[THEOSU]

one thing i'm not really seeing enough of:

england really aren't very good. their #1 goalie has had a crisis of confidence for a year now. their top defender has been alternately injured, off form, and scheming in the backroom of his club. their top striker didn't score internationally for two years, then got hurt. their best right wingers either play in mls (lol) or can't get a game for their club. their best central midfielders can't work together, and haven't been in the best of form for their club (lampard last year, gerrard this year).

i mean, there's a theme here. you'd thnk with stuff like this that the manager would be willing to experiment more in earlier qualifiers, becasuse obviously the first choice eleven aren't going to get the job done.

then again, you'd think that the manager wouldn't revert to beckham-lampard-gerrard-cole in the midfield when it hasn't worked for the past 3 years.