Pilko

Can remember Stephen Carr coming off the bench during a 0-3 home reverse to Liverpool and having a good giggle to himself about something. Can also remember screaming at the telly and threatening to half the bastard should I ever encounter him.

The goalkeeping situation has always been a shambles. They make one mistakes and they're dropped and fucked over by the media. Funny how Rooney wasn't dropped after four non-displays (including the worst I have seen in a long time from any England player against Algeria) but Green was after one mistake in his handful of caps. Happened under Steve McBrolley too, hoyed that bloke with the gap in his teeth in at the deep end and look where that got us.

Spot on. quayside, I think you are a good poster, but I think you are talking utter shit about England - I have never read a string of posts I disagree with more. Sorry.

Adam Johnson Agbonlahor Onuoha Carroll Rodwell Wilshere Gibbs Cahill Huddlestone Hart all of those should be phased in ASAP, to varying degrees. As for the current lot, there's no-one I'd 'bin' straight away other than SWP and Carragher who are just pointless. Many of them need phasing out though, no doubt. Hell, I'd even look at the likes of Matt Derbyshire and Jamie O'Hara. We need to try as many options as we can.

Milner. The only player to escape from this World Cup with his England reputation enhanced. Joe Hart. The only player to escape from this World Cup without playing and have his reputation enhanced.

Did Capello have a reason to move away from those 20 players before they bottled the World Cup? I'm not too sure that he did. You could argue that, but you could also argue that he had no way of having a contingency plan or a plan B - because he refused to experiment with trying out the other players. I wasn't really after having Bent in the squad, at all - but he got about 60 minutes to prove himself after a very good season, and was consigned to the rubbish bin.

I blame Mike.

Everyone laughs at Maradona for using 50-odd players in qualifying... but Capello has used the same pool of 20-odd players and that has been his downfall, ultimately. Scared to move away from the same old players, regardless of form or state.

Money > England's success. This is nicely shown by this fact: New world cup ball. We should use it in the league to allow players to get used to it. What a great idea that is, that way the England players and the goalies will be used to the ball by the time South Africa arrives! No, no, we'd rather earn a few million by using a Nike ball or an Adidas ball, or whatever. It'll be alright on the night.

Fucking bottler. Everyone says "where's the Rooney who plays for Man United" - we didn't even see his passion or aggression today, which says to me that he just doesn't give a fuck.

I think the players are all too aware that there's fuck all actual consequence to them doing shit in major tournaments. What does it matter to them? - they have their big cars, piles of money, giant mansions and generously titted women to go back to. Plus, there's always next time. Because they know they'll not be dropped. The 'England camp' as the BBC dub it is exactly that - a fucking jolly.

We were unlucky against the USA (did enough to win the game) and this affected the players, clearly. Combined with a multitude of factors, the kick-and-rush football that served us well enough in the qualifiers failed in the following game didn't work and the players tried to force the issue with no real consideration or thought. The Slovenia game was papering over cracks and the Germany game was to be expected, really. Not a chance that Capello is 'to blame' though. We beat the USA and we win the group, we have a different tie, we have a more positive mindset. It's just one of those things - however, the players should be able to rise above the hardship of drawing a game they were expected to win.

No. There's something deeper than the manager that is the problem - you don't go from winning every game in style in the qualifiers to fucking up this royal at the world cup. Whether you blame the media, the players, the pressures, the stigma attatched to the camp or the inflated expectation levels - Capello shoulders only a part of the blame imo. Keep him, it's not like anyone better will get appointed for our assault on the Euros.

Why did we leave one man back during a freekick after 65 minutes? And why was that man the worst defender on the team? Also, the German player must have left a Dyson on the touchline for the third goal because Barry got sucked in. Useless twunts, the lot of them, but Barry and Johnson were fucking hopeless today and more so than the rest.

Argies through.

Commentary poetry corner Juan Veron is coming on.

Nice to see that despite the fact Rooney was shite, we gave Defoe and Crouch a whole 8 minutes of pitch time together throughout the whole tournament.

Nice bit of Mexican wood hoyed into the fire.

To think my original prediction was that we'd lose after extra time to France in the quarters.

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00772/syed_380_772550a.jpg Syed from EE

Would love to see Crouch come on and net the winner, so people stop saying he never scores against the good teams.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/javaImages/2/34/0,,10278~3814402,00.gif Brad Inman.

Xisco "It's like having a new signing"

Wouldn't mind too much if he brought King back in. He wants lynching if it's Carra though. Personally, I think Upson did well and should keep the shirt.