WC 2002 - QFs lost to eventual winners Brazil - totally expected and we put up a fight going 1-0 up. Euro 2004 - QFs lost to hosts Portugal under very questionable circumstances. I think it might have been silver goal at the time so the 'disallowed' Campbell goal would have put us through. Not really a failure. WC 2006 - QFs lost to Portugal again. Very close game and a good contest, we lost with 10 men and on penalties,again it was very dodgy because Jamie Carragher scored a crucial penalty, then had to retake it for no valid reason and missed which knocked us out. Euro 2008 - Didn't qualify, this was the one time we really did fail, but it was before we even got to the tournament so you can't use it to prove that we fail tournaments. Once again it was very unlucky with the game away at Croatia and that ridiculous bobble which scored a goal for them and Carson's shocker at Wembley (OK that one was his own fault rather than pure luck but still, it was the reason we didn't qualify rather than a lack of ability around the team. WC 2010 - QFs lost to Germany - again it was as expected. We were 2-0 down and clawed it back to 2-2 which shouldn't be ignored. If the ref wasn't playing 'silly buggers' then that would have made things a lot different if we didn't have to push on for a goal, also Germany scored from an England free kick hitting the bar. It certainly wasn't the annihilation everyone made out. So yeah, it's a total myth. Going back to Milner my argument is the same as before - he can cross better than most of the other wingers. If Johnson doesn't go and Young plays in the middle then he's our best option to put the ball in the box for the strikers. Also agree with OLM that Defoe should be in the team if we play 4-4-2, he's a proper striker who suffers from the defensive way that most managers set up now. In a front two alongside someone bigger he's lethal, but he can't play on his own and that's what managers want now unfortunately so he just gets dropped instead.
It's the same with Carrick. Playing for your country should be an honour regardless of whether you were picked in the original squad or not.
Which has led to Cahill sustaining a fractured jaw and being out of the Euro's. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18311737
The England team from 2002-2006 and the last WC, obviously discounting the last Euro's, said they were the one of the best in the world and could go on and win. Did they not? In reality, if they hadn't said this, or the press hadn't said this, then those finishes would have been fine with me. But they shot their mouths off beforehand. And the way they went out was a let down.
Well I didn't hear it and I strongly doubt that the team themself said that. The media always get quite excited but I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with it, we have always had one of the stronger squads but we haven't managed to beat a big side at a tournament. The fact is winning a World Cup doesn't just happen even if you have a great team, you have to win against some very good other sides and it doesn't help when we get a massive refereeing decision go against us in the decisive game every single time.
