It's not the best example to support your case. It was a friendly. In competitive games, England have never beaten Brazil. http://www.myfootballfacts.com/England_v_Brazil.html
It was a mistake bringing back Gerrard and Lampard. Hodgson rightly dropped one of them initially(I'd have dropped Gerrard) but then he brought Lampard back and it means we have to play 3 in midfield and an energetic player at that, which restricts us.
Tom, Dick and Harry could play instead and it wouldn't make a difference. The problem is all down to mentality and philosophy. No amount of personnel England have available could change that, it's a lost cause talking about who should play and who shouldn't. Any team England put out should qualify but not get any further than the Last 16.
Exactly. His performances speak for themselves. He doesn't have to point to goals scored against crap teams to divert attention from poor performances. Xavi, Iniesta and Alonso have scored 37 goals in their 325 appearances for Spain, compared to Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard's 85 in 289 for England. I don't think that there are any doubts as to who's put in the better performances though, is there? Not entirely their fault, as the sides picked have often been extremely unbalanced, but they've never recreated their club form at international level with any consistency.
I don't think Lampard or Gerrard have ever been that bad for England, they are two of the few good England players. If you put Lamps and Gerrard in the Spain team, they would be brilliant. If you are scoring that many goals from midfield you cant be doing too badly. The problem is the lack of quality around them.
They're not bad players, by any means, but they don't function in the same side and nullify each other. Rooney merely adds to the problem. They all want to occupy the same space and do the same job, so none of them end up doing it and the team fails. Other players in the squad might not be as good, but they'd complement each other far better. As Real Madrid have found out, 11 Galacticos does not make a team.
Tottenham have a largely English defence and are capable of defending without resorting to backs to the wall deep defending away from home. Swansea have a lot of English footballers yet they seem capable of passing the ball and playing good football. I'm not saying it's those players faults it's just that when they're in the same team it just doesn't work and never has. England need to take a leaf out of the book of teams in the PL that don't have big stars but get their team selections and balance right. There's no way Swansea are a better side than England but that play a lot more exciting football and get good results too. It's like Lemmings with England managers, each comes in and thinks they can solve problems like Lampard and Gerrard in the same team, bringing through youngsters very early in their careers, making slightly older players first team regulars and they all come have this same confidence right up until they fall off the cliff into the same mediocre football we always get.
The difference there is that it takes clubs time to build a team to develop a certain passing style and that comes from the manager. Hodgson has embraced the good old fashioned English way of playing, 3 lions on the shirt, not pretty but aim to be effective. Unfortunately we're not pretty and not effective. Hodgson is too set in his ways and doesn't have the ability to change the playing style, nor does he have weeks with the same group of players. These England internationals turn up, all having played in different team setups so to then change their style in a few training sessions, to function as a team is definitely a hard task. I think Hoddle was the last manager to have succes with changing our playing style, all managers since have just picked the best players they rate from this country, placed them in the managers favorite formation and then hoped for the best, or some magic from Rooney. Sums up England managers and coaches in general and one of the reasons there was this big media/fan call for Redknapp, was because the fans want an attacking team, and the similar feeling we had when Venables was in charge. Hodgson is a nice chap but the wrong choice to be England manager, and due to the lack of current alternatives, we probably need someone like Wenger to change the shape of England performances.
