Sterling..

[jon15u]

I agree there, and he should be rested for Liverpools next game. Think Hodgeson was hinting at that also.

And your last sentence sums it all up. The mentality we seem to have regards playing for England is " We aint won anything worth Sh1-te since 66, stand more chance in the PL, the press do nothing but hound out excuses to pick holes we are only here cause we are told we must be, so why bother. "

Not saying all feel that way, but many do imo, especially when you see the excuses to get out of appearing.

So how do you go about installing more passion to play, and more pride in playing for England,? You shouldnt have to, but it appears we do.

[Hammerman69]

Go and get a load of League 1 players...tell them they can play for England for free if they are interested and see how many jump at the chance.

I reckon 11 hungry League 1 players would have won more comfortably.

If you have to instill a winning mentality in professional sportsmen then they are in the wrong job.

[Paulo_10]

Now THIS is exactly why players hate playing for England. A player declares himself too tired to play and the press and - therefore - 90% of the stupid public then hammer him. "He should never play for his country again"??? What absolute reactionist nonsense. Who knows the back-story to this? Who knows the exact manner with which he made his feelings known to Hodgson? No one except Hodgson and the player. There's a world of difference between saying you can't be bothered to turn out for an England game and saying that you're not in the best shape to do your position justice. One is putting yourself first, the other is putting the team first. Now watch: there'll be letters in the Sun "blah blah blah the working man gets up at 5am to earn in a day what he earns in a minute blah blah blah" but it doesn't matter who he is or what he earns; he's a human and if he's feeling shattered, no amount of reminding himself what the average working football fan would give to play for England

[Taansend]

Well said Paolo but wasted on these chaps.

[Hammerman69]

Sorry...I am not saying he didn't want to turn up.

I am saying that if a player is tired after 9 games then he is not good enough to play for England (he does not have the constitution or stamina) and should be binned...whatever the reason he is tired.

[Paulo_10]

Oh, OK - as long as all you're saying is that the brightest star on the international horizon for some time should be binned forever on the basis of hearsay and over-reaction, that's alright.

[frogiron]

I would crawl over broken glass wearing a lead rucksack whilst chewing lightbulbs to have the kid play for us for one season.

He is the most exciting prospect we've had for fu(king yonks.

We've got the makings of a really good team with the new and newish England players at present. I haven't been this positive about an England side in a couple of decades.

[castiron]

[quote="Paulo_10" but it doesn't matter who he is or what he earns; he's a human and if he's feeling shattered, no amount of reminding himself what the average worki

[Hammerman69]

Paolo...I am saying that any professional sportsman who is tired after 9 football matches in a season clearly either does not have a good enough body or mind to play for his country...so lets move on. What state will he be in after 40 games I wonder.

At the end of the day, we need to start finding players that ARE good and strong enough.

That is what I am saying based on what I have seen so far.

IF however he plays for his club on Saturday then I will then retract that and say that clearly he doesn't want to play for his country and he can **** right off.

[Whiskyman]

Do me a favour John? Would he be too tired for a world cup final? 19 years old, and he's tired! You cant pick and choose what games you want to play in, there are players that would die to play for their country. I wouldn't want him in any team I was playing in, that is for sure.

I'd have thought players can pick and choose what games they play in when the club to which they are contracted isn't involved.

I'd guess there isn't one professional contract which stipulates that a player must make himself available for international duty if required.

No contract, no obligation. At least that's how I see it. Would have been more honest to say so before joining the squad though so a replacement could have been selected.