[quickfetus]

I'll try to address some of the players you mentioned.

With all due respect to Beckham (a fantastic player and leader), his international career is clearly finished. SWP is not a worldclass player by any means, so you're back to the drawing board in terms of finding a right-sided player.

Crouch, despite finding the target with remarkable proficiency for England (all you can ask, really) wouldn't make it onto a world class national team.

Carrick is a fine player, but nowhere near the league of Mascherano, Xavi, or Pirlo, players who man his position for true top class national teams. (FWIW, each of their teams has at least one other defensive midfielder who would walk into the England XI). The same is true of Gareth Barry, who would obviously not find his way into the Argentinian/Italian/Spanish national teams.

Rooney: Part of why he plays so well for United is the foreign legion at his disposal. Receiving service from Ronaldo, Giggs and company must be a nice thing. His struggles scoring for the national team even when fit are well documented, no need to rehash them here.

Also, you can't simply brush off the lack of a world-class keeper or any depth up front. These are things that top class teams generally have, that you do not.

Finally, your contention that the Premiership is the best league in the world is also debatable. Certainly in terms of heaviness at the top, I can agree. But all around? Compare the teams you send to the UEFA Cup with those from La Liga. Blackburn? Middlesborough? We all remember what happened in the final two years ago. The Spanish middleweights are worlds apart. Unfashionable Villareal almost found themselves in the Champions League Final, for crying out loud!