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"England need to learn to play football"

The defensive side of the game is absolutely ridiculous. Starting from the moment they lose the ball, due to crappy final pass, or mediocre midfielding, they can't get it back until someone has made a scuffed cross or taken a shot. Their utter inability to cut out passing play will soon enough be picked up on by a team able to move the ball about well, and england will get flogged like wet dogs.

Jesus Christ, Macedonia looked like Holland reborn on Saturday, with me eventually mentally praying that certain players of theirs weren't passed to, because their every touch created problems.

It's time England learned to keep the ball in midfield better, pass better, and by God learn to win it in midfield, and not rely on the defenders always being in just the right position to save the day.

I mean, England are ranked 8th in the world, making them one of the elite footballing nations. Macedonia are 87th. Below Estonia, below Guatemala, Haiti and Cyprus. Do you think people should be concerned if England have to play Haiti? They shouldn't, but I've no doubt they likely would do.

No more hoofing from midfield, no more slack passing and giving the ball away every third pass, no more poor closing down and allowing the opposition to pass it about as though playing a pub team and no more fanciful defending leading to elementary errors.

It's about time England started playing like the team they are SUPPOSED to be, one of the finest in world football.

Heskey tracks back, can score goals and also has the ability to run at defenders with pace and power.

But why play heskey just for holding the ball up, Keiron Dyer or joe cole could do that far better and probably muster a far better goal return rate if used in support.

Many people beleive that Heskey is a load of crap and is over rated, but I think that England need him in the squad. He can hold the ball up, and help England on the attack. He is also a valuable player for coming back and getting the ball of the opposition.

I'm also confused to as of why Gareth Barry is not in the England squad. He has plenty of Under 21 experience and also captained the side on numerous occasions. He was Villa's player of the year. His passing is superb, aswell as his crosses and occasionally gets the odd goal or two.

If we are going to play the long ball, we need somebody good in the air who can create some problems for the opposing side. Owen, Vassell and Rooney are all too small and are no good in the air. We need someone like Beattie, who plays similar football to Alan Shearer.

If we are going to play Owen and co. we need people like Gerrard, Beckham, Barryand Scholes (who seems to be having a bad patch at the moment) in midfield.


Hargreaves is a decent player who likes to pass the ball around, but he was out of position against Macedonia. England have a great bunch of talented players who have the quality to play possesion football.

It's actually possible to be 22 and play for the under 21's, I believe.

Basically, you can be 21 and be in the Under-21 squad, and also some countries England play still work on an U-23 principle as well as a U-21 one, so he can be included. or something like that.

Barry also has England experience. He never let us down under Kevin Keegan. He's been back in the Under 21 squads recently though, not sure about this year, surely he's too old now?

I can't understand why the left footed, left sided defender/midfielder Gareth Barry hasn't even had a run out in the friendlies.

Danny Mills? How he ever got into an england shirt I don't know. He was poor at Leeds, he was poor at the world cup, and he's been poor in every game he's played since. Where is he now? Loaned off to Boro? I've no doubt he'll be poor there too.

In all honesty, I think a large part of the problem is motivation. Half of the players just don't seem fired up enough to play for England against these so called lowly teams.

I mean, our best games have been against quality opposition, such as Germany, and Turkey, when it really mattered.

Of course, the game against Brazil kind of negates this view. But I think that was a case of not changing things tactically, which Sven has since proved that he can do.

But yes, we have looked poor despite winning recent games. We have players that are capable of passing the ball, but they somehow loose this capability when in an England shirt.

I don't think that Ashley Cole is the right kind of player for England. He's a great attacking defender, but only if the rest of your defence understand exactly how he plays, as Arsenal do from playing week in, week out with him. Wayne Bridge is a far more assured defender, and our midfielders wouldn't have to worry about covering for him so much.

And if we have Bridge at the back, and want a left sided midfielder, why not use Ashely Cole there? He wouldn't have to worry so much about defending then.

Michael Owen needs to get out of Liverpool if he's to develop into an even better player. The way they play is incredibly dull, and only really lends itself to goal poaching, and through balls. Owen doresn't run at people anymore, which doesn't help England. If he went and played for a more exciting team, he'd play better for England.

So anyway, I reckon we'll up our game when it comes to Turkey, but we certainly need to play better against weaker opposition too, or one of these days we won't get back into it.

I agree with IB. England need to play a clever game of footabll; retaining possession for as long as possible and ensuring that they do not simply revert lumping it up field, when the (inevitably) fall behind. Gary Neville plays people onside ALL the time, I used to go on about this so much that even my mates agree, and they always disagree with whatever I say just out of spite. He is a liability. Danny Mills and dare I say it, his brother may be better solutions. Or perhaps a switch to wing backs? Wouldn't Beckham be the best right wing back in the world? Then we could have Scholes, Gerrard and J Cole in the centre.

Ashley Cole is also a liability. His positional play is lacking and his defensive frailties are being ruthlessly expossed by even the mediocre of teams.

Should be a bloodbath against the Turkish but I think Lichtenstein may cause an upset, as half the team will be trying to avoid missing the final game through suspension...