Steve McClaren's England
Easy? Well think again!!!!!
It's not McClaren, it's the media. The power of the English media is overwhelming.
Manager after manager has been built up only to be hounded out by the media.
The recent show of media power has been with David Beckham. How many times has he been both hero and villain? Now, he's back in and flavour of the month!
If McClaren hadn't picked him for the last two games and England didn't get the results, would the media be calling for his head? Of course!
If the truth be told Sven Goran Eriksson's record was very good.
The media complain that he didn't win a major championship, what manager has?
Of course, who could forget the team of 66 - we're reminded often enough!
The England XI never takes any second guessing, it's the same team as you and the average Joe Blogs would pick.
This is one of the problems the England team of today has to face. Notoriously the best teams do not consist of the best 11 players.
Football is a team game. The team needs balance, unity and players who compliment each other.
Does Frank Lumpard...sorry Lampard compliment Steven Gerrard? Or vice versa?
Does he look good for Chelsea due to their system and the free reign he has?
This is exactly my point. He fits into the Chelsea system.
England don't play the same system, so why is he and Gerrard deployed together.
So far we have two reason why the England national team will not win a major championship any time soon, media pressure and team selection.
I have two more up my sleeve.
Thirdly, the word GREAT is used too frequently in the British game. How many truly great players do England have?
The captain, John Terry is not great. He is a leader and has a great mentality but ability wise he can be exposed. Again, at Chelsea with two holding midfielders he is protected.
McClaren has made him captain and in doing so is saying that his place in the team is guaranteed. A recipe for disaster! John Terry shows that British Bulldog spirit, one that the average England fan can associate with. Is this the way to go? Has it brough success thus far?
In my opinion the truly world class players are Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole (if he gets back to his best), Wayne Rooney (needs consistency), Steven Gerrard and I think Joe Cole is proving important as he is the only member of the national squad who can commit opposing defenders.
How many players like Cesc Fabregas could we produce in the UK?
Barcelona alone have produced Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas in recent years. There are youth players of this type that are attracting interest from clubs around the world.
Unfortunately, stereo type maybe, the average British footballer is not the brightest spark. I think this shows in their game play. Rafa Benitez speaks of game intelligence, not many domestic players display this.
