Steven Gerrard is a shell of what is his best when he pulls on an England shirt. He is one of the best in the world year after year. Frank Lampard, I love him, does not play as he does in a Chelsea shirt. You’re talking about the best midfielder in the world a couple of years ago. Pile on a bunch of underperforming players (Owen, goalkeepers, etc).

Not changing the roster is a disservice; holding out waiting for this generation to yet again put some kind fof magic together on the pitch is an old philosophy, and one that should have gone dead with McClaren.

However (and this is not a swipe at anyone or any club in particular) each business have a social responsibility towards the society that ‘allows’ it to exist within that society. Today, football clubs are business enterprises, therefore, they also have a social responsibility towards its society. With this statement, it does not mean that the club should take responibility for the national team, just that it should take some responsibility towards the society. Is a national team and national pride is not a good place to start?!?

What else are clubs doing for their societies nowadays?
(And no, the entertainment it provides to its fans/customers is not a fullfilment of its responsibility – its their core business)

Sure any club needs to have homegrown players…in an ideal world. But just think about this. How many Englishmen play in the top clubs in the rest of Europe? The only shining examples i can think of are Steve McManaman & David Beckham who have really had any sort of success. Now you tell me why that is eh? I absolutely reject this bullshit theory that a club NEEDS to have homegrown players. A club manager’s first priority is to the success of the CLUB, not the fucking national football league. If the FA want their national team to succeed they need to do a whole revamp of the way they do things & not target the ‘foreign influence’. Its xenophobic & stupid & it won’t help in the long run anyway.

In this respect Arsenal are an obvious target of course, & i get annoyed that Platini/Blatter would focus on it exclusively (subtley or not its obvious who they aim their comments at most of the time). I KNOW they don’t give a damn about the EPL (i’ve made comments about this in other posts on similar topics), but the politics of it annoy me anyway especially since those two have so much power to get their own way.

England should have stuck with Sven. He was/is a good manager. Only problem with him were that he played boring football. Personally, I don’t see this changing with Capello. They are much of the same mould. I can understand how England fans’ frustrations and desperation can cloud their judgement, but the reality is that nothing has changed really. What the FA should have done was to appoint Scolari, or perhaps some Brazilian coach that will bring out the flair of the players.

On another note, I think Capello should take a bold risk and appoint Rooney as captain. The team needs his drive on the pitch.

Gerrard has been awful for Three Lions. His dribble-and-dive strategy will never work for Capello. He cannot be relied upon for anything at this point. SWP at times has been brillant, but not consistent, and his passing from the right wing is anemic; he has played better as of late as a support forward concentrated in the middle of the pitch rather than isolated alone on a wing, forced to cross ball after ball. Ashley Cole has enough personal problems right now to deal with that the Three Lions isn’t much of a priority. And half or more of us Chelsea faithful feel Wayne Bridge could/should be starting anyway.