[Archived] England's Injury Crisis

[Blue blood]

Unsuurprised at Bentley's ommission although McClown perhaps could have handled the situation a lot better. It'll certainly be interesting to see what happens when players of the big 4 go against england - as Gerrard is doing already. If so he'll loose even more credability.

How Owen and Beckham can be selected is beyond me - they're simply not fit, whilst others like Smith have hardly set the world alight of late. There's nothing new about McClown - same tactics, same team, same performances. I find myself in the sad position of wanting Germany to stuff us and end this farce.

Whilst it's always Rovers before England every time - and why I'm not annoyed by Bentley and big 4's players behaviour (just the discrepency in the reporting and dealing with it) it shouldn't really get to the stage where you want your country to loose. Under McClown there isn't really any optimism or bright points to his reign.

[Saf]

http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Ne...quadGermany.htm

[blue phil]

I hope Bentley plays against Arsenal, like he did Against United that time! A hat-trick would rub McLarens face right in it.

It's irrelevant how Bentley performs against Arsenal .

Managers pick teams and , as Pearce says in his interview , the main role of the under 21's is to enable players to graduate to the main team . In effect they are the "reserves" , and when Bentley refused to play for them he gave McClaren no option but to drop him (for how long who knows...) .

If he had picked him he would have shown himself to have less influence on the team than a player who , if we're honest , is only on the fringes of the squad anyway.

As I've said before , if Bentley has any aspirations to play for England (and he surely must do) , then he has done the Rovers no favours at all . Playing for a small town team will leave him more vulnerable to being overlooked than if he was at a big club . The Euros are at the end of the season ...what price Bentley eyeing a move at Christmas ?

As for McClaren ...the question of his competence as a manager is irrelevant also . Any manager worth his salt would have taken the same action against Bentley . A player cannot be allowed to pick and choose his matches .

[b12_simon]

As for McClaren ...the question of his competence as a manager is irrelevant also . Any manager worth his salt would have taken the same action against Bentley . A player cannot be allowed to pick and choose his matches .

Gotta agree with you there, Phil. Bentley must've expected this when he pulled out (I certainly did).

[Eddie]

Disagree totally with that Phil. Any logical person could see that there were plenty of reasons for Bentley not to play for the U-21's, which are by no means England reserves. Not that many under-21 regulars graduate to the full side, in fact I would quite happily guess that the majority of players currently in the full England squad (when everyone is fit) can only boast a handful of under 21 caps between them.

By not picking him for anything other than footballing reasons (or exceptional personal circumstances) he has shown himself to be a spiteful fool. If he doesn't think he's good enough then I have no problem with that, but that clearly isn't the case.

Case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Oh and he wasn't picking and choosing his matches, it wasn't as if he opted out of an England friendly. The under 21's are a completely different entity and should be treated as such.

[blue phil]

I wonder if you and the other blinkered posters would be taking that attitude if it was a player from West Ham or Birmingham who had opted out of playing for his country .

By the way , my comments on the role of the under 21's were taken from the interview with Pearce . Maybe he doesn't understand what his job is ...

One final point . Many people are taking it for granted that Bentley would be an automatic choice for England had it not been for his decision to snub the under 21's . Personally I still think he's very much a fringe player at best at that level . Many supporters of England (objective supporters that is) would be amazed at some of the comments to be found on this thread about Bentley's ability and readiness to compete at that level . And that's before his attitude comes into it .....

[den]

The problem was caused by Pearce, BP. Rovers informed him that Bentley needed to rest and asked that he wasn't chosen in the squad. Now to me, there's no problem there. All Pearce had to do was pick someone else.

Pearce decided though, to cause a storm by selecting a player who he knew wouldn't be available. Who's the stupid one there? Who finished up going to the U21 tournament one man short, when he didn't need to?

[LeChuck]

The problem wasn't Pearce's at all Den, he picked a player for the squad who was fit and eligible. If established international players like Ryan Babel were playing in the tournament then so should Bentley. The club could have easily have afforded to give him a couple of weeks extra rest as compensation, we didn't need him for the Intertoto.

