Scholes tho

Carrick tho

The exception rather than the rule.

Right but my point is that neither of them get/got nearly enough playing time for their country. Their talents simply haven't been valued highly enough. That has to do with mindset/philosophy to me.

Wat?

Joe Cole though.

Scholes had 66 caps which is healthy amount. Carrick meh, its not really fruitful to discuss him in the same context. Even if you are being really homer about Carrick he is still not close to Scholes in terms of ability.

Scholes was a once in a generation footballer. Like you say, he was under-used, but our problems were more down to simply having a group of players that were/are technically behind their peer group. Much like we do now.

England miss Wilshere. Would be a much better fit than Milner imo

The rest days is unfair.

I think England are slightly better than Italy and can score goals v Germany.

There are plenty of technically good footballers being produced in England and over the last 20 years. Maybe the depth isn't as good as other countries but the players have been there. I agree that it is mindset and tactical failings that are the problem. You look at England's starting 11 at the 2006 World Cup and that is a very good list of players. But that's it. It's just a list. Fit them into a 4-4-2 so that you can accommodate both Rooney and Owen, stick J.Cole out on the left in a less effective role and have Lampard and Gerrard as your two midfielders. Sven clearly didn't learn from his master stroke in 2004 of shoving Scholes out on the left to reduce his impact on the game. At least he got Beckham correct in a completely dysfunctional midfield.

wont be too disappointed if we lose vs Italy. This German team are so dynamic, it seems like no matter what you throw at it, they can come up with a way to beat you, which is in my opinion the exact essence of football, and whilst my one time hatred of Germany has matured into a massive admiration, losing to them AGAIN in a semi-final of a major tournament would make me feel sick to my stomach.

Obviously the above ignores the fact that we might be able to beat them, but it just seems like an impossible task. At least vs the Spaniards we could park the bus and assume they would stick to their one-way strategy and hope to nick it, but these Germans are on a different level nowadays.

Sad really, but credit where credit is due. Hope they win it.

Im from a far away land.. known as Reality.

Wrong thread and such, but do people here really think that Germany is better than Spain?

Haha, no.

First XI are debatable. Same with depth. Germany won't play turtle vs Spain this time and have a better coach. I give them the slight edge, but its 1a/1b.

Don't normally bet but had to put some money down on Italy when I saw the bookies have them even. Italy's performance against Spain showed them to be a class team and England have looked poor throughout the tournament.