two words some up Engurlund.... money grabbers...­ Premier League? Johnnie foriegner League more like...­ at least us Scots admit were cr#p but Engurland are so­ far up themselfs its laughable

Reda, I am not sure whether you are the most popular or­ the most unpopular guy among the players in England­ right now for writing this, but you are spot on.­ Hopefully some of the blokes will read this and wake­ up.

Ego managing skills?
I would have made them earn their­ place on the bench.

"It is the club scene­ which is the heart of the­ game for the committed." Yeah, well it­ SHOULDN'T be, Lancashire exile. This is precisely­ why i am launching this campaign. It should be the­ focal point, the peak, of the season whenever there is­ a major tournament for the national team. It should be­ every players ultimate ambition to play in it. Like­ finely tuned, profesiosnal atheletes this is what they­ should be peaking for, not running around week in weke­ out with overs-zed egos and paypackets and satisfying­ their mafioso club owners and greedy pigs at the FA,­ scamming the dimwited British public by pay-to-view TV­ packages and extortionate merchandize. So...

BOYCOTT­ THE PREMIER LEAGUE. The FA have an interest only in­ lining their own pockets, the maggot mafioso foreign­ owners, agents and businesses, the over-paid players­ themselves – but not in nurturing home-grown talent.
If­ you’re English, you need to do these 3 things:
DO NOT­ WATCH ANY PREMIERSHIP GAMES ON TV NEXT SEASON – and­ most definately don't pay to view!
DO NOT BUY A­ TICKET FOR ANY PREMIERSHIP GAME.
DO NOT BUY ANY­ ASSOCIATED MERCHANDISE.
If enough people do these­ things for a year, the FA and clubs might just have to­ do SOMETHING about the state of our national game.
If­ you don’t, well…
44 years of hurt? - you'd better­ get used to another 44.

Perhaps this result was inevitable and needed to­ happen. Too long have mediocre results been excused­ for a variety of reasons. But two things have become­ obvious at last
(1) Playing for your country is­ different in fundamental ways to playing for your club.­ Money and the thought of injury may well loom larger­ in the minds of some players than the honour of­ representing ones country. which should by rights­ surpass all other reward.

(2) National teams which­ play with the pride and passion resulting from that­ honour can and do often outperform teams with far­ greater natural talent but lacking in passion.

And­ theres the rub! The England team has buckets of­ talent despite what many commentators are saying
but no­ passion. They just dont understand the honour and­ responcibility attached to the wearing of the­ shirt.
They just dont get it - that we the supporters­ are fired with that passion to win and we expect then­ to be equally passionate. Do they never look at the­ TV pictures and see our faces. See what it means to­ us.

It is interesting that Martin Johnston the­ National Rugby Team head coach had the same problems­ with his team and he stated in the media that some­ players were not putting in the required effort. He­ is now starting to get results.

Sorry Mr Writer, the Algerians were not rubbish as you­ deem it. They were supberb and skillful and out­ played your stars. They problem at stake with England­ Team is not money but age is t elling on most of them. ­ Anyway, thanks for your contribution

There have been so many things said about what's­ the difference between England and Germany in terms of­ national football. Here's my two cents, although I­ do not claim this to be a coherent argument (and yes,­ it's from a German perspective)
1) The English­ national team is often less than the sum of its parts.­ The German national team is often more than the some of­ its parts.
2) In advance of a great tournament, the­ English media usually play up the chances of their­ team, the German media usually play down the chances of­ theirs.
3) The English consider the Germans their­ arch-rivals in football. The Germans consider the Dutch­ their arch-rivals in football.
4) The English media­ talked about the 5:1 in Munich as if was the a­ substitute for a long draught in not winning the cup.­ The 1:5 loss never figured prominently in the German­ consciousness, e.g., nowhere near the 2:3 against­ Austria in 1978.
5) Early exits in tournaments prompt a­ soul-searching in England about not only what's­ wrong with their football but also whats wrong with­ their country or society (see above). In Germany, just­ triumphs are used as political metaphors, losses are­ generally only talked about in terms of sports.
6) The­ English refer to the long streak of successes for­ Germany's football. The Germans can't stand the­ fact that its been 14 years since they won the EC and­ 20 years since they won the WC.
7) The English find it­ amusing to mention the war when it comes to fotball­ match-ups with Germany (if less o than in earlier­ years). The Germans find it amusing that the English­ find that amusing.

simple get rid of the old and in with the new,,capello­ should stay.
he at least deserves a chance to finaly­ choose his team and not what the englsih public say he­ should choose,,as they do,,,stick gerard in behind­ rooney blah blah blah
does it work no ,end of...

