Beckham

[Head Honcho]

What do ya reckon?

There are more then a few players in the current squad nowhere near as good as Beckham and I think the team performance against Macedonia showed how important he was to the squad.

Not sure if it's allowed but they should call him up for Wednesdays game imo.

[lookwhaticando]

Can't call him up.

[Head Honcho]

Can't call him up.

Yeh I doubted if they could or not but he's gotta be picked for the next squad surely!!

Saying that though Wales were contemplating calling Hartson up after their defeat so maybe they could I dunno someone out there might know!!

[Mark]

Absolutely not, he's let us down in the past 3 big competitions. It's time to move on, especially as we've got Gerrard, Aaron Lennon and SWP (inform) are all more effective than him in his position.

Downing is a the problem currently. Joe Cole is the only player who's looked half decent for us in years at left wing. Who else is there though?

[Stevosevic]

No thanks

[lookwhaticando]

Absolutely not, he's let us down in the past 3 big competitions. It's time to move on, especially as we've got Gerrard, Aaron Lennon and SWP (inform) are all more effective than him in his position.

Downing is a the problem currently. Joe Cole is the only player who's looked half decent for us in years at left wing. Who else is there though?

Richardson.

Levi Porter.

I hear Joe Mattock can also play left wing is asked to.

[Daggers]

He's been shite but so have the rest of the sodding bunch of prima~donna overpaid ponces.

Grabbing around for has-beens to come into the squad just demonstrates how pissy-small a talent pool we now have!

I blame Johnny Foreigner.

[Manwell Pablo]

Absolutely not, he's let us down in the past 3 big competitions. It's time to move on, especially as we've got Gerrard, Aaron Lennon and SWP (inform) are all more effective than him in his position.

Downing is a the problem currently. Joe Cole is the only player who's looked half decent for us in years at left wing. Who else is there though?

Yes because Gerrard was blistering at the world cup.

SWP (inform) is nowhere near as good as Beckham (inform)

Dropping him was stupid. Just another Great British scape goat, he was involved in nearly every goal we scored at the WC, if he's been dropped for letting the side down the other 22 WC players may as well be dropped completley too.

[lildave3]

Beckham cannot take people on. He has no pace. All he can do is whip a good ball in, and theres more to wing play than that. SWP and lennon both run at defenders and not only does it allow the players to make runs themselves, it gets the crowd on the teams side.

[Tubes]

no thank you we have better options

[The People's Hero]

Yes because Gerrard was blistering at the world cup.

SWP (inform) is nowhere near as good as Beckham (inform)

Dropping him was stupid. Just another Great British scape goat, he was involved in nearly every goal we scored at the WC, if he's been dropped for letting the side down the other 22 WC players may as well be dropped completley too.

Well said.

That's not to say that Beckham should be brought back in to the side.

I just get fed up with the constant Gerrard/Lampard love in.

[billabob]

Well said.

That's not to say that Beckham should be brought back in to the side.

I just get fed up with the constant Gerrard/Lampard love in.

Just imagine the babies . . .

[Ultra]

From the Leicester Mercury website:

MCCLAREN MUST RESTORE MISSING LINK FOR ENGLAND

BY BILL ANDERSON

England failed to deliver the goods against Macedonia on Saturday and no wonder - their ace deliverer was cooling his heels in Madrid.

Steve McClaren might have tried to persuade Manchester United's Paul Scholes to come back into the fold.

Well, he should now do the same with David Beckham - with success this time.

The front men need him, especially Peter Crouch whose service from either flank, but most obviously the right, was of a poor quality.

That beat was again given to Steven Gerrard, but, with the visitors proving so solid, it did not work out very well. Not only that, but several times Gerrard strayed over to the other side with no-one replacing him, leaving Gary Neville to face some dangerous breaks down his flank with no cover.

With Wayne Rooney looking better, although not quite back to his best, England badly needed the breakthrough early in both halves. But the final telling pass was not there, nor was the threat from set-pieces - two elements which you-know-who always provides.

Saturday's team should have been good enough to take all three points - but it should never be taken for granted.

England's win in Skopje in the last outing, after all, was by the merest fraction - from a shot rebounding off the bar.

