Doubt Michael Owen at your peril!!
Just recently back from a very long injury which followed another long injury and didn't hit the ground flying when he got back but now has 4 goals in three competitive games for England!
To be honest I think the injuries were a stroke of luck! If Lampard had partnered Gerrard and Beckham and Rooney been fit the team would have played different and most probably not won both games I believe!
What I liked most about the two games was that the players for the most part actually showed the passion and commitment that has desperately been lacking recently.
Of course they weren't "top" teams but England for the most part hardly allowed them to become dangerous. Russia showed that they are a very very technically gifted side and should have equalised but I still think England would have won because they were up for it for once.
There are two things that England need on a consistant basis which would give them a realistic chance of doing more than the usual quarter final. Motivation and purpose in the play. For most of the games with SVE and MClaren the team lacked passion and would try to play safer than a broke Scottish poker player...
When once in a while the whole country gets up for a match and the team is backed into a corner they do pull out a performance that is worthy of the shirt they wear. In Germany a few years back, Argentina at the WC in Japan, France at the Euro in Portugal and the last two games...but the sad thing is it seems the team has to be motivated by press pressure and the fans...why can't the FA find a manager who actually knows how to motivate a team?
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