There is a great deal of discussion at the moment as to which players will be selected for the England World Cup squad. Personally I don’t think it much matters who is finally chosen because it is unlikely that any permutation of the current crop will result in England winning the world cup. We seem to have lost the winning habit and with the Hodgson brand of safety first football the team is more likely to bore us all to death than win anything!

Forward Thinking

If he could bring himself to indulge in a more expansive style of play with quick and mobile attacks we might get somewhere but I am sure that he will ultimately resort to the usual conservative offering of experienced players and measured build up. Whilst we focus on passing ourselves to death the likes of Luis Suarez will have walked through our defence, scored the winner and retired for the day.

The Liverpool Factor

Talking of Luis Suarez there is one pleasing aspect of the Current England group of hopefuls for me if nobody else and that is that so many of the potential picks are from the Liverpool team. It reminds me of times past when Liverpool dominated domestic and European football. In those days there were few foreign players in the English league and the only members of the Liverpool team who weren’t in the England side were the Scottish ones! There were times when seven of the eleven on the pitch for England were from the Reds. I can still remember the day I went to see England play World Champions Argentina at Wembley. England miraculously won despite the presence of one Diego Maradona and Liverpool’s David Johnson scored twice. Those were the days when footballers weren’t such stars and were more likely to be seen in the local pub than advertising designer watches and hair products on TV.

The Foreigners

These days the top premiership sides are packed with foreign players meaning that aside from Liverpool each club has only minimal representation in our national team. It is also doubtless the reason why we are struggling to produce the required volume of talent to win trophies. It is hard for English talent to break through at the top level because their potential places are taken by foreign imports.  You can’t help thinking that the talent is out there and more outlets would lead to better returns.

English Winners

England may not win the world cup but watching Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and possibly Jordan Henderson in action will fill me with pride.  It would be even better if Liverpool do now go on to win the title because it would be great to see a side with so many English players succeed rather than watching teams who manage to field precisely none win the day. English football needs English winners if we are going to prosper.

Another Englishman

I am also hopeful that next season yet another England international will join the Reds. Adam Lallana would be a fine addition to our squad. Who knows by this time next year the entire England team could be Liverpool players because there are precious few of them at any of the other top clubs.

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Article by Sally Stacey