I would have to agree with most of these comments concerning Beckham. He brings to the team what other veterens have yet to show. One can clearly see on Wednesday that he can still play at an international level. In the game vs France were England as a WHOLE did not play very well, Beckham was surely one of the players who did. What people must remember is that England is in a rebuilding stage and Capello is trying different approaches and tactics, as well as starters.

The blame should not be put on a man with an immense amount of pressure already on himself in trying to earn on a place on a team that has excluded him for the past year. Let Capello play Beckham in the next few friendly's and THEN evaluate his play. I believe that he should be on the team due to his free kicking ability and corners and overall passing. But people must realize that he is not a solution, players such as Lampard, Gerrard, and Rooney, all must step up their play in order for success.

Danny, Coquitlam, Canada

This is the problem with snippets of quotes. Capello never implied anything close to Beckham being England's Ronaldo. He was replying to a question about Rooney acting as a lone striker and gave Beckham as an example of a player at his disposal that can provide accurate service (no argument there), not one that can be the same player as Ronaldo. He's was talking about tactical positioning in a specific situation, not comparing their abilities.

Bella, York,

i think Capello has been mis-quoted...He was making referenece to the fact that Beckam is the only person who can deliver quality into the box - and i agree completly with him. Mr Downing and Bentley are just average - not good enough for top 6 team so how on earth can they be in the england team!

Aaron Lennon is just simply average and Magic Juande has realised this and will either work him on his final ball or sell him to somebody else to be amazingly frustrated by lack of a final ball.

Beckham is a professional person who is good for the team - if we had an amazing right midfielder who Beckham was keeping out of the team then fair enough - complain - but we havent!!!!!!!!


PS can anyone explain who said ashley cole was a world class player - i think the last time i saw him play well was about 5 yrs ago for arsenal, when they had an amazing team - on wed his delivery was awful and overall contribution very limited - Wayne Bridge is a far better player!!

Paul H, Big Smoke,

I thought England looked like an international team on Wednesday night - finally ! the English defence looked sold and only a momentary lapse let the French get the penalty. France never looked like carving out a clear opening on goal. In previous England games (see Russia) the defence has looked like a pub team's.

The Italian way is proven to be successful. I remember the Italian foitball pundit of RAI at the last world cup after Spain had won 4-0 in its opening game comment (I translate) : '...serious contenders for the World Cup don't win matches 4-0 at this stage...Germany will go to the semi-final but maybe no further (after their win).'

If England want to win something we hsould get used to 0-0, 1-1 or 1-0 results in friendly matches.

Ian, London,

Tom in Oxon; fair point. Keegan for England!!!

jonners, weybridge,

Beckham has lived off that goal against Greece 7years ago, move on Capello, beckham is a has -been!

jim davies, lincoln, uk

Interesting that Martin's piece in January entitled 'Give me 100 reasons to pick David Beckham, but don’t make sentiment one of them' all but says that is it for Beckham without actually saying it as directly as that.
Now, however, Martin's promoting Beckham as a necessary tool 'if England are to move forward', albeit as a sub. A very worrying state of affairs if Martin's sense of direction and judgement are correct.

LP, Brighton,

Jonners in Weybridge, If england played like pompey we'd at least have qualified for Euro 2008. No, england are playing more like newcastle united......

Tom, Ox,

Those England players who play the same postion very well for their teams have very able players around them, unfortunately they are foreign,so when surrounded by the average over-hyped Englnad stars they cannot replicate that form.

Manny, London,

These players who are supposedly doing wonders in the same roles for their clubs have alongside them very talented footballers, unfortunately they are all foreign. So when they have to play for England with their average, over-hyped colleagues they are found wanting.

Manny, London,

We can't simply say "Rooney played where he does for United and Gerrard played where he does for Liverpool" They are 2 different teams with 2 different systems.

Either we play the United system with Rooney plus 2 from; Young, Agbonlahor, (both of whom play off Carew at Aston Villa) Bentley, Walcott with pace being the key to making the system work.

Or the Liverpool system with Rooney, Gerrard off of him, then an orthodox 4 across the middle with Bentley and J Cole representing more orthodox wide midfielders.

However, despite my criticism, Capello does know what he is doing, he is the right man for the job and there were positives in the French game. He needs time to do things his way, and we need to stop jumping on every comment until Capello is speaking absolutely fluent English and I honestly don't care if that takes another 2 years.

Lee, London,

Well the Italian revolution didn't last long did it?!

What is it about this part-time, semi-retired footballer that so seduces England managers?

We were all led to believe that Capello would bring some kind of revolutionary style to all that encompasses being a national coach but in only his second game he starts a player who has shown so much devotion to his craft that he decided to 'play' for a west coast American team in a league several tiers in terms of quality below the standard necessary to maintain international form.Beckham's commitment levels are always,along with long distant free kick goals,trumpeted by fair weather fans and those who should know better but just how much commitment has he shown,other than to his bank balance,to his career.

David Bentley was our best player against Switzerland only to be relegated to the bench to make way for a golden booted well past it (football-wise) celebrity.

Come on Fabio wise-up and think of the footballing future, not the past.

D.Heath, London, England

Cast Capello as Baldrick and he might just have a cunning plan; the problem of course is the players to pull it off. We all love ‘Becks’ and are really happy for him and his family that he got his 100 caps, but does he really put the wind up the opposition any more? In fact when you look at the current crop of England players you notice a particular absence of ‘fear factor’, no Ronaldo, Torres, Anelka, Drogba, Kaka, Totti or the likes. The top teams have a number of players who you always feel make a difference and are difficult to play against because of their excellence and unpredictability; England have Rooney and Gerrard but as one never seems to turn up on the day and the other always plays in a position ill suited to his ability you are left with a good honest bunch of lads from Blackburn, Villa and Pompey and guess what? England are about as good as Pompey and play like them

jonners, weybridge,

Beckham can be England's answer to Paolo Maldini. Not in position or skill, but longevity at the top. He doesn't have to perform, but just bring some much needed glamour to an otherwise pedestrian outfit that will perhaps never reach the summit. Sometimes the illusion of fame is all the smaller, unsuccessful nations like England, Belgium and Norway can hope for while the giants of the game, Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy compete for the prizes and demonstrate how to keep the ball until it nestles in the back of the net. Something Don Howe used to eschew in order to achieve the grail of great "tackling back" and defensive cover. Way to go Don.

David Caldwell, Hong Kong,