"The talent is there, the issue is management"... comment left by Bill From London..... The talent is not there Bill... The managment is there, but with no talent... Owen has not got what it takes to be a good striker anymore.... he was good when he started, but like the majority of the player... money has got to them, and ruined them...Owen has nothing now.. hes ot match fit, cant score for newcastle, and will defnantly not score for England. Rooney and Crouch/Defoe up ront for me....
English youngsters need to be given the chance to play for the top teams...... i can se walcott being a very good player in thecoming years!, thats if he continues playing for arsenal..... the future is looking bright, but is currently very dull.

Vish, Bedford ,

These friendlies are a complete waste of time. The players obviously don't give a damn about anything but collecting their money. The managers can't possibly learn much from this non-competitive environment. Let's introduce some sort of tournament (like the Plates at Wimbledon) for those who don't make the finals of the big competitions. These could be played as a straight knock-out tournament with two-leg ties. At least matches would then have some sort of meaning to them and the pampered pets would have some reason to try a bit harder.

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

Vish,

We can only take players from Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea. Arsenal don't have any recognisable English talent that have Champions League experience....

Carl, Bristol, UK

Mr Wylie's comments are so typical of the short-sighedness of English supporters. Check the scoreboard, Mr Wylie. If I were French, I would be seriously worried. One goal from a pokey penalty says it all. What so many supporters mistake for bad play is merely unattractive play. 0 -1. away from home is not so bad for an experimental side against a team ranked 7th in the world. Four higher than England. This house is only half built so is bound to leak a bit.

Edward O'Brien, Gloucestershire, England

Didn't Lampard come down with something the last time he was dropped from the England team?

maccer, Alexandris, Greece

I'm just a humble Froggie on that blog, but - having watched the whole of that match - I must say that I find you guys excessively tough with your players. OK, they lost (minimum loss), and perhaps they deserved to, but it was not a competition, and if some of your "divas", my English friends, were not "à la hauteur" yesterday night, most of the ones you want to give the sack to are still, it seems to me, great players (Lampard, Cole.. to the dogs, really ?!)
Get yourself a drink and forget this meaningless tryst between a majority of premier league players distributed among two gentle teams (Vish from Bedford has a point, there...)

LAMBRET, PARIS, FRANCE

It is fascinating to read these oh so familiar emails, and I echo the sentiments of just about all of them. I would like to ask 'Vish from Bedford' a question when he reports "The natioanl team should consist of Liverpool, chelsea, manu and arsenal players", which English Arsenal players is he speaking of? This leads me to echo 'Brian from Bicester' who laments "the Premier League which is clearly only good thanks to the presence of foreign players". This is exactly the problem with English football. Too few players playing together on their club teams. Back in the day when England would actually make the Semi and Quarter Finals of major international tournaments, you could select 6 players each from Arsenal, or Liverpool/Man U. Those days are gone. The F.A. should insist of the EPL, that a minimum number of English players be in a squad/starting line up of a Premier League team. England will be a second class international team until that is sorted out.

Gene , Orlando, USA.

I like the idea of the national team consisting only of players from the 'Big Four'. That would be a hell of a 5-a-side team! Mr Wenger's 'club vs country' concerns would certainly be a thing of the past!

Geoff, Manchester, UK

It is grossly inacurate to suggest that selection was based on sentiments; rather that they these were the best available in form players from the PL. The rseult and performance of Fabio's second game incharge is no indication of what England is capable of; we should instead be patient in giving Capello the freedom and space to whip England in shape for the next World Cup. I for one treat this loss to France as an opportunity to gain a more intimate knowledge and insight into how best to manage English players. I expect Beckham to feature more in future England games - he is a genuine talent as a FOOTBALLER.

S K LIN, Hong Kong, China

Sadly another England performance with no passion or interest but no doubt a financial success for the FA. 100 caps for Beckham but not one for playing against Scotland differentiates him from Wright, Moore, Charlton and Shilton who must have played against Scotland a dozen times each. Until the fixtures against the home nations are re-established the England team will never develop the team culture or the passion and pride to play for England which comes from facing Scotland and their supporters.

