It's nice to have all these players coming through at the same time (nice for English football) but we're still largely stuck within the confines of a system which doesn't actually value intelligence and tactical acumen. You look at all the managers of the premier league or championship teams - the percentage of them getting their teams to play possession-based football with emphasis on technical ability is ridiculously low. The general football conversation in this country doesn't value it, which is why the poster boys for the England team tend to be players like Beckham, Rooney, Gerrard and now Wilshire. Players with undoubted ability but whose most valued talent is 'passion'.
There's no sense within the FA of building an identity, cementing a playing style; look at the order in which we do things - pick a captain, pick a formation, pick a squad. There's no actual sense of developing a team that can peak at a tournament - when was the last time England knew their first choice side before a tournament kicks off? We fanny about with friendlies, lurch from one formation to the next because we're trying to be in vogue without actually understanding the pros and cons of each setup and how this will affect the players.
And then when we come to pick a squad it's just a case of picking the best/in form 23 players. There's no sense of what positions/roles do we need to fill. Gerrard plays defensive midfield for Liverpool, so let's play him defensive midfield for England - this despite the fact for Liverpool he's supposed to be a deep lying playmaker and for England a destroyer. We can't work it either way - if we pick a squad then a setup, the setup should reflect the quality of the squad (ie if your defenders are all slow as fuck, don't play a high line); if we pick a setup then a squad the squad should reflect the setup.
But we're plagued with backward thinking, partly fuelled by the media and former players. There's very little intelligent thinking on or off the pitch. Until that happens it isn't going to make that much difference who the players are because we're generally fucked.