What a lot of ludicrous over-reactions. I agree that­ even our better players are probably a little short of­ technical ability and perhaps pace when competing with­ the best but to suggest there is some kind of­ ethno-cultural deficiency or a wealth induced lack of­ motivation and effort is frankly ridiculous. In the­ first place all of these English footballers have been­ brought up and immersed in exactly the same febrile­ ethnocentricity evidenced in most of the comments and­ the original article; in short they too buy into the­ chauvinistic sense of inherent English potential for­ superiority and the expectation of overcoming the rest­ of the world. They do play for the shirt because they­ believe in it. the problem is that other countries have­ good players too and in the case of some of them rather­ more than we have. It isn't surprising that Germany­ produces good teams. They have a bigger population base­ and football is just as much at the centre of popular­ culture in Germany as it is here. So we shouldn't­ necessarily expect to beat them although we do on­ enough occasions that we shouldn't regard last­ Sunday's result as historically definitive. The­ same argument applies to Brazil, Argentina, Italy et­ al.

As a regular at Premier League games, along­ with most of my fellow season ticket holders and from­ what little I hear at other PL clubs we are not­ surprised at the outcome nor especially concerned by­ it. Not surprised because we see week in and week out­ the strengths and weaknesses of International players.­ We could have told you that Johnson is a poor defender­ or that Barry and Terry are ponderous movers or that­ Upson's club performances suggest an accident­ waiting to happen. Not concerned because this is a big­ event now but it will drift from public consciousness­ as the interest amongst occasional watchers fades and­ other moral panics take its place. It is the club scene­ which is the heart of the game for the committed.

Finally, somebody who dares to say it the way it­ actually is rather than taking part in the ritualistic­ manager-bashing that inevitably follows every­ tournament debacle. I won't dwell on the attitude,­ concentration, motivation and organisational problems­ that were so evident in their diabolical footballing­ displays but rather on something more fundamental and­ innate - the technical ineptitude of the English­ players as a whole. Barring some individuals who are­ actually comfortable holding, controlling and passing­ the ball (Joe Cole, Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney), the­ majority of this team are woeful. Even then, a truer­ test of the likely success of this team on the­ international stage is whether they can translate their­ 'domestic prowess' into holding, controlling­ and passing the ball (let alone dribbling) under­ pressure and against the best in the world. Even the­ likes of Gerrard and co were found wanting, not being­ able to complete nor compete. (long balls don't­ count) I would even take issue with the often quoted­ reference to 'world beaters'. On what basis are­ we making this claim? Because our 4 best teams - Man U,­ Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool regularly go a long way in­ the Champions League? And that is courtesy of their­ abundant and dominant English players and English­ managers of course, right? Don't underestimate the­ level of input and influence the foreign players are­ making on proceedings. If England wants to start­ competing on the international scene then it has to­ addressing its technical shortcomings. Copy the­ Europeans if you must but drop the long ball, the­ 'safe' passing that goes backwards and the fear­ of making mistakes that is a uniquely English trait­ that is instilled from an early age and which stifles­ creativity and flair.

There are many problems with English football. One of­ them is that there are too many­ "experts".
These people , write, photograph­ and talk nonsense.
Unknown people are given a­ microphone to commentate on the match. Suddenly they­ become qualified to talk about which tactics should be­ used by Paraguay, or North Korea etc etc.
80% of the­ time is spent talking about an incedent that has­ already taken place. Then they seem unable to get over­ a minor error by a goalkeeper. As soon as one side­ scores, they then talk up the team and ignore­ completely the other team.

They have never played the­ game. How does the crossbar stop a goal being scored ?­ It also stops a goalkick !
If a player hits the post,­ the opposing team has been "saved" by the­ post . But if a goalkeeper pushes the ball onto a post,­ it becomes a wonderful save ??

This morning, there was­ a report on TV about the England squad arriving at­ Heathrow. A good shot of the team leaving the aircraft­ looking suitably sad. But when Wayne Rooney appeared ,­ the camera followed him into the building. So the rest­ of the squad didn't exist.

NoneIn my opinion, of­ these media experts contribute anything good to the­ game.

how about putting an englishman in charge then maybe­ things might change for the better.lets face it why­ should someone outside of england care if we win or­ not...

