The crying game: Germany send England clowns packing...

Was anyone that surprised by England's pitiful display against Germany? IF you were then you really have been wearing rose tinted specs, because frankly, it was a hammering waiting to happen.

The 4-1 final score was England's worst ever defeat at the World Cup finals, but the truth is, it flattered England because it could quite easily have been six or seven. England really were that bad.

Right from that first game with the USA, the warning signs were there for all to see. Capello was too rigid when stubbornly sticking to 4-4-2. Worse still, the Italian pushed Gerrard out onto the left wing where he is less effective. Joe Cole was the obvious choice to play wide left, but he was largely ignored and you have to wonder if it was another case of the manager being stubborn. In ingoring the calls for Joe Cole, Capello stuck to his guns when going against the wishes of John Terry, the media and public; it is one thing being single minded, but being pig-headed for the sake it and ultimately making the wrong calls reflects badly on the Italian.

In the wake of what was a pathetic performance, the soul-searching has begun in earnest. Questions are being asked, the introspection will not let up, because today the Germans gave England a serious beating.

Personally, I wasn't at all surprised about today's result, because it was coming. I don't take any pleasure watching England lose, not a bit of it. Nor do I blame the players, well not entirely, but they are accountable all the same. I'm fairly certain the England ladies football team would have defended some of the German attacks more professionally than their male counter-parts.

Perhaps in future, our pathetic all too often jingoistic media will think twice before bringing up the war and that 5-1 win against Germany; but why do I get the feeling we won't stop hearing about goal-line technology for the next forty years?

England's problems run much deeper than blaming the officials and until we start getting the basics right, we will continue to be also-rans and in all probability a laughing stock on the biggest of stages when it really matters.

Ultimately, Capello must take the blame for what happened today and England's awful World Cup displays - the Italian has to go - and the sooner the better. Capello might well be a great club manager, but international management is all together a different matter. England played like clowns today and the ringmaster is to blame.

Mourinho for England: Why José would be right to turn down the job...

So Fergie is apparently going advise the FA on who should replace Steve McClaren. Not that Brian Barwick is going to ask me, but my personal view is that the red hot favourite that is José Mourinho would be mad to accept the job when he has the pick of virtually any position he chooses. Here's why.

The England job is a poisoned chalice as every manager since Sir Alf Ramsey has found out to their cost. Apart from perhaps Bobby Robson, none of the former England coaches have left the job with their reputation intact. Following the 1990 World Cup, Bobby Robson eventually went on to manage Barcelona. However, even so the former Ipswich Town boss had was unmercifully hounded by the British press during his tenure as England manager. In 1998 following a draw in a friendly with Saudi Arabia one headline screamed "In the name of Allah, go", there were many other occasions when Robson was hammered by the press - it comes with territory. Ironically while at Sporting Lisbon who he joined in July 1992, Robson worked alongside a Portuguese interpreter by the name of José Mourinho.

Another former England manager Graham Taylor suffered the indignity of having an image of his head artworked into a turnip by the Sun Newspaper. Many will feel that Taylor was the wrong man for the job, but this theory only holds water for those who truly believe that England have been punching below their weight since 1970. Which is questionable at best in my view given the lack of technical skills of English players in general.

The press will have the fans believe that Terry Venables is the messiah, when it comes to tactics and the technical side of the game, but if that was the case Barwick et al would not be consulting a Scotsman about their next appointment. Venables would be the obvious candidate every time, but he is not and rightly so on this occasion.

In weighing up his options Mourinho will take everything into consideration. The former Chelsea manager isn't stupid and he knows that unlike with club football, his hands would be largely tied. He cannot go out and bring in who he likes as you can at club level. Mourinho would not be able to go out and deploy his brand of percentage football when needs must, because England do not have a Didier Drogba.

Not only that the self anointed special one has a hard earned reputation as a winner and perhaps above all else this will be his overriding consideration. Can he actually make a difference by transforming serial losers into winners? If Mourinho comes to the conclusion that, no he cannot, as I expect he will, given the limitations of the job, then he will rightly turn down the FA's huge offer - reported to be a staggering £6m a year.

