Right, another international week that see's many of the usual suspects injured or unavailable for selection!

McLaren has a chance to blood some new talent, but will he?

I have become increasingly ambivelent towards 'our' national team and this is due to the ineptitude of both Sven and now, his clone, the Ginger twunt and the selection of players on "name" rather than "performance".......so I ask, does anyone care?

Opinions please...........and what would you do? Who would be your England select? Now and for the future?

I still care but , like the majority, permanently feeling disillusioned by the national team.

Yes, McClown isn't up to the job - something we all suspected before his first game in charge, but what I find the most frustrating is seeing our supposedly 'world class' players simply going through the motions time and time again.

I'm confident we'll beat Israel and Russia and end up qualifying for Euro 2008 ......... only to be found out as soon as we come up against a half decent team.

We can only hope McClown is then sent on his merry, grinning way to be replaced by someone who has an ounce of tactical knowledge ........... but more importantly soemone who doesn't pander to the over-inflated egos in his squad.

I couldn't care less to be honest. Englands performances have been shocking for a while, yet Svens clone continues to pick players not up to the task. Unless we start blooding new talent in then I won't be watching anytime soon.

I think the current pool of English players are the weakest in recent memory. Remember the 90's when England could afford to waste the striking talents of Ian Wright, Robbie Fowler and Les Ferdinand? none of which could forge an international career between them. That is a suggestion of the depth of talent.

now with a few injuries England are forced to recall a striker (Emile Heskey) who's strike-rate would embarass a non-league footballer, 5 goals in about 45+ internationals.

an England squad of:

Carson

Micah Richards/John Terry/Joleen Lescott/Leighton Baines

Aaron Lennon/Steven Gerrard/David Bentley/Joe Cole

Rooney/Darren Bent


if there's injuries then the likes of Ashley Young, Tom Huddlestone, Steven Taylor, Michael Dawson, SWP, Jermain Pennant, Justin Hoyte - and maybe even the likes of David Nugent and Leroy Lita if they have good seasons might be knocking on the door.

will this ever happen? christ no! there are big names in Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Owen, Cole, Ferdinand who won't be dropped, and if they are then they'll only be brought back anyway when the sh*t hits the fan.

I understand your point mate but do remember that Owen has 12 goals in 13 matches when playing next to Heskey for England. Now he may not be the goal scorer England need but he is a very unselfish player, and with Crouch suspeneded and Rooney injuired you have to go the reliable route. I think Heskey links up well with Owen. Personally I would play Gerrard in the free role with 4 other Midfielders. But Heskey is not doing so poorly for Wigan.

My England Team for the match against Israel. They will sit back and defend so i want as many attack minded players on the field with some real steel.

----------------------------------Carson

Richards---------------Terry---------------Rio---------------Barry

--------------Hargreaves-----------------------Reo Coker

Pennant--------------------Gerrard-------------------------j.Cole/Young
----------------------------------------Owen

this team would keep us from hoofing it up......loads of creative spark and the back 4 will be able to push forward and get involved.

I like Ona's lineup with a toss up between Pennant and SWP on the right.


FFS!!!!! When was the last time England struggled with choosing between 2 in-form right wings?

the only time England have struggled on the right wing was with one out of form (Beckham) right wing and one in form winger (Aaron Lennon) 'battled' it out for a position in the England team, we'll all be surprised to know who won, of course.

ona, the days of Owen scoring 12 in 13 for England are most likely gone, mind you, Heskey or no Heskey.

no offence to Heskey, but as I said - look to England's attacking options in the 90's and comparing them with today's.

Shearer. Fowler. Wright. Ferdinand. Andy Cole.

Would you swap that 5 for this 5:

Owen. Crouch. Rooney. Bent. Defoe. You could even throw in the likes of Andy Johnson and Alan Smith.

I wouldn't swap Shearer and the rest of 'em for that lot, would you? And I didn't even include Teddy Sheringham in the list, and I'm sure you'll all appreciate how much I rate ol' Teddy!

Is the strength in depth of the quality is sorely lacking - or am I over-reacting? What happened to the so called 'Golden Generation' over-rated Media Hype?

you could also put Pennant on the left seeing his last performance. Downing should never be in the team again.

MTTC I understand what you are saying, but I think that Crouch and Owen have been as good as any of them in their England carrier. I would say that the influx of foreign players has hurt the development of English strikers mainly. The midfield and defence are as good as any other country can put out there. there are a few players coming up like walcott who should eventually have an impact on England. I think that we can surely expect England to qualify and if they don't it is down to the manager.

I am not saying that Owen is the best but right now he is the best we have.

I'm actually looking forward to these 2 games and seeing how England perform.
I think also think that Heskey is probably the best partner for Owen that is available.

England need a striker and a goalkeeper, that is all.

England need a set of good players who are unselfish and are willing to work hard for the team and not as a set of individuals. That is all.

wonder goal from micky Owen make that 13 in 14 starts with Heskey. what a strike. Nice to see England crusing. Barry is playing nicely in the middle. Enland look really strong.

say what you will about emile heskey, but he's one of the most unselfish players in the game today !.... the problem is he's even charitable towards the opposition...

he's a great player when in the right frame of mind though .. power, pace, no little skill and is a real -*test*-('") for central defenders...


:cheers
KD

Emile Heskey played really well in the first half, I thought he was anonymous in the second half, mind you, but generally I thought he did what he was there for. Although there was a sign here or there to signal why Heskey was dropped to begin with, when he blasted over the bar from inside the penalty box, strikers need to at least sting the keeper's hands a little from there.

I agree with you though KD, Heskey is as unselfish a striker as there's ever been, perhaps and for me he's a better all round player than Crouch.

Michael Owen's goal was superb, but he missed gilt-edged chances that an Owen of 3 or 4 years ago would have snapped both your hands off to score.

Man of the Match was obviously SWP who was quality, and will no doubt take a confidence crash when he's inevitably dropped when Beckham comes back.

Micah Richards ran SWP close for MOM for me, I thought Micah was superb all game, his pace and strength aligned with SWP down the right caused no end of problems for the Israel left hand side. He's absolutely top drawer, and there should be no way back for Gary Neville's international career from now on. I'd love to see Micah Richards in the middle of the park personally, maybe alongside Steven Gerrard. I think he'd make an excellent central midfielder in the mould of a Paddy Vieira.

other stand out performances were Gareth Barry and Joe Cole, both did extremely well. the back 4 were rarely -*test*-('")ed so no problems there.

I thought Steven Gerrard wasn't as effective as he could have been, given that Liverpool fans have been clambering for Gerrard to be 'set free' in the middle of the park, alongside someone who'd do the donkey work for him, and this was his occasion but there was no change in Gerrard's England performances than if he was alongside Lampard, it was pretty much the same. Didn't play badly, but wasn't his Liverpool-self.

the pass by Gareth Barry to Michael Owen for the Owen goal - that's the kind of searching passing you'd expect to see from Gerrard, but there was nothing of that from him, and the good stuff came from Barry time and again - when Barry picked out Owen earlier in the game than the goal, when Owen then in turn played in Ashley Cole to miss that chance, that was quality from Barry again.

Overall England did what they had to do, and in truth could have won by 5 or 6 and it wouldn't have flattered, but the real -*test*-('") will obviously come against Russia on Wednesday, who I reckon England will brush aside but it might not be as easy as yesterday.