I've happily defended Capello in the last couple of years because a lot of the problems he has to overcome with our football pre-date him, but when we took a whole 29 seconds to hoof it forward to Carroll tonight my initial thought was that John Beck could probably initiate a similar gameplan for a lot less of a salary.

I gave up when the hoof count hit ten just before the half hour.

Maybe I aren't open minded enough about his appointment but when you think about it it's hardly a surprise that an Italian who has never worked in England and still struggles with the language after a couple of years in the job struggles to motivate the team. Either way my interest in the national team is at an all time low. Still surprised I watched the last half hour of that.

Also how does a man who has scored 3 goals in 3 seasons in the Premiership worthy of a call up to the national squad? Incredible call up IMO.

Is the Spain-Portugal match on TV?

If a player needs motivating to play for their country then it's a lost cause anyway, you can't lay that at the managers door IMO. The players just aren't that good, and I think some of them need to realise that themselves, as do a lot of the press and fans.


I'm watching it on paddypower - 2-0 Portugal now, they look a different team to the one that went out of the World Cup with a whimper.

Capello's problem is still an inability to find a good balance within the midfield. The more I watch us, the more I feel he's trying to replicate Italy of '06, particularly when he used to play Gerrard on the left. Problem is, we don't have a Pirlo, a Gattuso, a Totti, a Camoranesi or a Toni (although Carroll could probably do that role quite well now). We've seen Fabio try a fair few midfielders out, but not a single one of them have the ability that Pirlo has to pass and dictate, also, we don't have a single ball winner with the tenacity and consistency of Gattuso or de Rossi. We have Hargreaves who isn't fit, but one player out of thousands is quite embarrassing.

Maybe if we get Wilshere in and try and shape the midfield around him, things will look better, but the need for at least one quality defensive midfielder is a standard requirement of every semi-decent side, yet we persist with Gareth bloody Barry, quite possibly the slowest midfielder in Europe.

Absolutely. Just glad we'll have Hart for many years to come. Lets hope he doesnt become injury prone.

Plenty of poor performances last night but I am dumbfounded as to why Barry gets picked for England or City, he is slow and can't pass. Would rather see Parker, Wilshere, Huddlestone or Carrick play there.

Carrick?

Ingerlund - the laughing stock of World Football since 1992.

Why 1992?

Maybe he's getting at the fact that the Premier League started in 92, foreigners etc etc

England = joke.