José Mourinho doesn't the need the FAs cash and while the reported money of offer is ridiculous, this will not be the deciding factor. He would be mad to accept the position is my view. The depth of talent isn't there at present and even Mourinho cannot change that.

IF on the other hand Mourinho's massive ego gets the better of him, then just maybe he can be persuaded to take the job on in the misguided belief that he can succeed where so many others have failed miserably.

IF Mourinho did accept the job offer at least then Barwick and the FA will no doubt feel that they have done as much as they can do in the search for the right man to replace McClaren. That view may well be correct in some ways, but the problems which beset English football go way beyond the appointment of the next manager. Mourinho may well hold that view privately which will be another consideration.

Everyone barring FA blamed for England's failure...

Few will be surprised that Steve McClaren has been sacked following England's failure to get a result against Croatia at Wembley last night. The manager and his assistant Venables had their contracts terminated today because England failed to reach next summer's Euro 2008 finals. It is all so tragically predictable.

In time honoured fashion the blame game has started in earnest as the hapless FA announce that they will launch a 'root and branch' review as they go in search for the reasons behind the England team failing so badly. In reality, many football fans will believe this will turn out to be nothing more than talk as the FA launch yet another damage limitation exercise in a bid to look like they are actually doing something.

At today's press conference questions were asked about the position of FA chief executive. Remember that Brian Barwick is the man who made a complete hash of trying to appoint Philippe Scolari prior to Steve McClaren being offered the job.

At the time Scolari was still the Portugal manager and the World Cup was just around the corner, the Brazilian claimed that Barwick wanted him to agree to becoming the new England coach which put him in an impossible position. The British press got wind of the story and their intrusion and resulting publicity killed any chance of a deal.

In response to questions about his own future, Brian Barwick allowed FA board member Premier League chief Dave Richards to speak on his behalf who insisted that the McClaren appointment had been a board decision...(so perhaps they all need sacking too?).

The FA and Barwick have also been blamed for the poor state of the Wembley turf, which had clearly not recovered from the recent NFL game. Both the England and Croatia camps had complained about the surface prior to the game. Of the state of the Wembley turf one commentator said 'we will never see an NFL game at Wembley again'...(it isn't all bad news then?).

No doubting some will also blame the Russian millionaire who promised the best four Croatia players a Mercedes each if they got the right result.

So no stone will be left unturned in the search for answers to England's problems, at least that is what we the fans are being told.

Going into the Croatia game, the coach was without his big star names like Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry. The press had as per usual picked the team by telling McClaren who to select and like a lamb to the slaughter he followed their lead by dropping Paul Robinson and David Beckham in preference to Scott Carson and Shaun-Wright-Phillips.

The former England manager might will look back on those decisions and wonder if he'd done things differently then would he still be the manager, because on just eight minutes Carson made what can only be described as a schoolboy error when taking his eye off the ball in doing so allowing Nico Kranjcar's tame shot to slip beyond him into the corner on the net. Catastrophe number one.

As if that wasn't bad enough on 14 minutes a Croatia counter-attack carved open the England defence and Phillips was guilty of doing a Tony Adams impersonation when standing still holding his arm aloft appealing for offside, worse still he allowed Ivica Olic to run free to make it two-nil.

Phillips later missed England's best chance of the first-half before being replaced by Beckham at half-time. The Chelsea winger had not played badly, but at key moments he'd let himself and his country down as had Carson.

No doubting some will argue that the keeper atoned for the error which led to the opening goal by making a string of fine saves, which he did, but that double salvo really left England shell-shocked for virtually all of the opening period. That isn't an excuse, but a statement of fact on what happened and not what should have happened regarding those in possession of the England shirts.

England looked like they were going to turn the game around after Lampard converted a second half penalty and then Beckham's superb cross was finished in style by England's outstanding player on the night Peter 'the coat-hanger' Crouch to make it 2-2.

Alas it wasn't to be as Petric scored with a thunderbolt on 77 minutes, in doing so bringing down the curtain on McClaren and sorry England.

Few will be optimistic about this root and branch review given Barwick's track record, but it is to be hoped that if there is anything good to come out of failure of not qualifying for Euro 2008, it is that hopefully future generations of England players can play the kind of possession football displayed by the Croatian's at Wembley on what turned out to be a very dark day for the English game.

