John Terry apologises

[FiveTimes]

Those overpaid useless bastards are taking the place of someone who want to play for their country.

I wonder if their plane will come home via Munich...

The bit about Munich is harsh.

Would you say Terry is a world class defender then?

No he isn't "World Class" but he is "Country Class" (one of the best in the country).

Would he get into a World XI - no chance, but on the performances this WC no one from the England team would.

[sasguru]

Terry is a world class defender, you do not get to play in that position for a team that has just won the premiership if you are crap. But he is not in the top level of world class defenders, he is a total cock and what he has done is very damaging to the team he has aspirations to lead again.

That is what I was getting at.
And yes the man is a total tool - his actions have damaged the team, how could they not?

[sasguru]

Would he get into a World XI - no chance, but on the performances this WC no one from the England team would.

Indeed it is time we stopped thinking England is a contender for top honours on the world stage - by encouraging our so-called "stars" with delusions that they are world-class, we stoke their already over-inflated egos.
Fact is that some of England's players are good but not good enough.
Quarter finals is not, as some think, a failure, but actually a reasonable level for a team ranked 8 in the world.

[Churchill]

The bit about Munich is harsh.

Yeah, you could be right. However it would give them chance to start with a clean slate.

[shaunbhoy]

Indeed it is time we stopped thinking England is a contender for top honours on the world stage - by encouraging our so-called "stars" with delusions that they are world-class, we stoke their already over-inflated egos.
Fact is that some of England's players are good but not good enough.
Quarter finals is not, as some think, a failure, but actually a reasonable level for a team ranked 8 in the world.

What the media in this country should do, if they REALLY wanted to help, is slate them consistently for the next 2 years. That way, by the time the next Euro Finals came around, they might be champing at the bit to prove them wrong, instead of turning up expecting it to be a stroll in the park. Fat chance of that happening mind you.

[gingerjedi]

Indeed it is time we stopped thinking England is a contender for top honours on the world stage - by encouraging our so-called "stars" with delusions that they are world-class, we stoke their already over-inflated egos.
Fact is that some of England's players are good but not good enough.
Quarter finals is not, as some think, a failure, but actually a reasonable level for a team ranked 8 in the world.

Did Italy deserve to win the last world cup? Football isn't a definable spread sheet, sometimes guile and determination wins the day.

Granted we haven't seen any sign of that yet but we also haven't seen the sort of petulance the French side have shown either.

Judge the England team on their next performance.

[minestrone]

I heard some stat about how the Premiership only use 30% of their players from England and you have never had a history of exporting players. So really you are utilizing only about 15 million people of your population as a footballing resource. Compare that to Germany with a population of 80 million who must play 70% home grown players in their leagues then you are always going to have a 1/4 of the players they have.

If you want to have a national team then you have to stop importing players.

[gingerjedi]

I heard some stat about how the Premiership only use 30% of their players from England and you have never had a history of exporting players. So really you are utilizing only about 15 million people of your population as a footballing resource. Compare that to Germany with a population of 80 million who must play 70% home grown players in their leagues then you are always going to have a 1/4 of the players they have.

If you want to have a national team then you have to stop importing players.

Foreign Player Percentages

I know it's from 2006-2007 but it shows England at 59% and Germany at 50% so not that different.

I don't fully understand why but all the top managers complain that English players are too expensive when asked why they buy foreigners.

I think you are right when you say there are too many foreign players but they do bring benefits to the domestic leagues, if the Premiership wasn't such a spectacle you'd see more home grown talent playing abroad.

[minestrone]

Foreign Player Percentages

I know it's from 2006-2007 but it shows England at 59% and Germany at 50% so not that different.

I don't fully understand why but all the top managers complain that English players are too expensive when asked why they buy foreigners.

I think you are right when you say there are too many foreign players but they do bring benefits to the domestic leagues, if the Premiership wasn't such a spectacle you'd see more home grown talent playing abroad.

Maybe it was starts rather than registered players, I am looking at the Bayern squad and I count 13 german players. I look at the Chelsea which is a far bigger squad and I see 10 English players. Arsenal and I see 4 English players. Man United have a dozen but are we really asking England to play Joe Dudgeon or Oliver Norwood.

[minestrone]

He moves to 4999.