If your playin one upfront which is the tallest played in the bleddy tourno you want someone that is gna put it on his head everytime......DAVID BECKHAM, he will put it there 9/10. Still an absolutely worldclass player.

About time Maclarens gone, wrong choice from the start

Sorry dude the only world class player from that bunch is Gerrard and maybe Lampard+Crouch at a stretch. Fact of the matter is that McClown messed up bad

1) He should be playing Bentley
2) He shouldnt have taken Carragher for a idiot, he could have saved England
3) James shoud have been playing instead of Carson
4) Lampard and Gerrard will never work together

He was a result away from getting sacked as Boro manager 5 months before he got the England job. That says it all really.

Edited at 20:48 Thu 22/11/07 (GMT)

Sorry m8 i disagree, i don't even think bentley should be in the team. As for Lampard and Gerrard not being able to play in the same team then i thought that was our best attacking option with most of our strikers out!!!

Our best attacking option was to play 2 players up front, not play 5 in midfield and then a person up front by himself who flicks the ball on a lot of he time normally, but there's no-one to flick to, and to be fair, he isn't the best at holding the ball up.

Agree with Cuchulain on the Carragher note, he's been taken for granted and now we've paid for it.

we shall agree to disagree there on crouch

i wouldnt have played bentley as what he did to the under 21s should have sealed his fate, quite frankly i think the guy is a disgrace and should never wear the England shirt ever again!! Being too tired to play for your own country is an absolute disgrace and id rather see a team that isn't all that good give 110% for country than a player who plays only when it suits him play well.

Also i think that England may have been playing for a draw in that game so that was his thinking for the 1 man up front, either way its all over now and im just going to have to watch the rugby league world cup and the ashes series instead

Edited at 22:43 Thu 22/11/07 (GMT)

I think your just saying that as a liverpool fan Ray, Carragher yes, Is a good player but Ferdinand and Terry are better maybe not as an individual but most deffinately working together. Peter Crouch IMO is garbage, The only thing he is good at (and alot of my mates agree and there Liverpool fans, So this isn't a biast view) is holding the ball up because of his height, Last night he got that goal because of his height.

This is what i thik our tea should be (not because i like this player better or that player better, But because of how they play as a team)

Goalkeeper: Paul Robinson

Left back: Ashley Cole
Centre back: John Terry
Centre back: Rio Ferdinand
Right back: Micah Richards

Right wing: David Beckham
Centre midfield: Steven Gerrard
Centre Midfield: Gareth Barry
Left wing: Joe Cole

Centre Forward: Micheal Owen
Centre forward: Wayne Rooney

Personally that is the best set of payers in europe, Possibly the world, Just give them the right training, Get them working togther more instead of swapping them around so often!.

I think Jose Mourinho would be the ideal replacement for Steve Maclaren, If not Jose then i this Gus Hiddin, I'm not sure Martin O'neil would take the job, And i'm nt keen on filipe scolari.

Edited at 22:59 Thu 22/11/07 (GMT)

crouch 24 caps 14 goals and was our leading goalscorer in the campain with 5 goals


Rooney 40 caps 14 goals

Now say all you like about the class of rooney as a striker he underperforms for England just as much as Lampard and maybe Gerrard.

i think its about time people viewed Crouch as potentially our best striker we have, he is certainly more reliable than injury prown owen and his goalscoring record speaks for itself, as well as this he has more assists than Rooney.

Also his goal against Croatia was class from both Becks and the control and finish in the circumstances was different class, how you can call anybody who can do that garbage is beyond me!

Also i think the final straw for Carra was playing WES BWOWN!! ahead of him, (which ive yet to talk to anyone who agrees with that choice about) That finally decided for Carra he wasnt respected enough as he has been arguably the most "consistant" defender over the last 3-4 years. And in my view he is more of a defenders defender (if that makes sense) than Rio who seems to play the game at an annotingly slow pace but looks more eligant on the ball.

Edited at 23:49 Thu 22/11/07 (GMT)

From day one ive been against McClaren and I've always been behind Mourinho since he left chelsea however its looking glim

"Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho does not want to succeed Steve McClaren as England manager, BBC Sp1ort understands."

But I still think he might be tempted by the job
and I'm 100% behind the statement

"Jose Mourinho Is The right Man for the Job"

mourinio will never take the england job, and i wouldnt want him, he would make himself bigger than the team like he did with chelsea.

