The State of England

Heard a great stat the other day which perfectly sums up the state of the national team over the last 30 years. 8 words seem to sum it all up.

Carlton Palmer 18 caps
Matt Le Tissier 8 caps

Le Tissier was a great footballer. He had flair, he had technique, lots of ability, scored fantastic goals. The one problem is that he was little lazy. And this is the problem with English football. It's all about being functional. Fucntional but average players like Carlton Palmer have more caps than a flair player with great technique.

So many good technical players that we've had have been wasted because of our insistence on being functional

Hoddle - 50 plus caps but Platini said that had Hoddle been born French he would have 150 caps. He was a Euroepan type footballer and didn't fit into functional England. It is unbelievable that Phil Neville has more England caps than Hoddle.

Barnes - although he got 70 plus caps I believe he was wasted too. As a Liverpool fan I saw how good he was. He's my favourite player ever, he had everything. I genuinely believe that for Liverpool he was world class, but he never did it for England. And the reason why is because he was asked to lose the flair and freedom with which he played at Liverpool and hug the left touchline to do a functional job for England. At Liverpool he was a wide forward in a 4-3-3 formation. For England he was a left midfielder in a 4-4-2

Le Tissier - a great technical player, great skill, dribbling ability, could beat a man, great vision, scored amazing goals, and only 8 caps. Its unbelievable.

Scholes - Again got 60 plus caps but he was wasted. Under Sven moved to the left hand side to accommodate others. Arguably the best central midfielder this country's produced in the last 20 years; he should have been our Pirlo, our Xavi, but he was told to do a functional job on the left when he should have been running our midfield.

Carrick - causes great argument amongst fans about how good he actually is, but a midfielder doesn't playin the heart of the Utd midfield if he isn't good. He isn't flash, he lacks pace but he is a good footballer who uses his brain and has the ability to keep the ball and spray passes both long and short, good ball retention, knows when to release it. That he has only 22 caps and Barry has 50 plus is a joke.

Fowler - the most natural finsihed I've seen at LIverpool. Better than Owen in my opinion. He had it all, left foot right foot, headers, predator in the box, long range, good movement, pace. Heskey has more than twice as many caps as Fowler .

Steve McManaman - great ability to get passed people, dribble, scored some wonder goals. His talents were noticed by Real Madrid, but not by England managers. Only 37 caps mainly due to the fact that at Liverpool he played as a floating attacking midfield and so England didn't know how to fit him into the team.

There are loads more that I haven't thought off and obviously being a Liverpool fans I've mentioned some Liverpool players who should have been given more opportunity for England in my opinion. Who else deserved more with England? Which other talents have we wasted at international level?

We've carried on the trend with excluding players like Adam Johnson and Joe Cole, who may not run back and defend but can unlock defences with a flick or skill.

England have always been rigid, playing 4-4-2, playing functional players who can do a job rather than flair players and players with good technique.

When is it going to change?