For that to happen it is going to take a lot more than sacking successive England managers. Premier League clubs will need to ensure that they have a core of English players within their squads and for that to happen the recently much talked about quota system may well have to be looked at again.

Golan hits heights for Israel and England, but Tevez and Argentina show home nations how to play...

Going into the weekend's international fixtures many England fans will have been fearing the worst. We were told by the media that Steve McClaren and his team were done for. Not so, as Israel surprised many fans and the critics by beating Russia by the odd goal in three. Golan scored the winner on 90 minutes, in doing so ensuring England and their head coach were given a stay of execution until Wednesday when they face Croatia - a draw will be enough to secure a place in next summer's Euro 2008 finals.

How ironic it would be though if McClaren and his team go on to win the tournament. I'd love that to happen personally because I want to see McClaren's critics in the media eating their own bile.

The manager can only play with the hand that he's dealt with and England have suffered with a lot of injuries, worse still, England do not have an out and out striker, which is their single biggest problem - this is contrary to the views our agenda setting rabid press, who believe that getting rid of the coach is the answer to everything.

Let us not forget that is was the disgraceful News of the World who conspired to get shut of the last manager Sven. With such a spineless and weak FA, the press are the de facto rulers of the English game -bullying and constantly cajoling from the sidelines until they get what they want. So thank you to Golan and Israel for giving the coach and England the opportunity to turn the critics in the press into revisionists.

Meanwhile events north of the border saw Scotland conspire (aided by the officials and a wee Scotsman) to shoot themselves in the foot in the first and ninetieth minute as Italy broke the jocks hearts by winning 2-1.

It turned out to be a night of excuses which is often the case in the aftermath of important games. The opening goal came after the visitors took a quick throw-in on the left which eventually found Luca Toni whose speed of thought and movement ensured that he got to the ball first on the edge of the six-yard-box in doing so flicking it beyond Gordon.

Former Celtic star Charlie Nicolas and Sky pundit blamed the goal on 'multiball', saying 'a little Scotsman picked up the ball and threw it back into play before Scotland had time to get organised'. A life ban on the cards for the wee man?

Scotland battled hard from that point on and deservedly equalised in the second half when Barry Ferguson - who was clearly off-side - scrambled the ball over the line.

As in the Israel v Russia game, the decisive goal came in the 90th minute after the referee had made the wrong decision, instead of giving the home side a free-kick, Italy were given the award on the edge of Scotland's box, Panucci then somehow managed to chest the resulting cross ball into the net, in doing so killing the game and the Scots Euro 2008 hopes.

After the game Alex McLeish the Scotland manager blamed the defeat and the late winning goal at the doorstep of the referee, he went further by suggesting that in big games the decisions often go against the smaller nations.

McLeish chose to completely ignore the fact that Ferguson's goal was clearly offside and that Italy had themselves been on the wrong end of a bad decision when the ref chalked-off a good goal for offside. So in the big scheme of things Scotland had one really bad decision go against them to Italy's two...

With no club football on the box this weekend, it came as a somewhat pleasant surprise to learn that Argentina were set to take on Bolivia in Buenos Aires for a World Cup qualifier and the second half was live on Sky Sports one. A chance to see International football played as it should be was not going to be missed.

United's Carlos Tevez was on duty and he was his usual industrious self, but this game was like watching football from another planet compared to the fare served up at Hampden Park and what we see from England all too often.

Argentina have yet to concede a goal in the qualifying games so far, and their short accurate passing was a joy to watch. Every Argentina player including the defenders were comfortable in possession as time and time again they moved the ball quickly around the bemused Bolivians.

The pitch at the River Plate resembled a cabbage patch, it was full of ruts. Had England or Scotland been tasked with facing Argentina on this pitch, they both would no doubt have spent a week complaining about the state of the surface, in doing so, talking themselves into making mistakes. There was no need for excuses though as the home side thrashed the Bolivians three-nil, there was barely a misplaced pass that I can recall.