Absolutely no surprise that he's been punished for it, and rightly so. As Phil said, if it was a player at any other club everyone on here would be outraged and would no doubt be hurling abuse at the player.

[den]

Agbonlahor didn't go to the tournament LeChuck. The main problem to my mind was that England were a man short for the finals. That was Pearces fault.

[Roar of the Rover]

How on the f*** has Alan Smith been picked, it just sums Mr.McClaren up.

[blue phil]

Agbonlahor didn't go to the tournament LeChuck. The main problem to my mind was that England were a man short for the finals. That was Pearces fault.

Talk about blinkered !

It's a question of whether or not Bentley was fit to play for England . By any criteria he was . He chose NOT to and is now living with the consequences .

To put the blame on Pearce is incredible . What if Bentley was picked for the next England match - would he have the right to opt out if he felt a bit tired ? The bit about England ending up a man short is incidental to the main point as to whether it is acceptable for a manager to allow a player to dictate terms to the extent Bentley did . I can't believe any manager would accept such interference in his role .

Once bitten , twice shy .

[USRoverME]

So why aren't youjust as mad at Agonbahalore (sp?)they TREID to invite him, but he "couldn't be reached".....

Which is worse...

Telling the truth (I don't want to play for the U-21s to keep myself fresh for club and country, as he did have a full international appearance)

of turning your cell phone off to avoid the situation.

Oh, and don't bring the "full itnernationals" into it, because thn you have to wonder, if it was such an important tournament, why weern't Rooney and similar players asked?

[IAN57]

McClaren is on Talk Sport (some have another name) tomorrow morning.

[den]

I'm not putting all the blame on Pearce BP. TBH, if it had been me, I would have gone to the finals.

Doesn't change the fact that Pearce made a crisis out of an avoidable situation. If you had been Pearce, would you have allowed the squad to go to the finals one man short?

[tchocky]

One final point . Many people are taking it for granted that Bentley would be an automatic choice for England had it not been for his decision to snub the under 21's . Personally I still think he's very much a fringe player at best at that level . Many supporters of England (objective supporters that is) would be amazed at some of the comments to be found on this thread about Bentley's ability and readiness to compete at that level . And that's before his attitude comes into it .....

Spot on there. He deserved his place in the U21's on merit. Now he has to show that he deserves a place in the full squad. He's not far off, but there's a lot of blue and white tinted glasses here..

Oh, and don't bring the "full itnernationals" into it, because thn you have to wonder, if it was such an important tournament, why weern't Rooney and similar players asked?

That's a silly question. Rooney has been in the full squad for years. They are not going to downgrade him are they. Certainly not so long as he plays for the big 4.

[Eddie]

I wonder if you and the other blinkered posters would be taking that attitude if it was a player from West Ham or Birmingham who had opted out of playing for his country .

By the way , my comments on the role of the under 21's were taken from the interview with Pearce . Maybe he doesn't understand what his job is ...

One final point . Many people are taking it for granted that Bentley would be an automatic choice for England had it not been for his decision to snub the under 21's . Personally I still think he's very much a fringe player at best at that level . Many supporters of England (objective supporters that is) would be amazed at some of the comments to be found on this thread about Bentley's ability and readiness to compete at that level . And that's before his attitude comes into it .....

I wouldn't care to be honest with you, I think like the vast majority of football supporters, and I consider myself a very serious one, is that I really don't care what the under 21's do and I rarely watch the games, I certainly don't to out of my way to watch them. I would be totally in support of any other club player who had done a similar thing and, as has been pointed out, I respect Bentley for being honest, rather than doing what the majority of players would of done and just made some sort of injury.

Every football fan I know that is familiar with the premiership believes that Bentley should be in the England squad, none of them are Rovers fans and most of them are usually reluctant to recognise any achievment by either the team or a player simply because I support them. He is still a fringe player, but it is quite obvious that he was only left out because of this, it had nothing to do with his actual ability.

[BlueMonday]

What is undeniable is that Mclaren is a total F##k wit, doesn't know what he's doing, will fail in qualification and loose his job PDQ.

[colin]

What is undeniable is that Mclaren is a total F##k wit, doesn't know what he's doing, will fail in qualification

Just about sums him up for me too. The sooner he gets back to driving his bus the better.

