[Archived] England's Injury Crisis

[grizfoot]

look at him......just look at the guy that wrote that article..........

Looks like someone's lost their physics teacher.

[bob fleming]

look at him......just look at the guy that wrote that article..........

Jeff Powell

[Wolverine]

[ultrablue]

"a few worthless minutes" eh powell? Kind of contradicts your theory of the honour of playing for your country right?

[pleasure]

Jeff Powell

you can write what jeff powell knows about football on the back of a postage stamp.

I stopped reading his stuff years ago, he was trying to be controversial for the sake of it.

prime example on his genius was during euro96.

he wrote how gazza was finished "TEL MUST DROP THE FATBOY NOW!!!!!!!" and shouldnt be picked against scotland.

he also used to take southern bias and new levels and basically act as PR to cronies in 'football's old-boys network'.

[roversmum]

I wrote an extremely reasonable reply to the article and they haven't published it

[Wolverine]

As have I - yesterday in fact.

[gumboots]

Interesting that the 2 replies against Bentley were from readers in the States, who presumably do not know the ins and outs of the situation. We have some very knowledgeable American fans ourselves so I'm not knocking the American fans per se, but, unless these 2 are Rovers fans they presumably only know what they read in the media.

[Alex Rover]

The question I've posed to a few people at work that have commented negatively, is how many times they've watched the under 21's or checked on their results? None of them could even tell me how England got on in the recent championships? I've asked them that as keen football fans, if they don't care about supporting their countries under 21's then why should anyone else? Needless to say I won the arguments

[Grabbi Graeme]

Strange isn't it, I just posted a comment on the story and Bentley and it hasn't appeared either.

[tchocky]

Same here.

[pksrover]

Bentley is not even on the bench tonight

[Exiled_Rover]

Bentley is not even on the bench tonight

Don't worry, we can bring on Phil Neville in a pinch.

[JAL]

Bentley is not even on the bench tonight

Bents must be in bits after the booing he received, so they cant risk him in such an high profile game such a shame.

[ewoodblue]

Bents must be in bits after the booing he received, so they cant risk him in such an high profile game such a shame.

It's an absolute disgrace that McClaren asd given in to the boo boys.

I've turned it off,in protest.

Please England get rid of that clown in charge.

[LeChuck]

It's an absolute disgrace that McClaren asd given in to the boo boys.

I've turned it off,in protest.

Please England get rid of that clown in charge.

Oh come off it, he's just gone for the experience of Smith instead of Bentley. In the circumstances I can see why he wants experience over players who are still untested at this level.

You're the only one missing out by turning it off. A cracking opening half an hour, we're performing very well again. Why has it taken so long for Gareth Barry to be considered an international player? He looks so comfortable at this level. It's frustrating to think that for all those years we struggled on the left side that he was sat at home wondering why he wasn't being called up.

[philipl]

At least Bentley cannot get injured and will be fresh and raring to show them what he is capable of on Saturday.

Owen taking his chances, Russia fluffing their's.

[Rover 'til I die]

Oh come off it, he's just gone for the experience of Smith instead of Bentley. In the circumstances I can see why he wants experience over players who are still untested at this level.

What, the experience of being pants for England? Alan Smith has had plenty of chances and looked rubbish every time as far as I'm concerned, besides if you're theory is correct then why go for the inexperience of Barry over Carrick who isn't on the bench either. Defoe is more experienced that Johnson at England level as well and he too has been snubbed so I don't buy that.

So Bents gets a few ignorant boos on Saturday and as a result loses his place on the bench! As far as I'm concerned Bentley England career is over as long as this clown is in charge.

If he can't beat the likes of Alan Smith & Phil Neville to the subs bench then what chance has he got when Beckham, Lennon and Dyer return from injury?

Bentley has been kissing McLaren's a-hole since the Germany rejection to get back in the team (something i suspect he felt he had to do rather than wanted to) and if I was him I wouldn't bother in the future.

I'm just worried that he will privately feel that if he were to move to a "big club" he'd get back into the England fold.

Steve McLaren I really hope you get sacked very soon!

[LeChuck]

Barry has played for five different England managers and Johnson has been involved with the England squad on and off since his Palace days, they're hardly comparable to someone who's only recieved their second call-up and had ten minutes playing time.

But of course, because he plays for Rovers, Bentley must be getting screwed over and/or treated unfairly in some way. It can't simply be a footballing decision, can it?

[JamieUK]

I've only caught the last 15 min *edit 15 min of first half* and the second half but Wright-Phillips has been shocking from what I've seen. I'm sure a winger is supposed to be able to cross the ball? : It's a shame for Bentley cos if he was on the bench then you'd think (well maybe not with McClaren) that he'd get more than the 5 min he did at the weekend. Here's hoping Bents shows to be the better player this saturday...

[USRoverME]

Honestly, it turned out okay, England was comfortably in the lead 2-0 after what, 30 mins, and continuing to boss the game. there was no tactical need to bring Bentley on, and well, injuries, and fatigue concerns mean I'd rather him not play in a match that was basically over...

[Eddie]

Another good performance and result, the only thing that makes this a sad affair is that everyone seems to be trying to turn victories against the likes of Russia and Israel at home into amazing results against top quality sides. Don't get me wrong, they are both two good teams and are both difficult away games (although I'd still expect England to get a result in both games), but you would always expect an England team to deal with them at home. An eyebrow would not normally be raised at these results.

[philipl]

I'm raising more than an eyebrow to France 0 Scotland 1

[Rover 'til I die]

Barry has played for five different England managers and Johnson has been involved with the England squad on and off since his Palace days, they're hardly comparable to someone who's only recieved their second call-up and had ten minutes playing time.

But of course, because he plays for Rovers, Bentley must be getting screwed over and/or treated unfairly in some way. It can't simply be a footballing decision, can it?

I wasn't comparing Bentley to Barry or Johnson, I was simply answering your point on picking players based on experience. You said that Alan Smith had taken Bentley's place on the bench because he was more experinced. I'm saying that for that to be true then Defoe should be ahead of Johnson and Carrick should be ahead of Barry so to me experience had nothing to do with McLaren's decision tonight.

There can only be 2 reasons why he wasn't used, either he performed badly in training or MClown was swayed by the boos from Saturday and I personally think it was the latter.

[John]

I'm raising more than an eyebrow to France 0 Scotland 1

Who needs skill when you have so much raw determination.

Scotland ran their hearts out tonight and top the group!!!