I personally think that with Terry Venables as the Manager, England would
have been threatening to demolish a side or two. As pointed out in an
earlier post, a team not unlike the one put out against Portugal demolished
Holland 4-1 back in '96.
For me the problem is that Kevin Keegan has not yet learned how to influence
a game tactically, hopefully he will learn from his mistakes at Euro2000, or
we will in fact struggle to qualify for the next world cup.
Incidentilly the last time I saw England play as badly as they did in this
tournament, they also failed to qualify for World Cup 94. The similarities
between Euro92 and 2000 are alarming to me as an England fan. I do however
think Keegan will learn, and hopefully we will see the real England in the
qualifiers.
Personally I think the only players from the England side to come out of the
tournament with some credit are Owen, Beckham, Scholes and Gerrard. A fit
Jamie Redknapp would have been able to pass the ball around and hold onto
the ball, which was essentially Englands key problem during the
championships.
Your point on the back four is valid, and I wouldn't have Gary or Phil
Neville any where near my England squad, Kieron Dyer and Gareth Barry
respectively would be the replacements in my team.
Adams, Keown, Ince and Wise should step aside for the likes of Ferdinand,
Southgate, Gerrard and Joe Cole.
Keegan's next step is possibly the most critical for the England side, for
me, he should be bold enough to throw in the young hungry and skillful
players (Gerrard, Dyer, Barry, Bowyer and Joe Cole etc) that he has at his
disposal.
The old guard should step aside now for Englands good, and to ensure that
they are remembered for the great times, and not the failure that was
Euro2000!
Your point about Howard Wilkinson is also a very interesting one, why did
they give him the U21 side? Who not keep with Taylor who had built the team,
and had obviously got the tactical knowledge to make England compete with
any countries U21 squad. A lack of foresight by the FA if you ask me!
Wilkinson likes long ball tactics, you only have to look at his Leeds side
that won the English title! This is not taking England forward, it's taking
them backwards!