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Originally posted by RubiK Cube Give him a few years and he'll be there. Hes one of the few English left footers around at the min and probably the only on ive seen who isnt afraid to take the man on and get to the bye-line

There's a left wing now

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Originally posted by Virus You need different attacking options. Theres alot of great passers in the English midfield. All of them (talking about Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes) are great at delivery, but no one is really a player that can do things on their own and run with the ball (what a real winger does, i.e. Giggs, Figo etc). Wingers are very good in counter attack situations with their pace for example.

You're right, England is very limited in that regard. Dyer and Joe Cole are two players who like to take defenders on and carve defences open with their runs, but they still need to develop their game, espescially with regards to the final ball. Both would make decent impact subs, the pace and tricks to frustrate the opposition, but neither are good enough first-teamers.

We lack a real playmaker in the middle of the park, a player with great technical ability to break open a stubborn defence, a Zinedine Zidane or a Pablo Aimar. When England fall a goal down and the opposition put everybody back, I just can't see where England are going to get that flash of brilliance that completely cuts the defence open. Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes are all great players but that's not what their game is about

Erikson bemuses me in so many of his decisions. I don't know what he is playing at but he seems a very stubburn fella!

Firstly. Thompson. He has, and for some time now, been excellent for Celtic. Now i would agree the scottish league is a poor league in comparison to the rest of europe, but even in europe, Celtic have proved to be up there with the best, and their home record speaks for itself really. Thompon therefore has proved he can play against the best teams in Europe and perform at these big matches! Why the fuck should he have to come and play in the EPL to get into the England team!

Formation : Diamand?? This is because he doesnt want to play 442 as he has no left midfeilder, so thinks a diamond will solve this. It wont. All the players in the midfield, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes and Beckham seem to move around, almost like zonal positions, and this is changing throughout the match. This causes players to be out of position and our RB and LB are not the greatest.

Ashley Cole/Wayne Bridge: Most people would agree Bridge is better at defending. He should have tried Cole in midfield and Bridge at left back. Friendly's, according to him, are there to try things out, yet all he wants to try out is how many new people can he bring on and bring a desgrace to getting an english cap!

Scholes/Lampard. Doesnt this just prove the inevitable, that playing for your country is no long a matter of playing well for club. Lampard has been a regular in a Chelsea team littered with stars bought in. He has been THE best midfielder in the Prem this year. Scholes hasnt scored for country for three years, and he actually hasnt even played that well for his country. Why do we play him? well he plays for Man U. Same reason why Butt, who has played hardly any games this year, gets into the squad, same as Phil Neville.

Just to cap it off, Sven said he would never drop Scholes. Wow, talk about fighting for your place in the nations countries. Scholes can sit back and never worry about losing his place .

One final note. Sven has broken two records since his time in charge. The first is the most amount of new caps awarded, and the second is the amount of players awarded the captains armband. Personally i find this a utter disgrace, and playing for your country seems less than what is used to be, and i am not talking about 30 years ago, i am talking about 1994/1998 years!

Here's a worrying statistic someone mentioned on another board.

The decline of England's strikers...
Rooney, Vassell & Heskey combined League goal tally for 2003-4 season (Average age of 22)= Appearances 99 Goals 25

Shearer, Sheringham & Ferdinand combined League goal tally for 2003-4 season (Average age of 35) = Appearances 95 Goals 40

Still, England has a chance to win it. There are alot of world class players and the manager is one of the best in the world. Sure he makes some strange team selections, but I think he's a very good tactitian (might be that Tord Grip is behind that) and he is very good at man management. Or maybe Im just patriotic
I hope England goes far, but the game against France isn't the best way to start. The result will have a big psychological impact on the players.

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Originally posted by Virus Still, England has a chance to win it. There are alot of world class players and the manager is one of the best in the world. Sure he makes some strange team selections, but I think he's a very good tactitian (might be that Tord Grip is behind that) and he is very good at man management. Or maybe Im just patriotic I hope England goes far, but the game against France isn't the best way to start. The result will have a big psychological impact on the players.

Which is why a win for England in that one game could be our single biggest result in the last few years, forget argentina @ wc 2002, forget that we only just lost to the team who won it, we have to start making semis regularly, we have the talent now to do it, we need to make sure Sven helps us go far

I just hope the french don't make the round of 16 here....arrogant clowns...as usual.