Who the hell is Jordan Henderson?

[jonny72]

Sure Germany do well at tournaments, I just don't think it's got anything to do with them having a higher quality of players. The difference is their mentality and that they play a team rather than individuals.

With regards to eligibility, I take it you think Ryan Giggs should have played for England as he moved here when he was 6? I'm sure there are plenty of other players you could apply the same logic with, especially if you're basing it on what country they've played all or the majority of their careers - which will be English for most.

Germany use the rules to their advantage in a way we don't, partly due to their desperation to succeed in tournaments. Whether it's right or wrong is a different matter, but it does give them an advantage over us.

[Rich Pullen]

With regards to eligibility, I take it you think Ryan Giggs should have played for England as he moved here when he was 6?

If Ryan Giggs considered himself an Englishman (which he didn't) then why can't he play? That's his choice and who are we to tell them otherwise?

Plus that example is a little bit more complex because we are within a United Kingdom. A Welsh or Scottish family can move to Wiltshire and still keep their national/cultural identity. You move a kid from Somalia to England when they are 2 years old and later they will struggle to identify themselves with their country of origin because it's completely different to England.
 

Heck half of West Wiltshire fly the English flag during football World Cups but when the 6 nations start they don their Welsh rugby shirts.

[Simon Pieman]

I'm fairly certain Podolski was capped when he was playing in the second division and that the Poland manager didn't rate him.

In fact I think if Poland were quicker off the mark they could have got Klose too, I'm sure he said if they were quicker off the mark he'd have played for them.

[Rich Pullen]

Same with Trochowski but it's all hindsight isn't it? Sure, Klose is going to say "well, it's your fault. I was willing!" given the relationship between the two nations.

None of these players linked-up with the German national team with guns to the heads.

[DMR]

Hahahahahaha.

Jay Bothroyd.

[DiV]

Who the hell is he?  Is he good? 

Should have watched him today - then all your question would have been answered.

[Saxondale]

I did.  But frankly Im hungover and extremely tired.  I didn't really notice what was happening.  Was he good then?

[RobertT]

Sure Germany do well at tournaments, I just don't think it's got anything to do with them having a higher quality of players. The difference is their mentality and that they play a team rather than individuals.

With regards to eligibility, I take it you think Ryan Giggs should have played for England as he moved here when he was 6? I'm sure there are plenty of other players you could apply the same logic with, especially if you're basing it on what country they've played all or the majority of their careers - which will be English for most.

Germany use the rules to their advantage in a way we don't, partly due to their desperation to succeed in tournaments. Whether it's right or wrong is a different matter, but it does give them an advantage over us.

There are plenty of examples of players playing for England who were not born here.  We've done that discussion before.

The technical quality of our players has been poor for decades and is combined with a more recent seeming lack of desire to even play for England.  How many bloody players have announced their retirement from International football, players who weren't even the best we have.  Certainly seems the in thing to do in the modern game.

[jonny72]

There are plenty of examples of players playing for England who were not born here.  We've done that discussion before.

I may be wrong but isn't the big difference that all the England players born elsewhere qualified from birth, whilst none of the German players did - they all got German passports later in life for varying reasons.

I think our FA has stated very recently that they won't allow players qualifying through residency or similar to be selected, seem to recall there being some unwritten rule between the home nations saying the same thing as well.

[chalkies_shorts]

The bottom line is that our players are nowhere near good enough. They're good at attracting salaries but not much else. How many of our top players have gone abroad and done well. How many of our players could play for top Spanish or Italian sides. If you picked a World XI none of our lot would get anywhere close to the top 5 World XI sides.
Apart from the technical deficiencies of the average player there is also the fact that mentally our players are shite when they pull on the England shirt.
The other problem is that we think the Prem is the best league in the World - it is for wages and excitement but technically its bollox and an average foreign player can look good here if they can handle the physical aspect of our game.
Basically as a nation we're totally fucking delusional about our status and that of our players.

[Nomoreheroes]

I did.  But frankly Im hungover and extremely tired.  I didn't really notice what was happening.  Was he good then?

Put it this way, he bossed the midfield for Sunderland against the current Premiershit champions and runaway leaders.

[thedarkprince]

Premiershit. Haha. Funny.

[Barry Scott]

Basically as a nation we're totally fucking delusional about our status and that of our players.

I don't think quite so many are as delusional as they once were. It will take a long time for me to give a fuck again and I know I'm not alone. I, currently, would take a huge amount of pleasure in watching us get dicked repeatedly for years and failing to do anything in any tournament. I take pleasure in knowing how much I hate them. I'm amused by their failure and wish more of it upon them.

I hate the FA, the premier league, the players and the whole tabloid celeb fest that comes with it. (Jesus, I sound like the miserable cunts who sit around the CG throwing random insults and getting annoyed at nothing. )

[juddie]

You cannot compare our hopefuls to the quality of player that Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany and even the French can produce.

well, you can, because we keep beating them.

I won't argue with anyone anout the actual senior team. we pick the wrong players, the coach isn't the right man for the job etc etc, I have no arguments there.

But anyone who bangs on about the future being bleak is lazy, because you'll find out development coaches are actually doing a good job and there are good players coming through. The point is that the 17s and 19s are beating the italy's/germany's/spains, the problem is at senior level - where we keep picking the same cnuts who have had their chance and blown it.

why not play hart, henderson, jones, adam johnson, keiran gibbs, gary cahill, wilshere, carroll, sturridge... they wouldn't have done any worse at the world cup.

[Phil_S]

THE LAST 11 POSTERS ON THIS THREAD COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANY WORSE