England Expects...

we're watching the England match this evening. we could have watched Casino Royale on DVD, but no, we're in a sado masochistic mood tonight and have elected not to enjoy ourselves.

so we've been trying to work out why England are playing like they are at the moment and one of the things we've come up with is that the players just can't be arsed.

think about it - most of them are in the middle of premiership/FA Cup/european scraps that culminate this coming May. and instead of being allowed to concentrate on the really pressing stuff, they're dragged off to play qualifying matches for a tournament that doesn't start for another 14/15 months. (It's a shame we've not any Arsenal players in the team - its not like they're playing in any cups at the moment).

add into the mix the utter crap they get from the press and fans when they pull on an england shirt and you can't blame them for underperforming.

I don't feel sorry for Steve McLaren - the only thing he's got going for him is that he's not Sven. But I do feel sorry for JT taking on the captain's mantle when England are playing even worse than they did for Turnip Taylor.

That said, Stevie M$$ has just scored, so those rather angry looking fans will hopefully behave themselves on the Ramblas tonight instead of burning the team in effigy. It would be ironic if we got kicked of a tournament rather than being knocked out, as we deserve.