That was not exactly domination and in the second half of the first meeting, Macedonia threatened to tip the balance themselves before a late flurry went so close to seeing England home.

This time, the crossbar was not so kind, deflecting a Gerrard lone-range attempt to safety.

All the urgency in this game was sparked by the introduction of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermain Defoe, but it was too late in coming.

Had that pace been employed from the start, it might have made a difference.

McClaren's team for Wednesday night's game in Croatia - without the suspended Gerrard - might be revealing.

But the England boss felt he had enough strength to get the job done on Saturday.

He was right, but this outing again showed that, while all the slings and arrows came Sven-Goran Eriksson's way, the real root of the summer's disappointment was the performance of the players.

England should have won - but didn't. Hopefully, that will not become the hallmark for the new regime.

However, Macedonia did show the others in the group how to stop England - by strict organisation at the back, closing down energetically in midfield and feeding off growing uncertainty to carve out chances of their own.

And, if future opponents can frustrate England into the easy option of pumping high balls up to Crouch, they will have the simpler task of repelling those kind of attacks.

That is unless the Madrid exile is again supplying the ammunition.

The fact that Beckham can't even get a place in Real's starting line-up right now seems to have escaped the attentions of our favourite scribe..

[Leicester_Mad]

From the Leicester Mercury website:

The fact that Beckham can't even get a place in Real's starting line-up right now seems to have escaped the attentions of our favourite scribe..

the only reason beckham isnt playin for Madrid at the minute is due to Reyes injecting more pace into the side and being more productive due to this! The pace of SWP isnt doing this (although i would rather have Lennon than Beckham!) but due to Lennon being injured, surely a right midfielder had to be called in, with experience and one of the top assisters in the world cup..oh no most people forgot about that

[shen]

the only reason beckham isnt playin for Madrid at the minute is due to Reyes injecting more pace into the side and being more productive due to this! The pace of SWP isnt doing this (although i would rather have Lennon than Beckham!) but due to Lennon being injured, surely a right midfielder had to be called in, with experience and one of the top assisters in the world cup..oh no most people forgot about that

I seem to remember 2 good chances created by SWP's pace and trickery against Macedonia... Or did I watch an entirely different game?

As a neutral, I've been saying that Beckham should've been dropped already after Euro 2004. Beckham has a good cross, his set pieces are useful and his long range passing is as good as anyone's, but Gerrard possesses almost equal standard qualities and he's got a lot more strengths too. He can actually get past a man, he can score from open play, he can track and tackle properly, he's got pace, he can head a ball AND he's got flair!

He's just out-trumping Beckham in every area...

[Manwell Pablo]

From the Leicester Mercury website:

The fact that Beckham can't even get a place in Real's starting line-up right now seems to have escaped the attentions of our favourite scribe..

All very good but I don't see SWP turning out every week for Chelsea, do you?

I don't think I would of gone quite as far as Mr Anderson has, but he should be in the squad.

[gatesheadfox]

All very good but I don't see SWP turning out every week for Chelsea, do you?

I don't think I would of gone quite as far as Mr Anderson has, but he should be in the squad.

worse is the fact Defoe plays odd games for spurs and doesn't score and gets selected.....fair enough not getting in chelsea's or real madrid's team is not too disappointing, but spurs?!?

[lcfc_jme]

He's been shite but so have the rest of the sodding bunch of prima~donna overpaid ponces.

Grabbing around for has-beens to come into the squad just demonstrates how pissy-small a talent pool we now have!

I blame Johnny Foreigner.

Both cases are accurate and true. The reason the England cricket team is improving is 'cos they're only allowed 1 oversees player to turn out for them in any given game. Not saying football should employ this, but surely limiting the amount of foreign players in a given Premiership side makes sense?? I mean, it'd give young English lads a chance to improve quite considerably, gain experience and show people what they can do. How are we going to improve our National side if we aren't allowing players of our nationality to compete in our top flight?!?!

Oh and on the matter of David Beckham - No thanks. He's had his day, and we can't put somebody in the side based on reputation and dead-ball skills (which are hit-and-miss at present anyway). I'd much rather see SWP fill in on the right whilst Lennon is out injured. His dribbling ability and pace is sure to scare defenders and benefit our attack

[lookwhaticando]

Well said.

