Thetownend.com

This is sure to be the papers topic tomorrow.

1. England were awful today and didn't seem to have any sense of national pride. There was no width and the supposed right winger Gerrard popped up on the left and in the centre, but rarely on the right. And Carrick was poo. Would Beckham have been a good choice today?

2. Lennon injured, Gerrard suspended. Who plays on the right wing on Wednesday away at Croatia. A really difficult game and needs an experienced head to play? Beckham?

I think he'd have made a difference today, perhaps one good cross for Crouch or something - but that's all it needed. I think its time for Mclaren to bite the bullet and be big enough to realise maybe he could still do something for us, especially with injuries and suspensions.

Only mistened on the radio but agree we miss beckham, and how the hell is downing in the team?

Every player was rubbish today. Downing was about 3/10, and one of the better players  :shock:

SWP looked okay as a sub, but was unsupported and before anyone says it, he cannot play on the right against Croatia - he looked okay against a tiring Macedonian defence....Croatia is a different matter.

0/10 for every player. a truly shocking performance. im also starting to think that it wasn't Sven's fault. maybe we are just a shit team full stop?

Nope its the manager's fault entirely.

Take the Rooney situation.
He's suspended for 2 matches and Defoe gets a chance. Defoe and Crouch link up beautifully and results are a 5-0 win and 1-0 win. Defoe's playing well as the link-up man for Crouch even if not whamming them in himself. He's on form and its a good strike pairing.

Then Rooney's available. So obviously Mclaren puts him straight back in the England team. And drops Defoe. What is the possible inspiration to the players?!? Play well for two games, get dropped.
Rooney might be good, but go with the in-form, working partnership.

Maybe put Rooney on the bench - What an impact substitution that would be - Wow! Instead Defoe comes off the bench. But why should he bother? Even if he scored 7 goals in 10 minutes, Rooney and Crouch would start up front the next match. What's the point in trying?

And that's what we saw today.

Same with Downing - he's just keeping Joe Cole's place warm. Same for Ledley King and Ferdinand.

McLaren showed he could be tough by excluding Beckham. Why is he therefore so weak with Rooney?

Knowing England it'll be Jenas out on the right

we really miss joe cole...

Scott Parker in midfield though....

Angers me that a good performance is worth nothing these days.

Same with Shakes in the Swindon team. Plays okay as a right winger, nothing special, one goal and a couple of assists. Dropped for a striker out of place on the right wing. Where's his inspiration to play well? And when that's not working, you could bring him on...... but Wise goes for Roberts on the right wing - cunt.

Same with Nicho and Vincent.

what we saw today was a pathetic lack of effort and urgency that at international level is just not acceptable. its the players who can't be fucked to get arses in gear. i bet they all go on a piss up when they meet up from their club sides

I didn't hear/see the game but the fact that Beckham isn't in that squad is a joke!

Beckham or SWP? Beckham for me

Downing on the left is a joke, may aswell stick Gerrard out there and have Becks on the right if we are that desperate!

downings only in the squad because hes one of mclarens favourites

Downing is naturally left footed and he is only there because Joe Cole in injured. Beckham is nothing but an overpaid passed it who showed absolutly nothing for England at the world cup and deserved to be dropped. id never pick Beckham again if i was manager. he is too far up his own arse to care about anything/anyone else

beckham can still do a good job for us on the right of midfield

the only reason mr mclaren dropped him was to make a statement about how he was going to manage the nation.


but i think just dropping beckham to the bench would of been better.id rather have beckham on the bench comparred to some of the others on it.

england are and always will be shit.doesn't matter who plays its all bollocks

Rooney was poor today, dunno whats up with him but he's not playing well at all. The first half was pretty crap, second half was a bit better with Gerrard hitting the crossbar and Crouch's le tissier esque effort amongst others but still not great. I don't think Beckham would've made the difference but it's a shame Lennon's injured.

Rooney was bad, Crouch made a few chances for himself. At about the 60th min I thought we shouold have bought on Gurney.

The midlfield problem seemed to be better solved with Hargreaves. He understands the holding role much better than anyone else. Just because you're a holding midfielder doesn't mean you can't go forward to support the attack on the right occassion. I'm with DV on this one, we need Parker in the centre as he's much better at this than Carrick at understanding this role.

Surely, if McCLaren is going to revert to 3-5-2, you would rather have Beckham in there than the proposed Phil Neville?!

No matter what people say Beckham can take free kicks and corners and can pick out a guy perfectly on the other side of the pitch

Yeah but Beckham's a cunt.

NO HE IS NOT!

Seriously he's just a cunting cunt cunt, and somehow he's had 3 kids so the cunting ness has been passed on to the next generation. Shouldn't Mi5 used there forced abortion powers?

McClaren had to drop Beckham, because the tabloids demanded it.....he's a weak manager, so wanted to look tough.

  Taking tough decisions would be to cast off the likes of Lampard, who has been poor for a while, and not picking Rooney straight back, as his form is an embarrasment at the moment.

 Croatia are usually difficult in Zagreb.....a draw would be a decent outcome.

a defeat will probably be the outcome

Anyone see the Sunday papers?

Most of them were asking whether Beckham should have been called back up given the injuries...

How quickly they change their tune.....

There is the answer.

I am not a Beckham fan, the quality of dead ball from him of late was sub par, but surely he warrants a place in the squad. having him on the bench and perhaps Rooney (I missed the other qualifiers no idea how defoe played) would send a message that no one is infallible.  Lampard is class but out of form lately, certainly he might need a wake up call.  Inevitably Ferdinand will stroll into the team on wednesday, but again I feel King deserves to keep the shirt for one more match.  It defeats the object of the squad if the manager refuses to change things irrespective of how well replacement players have done.  I do however hope Joe Cole returns when fit, as his game has come on tenfold of late.

King's out injured, so Ferdy will go straight back in again (not Wes Brown - please God!).

Defoe played well with Crouch - the key was they worked well together, something Rooney and Crouch can't seem to do. Defoe shouldn't have been dropped.

Lampard is off form - I think Beckham in the squad would fire a warning shot to those currently in position. Mclaren doesn't even have to play him, just give him the option.

My twopeneth:

Stewart Downing - a man who rarely beats a player but can cross a ball.

David Beckham - a man who rarely beats a player but can cross a ball better than Downing. And can deliver quality dead balls.

I personally wonder if dropping Beckham was more about dropping someone who had too much influence in the team selection than dropping the player because of his abilities. Could just have be paper talk mind.