While offering support to under fire McClaren, I'm sure that all fans recognise that English players need to improve on technique which is a process that has to start at the grassroots. However, a good starting point for any player or coach, even the National team coach, would be to study the Argentinean's collective lesson in passing and movement against Bolivia which was on another level to anything that England have shown since 1970.

PFA talking tosh over Liverpool star facing burn-out?

PFA chief Gordon Taylor has sprung to the defence of Steven Gerrard, stating that he fears England players like the Liverpool skipper will suffer because of burn-out. There's too many games we are being told.

For the record, Gerrard has played six times for either club or country in 18 days during October. Taylor says that too many players are suffering with foot injuries. I actually agree with him on this point, but my own view is this is down to the design of these lightweight carpet-slipper like football boots, which do not offer enough protection.

Apparently, Rooney has had to have 'special boots' designed by Nike. The fact that Nike have had to take action of this nature speaks volumes. It begs the question, how many other top-flight stars have requested similar boots? Surely it wont be just Rooney?

Added to which, United fans might well argue that Taylor is talking rubbish, our top players are used to playing three times in any seven days at this time of year. The Reds have just equalled that record of scoring four goals in four consecutive games, the last time they did that was back in 1907. In doing so, Rooney et al flew to Russia, and then the Ukraine, while Tevez has been clocking up the air-miles playing for Argentina.

However, no football fan in their right mind wants to see players suffering with foot injuries and or burn-out, but we have to remember that it's the same in the other big European leagues. Only in Germany do they have fewer teams in their top division, eighteen to be precise. La Liga and Serie A have 20 teams like the Premier League. All the while England have been getting dusted by other European nations and others when it really matters.

Taylor has stopped short asking for a reduction in the number of teams in the Premier League, but that is one way of cutting down the hectic schedule of games. Another suggestion would be to scrap the Carling Cup, but the clubs wont vote for that - because money talks. Perhaps it's time to think about introducing a winter-break as they do in Germany?

Whatever decision is made in the longer term, it wont make up for England's consistent failure on the international stage. The whole approach to coaching youngsters needs to be looked at in this country. As the FAs football ambassador Trevor Brooking has said many times, English youngsters are just not skilful enough. That is where the problem starts, at the grass-roots of the English game.

McClaren and Heskey make critics eat their words...

I love it when the media are left choking on their collective bile when it comes to back-tracking over a manager or player who've they've been busily crucifying following a run of indifferent results or performances.

One such case is that of England manager Steve McClaren. Here we have a manager who the media supported when he replaced Sven Goran Eriksson. The Swede was eventually eased out of his cosy chair by the News of the World in that disgraceful fake Sheik sting. Let us not forget that the press had been trying to oust Sven over a number of years, the Sheik episode was by no means an isolated incident. Every aspect of Sven's life was delved into by the gutter press in a bid to get him out of a job.

Events post Sven have been all too predictable. The new manager was supported by the media, but following the usual and all too often brief honeymoon period, and a spell of indifferent performances by the Three Lions, the media, led by the tabloid press were preparing to write McClaren's obituary.

The manager had two games in which to save himself, at least that was the media line. We were told that this week's results against Israel and Russia would decide McClaren's England future. No doubt to the dismay of the manager's many media detractors, as we know England won both games comfortably.

It's true to say that McClaren has somewhat stumbled upon the team which won so well this week, it is also fair to ask questions about what might happen when the likes of Beckham, Hargreaves and Lampard are fit. Gareth Barry in particular has played well.

However, the media have totally missed one glaring point about England when they've been busily slagging off McClaren, that is that since Shearer retired they've not had an out and out target man. As we know, the often much maligned Emile Heskey was brought back into the squad, again largely due to injuries and suspensions and here again the manager has been somewhat lucky.

As we know Heskey has been something of a revelation giving two excellent performances. But what has happened in the last two games, only backs up the point that I've been making for two years, that is you can forget about all of the other issues concerning Beckham and Lampard et al. England need a target man, Rooney and Owen while being very good players in their own right are too similar in many ways.

Leading up to the games this week, the likes of Martin Samuel in The Times, was questioning why England couldn't be more flexible regarding their formation. Guus Hiddink we were told is a man who often changes his formation, which is true and having sat through both games this week and having enjoyed then too for a change, I found myself thinking that if Russia also had a target man they might have got something out of the game at Wembley last night.