David, Guildford, Surrey

The England team is nothing more than an International club side for London anyway. Why should anyone outside of London care about it? Our football clubs are paying the wages of these players so why should we send them to London to get injured in meaningless 'international' matches. If you want a real international match watch some Champions League football, not this tripe. The whole thing over the last few years with the FA, Barwick , McLaren and Capello is just an embarrassing joke for this country, I don't want to be represented on the International stage by these clowns, any right thinking Englishman should have washed his hands of the International laughing stock that is London United many, many years ago. Their laughable capitulation to Croatia recently should have put paid to any lingering belief that this 'team' will ever win anything ever again.

J Roberts, Manchester, UK

If you were really committed and really wanted to play for your country would you let a little stomach upset stop you, your supposed to be an athlete, how come your sick, stage fright ? in which cas, please do us all a favour Lampard and don't turn up at all, there are plenty of other more commited players eager and proud to take your place.
We need Richards, Young and Abonglahor in the team asap particularly the later to act in the 'Tevez' role to partner Rooney, forget Owen, Ashley Cole & Terry, maybe even Gerrard, who never turns up on the day.

Andrew Wakeling, London, uk

The result is hardly surprising given the fact that decisions are being made for sentimental rather than footballing reasons. These games should be used to give younger footballers a chance to mix with experience, instead, retired has-beens are being granted these undeserved milestone games, due to their media circus rather than talent. Its time now to cut this dead weight loose, and pick footballers ahead of celebrities.

Steve, london,

Watching the whole of the England-France game juast about drove me to despair. Ciompared to the Frencg the English were positively pedestrian. They neither skilful or accurate enough to beat any half decent team and proves once again that we are blinded by the apparent success of the Premier League which is clearly only good thanks to the presence of foreign players. Until we have policies which nurture home talent and reduce the numbers of foreigners,the International team will never be better than mediocre. This won't happen of course as the Premier is only interested in money and profits. We could start by by picking a team that doesn't depend on either James or Robinson, if these are the best goalkeepers we can muster we are finished. The likes of Peter Shilton must have a good laugh every time he sees them play. The time it took James to realise the danger last night was laughable, if it hadn't been so sad.

Brian Wylie, Bicester, England

I will express my views again. England need players that are EXPEREINCED. having players that do not play in the champions league for the club team is only leading to disaster.
England need more Gerrards, Rooneys, Terrys etc..... these players are rock solid and they go out to win... Gerrad has the potential to break the defence apart, but as he is not a hogger, he like to pass. Capello should tell him to smack the bsall when he gets it - as with rooney..
The natioanl team should consist of Liverpool, chelsea, manu and arsenal players.... As yesterday was a friendly, and agree with capello playing players that are not in the top 4... but for big tournamenets, expereinced players is up upmost importance...
rival players fear Gerrard/Rooney etcc...and we need more like him,.

Vish, Bedford ,

Capello's strategy of playing Beckham for one hour was just right. It gave Beckham the opportunity to show if he was 'international standard'. He was not; and therefore he showed us why his 'international career' is over.

Roger, Shrewsbury, U.K.

Every time the French got the ball they ran with it. Every time the British players got the ball they trotted. Nothing more to say.

Chris Coles, Medstead, Alton, United Kingdom

Capello show Beckham the door and send Terry, Lampard, James and Ashley Cole to keep him company in the international wilderness!

Promote the likes of Green, Ashton, Milner, Noble, Young, Glen Johnson, Carrick, Parker, Foster, Defoe, Hart, Taylor and Richards to the full squad. Mix them with the genuinely world class players like Gerrard, Owen, Bentley, Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. Get the promising youngsters like Sears, Tomkins, Walcott and Micheal Johnson in to the U-21s, gaining experience of international footall. Fast track the most promising 18/19 years olds to train with the full squad and consign the so-called 'golden generation' (what a joke) to the past.

The talent is there, the issue is management, selection, tactics and building a team spirit and cohesion without bad attitude players, spoilt brats and player that will never, ever cut it at this level. Players like Lampard, Terry and Ashley Cole have had their day, time for England to move on and upwards towards 2010

Bill, London, UK

Has John Terry ever had a decent game for England and has Joe Cole done anything since scoring that good goal against Sweden a few years ago?

Fergus Sira-Lexon, England,

Won't be bothering with England games for the foreseeable future. I used to love the national team but just don't feel any connection with the overrated, overpaid, truculent divas anymore. I actually dislike the lot of them so much, I want them to get beat - how sad is that? Would much rather watch Championship football, at least I get the feeling that the players are trying and actually care.

Al, Blackpool;,