[broadsword]

Whether or not Bentley should've gone, I don't know. I think he had his reasons, he wasn't throwing a wobbler like Sutton.

But I'm dubious as to Pearce's ability as a manager.

I think it may just be a one-off punishment for Bentley. McLaren wouldn't want other youngsters to start copying him I guess.

[RevidgeBlue]

Talk about blinkered !

It's a question of whether or not Bentley was fit to play for England . By any criteria he was . He chose NOT to and is now living with the consequences .

To put the blame on Pearce is incredible . What if Bentley was picked for the next England match - would he have the right to opt out if he felt a bit tired ? The bit about England ending up a man short is incidental to the main point as to whether it is acceptable for a manager to allow a player to dictate terms to the extent Bentley did . I can't believe any manager would accept such interference in his role .

Once bitten , twice shy .

Disagree with you completely on this bp.

I'd agree with you if Bentley was attempting to pick and choose his matches at senior England level. However Bentley at 23 years of age, and a proven Premiership performer had nothing whatsoever to prove at under 21 level, nor did he have anything to gain by starting any more games at that level.

To take your argument to it's logical conclusion, Rooney should have gone to the under 21 tournament because players shouldn't have the right to opt out.

To be fair many national media figures agreed that under 21's football was of no use to Bentley, the brunt of the criticism came at the timing of the announcement which allegedly came too late for Pearce to call up a replacement. When interviewed on Talksport at the time Bentley expressed surprise that that situation had arisen, and hinted that as far as he knew his decision had been communicated to the England set up some time previously. That's the crux of the matter, which we've never really got to the bottom of, it seems there may have been a failure in communication either at Rovers' end or at the England end leaving Pearce high and dry.

By the same token I hope Bentley doesn't risk making himself look worse now by going to the media to comment on his "omission" as it has been said will happen today. He's never previously taken the field at full senior level, so in that sense his omission from any squad is a non story.

Best to maintain a dignified silence and let his football do the talking on the pitch this season - to such a degree that Sven mark 2 or anyone else can't ignore him any longer.

[Rover down South]

Steve McClaren should never of been appointed England manager. Everyone was insistent on an Englishman taking the job & he was the best the FA could come up with, in my opinion, he was NOT. We shouldn't of limited it to an English manager.

As for the Bentley situation, maybe he did do wrong by not going to the u21 tournament, who cares. The Germany game is just a friendly, but it is an ideal oppurtunity to get our best team out, Bentley should be part of that team. But McClaren, decides to be the big man & punish him & not include him.

How come Gerrard is in the squad, he has already said he won't play for England against Germany, but he will play for Liverpool tomorrow?? So Bentley can't pick & choose but Gerrard can???????

McClaren, you should go now, you are going to embarress us as a football nation. If you want to hand out petty punishment, go & become a school teacher.

My hope is that, Bentley will go & score/create a hatful of goals tomorrow against Arsenal & makes McClaren look more of a fool.

[philipl]

Exactly, Gerard should not be picked for the Euro qualifier games.

[American]

If Bentley was sooooo tired, he should have opted out of the senior friendlies when called up. He should be thrilled not to be called up for anymore international matches, as they would just tire him out, anyhow.

He wasn't tired, he just didn't feel the tournament was worth playing.

Edit: If I told my boss I couldn't work on what I considered a meaningless project because I was too busy, he wouldn't then go put me on an important project a month or so later, unless he didn't have anyone else he could put on it. McClaren has plenty of other options.

[b12_simon]

Bentley was interviewed on Football Focus today. The impression I got is he sees not being selected as punishment for missing the U21s, has accepted that and is making a very strong case for selection next time.

I'm no fan of Second Choice Steve but I can apprecitate his reasons for not picking Bentley this one time. It's only a friendly and it's an opportunity to send a message to the current U21s. If he's not in the squad for the next game, that'll be a different matter!

[they_think_its_all_rover]

Is this a biased title or what!??

the title tries to put a completely different spin on things, trying to make Bentley sound public enemy no.1 again!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...89520-19655384/

Nicko, if you know this guy.... give him a kick in the balls!