My view on the disastrous England team.

[Frankie-Peter Taylor]

As a proud Englishman with a love of football, I have my opinions and want to put my opinions towards you my English and non-English Fulham fans.

Scrap the oldies:

I will start things off by saying; Why are we continuing to pick John Terry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard for the National team? As good of footballers as they were, they are all past there best with Gerrard becoming injury prone. John Terry's horrid performance against Arsenal was a thing of beauty to an England fan as the Racist let 5 slip by him. Frank Lampard has never had a good game in the National shirt for England and has had a very poor start to the season to match his poor end of last season.

Inject the youth:

Instead of dwelling on the last 'Golden Generation' brought through by the Sven Goran Eriksson era, we should scrap them and bring through a new generation. I must say, there isn't a young (16-25) Left back anywhere near the quality of Ashley Cole so I'd say his position is under no young challenge until a remarkable progression from Gibbs, Bertrand or Briggs is made. Leighton Baines is so unlucky that he is born in this era, very much like Andy Murray in Tennis, he's a great player but is playing with some of the best ever in Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.

When I say 'Inject the youth' I mean it in a great overhaul. I'm suggesting the 23 man squad (If all players are fit) to be:

Goalkeepers: Hart, Stockdale and a goalkeeper from the U21's, take your pick.

Defenders: Micah Richards, Kyle Walker, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Gary Cahill, Steven Taylor, Ashley Cole, Kieran Gibbs.

Midfielders: Jack Wilshere, Tom Cleverley, James Milner, Tom Huddlestone, Jack Rodwell, Adam Johnson, Ashley Young, Theo Walcott.

Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck, and a forward from the u21's most likely Connor Wickham or Marvin Sordell.

Formation: 4-2-3-1

-------------Hart-----------
Richards, Cahill, Smalling, Cole

-----Cleverley, Wilshere

--A.Johnson, Rooney, A.Young

------------Sturridge.

Bench: Stockdale, Walker, Jones, Milner, Rodwell, Walcott, Sturridge.

[Mitch]

I think you're hard on Lampard's career. He's been our standout player in plenty of games and scored important goals (ET vs Portugal for example).

The rest is too much too soon for me. Let's not just play youngsters because they are young ie Sordell; still look to keep quality in the squad, even if they are of the older generation.

[HatterDon]

I like your reasoning and your lineup.

[Burt]

I think the gist of what you say is spot on Mr FPT sir.

Unfortunately untl the FA is overhauled, the grass-roots coaching set up revamped and extended, the academies sorted out, and the manager replaced then I can't see this happening in a hurry.

[jarv]

A view from north of the border...warning....may contain criticisms of England.

1. The players are not as good as they think they are. bang head

2. The press do more damage to the team than any opposition can. fp.gif

3. The team is, and has been for many years, bloody boring to watch. 094.gif

4.  Despite recent events, fifa and eufa ranking systems are England's best friend. England are good enough to walk through the group stages they get drawn in but the fist sign of decent opposition, they are on the plane home. group hug

5. Another golden generation? More like brass in disguise. :005:

6. No matter who is the manager, total football?? 079.gif

[Frankie-Peter Taylor]

The idea is to have David Beckham the face of England. Not as manager but a Senior Role, perhaps within the FA.

I agree we need to change the mentality of our style of play, it must be fast, passing, flowing football with movement across the pitch. That's the beauty of the 3 behind the main striker, they can change and switch for 90 minutes and it's a nightmare for defenders.

The point that Jarv made about the media is totally true. Look at the Rugby World Cup and the poor performances that coincided with it. I'm not saying it's all because of the media because it's not, but I believe Print and Broadcasters have a massive input on the performances.

I can't wait until we play Spain, Capello's full strength team is going to get absolutely slaughtered by the Spaniards. Then maybe a lot of the Nation will realise it's not okay to be beating Bulgaria but when a top side like Spain, like Germany or like Holland come and it looks like we don't turn up.

There was a day where the country believed we could be the best, but that 'pride' has gone. I'm England through and through but there's little reason for it on the football pitch.

[Mitch]

Why do we need a face for England? What would be the role of that?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Why do we need a face for England? What would be the role of that?

To distract from the woeful performances on the pitch

[Mitch]

Why do we need a face for England? What would be the role of that?

To distract from the woeful performances on the pitch

Lol. But seriously, is it a position that is needed, or would be a position just to keep Beckham involved?