In the end it's all about players and partnerships, it isn't just about formations. Heskey and Owen link up well, on the evidence of the last two games, better than any other current options up front.

McClaren should be given a huge amount of credit for bringing back Heskey - let's be honest - when we heard news of his recall, many said McClaren is taking the ****.

The media can write what they like, but they need to recognise their own collective limitations. After all, if you cannot see that England's main problem has been the lack of a genuine number nine, then you really should not be questioning any manager.

Heskey isn't the long term answer to solving England's woes, but his performances have given the hacks and the know-nothing back-stabbers a rather large clue about how to go about solving them in the longer term.

England win against Israel was partly down to a former local park keeper...

One of the most amazing football stories I've heard in quite some time came to light last week when I learnt that the man who is behind Manchester City's Academy set-up was until 1997 a local authority parks keeper - his specialist subject? Trees.

Jim Cassell, who rumour has it, is also a lifelong Manchester United supporter, is the man who is at the heart of City's burgeoning youth set-up, which along with West Ham United, must currently rank as the best in the country.

Cassell was the man who told City's former manager Joe Royle to select Shaun Wright-Phillips for the Blues for first team. Not long after the England winger was sold to big spending Chelsea. Micah Richards is another who has taken to the top flight of English football like a duck to water, against Israel last weekend, both players were on target for their national team as England grabbed a much needed three-nil victory. Cassell must have been a very proud man that day.

The City production line is continuing to produce talent at what must look like an alarming rate for rivals like United who until the last few years have been among the best at nurturing talent from an early age, but the worm has turned and now it's City who keep on churning out quality young players.

Manchester City and England can be thankful that Jim Cassell swapped his donkey jacket and wellington boots for his track-suit to pursue a full-time career in professional football. All too often we hear about the vast sums of cash which dominates the world of professional football, but here we have a man from a working class background who had a very run-of-the-mill job who went to make a real mark on the game at the highest level. It is an amazing story.

Another international weekend: Another snoozefest?

So this weekend England take on Israel at Wembley in the oh so important European Championship qualifier, victory will give the Three Lions confidence that they can progress further to the finals, but failure to win could be crucial in the weeks ahead, especially concerning Steve McClaren's future as manager.

The hacks have been circling like vultures waiting for their moment to see-off the former Boro manager. Our so called 'gentlemen of the press' were of course supportive of appointing McClaren, this after Sven Eriksson was fired following a tabloid campaign against the Swede. That episode ended when the News of The World tricked Eriksson into talking about his long term future in a disgraceful fake Sheikh sting.

So what happens if England do not qualify for the Euro Championship Finals? McClaren will be toast, that is all we can confidently predict for now. Then following the appointment of another new manager there will be the usual brief honeymoon period and then the inevitible tiresome tabloid sniping.

Personally I have felt for some time that England have one major problem, scoring goals. Since Shearer retired, England haven't had a world-class centre forward. That is their single biggest problem. There's nothing that managers, past or present, could do about that.

The lack of fire-power down the middle is the main reason that successive recent England teams have struggled to win games and score goals. Imagine what a difference someone like Drogba or Shearer of old would make.

But England do not have a world-class centre forward. Yes we have Rooney, but he is a second striker. No matter, we have to find someone to blame and as ever the tabloid press single out the manager. It was ever thus.

No doubting I'll be watching bits of the England game with tv remote control in my hand. Give me the Premier League any day rather than the predictable soap-opera like snoozefest that is watching and following England on and off the pitch.

Beckham set to return to England fold and rightly so..

David Beckham's name looks set to be included in Steve McClaren's next England squad, this after being discarded and treated shabbily by the then new England coach. The decision to axe Beckham was nothing short of a disgrace as the former United star had done as much, if not more, for his country than any other player over recent times.

What's more Beckham wasn't axed for purely football reasons, rumour has it that the decision was based more on off the field goings on, ie the circus which surrounds the player - this too was insulting to the professionalism of the player who has given his all on the pitch for United, Madrid and England.

England fans will no doubt welcome back Beckham and rightly so.