Jamie Carragher has said today there is a certain fear factor involved when representing your nation which isn't present when representing your club side. Ignoring the fact this is the man who was too scared to fight for a place in the national team and only come back when our options ahead of him were injured, what right does he have to come out with such drivel? And since when is he allowed to speak on behalf of the national team? He shouldn't be anything to do with it, let alone providing excuses for any shortcomings at international level.
My opinion, for what it's worth, is that any player who turns their back on the national side at any level (I'm looking at you David Bentley), should no longer be called upon to represent us. Excuses of fatigue and not being in the first XI aren't worthy of turning your back on what can only be described as the greatest honour for any footballer. I don't care what Harry Redknapp has said about Champions League and the Premier League taking precedence, if you're a player who doesn't pull on a shirt every week with the aim of representing your country then you don't belong in our beautiful game. Playing for England is the epitome of the game.
Excusing any personal misdemeanors and concentrating solely on what Wayne Rooney does on the pitch and his attitude while there, I think the rest of our camp could take a leaf out of his book. When he was 16, he stormed onto the scene and played as if he was still kicking a ball around in the playground with jumpers for goalposts. Rooney has carried this attitude through playing for Everton, Manchester United and England. I can't see him ever turning his back on his country, nor providing feeble excuses like Carragher has. For further emphasis on this point, see David Beckham, probably the most chastised England player in history after "that" kick in 1998.
I've been looking within our development structures and coaching methods to try and find a reason why Carragher says we are playing with fear, but so far I haven't been able to come up with anything. This leads me to the conclusion that it is down to the man, not the pressure from the media or fans and that Carragher is in fact talking bollocks. If Wayne Rooney, David Beckham (more specifically his moment of redemption, single handedly dragging us through qualifying against Greece for 2002) and Steven Gerrard can seemingly play without this fear he talks about, who is he speaking for? Maybe he needs to look a bit closer to home to see who is really being affected by this "pressure".
If this is what is in the back of Carragher's mind when he walks onto the pitch, then this further re-iterates my point that when he retired and turned his back on his country, he should have stayed retired. The only reason he was selected for the 2010 World Cup squad was down to his versatility.
Further to this, Carragher was bored at the World Cup. Poor bloke was cooped up in a world class hotel with his every wish catered for. They had a thousand ways to stay entertained. Has he forgotten why we were there? I wish my job paid me what they paid him, let me have the summer off and still gave me the right to moan about being bored when my summer is interrupted every 4 years by probably the greatest stage I'll ever work on! I think I could handle sitting around in a plush hotel being waited on hand and foot as a 'sacrifice' for that opportunity. I'm pretty sure I could do my job to the best of my ability in such tiresome surroundings too, the odd stretch of boredom would probably pale into insignificance I'd hope.
If you were under so much scrutiny and that bored, why didn't you stay off for the summer like you originally said you would? You could of been doing something useful like going round and watering Wayne Rooney's plants. I didn't respect you when you first made yourself unavailable for England selection Carra', but I've gone from being mildly annoyed by your re-emergence into the setup to utter disdain.
Carra' should now be referred to as "Tweek" from South Park, who inexplicably thinks he is under pressure when he isn't.
"Argh that is way too much pressure!".
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