Also the midfield enigma was solved by Hargreaves… but Macca cannot, no, wait, could not decide on whether to drop Gerrard or Lampard, so he plays them both and Owen is left hanging. Disastruos!

kris, Beckham is class, but he cannot play for England untilf infinity (unfortunately). England needs to change to SWP because he can play brilliantly with Micah, but the transition needs to be a smooth one. Beckham can still be part of the set up, but he cannot expect to start every game or even to play every game. It would be a stupidity to not take him to South Africa (assuming they are going to qualify).

Why start SWP?? Hell, why even *play* SWP?!?! Becks is class and showed (in generating the equaliser) his indespensibility. Viva Becks, long live Becks for England.

In spite of all of this, he is a fantastic player, which is why I am so critical of him in an England shirt, and in a Liverpool shirt this season.

Steven Gerrard is one of the most overrated players in the world. he is great, but all year has been mired in listless, mediocre to awful performances. His appointment as Vice Captain looks to be a huge mistake, and not that he isn’t qualified to fit the bill, but that it guarantees him a spot in the Starting Xi when he needs to be benched to regain some motivation and heart.

Frank Lampard is possibly one of the most underrated players in the world. He is a fantastic attacking midfielder, and we all know his defensive struggles at times. He has been in peak form for Chelsea this season and has been arguably one of the Most Valuable Players in the Premiership.

Together, this midfield combo should dominate, but they do not. I believe it is that neither know their roles when they play together. McClaren forcing a 4-4-2 upon them and throwing them in the central midfield hasn’t helped. Ideally, under a new manager, Frank Lamaprd will be allowed to push up farther into the opposition’s defense, while Gerrard sits back as a distributor and clean up man.

England’s next problem: an obvious lack of striking and goalkeeping talent. Can anyone name the best English keeper? Can anyone name the best consistent striker these days behind Rooney? These positions have to be fixed because England’s defense can be among the world’s best, yet they suffer from debilitating problems at the offensive and keeper positions.

The new manager, and if the FA was smart it would do everything possible to get Mourinho in that position, needs to establish roles for Lampard and Gerrard in the midfield, or drop one or both (and the obvious answer shouldn’t be just to keep Gerrard.) He needs to find consistent and reliable keeping in the net and find Wayne Rooney a partner and a consistent backup. The U-21′s need to be raided and younger players brought up to replace older and/or fading talents. And he also needs to find a long-term replacement for David Beckham, because as good as he is, the World Cup in 2010 will be, if England even qualifies, his last meaningful international competition at most.

Oh and given the evidence, I guess you have a point with the Sweden thing.

But then, how do you explain Germany? Constantly at the top and yet they do not have more than two world class players (Lahm and Klose, if you must know). Metzelder, Mertesaker, Borowski, Bastian, Kuranyi, Sneijder, Lehmann, Podolski are all good players but not as good as the England team overall. In my opinion it just goes to show that much depends on the organization of the team (and if you have met any German people you know that they are generally very organizd people) also work ethic is a major factor in that team – you saw what happened to Kahn.

As for Sweden, don’t be so harsh on them. Eleven of Sweden’s players play on mid/upper-level teams in Germany, France, and England (Premiership players make up the single largest group). There are a smattering at other clubs around Europe, such as Ajax, Galatasaray, Panathinaikos, Basel, and the rest (6 or so) playing “locally” in Scandinavia. Oh, and Ibrahimovic at Internazionale. In other words, a world class player, a few good players (Ljungberg, Isaakson, Kallstrom), and the rest solid, squad-level players, at mid-level clubs. More or less like England. I’ll grant you that there might be one or two more world class English players (though none better than Ibrahimovic), and a handful more good English players, but consider that we’re talking about England – pop. 51,000,000 to Sweden’s 9,500,000; all the tradition, history, and money of the Premiership etc. When you think of it this way, the distance in quality isn’t all that great.

But the real proof is in the pudding… Sweden easily qualified from a group that was no easier than England’s. Their record since 1990, is no worse than England’s:

1992: Semifinals
1994: Third place
1996: Failed to Qualify
1998: Failed to Qualify
2000: Out in the first round
2002: Out in the second round
2004: Quarterfinalists
2006: Out in the second round
2008: Qualified

For example, one of the keys of Italy’s win in WC06 was the ability of Lippi’s players to change a module, during the game, to adapt to the present needs on the pitch. It takes a proper blend of players and a coach to implement this approach.

Argentina, Brasil, Germany, Italy et al enter a tournament with the intent to win. Anything less is failure. Quarterfinal finishes should not be milestones for a program with the pedigree of England.

randy, that is why i said ‘or so i like to think’ and ‘but’. Please re-read the first paragraph.