FatJan/Darren, another thing Ive just thought of is that there is such a disconnection between club and international football in this country. Take for example Spain's big 2 teams where most of the national teams players come from. They employ a high pressing game so when they all meet up for their national teams, it comes naturally to them when they need to press. If you're not doing the basics right for your club then what chance have you got at int.level?

Earl, more homegrown coaches, more homegrown managers, more homegrown players

They do. England have the highest percentage of foreign players in all the top leagues.

i know this may seem controversial, but i think england's best chance at a tournament win was under eriksson. to this day, i maintain that he was the only one who ever truly maximised all the resources available to him, and made sure the team played a comfortable style of football - instead of trying to force them into a style of football they weren't capable of achieving.

i think the main thing that held eriksson back was timing - when he was manager, this country was still deluding itself into thinking it was one of the top two/three footballing nations. and the pressure to have the tournament won before a ball was kicked took its toll.

if he had taken over now, the environment would have been right for him.

Mr C I agree. Hodgson should be able to see that the top teams play 4-3-3 or a variation of, 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1. Yet he insists in 4-4-2. They're used to the 4-4-3 but he wants to play a formation that nobody plays anymore! It's infuriating.

We definitely do need to focus on our own style of play. Once we get that sorted then we need a manager who will pick players based upon this style of play and not because they play for united or chelsea or whoever. We need to stop trying to accommodate the best 11 english players into one team and actually pick the best player for that position even if it means dropping a big name to the bench.

How about the bigger teams playing more youth, rather than spending big to succeed? I understand that you cannot force a team to do that and the consequences can prove to be big. But, if the bigger teams and the majority of PL teams do it more than others will follow.

Crewe who are in the lower divison deserve credit. Did they not for one game last season play a team all of which came through their ranks and they won 3-0 away I believe!? Applaud them for that. And, they won the JP trophy. We need more model teams like that in the PL.

And, as someone mentioned instead of releasing players or even sending your best youth players out on loan in the country. Why don't they pay and help players (the youth) go out on loan abroad?! They 'd learn so much!

The media won't allow that jonjo, if a manager drops certain players and england lose, he's a dead man walking.

Yeah, I made the same point on an article before.

Most league's teams have an identity of play that is somewhat similar, even at the top teams.

In England we all play differently. It's a difficult job to get players from teams like West Ham, Spurs, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and City playing together as all the teams play a different style.

Italy are primarliy built up of Juve players, Germany are Dortmund and Bayern. It's a huge advantage.

Look at France. They are an average international team as the players aren't that great but they also all play all around Europe.

Some say that's a good thing in terms of their football education, and in some ways that's true, however, it makes it hard to build a decent international team when they never play together.

Even when they won the world cup and Euros, they were a pretty boring defensive side that relied on the brilliance of players like Zidane and Henry.

In England we all play differently. It's a difficult job to get players from teams like West Ham, Spurs, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and City playing together as all the teams play a different style.
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Thats exactly what I meant Darren. Put it better than me

Adotvilla, that's where we have have to give Lambert some credit. He had a young team and didn't sway away from that.

It really winds me up though Kagooney. To think we've produced Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard over the last 15 years but would play 1 of them left midfield instead of changing formation or dropping 1 to the bench is just bizarre.

Ever? That's quite a long time you know?

Skins

Life will end soon. Judgment day is coming. So there is not as much time as you think.

Aw fúck

I used to enjoyed England team playing in the early 2000s but I think the English media has effect the national team by putting huge pressure on the players before every major tournament; as an American I have completely lost interest in this current England team, the media played too much politic these days but I think England can win a major tournament if only the English press can stop their witch hunt against certain team players and just wish the team good-luck in a major tournament instead they just can't shout the furk up.

We should embark on a huge Germany style project.

Let's be honest, how many of this current side are good enough to be part of a trophy winning national team in Euro 2016? We don't have anywhere near the level of talent that Germany and Spain have, and even further down teams like France and Italy are probably better than us in this regard.

If you take out the few world class (or potential to be) players we have, such as Rooney and Wiltshire, who's left? Whereas Germany and Spain have tons.

Grass roots.

There, I've said it too.

Strength in depth, there is another cliché which people use when can't be bothered to think

One of the problems for England is the Strikers.

You cant keep selecting the likes of Welbeck & Defoe the former having scored like 2 goals this season.

Y move Rooney into a deeper posistion? He plays best when up front not chasing the ball in MF. Like it or not he is our best player so play him in his best posistion and move other players around.

To answer the OP, it only takes about a decade from reforming the grass roots to beginning to turn out players who emerge from that system. Germany went from dross in 2000 to increasingly impressive. Assuming most of us here still have a few decades to live, I think there is plenty of time for England to get its act together. In fact, there have been signs that the FA - or figures within the FA - finally recognise the problems at youth level. I know steps have been taken to improve training and to produce better coaches. It's too early to observe the results but perhaps some improvement is in the pipeline.

On the negative side, the FA has proved time and again that it is dysfunctional and more than capable of failing to get this right. Secondly, the commercial priorities of the Premier league are a less conducive environment to youth development than the way e.g. the German league is structured.

The only way england can win a big tournament is if they do a greece of euro 2004,else no chance in the next 12 years atleast because if you compare the current crop and what's coming through the set up to teams like that of spain,germany,argentina,holland and even brazil england do no even come close