Trouble with the english team is that they cant be told­ what to do because other wise they will throw ther toys­ out there pram, cause they cant get there own way.­ Spoilt brats all the fans that saved hard to watch them­ in the world cup had to work hard for that privilage­ not like the boys trying to play.
Unless the pay is­ worked out better ie, on performance, play well get­ paid, cant be bothered then dont pay them.
All the­ fans should boycott the next few games and see if they­ like it.
Nonses all of them.

I'm sorry but the media had a lot to do with hyping­ the England team to the max, and getting everyone's­ hopes up. When in reality there's more chance of­ BP's scum bag boss Tony Hayward keeping his promise­ of clearing every drop of oil up than England even­ getting a glance at winning the World Cup.

What motivation can these players have to win.? they­ have everything they want and i dont think for one­ minute that they have any honour, to support their­ country as their country supports them. a team of­ overpayed individuals that play better against each­ other rather than with.
perhaps the problem with­ englands FA and its managers is they are all hung up on­ chooseing big name premiership footballers, that for­ their clubs play their hearts out, mostly,
when any­ championship player would have tried there hardest, run­ down any ball, defended to the last that piece of­ honour that they would have from the right to represent­ their country and in their countrys colours.
leave­ cappelo alone, He is not at fault for haveing to play­ these ego maniacs on the field.
Players are only the­ best when they want to prove that they are the best.­ premiership names have what they want already.

ENGLAND EXPECTED TO WIN WITH THEIR PRIMO DONNAS but THE­ GERMANS WANTED IT MORE.

we are better player as a­ team.
ENGLAND WOULD LOVE A PLAYER LIKE PER­ MERTERSACKER

coventry, london, turin, bloemfontein­ .....

i dont agree with everything said by this chap, but i­ totally agree with the core of his opinion - the­ society our English boys inhabit, their physocoligal­ state because of it and the way they are held in awe by­ the worringly large proportion of the british that are­ morons (and in my opinion this is almost soley down to­ the fact they are loaded and can afford luxury cars and­ homes that media driven capitalism would have us­ believe is the only way to really live) is the reason­ why we didnt turn up at the world cup.
i hope Capello­ stays - give him 4 years to ring the changes and lets­ see how we get on in the Euros in 2.

first reda, correct the spelling of your name.­ it's "rida mahir". typical arab ignorance­ of english. let's reboot. mor school level talent­ spotting. complete overhaul of premier ship. break up­ the FA.

First, we can not blame Capello. Capello is a fine­ coach amongst fine coaches. Instead of blaming the­ manager why not take some time and look at our players­ as a team. Maybe that can help us to improve. We can­ not improve or go any further before we realise that we­ are not good enough to play as a team. Germany can­ change their team at any time and still be world­ contenters. The Germans do not talk about individuals­ players like we do, they talk about a team. What does­ that tell us before we go any further? It tells us that­ we are a bunch of disfunctual team made up of a­ collective individuals who cant play together. When are­ we gonna wake up and realise that we need to learn to­ play as a team, that should be the first stage to­ improve. When was the last time we played like Brasil­ or Spain etc, talking about ball control, keep the­ ball(ball posession), pass the ball, and other­ technicals which improve players as a team and not­ individuals. Yes we have world class players but what­ good is it when they cant play as a team. Its time we­ be critic to players and see how we can produce quality­ as a team rather critisise managers only. Look at­ Slavakia, slovenia, japan, usa, serbia etc who are­ they? nobody but they played far better than the so­ called world class England! they dont have world class­ players but they play as a team. We need to be critic­ to our selves inorder to move on. We cant take any­ critisism but quick to critisise other teams and­ managers. We can have the most talented and the best­ manager in the whole world, and still remain the same.­ Until we recognise that we are not good as we say we­ are there wont be any change in english team. look the­ whole team cant pass and even do a simple thing like­ stop the ball! what a shame to us! the Germany kids­ taught us how to play football we invented what a shame­ to us! COULD IT BE THAT OUR PLAYERS APPEARS TO BE GOOD­ IN ENGLISH LEAGUE BECAUSE THEY ARE HELPED BY VERY GOOD­ FOREIGN PLAYERS

My observation in Sunday's match was that players­ were not backing each other up. When an English player­ had possession, none of his team-mates were moving but­ expected the ball to be passed to them. In distinct­ contrast, whenever a German player had the ball, there­ was movement around the player and generally had at­ least two options in passing.

So what does this­ indicate? The players were not playing as a team!­ Therefore, the issue is why this was so? Perhaps you­ are right and they are overpaid and spoilt. Or,­ perhaps, there was a lack of team spirit. This is the­ manager's fault. The best teams win not a­ collection of good players!