Just had a look back now to reminisce. When Rooney got the tournament ending injury against Portugal in 2004, he was replaced by Darius Vassell. 60 minutes + extra time before he missed a penalty with Vassell upfront. In the same match Phil Neville replaced Paul Scholes on the hour mark. Huge drops in quality. 2006 against Portugal saw Aaron Lennon replace David Beckham with the likes of Jenas, Downing and a 17 year old Walcott making up the rest of the bench. Yeah, there really wasn't a great deal of depth in those squads, even though the starting eleven was very much elite.
Not to forget the latest one. If only we get rid of the foreigners Britain will be so much better(Brexit). English people and football fans specifically, is thinking they're better than they are
tbh I googled it, Vito Was only a little banter btw as I know you don't get it wrong. You know I love the Scots and your country.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm coming to Hamburg on business for 3 days the end of this month @Dirk. Any suggestions for things to do?
Guess I am guilty of forgetting him but it does just add credence to my argument. Our depth isn't as bad as it's being made out to be in that area. Dare I say it's underrated?
this is why the we were all sweating when beckham or Owen were injured close to the tournaments, because we had no quality replacements. Beckhams metatarsal became a national obsession! We were a really good team as long as everyone was fit and in form, and how often does that happen? We have so many more options now, especially offensively. We are literally spoilt for choice. It really would be a travesty if this squad don’t win a major tournament.
Yeah I think we have some very promising, even accomplished, young English CBs. Guehi is an old head on a young man's body. He could play for any team in this league now, no doubt. With Stones, Guehi, Colwill, Tomori, potentially White and others to come we'll be fine. It's not like we've had any outstanding CBs over the past five years we've still reached a semi-final and a final.
Is this even allowed nowadays for a Brit to come over after Brexit? Seriously, I hope you enjoy your stay in my hometown. Suggestions? erm..... Reeperbahn and Volkspark, of course OK, If you need (some more) intellectual suggestions just watch a bit at the official site (it's in English): Hamburg ─ Your Guide to Exploring, Living & Working in Hamburg
I actually agree that there's a greater depth of talent at a consistent level who can play for England today than there was during that "golden generation" run, but I'd make a couple of points. The level Lennon was at was quite similar to/better than players in squads of other nations who did well. The Portugal team that went through against England subbed on Hugo Viana & Helder Postiga for instance. The Walcott decision isn't reflective of quality as that's probably the most baffling decision an England manager has ever made imo. Eriksson famously left out Darren Bent (who was 3rd highest PL scorer behind Henry & Van Nistelrooy in 05/06) for a 17 year old who hadn't played a minute of competitive football for 6 months before the world cup, he'd never even been named in a premier league match squad at that point, when there were fitness concerns over Rooney & Owen also pre-tournament. Genuinely no idea what Eriksson was doing.
I think Walcott going ahead of Darren Bent cemented for me that back then it was very much who you played for, not a chance he goes ahead of the the English top scorer if he had still been at Southampton.
