, mention Heskey - he should not have even been on the plane out.

4-1 down and you are looking for goals and you put on somebody who has only scored 3 competitive goals for England in 80 appearances - ye gods - a moron could have worked that one out !!

the ongoing failure of Gerrard and Lampard (especially) to gel in an England shirt

The majority of commentators say that Gerrard rarely performs for England as he does for his club - so why was he playing.

As for Matthew Upson as a defender ?

It would be nice, as a consolation, to say that we did better than France and Italy - but quite simply we didn't.

Fabio says he would like to stay as England manager - at £4,800,000 BASIC a year I bet he does !!!!!

4 matches in the world cup works out at 1.25 million a game - hey, can I be England manager - I'll do it for a million a year.

[ETsRus]

Briefly, Graeme should take over from Fabio.

And about technology, who needs it? (..not FIFA!)...
...and they're absolutely right...why sully the Beautiful Game
with even more CCTV?

(Instead, have 2 guys stand at the goal line for 1 purpose...to notice a goal!!!)

(ps Dear FIFA: please send my £1M cheque asap for providing the obvious solutiion
to your 20th century obstinance! Thank you!)

[Phreddy]

didn't have the heart (or balls) to comment on the kiwi's

[Phreddy]

I suppose all's not lost yet

- there's still hope for Wimbledon (he's not from England though )

- then Silverstone is coming up in July too

[euphoriabuzz]

- then Silverstone is coming up in July too

Team McLaren rocks. We have hope again.

[Phreddy]

Team McLaren rocks

a great product of Kiwi origin