We need a solid manager who will concentrate soley on the team, training and performances, not trying to make headlines.

Some good points there everybody.
But Shaun I would be the first to slate Gerrard for his performance on Wednesday night, he was terrible. To be honest Gerrard isnt in the same league as Keane and Vieira, simply because he isnt consistent enough. However he is the best midfielder that England have.

Regarding the Crouch situation, he also was the best striker available to England that night. He nearly got England qualified pretty much single-handedly with important goals against Macedonia and Croatia (plus some more I cant recall)

Also Carragher would be rated above Campbell and Lescott so therefore should have been playing Wednesday night. If McClaren hadnt acted the maggot then England might have qualified. Not that England would have come near winning it eitherway.

jose for head coach and alan shearer for assistant coach....

drop lampard hes not good enough, gerrard is class and strikers should be crouch and rooney. michael owen has had his time he will never be good as he used to be, too many injuries..

the england players are not bothered wether they win or lose as they still recieve 100k plus a week wether they win or lose.

Edited at 10:28 Fri 23/11/07 (GMT)

yeah i think the respectable thing to do is for the players to give their wages to charity - Very much doubt it mind.


Also i think its pretty impossible to compare Keane and Viera to Gerrard as Gerrard has a better shot than both of these midfielders plus better at surging runs into the box.


I agree he was very poor on Wednesday but i partly blame lampard for that as Gerrard has to play a more defensive "Patric Viera" kind of position, and there is no question that both Keane and Viera are better at this role

all i will say is that Gerrard IS the best midfielder we have and that he has scored some absolutely great and important goals for both club and country so dont be fickle about him.

You have to take the rough with the smoothe thats just the type of player he is and im sure he will be the 1st to admit he wasnt on his game, allthough i do think he tried 100% and gave it his all from the first whistle to the last.

Things just didnt go to plan and now we must wait and see who is next to take over this cursed job and quite frankly who would want it?

Also i think the fans were poor AGAIN!! at wembley and for such a big game the place should have been rocking even at 2-0 down, as for the sarcastic cheers when carson caught the ball, how is that helping??

Finally i think the media have to give the new manager some time whoever it is and wherever hes from. The media does not help the national team at all and they should give the new man time to build a squad that he is happy with.

Edited at 15:10 Fri 23/11/07 (GMT)

Peter Crouch was excellent on Wednesday, he was by far our best player on the pitch he won all the headers and held it up great with his feet as well.

Steven Gerrard shouldn't of sat back, thats what Barry was there for am i right? all the first half he was miles ahead of Gerrard which in my eyes is totally aloud of rubbish.

Also theres a difference between england and all the rest of Europe like teams like Croatia and thats the fact of england are all huff and puff and 100% from the heart and Croatia and so on are technically quality on the ball and have some sort of flare about them. we have only 2 players with flare on the england team and thats Rooney and Joe Cole. yes Gerrard is a top top player but he cant dribble like they can he powers through players and to be a great winning team you need quality and we haven't got it we have got 100% effort and sometimes you need more than that and also need the backing of the fans which want there which mike also picked on up above.

i 80% agree with you on the all heart thing but passing the ball along the back 4 at a snails pace is not using your heart, i think certain players egos could be scrutinised Lampard, and Cole for example.

Another thing i didnt like was when the final whistle went, Maclaren just went straight down the tunnel with Cole behind.

Firstly, (and i might be wrong here) Maclarren didnt shake the hands of the croatian coach.

Secondly. Cole shouldnt have rushed down the tunnel, instead he should have clapped the crowd (well what was left of it) even though the crowd were poor and quite frankly slightly embarassing to the usual "best fans in football" tag the players needed to go around the pitch applauding and saying sorry to the fans, not running down the tunnel and hiding in the changing rooms.

Edited at 08:00 Sat 24/11/07 (GMT)

if anybody is going the games this weekend, dont boo the English players its really not on and no real need for it, especially Scott Carson!

well said mike
scott carson has had it hard enough on wednesday

yeah dont forget he also made a few great saves!!

Was too late for the Newcastle game to say that! Gerrard got booed all match for his performance on Wednesday. Mind you, when Gerrard was walking off the whole stadium booed, when he was off and Crouch was coming on the stadium cheered and clapped!