Barry's Beef

Out with the old and in with the new. With all the sentimentality of some discarding their old clothes to charity in the hope of seeing that paisley shirt being worn by a suave gent in some war-torn country during some BBC coverage, Svennis has been discarded (ok he resigned, but whatever) and in comes Steve McLaren. And those shorts. And those socks. What an intimidating guy. I'll do my best to give the gaffer the benefit of the doubt. All I'll say is he doesn't have Steve Gibson to bail him out with barrow-loads of cash.
What should Macca do? This, of course, is the $64,000 question (although under a Labour Government, in real terms, $64,000 is worth much more than $64,000). The obvious would be to sort out our central midfield problem. Lamps and Gerrard simplay have not performed together. Hargreaves was arguably England's best player during the World Cup and has surely done enough to get into the team. Maybe not. I think Lamps should be dropped to the bench, which may have another famous pair of cheeks their; those of Goldenballs, David Beckham. If the World Cup has put Lennon and Hargreaves' stars in the ascendancy Beckham's is plummeting quicker than Hayley's Comet.
I would not mind England playing a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation so long as we didn't play it long ball up to the lone striker (Sven's Plan 'A', Plan 'A1' and Plan 'M25'). If Owen is not fit, it would leave Rooney up front with Crouch or a recalled Defoe as the only other viable options. If Walcott is to be in the squad, he must play and I hope McLaren has words of encouragement for players like Shaun Wirght-Phillips, Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith, Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer. Other players yet to be called up who should be monitored very closely with a view to squad inclusion in at least the first friendlies should be Kevin Nolan; Joey Barton; Dean Ashton and Scott Carson. Good luck Steve. You may just need it.
And dress like an adult in a suit not your gimpy short, socks and training top combo.