Neil

He's not a million miles wrong.

Does he ever use his right foot? Sure, he's left-footed but he never seems comfortable making even the simplest passes with his right foot. That's downright disturbing for an international midfielder.

I know I wasn't the only one by any means but fucking hell, if he is in the England team for any other reason than there being no-one else, then I give up. Average midfielder (as I've said for a while now) who was horribly exposed for being just that today by Ozil, who frankly didn't have to work hard to completely bamboozle the hapless Barry. Well, if we're getting stuck into Barry, I'll wave my hand in the air and remind you that I've been telling you all this on here for about four years now, but none of you would listen to me. Him breaking into a half arsed jog behind Ozil today was England's entire campaign summed up in a few seconds. Fwiw brummie, I know you've been saying it for a while, certainly as long as I've been on here. His mediocrity just seems to have become more clear as the months have passed by (especially his last season at Villa/first season at City).

I don't see what's not to be gained by giving youth a chance. They'd get more experience playing in an England side, learn more about other countries and how they play, andmore than likely show more hunger (i.e. to nail down a first team position). Just give them a chance.

They're not that good. Good, but not great. We made them look bloody amazing.

We were woeful in large chunks of the game but I don't think anyone can deny the importance of that ludicrous disallowed goal. The timing of it was key: we had momentum from getting one back and we would have been in a great position to go on and win it.

This. The whole system needs looking at. Whoever manages England needs to be part of the overall picture, and what they have to do next is to bring through the young players who will eventually form the core of a new national team. What I'd hope for is some long-term plan that isn't merely focused on qualifying for and doing well at Euro 2012, but uses the next few years to build some stronger foundations. We certainly need someone with a bit more vision than Howard fucking Wilkinson to do the kind of restructuring job Gerard Houllier did in France -- so successful that France began churning out technically excellent players (many of whom ended up in the Prem, though not all of national team quality; we had a few ourselves) and won WC98 and Euro 2000. What I doubt is that the FA, hopped up on Premier League profits and infected with good old British short-termism, is up to the task. Whether Capello stays or goes should basically be part of a much bigger question. Agree, agree, agree. But it's not likely, as you've said. Capello, Hodgson, Redknapp, Mourinho or whoever it is is not the important question. It's tearing up our grass roots that is the key thing here. BIL's spot on when he says we need to eliminate this mentality of "you're taller/stronger/faster, you're automatically a much better player" and instead learn to catch up with the leading nations and focus on technical ability. This is what needs to be taught from a young age.

Sometimes its not about being better but being different. Under Capello we will coast the qualifiers for the Euros and then perform abysmally again during the actual tournament just like we tended to do under Sven. Time for change and when I say change I mean real change, not just in manager or name but football philosophy. I say this as someone who rates Capello by the way, a great club manager and someone who would do far better with say an Italy than he has done with England. Spot on. I don't think anyone can criticise his club management record but his decisions with England can be criticised. Regardless of the manager, big changes are needed.

I know I wasn't the only one by any means but fucking hell, if he is in the England team for any other reason than there being no-one else, then I give up. Average midfielder (as I've said for a while now) who was horribly exposed for being just that today by Ozil, who frankly didn't have to work hard to completely bamboozle the hapless Barry.

In summary, Germany played well but were made to look very, very good by a hapless central defence, shielded by nothing but thin air.

To the pub! Howay England! :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Isn't well-earned arrogance just confidence? Start Heskey, get him to lumber around midfield and fall into Ozil, meaning Germany's best player is off but tragically, Heskey will pick up an injury in the process. Heskey off, Defoe on, and we win 4-0.

Roy Hodgson is someone you'd love to go out for a pint with. He could just talk and talk and you'd be interested in every word. Fascinating to see how he does at Liverpool, if he goes.

Thing is, it has to be a mental issue. Gerrard, Lampard and Barry are all, generally, excellent penalty takers. Yet for England, in a penalty shoot-out, I wouldn't fancy all three to score. Maybe it's because I'm English.

Missed two on the bounce this season gone I'm sure of it.

OKEY DOKEY!! Chile.

The game will be on Sunday. It will be a game of football.

Never heard of that Plodowski fella.

That's a fair enough assessment, Kaka. I think everyone knows we'll need to play well and another Algeria or US performance will all but certainly see us out. The performance yesterday wasn't fantastic but for chunks we really got some momentum going and played like we can, and at one point we looked rampant. The thing of course being, we were playing Slovenia. I'm cautiously optimstic though.

£9.50 on: Paraguay Holland Denmark DNB Brazil DNB Uruguay Stay away.

He was. And I will say Milner had a decent game, which pleasantly surprised me. Proved me wrong too. First 10-15 mins I thought "here we go, 3 or 4 completely failed crosses/attempts at getting past his man", and then all of a sudden, he produced a very good display. 3 marvellous crosses in a row iirc.

Too much competition. Great performance today.

They're really good until they get into the final third of the field. They've no quality whatsoever in and around the box though. Can't believe that one of Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana and the USA are going to be in the semi-final of the World Cup. I dunno like, the other 3 will no doubt be biggies. I'll continue to back Uruguay as long as Forlan's on his game.

Ghana are not a particularly good team.

Fear? Howay man. It's wrong to trot out the "well this is a weak Germany side" but I'd be anything but fearing them. Keep our heads cool and play like we can (i.e. how we played for decent chunks of today) and we have a fantastic chance.