No English talent

Something is definitely afoot. The FA seem to be setting the barricades up in case England fall on their collective backsides next week. Tapping in to the tabloid conscience it seems perfectly acceptable to blame foreigners for the state of affairs of the game.

The fact of the matter is we do have talent - bundles of it, the problems come in our inability to manage it. English talent is prized by the top clubs - even by clubs like Arsenal. The sad fact of the matter is whenever you see rumours of player unrest, tapping up and outrageous wage demands, nine times out of ten the culprits are English.

Blaming foreign imports still doesn't explain the failure of the national team to take apart weaker opposition. Trindad and Tobago held out for almost 80 minutes with a team of players that would mostly struggle to hold down a place in a League One side. And this isn't the only case.

Foreign imports don't change the way Frank Lampard plays when he puts on his England shirt. Foreign players don't convert Steve Gerrard from a thrusting attacking midfielder to a water-carrier. England's problems lie much deeper than the increase in competition for places in top flight domestic football.

Anyway, rant over before this turns into some kind of blog. Well done all of you who put Emile Heskey into your portfolio, good luck to him I say.

And so to buck the trend this week's Transfer Tuesday sees us welcoming three English Matthews into the game - Messrs Taylor, Derbyshire and Etherington. The transfer deadline casualties taken from the list are Jason Euell, Paul Dickov and Stern John.