What do we think. How rubbish were England??
Awful is not strong enough, but stand back and think from last nights fringe players getting an outing, what sort of team we could field if we were at strength.
I propose that a back 3 of Terry, Woodgate and Rio-the-camel-face, with Richards attacking down the right and Cole doing the same on the left, with Rooney and Lennon up front and a midfield of Lampard, Joe Cole and Gerrard has the makings of a hell of a team.
imagine the bench too. Carrick, Owen, Hargreaves, Wright-Phillips, Crouch and so many others.
All we would need then is a managaer who can inspire them.
What say the panel?

I was referring to EW's post re the Wales V Ireland rugby match GD , sorry for the confusion.

gd, i believe the new supercasino is going to be built next to the city of manchester stadium. the new casino will have all the usual games, slot machines, roulette, blackjack, poker, but the crap games will still be played next door ;)

Forget the football....what about this cricket match, it's a cracker Australia 252 England 218-4 with 31 balls to go!

Oh dear, I should have kept quiet! Flintoff has gone, 222-5, 27 balls left, it's not over yet though.

239-6, 14 req'd off 13 balls. Can it be done?

I've got my nappy on now. 245-6, 8 req'd off 8

4 req'd off 7. Collingwood for Prime Minister

Nappy now full, 1 req'd off 4

Unbelievable, an England win. That's it then, back to the football............replace the England squad with the Cricket squad, real fighters?!

They let them win .... got to sell tickets for 2 more.

Bosley, well at least your jokes are better than your team selection. city could beat them.

Now- weve got the second best stadium in the premiership and the new casino along with the plan for a new hotel will make city a massive investment opportunity for... maybe Mittal or the eventually released Khodorkovsky ha.

Oh, and I almost forgot, hows your Stanelco holding doing?

Kim Really enjoyed your commentary - after the event that is. What it demonstrates is how England are at rising from the ashes - or loss of them! Proves my point about the importance of Northumbrians, fighting spirit etc. You know, the Alan Shearer, Jackie Milburn thing. Dil and I share this celtic (not Celtic) Wales, Geordie thing. Newcastle have even been blooding Academy players successfully.

Apart from the selection horror of Phil Neville at left back the final nail in McLaren's coffin, from my viewpoint, was the paucity of the attcking play with long balls, third dividion style, into Crouch. I recalled the Hansen analysis of Manchester United last weekend - the movement off the ball of Giggs and Rooney being a good example. I suspect we are getting the lowest common denominator of McLaren and Venables.

But, just maybe, we could rise from the Ashes like our cricket 2nd eleven!

Eric

gd, that went last march :)
glad you like the joke. it was a bitter blue who told it to me.

DIL ..lol ....lf Manchester city are so good why does their only decent player in Barton J. want to leave. As for England ,,lol How i enjoy these little, yet regular, moments. Boring ,,,zzzzzzzz, utterly predictable, tedious,mechanical, and thouroughly bereft of imagination, guile and inspiration and PASSION which in the final analysis begs the question how did such a cretin as Mclaren get the job to start with . ? The mind boggles; and leaves me with that comforting feeling that France will utterly rip them to shreds . .Anyway i fell asleep at half time ..Without Gerrard, Terry and Rooney and perhaps Ferdinand ( and he is no Vierra in his day ) they are aS Eric says says a very ordinary mundane side aka Division 2 what WITH WITH ROUTE 1 FOOTBALL THEY PLAY ; and as for disposing of Beckham yet playing those pensioners as the Nevilles lol and Carrick and aww the list is endless. ....lol hehehe lol ...Does Carrick know how to pass a ball ?? An utter pedestrian and pure observer ..lncidentally they could start by dropping Lampard - his old man was better - and allow Gerrard to introduce a little space & fluidity into central midfield .,,,,No goalkeeper in England is worthy of the shirt ...They play like scared rabbits ...UTTERLY dire ...but makes my day ....hehe ..and illustrates why since the Premiership was formed juste why only l English born manager has guided his side to glory..........20 million Stanelco shares for he who even remembers ......lol ........ln a word England are LIMITED ..........@+ J

Dreadful agreeing with the French Connection but I take his comments as constructive. Fine playing one or two older players but they need to offer something different from the young. An argument for Gary Neville but why not run with Micah Richards. I thought McC's best selection was Foster - we can bypass a generation perhaps - we can groom him for the benefit of Man U! We are agreed on the disastrous adoption of Route 1 to Crouch. From the sounds of it the Under 21s performed well to recover to 2-2 and they have qualified for the European Finals. I am serious in suggesting players like Steven Taylor and Milner who have done a great job for N'cle, stricken with far heavier injury list than moaning Chelsea. Glenn Roeder makes a virtue out of necessity and has been blooding players from the Academy, doing a service to the English game in general. Scott Parker would be far better than Carrick in the holding role besides contributing more in attack with some goals. Play Dyer in his Newcastle role off Rooney (instead of Martins). Lookign forward to see how Martins and Owen combine - not a lot of height but you can bring the central defenders forward for set pieces. Walcott should be a super-sub. Hey, I am moving towards a French set-up!

Eric

You have the players ,,BUT in Mclaren you have a frightened, visionless unimaginative, git ,,Evr since middlesboro were murdered in Uefa cup by Saville in what was more like an England cricket score hes frightened to make drastic change,,and in him i juste see more of the same great underachievement England have produced this past 20 years. ..Also in friendlies France are not scared to play under 21's and 18's and in fact use them to accustomise them to the world stage ( and sharpen their violence as recent events showed at stade du P. ( and actually thats because half of the first team refuse to play in friendlies lest of injury threatening their grossly overpaid club contracts .- arrogant gits ..l hate that attitude.......Dont get me wrong here because France are FAR from perfect ...aww i am still in denial over us losing in World cup final and Drs say i may never recover.......but at least in losing we let the opponents ankles know we have visited ....lts called the WIN AT ALL COSTS mentality . Something England sadly lack...dit il en sourraint ..;lol........Right im off out for 16 pints of lager and a Vinderloo...hmmm thearby begging question of whether i am moving toward the "Engliash set up.. i,,Til your next defeat this is Alpha X ray Charlie wishing all a good saturday night .........bien aficalment ..@+..J..

Trouble is, fellows. il est sur la balle. McLaren is a non-starter; pathetique. The only person to speak in his defence has been Alex Ferguson and why would that be: (a) he's a scot and loves to see les anglais hammered; (b) he is his protege (can't do the accents!) and its a pride thing. Better to go for Southgate; you feel more confident with Boro under his tutelage (again missing the accent). Pearce has chance to prove himself and you have to hand it to Roeder for the cup run (and he won the Inter-Toto!). Curbishley has landed himself in a quagmire and its difficult to rate Pardue. O'Neill has hardly impressed at Villa although he is a nice man. Who else is there?

Who else but Dario Gradi MBE (Hon D Tech) the most talented, longest serving manager with more insight in his little finger than the rest put together. He would not accept the job unfortunately as he is more interesting in building players than National sides!

Nobody has mentioned Steve Copple. Doing a fine job at Reading. I suppose he has the Keegan blotch on his record when he walked out on Palace.

bring howard wilkinson back !! well, if you're gonna play long ball you might as well do it properly ;)

i think too much is being made of it. it was a meaningless friendly. the only people pleased will be the regular players who are now feeling comfortable knowing that their places arn't under threat.