So, England. That was a bit rubbish wasn't it? Not only were they beaten, they were effectively taken out back and shot. There was no passion, no skill and no threat from the England team. Sure, England should have had Lampard's shot count as a goal, but the performance as a whole was indicative of much larger problems for the England side.Firstly, why can't that collection of players play well at international level when they play so excellently for their clubs. I've heard many theories as to why. One is that they don't play enough together as so many of the team is playing for different clubs. I say that's nonsense. Even when more of the national squad was playing in less teams in the league, they weren't all that great. Look at England in the mid to late 70's/early 80's. They were awful.
Another I've heard is that they're paid too much money and that that's somehow reduced the desire to succeed internationally as it brings them nothing. Again, I disagree. To succeed as they have as professional sportsmen, you have to hate to lose. This doesn't change just because you put on an England jersey.
Some would blame the manager. I agree that Capello made some wrong calls. England will never progress if they stick to playing 4-4-2. It's an outdated system that's slowly being phased out by clubs at the highest level and other national teams are following suit. I would personally go with a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1.
I think it's simpler solution; England choke under the pressure. It's different at club level. Yes you have your supporters, but they are far fewer. At the World Cup, it's the vast majority of the country rooting for you. Then you have the press bigging you up as Champions before you've even left the airport. With a club, there's always next year, but at the World Cup, you get 2, maybe 3 chances to get it right. It's a hell of a problem and one that I don't think the England players have the mental toughness to cope with. At least not yet.
Now, as for the squad, it's simply too old and too used to failure to carry on with the same group of players. With the exception of a core few, I would get rid of almost every player in the World Cup squad or relegate them to the subs bench. The dead wood needs to be cut out and it needs to be done with an eye to the future.
England's next game is against Hungary in a friendly at Wembley and it's here that England need to start thinking about the next 10 to 15 years at the least. Players such as Lampard, Wright-Philips, Carrick, Heskey, Warnock, Upson, King, Green, James and Carragher (who I believe will return to international retirement anyways) cannot be seen as first team players any longer. Add to that the average age of those players is 31, by the time Euro 2012 rolls around they will simply be too old. We seriously run the risk of turning into Italy, only without the glory of a recent World Cup triumph to look back on.
In those players place, I would call up players with youth on their side and something to prove. My picks would be:
Paul Robinson, Ben Foster (if he does well at Birmingham, which I think he will), Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Tom Huddlestone, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Theo Walcott
Those ten players have an average age of 27, with the oldest outfield player being Phil Jagielka at 27. Now, if you give those players a two year qualification campaign to blood themselves properly, then they can do some real good in Poland and Ukraine.
Personally, my team for the game against Hungary would be:
Hart
G.Johnson - Cahill - Terry - A.Cole
A.Johnson - Milner - Barry - J.Cole
Gerrard
Rooney
Foster
Robinson
Baines
Jagielka
Ferdinand
Dawson
Walcott
Downing
Huddlestone
Lampard
Defoe
Agbonlahor
Joe Hart must absolutely be assured of being the England number one goalkeeper. I sincerely hope that Man City give him Premiership games or send him on loan to another Premiership club because he's just too damned good to be warming the bench.
And yes, I'd be inclined to drop Ferdinand from the starting line-up. He's now 31, has lost his pace and is becoming increasingly injury prone. I'd be heavily inclined to leave him and make Steven Gerrard the permanent England captain. He's the one person at the World Cup who gave it his all and was by far England's best player.
Let's also not forget that England have a fantastic Under-21 side, which has actually been doing well in the Under-21 tournaments. Players like Kieren Gibbs, Chris Smalling, Dan Gosling, Henri Lansbury, Danny Welbeck, Jack Wileshire, Andy Carroll, Micah Richards and Jack Rodwell all have the potential and with any luck, the passion to succeed where the so called "Golden Generation" failed.
It remains to be seen whether or not Fabio Capello stays. If he does, I hope he sees the flaws with the team he took to South Africa and I hope that he looks to the future, because England need to start preparing now.