That's not to say that Beckham should be brought back in to the side.

I just get fed up with the constant Gerrard/Lampard love in.

Lampard has been crap for England for months now.

Gerrard belongs in the middle, and proper wingers belong on the wings. Lampard belongs on the bench right now.

[Ric Flair]

I don't think Beckham should have been completely dis-regarded. Under Eriksson there was no way he was ever going to be dropped and that led to him possibly taking his place for granted. Under a new regime he should be classed as a squad player like others and earn the right in domestic matches and in training with England for the right to play.

He is no worse than some of the midfielders we have in our squad such as Stewart Downing, Jermaine Jenas and Phil Neville. I know he plays in different positions than those 3, but I think Beckham is probably more suited to a central role now and with us not having Joe Cole at the minute, then we're probably best off with wing-backs. So Beckham could play in a midfield 3 if he was to start or be on the bench if he's not on form.

I still think he's a valuable squad player.

[Filbert_Ross]

Both cases are accurate and true. The reason the England cricket team is improving is 'cos they're only allowed 1 oversees player to turn out for them in any given game. Not saying football should employ this, but surely limiting the amount of foreign players in a given Premiership side makes sense?? I mean, it'd give young English lads a chance to improve quite considerably, gain experience and show people what they can do. How are we going to improve our National side if we aren't allowing players of our nationality to compete in our top flight?!?!

England have been crap for 40 years thats nothing to do with foreign players in england, the current team which has been pretty much the same over the last few years has underachieved big time and foreign players has nothing to do with how crap we are at present but I think it might have a big impact in the future if like you say unless a foreign player limit is introduced.

[Head Honcho]

I don't think Beckham should have been completely dis-regarded. Under Eriksson there was no way he was ever going to be dropped and that led to him possibly taking his place for granted. Under a new regime he should be classed as a squad player like others and earn the right in domestic matches and in training with England for the right to play.

He is no worse than some of the midfielders we have in our squad such as Stewart Downing, Jermaine Jenas and Phil Neville. I know he plays in different positions than those 3, but I think Beckham is probably more suited to a central role now and with us not having Joe Cole at the minute, then we're probably best off with wing-backs. So Beckham could play in a midfield 3 if he was to start or be on the bench if he's not on form.

I still think he's a valuable squad player.

Spot on he's served his sentence for our poor world cup and you say he no worse then the one's you mentioned I still say he's better!

[Joe.]

Lampard is a player who seriously needs looking at. Like somebody said before, Gerrad belongs in the middle and Lampard on the bench. I wouldn't lose any sleep if Lampard was dropped. Give Scott Parker a go (he is probably playing anyway on Wednesday) and see how he plays.

On the Beckham issue, sorry but he is not good enough. The Beckham 4 years ago is different to the modern day Becks. He can't take people on like SWP and AL and let's face it; apart from the World Cup free kick, his deliveries from set plays have been far from impressive. :pinch:

[lcfc_jme]

England have been crap for 40 years thats nothing to do with foreign players in england, the current team which has been pretty much the same over the last few years has underachieved big time and foreign players has nothing to do with how crap we are at present but I think it might have a big impact in the future if like you say unless a foreign player limit is introduced.

Agreement and disagreement I can deal with

I'm not attempting to state we haven't underachieved, we have - we should have reached the finals in at least 2 of the last 4 major tournaments, winning most if not all. The fact that we haven't is inexcusable, and no where near good enough.

I personally would put this down to bad management/tactics as well as the recent influx of foreign talent, especially at the bigger clubs.

To ensure we don't underachieve in the future, a foreign player "cap" may need to be imposed. After all, how can our players improve/come through if we are playing hardly any of them in the first team??

Don't completely remove foreign players from our top league, but at least limit it to stop ridiculous situations like fielding a team full of 11 foreign players and no Englishmen as has been done before

[Ultra]

There's no way the clubs would accept a cap on overseas players, and in any case it's illegal under European law.

The reasons for our underachievement can be found in the p!sspoor coaching and management to which players are exposed at an early age. From primary school onwards, kids are encouraged to indulge in hoofball rather than develop proper control and passing skills.

And then we wonder why top English players prefer to bring in young talent from overseas..

Even we do it, in our own Academy!