How Did That Old Poem Go?

[MichaelZZ]

The England team got on their bus
All carrying their kitbags.
They lost 2-1 to Uruguay
And played like a set of ....

...Novices from a non-league club.

Sorry, that doesn't rhyme.

[VHG]

Winning football matches (at all levels) is about having a few "stand out" players.

Last night Suarez was a stand out player and without him Uruguay would probably not have won.

The problem is we have not got any stand out players.

Most of our players are just fairly good Premier League players, not top international players.

Our two best players (based on past performances) are Gerrard and Rooney but neither delivered on the day.

The fact it was Rooney's first goal in a World Cup finals shows how little he has delivered at World Cups in the past.

We have to face it, we are not a top international team any more.

[factor-fiction]

Were we ever, VHG? I know we won it on home soil 48 years ago but in the years before and since we have never come close to winning it (apart from the 1990 (semi final). I partly agree in that in previous years we usually survived the group stages. But even in some of the days when we had so called great players we failed to even qualify for the World Cup.

[Dodger666]

I think this quote(Oct 2013) from the BBC football webpage has got something to do with it:-

"English footballers account for less than a third of all the minutes played in the Premier League, a State of the Game study for BBC Sport has found.
The figure for home country players - 32.26% - is down from 35.43% in 2007-08 and is significantly lower than all other major European leagues according to football statisticians Opta".

English born players just aren't getting sufficient experience of top flight football. If things go as now, the English side will consist of mainly Championship, or even lower division players.

[royfromaus]

I think you should have used a few more Z's in your username, Michael.

[Khandro]

The England squad looked a complete shambles, how much time do they actually play together? I have just been looking at tonight's German line-up, and 7 of them all play for Bayern Munich, and that is without Bastion Sweinsteiger one of Munich's star players. In fact you could say that the German side IS Munich with one or two extras, they not only play like a team they ARE a team.

[Prudie]

1/3, that's an interesting statistic Dodger. If English players aren't getting enough experience of top flight football that suggests it's because they're not good enough which in turn suggests to me that the fault lies in England (UK really) not investing enough in youth training.

[Dodger666]

Prudie, you are correct.

Enough English players don't get the opportunity to become good enough. Premier league clubs prefer to spend zillions buying success rather than nurturing home bred talent.

[ordbrae]

I know but it's true.