You know I really didn't think that Ronaldo would be as great as he is today. When I first saw him playing for United in 2003, he was just some out of control player who did tricks and had great speed but couldnt cross or produce any end product. He has developed gratly under SAF. Imagine what he would be if he went to Madrid and not Man U

 I have no problem with black players asian players or white players. If there English then thats all i care about. Born and bred. I dont like the live in that country for 4 years buisness that you will know with manuel almunia. He is NOT English.

How do you know im not a black/asian Muslim/Hindu?   Im not saying i am or i am not.  I dont see the point in your question.

 And how on earth can you say the england team wont improve if its ENGLISH players playing all the time in there native league? Surly the more English players that play every week will improve there standard. Especially if they were ordinarily on the bench. Most English people who follow the Premiership are calling for more English players. If i was to hazard a guess i would say that only 15% of 1st team players in the premiership are english. That is not good enough. Im not been racist or anything i just feel there should be more English players in the English premiership.

There is far more to a goal keeper than just speed. The amazing thing with V D S is he doesnt seem to have lost goalkeepers most valuable asset. Reaction time. It is natural for goal keepers to gradually lose this as they get older and any person in real life. Its normal. By the time Van Der Sar is 36 Ben FOSTER WILL BE MANUTD no. 1 in goal.   Unless he leaves and they bring in another keeper. VDS wont make the next 2 seasons. I doubt it anyway.

Your right. Ronaldo is a top notch player. He although greedy and arragont at times, is the worlds best. Best buy by any Manager was  Ronaldo 13million to UTD. Also Real Madrid are garbage. They got hammered by Liverpool and i would say if they were in the premiership they would struggle to get top 8. They are very shakey at the back. I remember Liverpool could have won 10:0 over the two legs but for Indecisive finishing it was only 5:0

Lol I just ask every English person that question when they question the 6 plus 5 rule. But anyways, I said that the more FOREIGNERS English players play, the better it makes them. If you have English players playing Englosh players, its the same style of play really, tough physical football with pace. If you have English players playing agaisnt Spanish players for example who emphasize footwork and ball control or Italians who get the job done, you will see that they adapt to different playign styles and how differnt players play which will improve their performance on the national level.

Even if its 11 English players v 11 English players I still think the problem with the NT was that the players didn't care that much about playign for England, they were getting to spoiled at their clubs. Darren Bent = 16 million pounds? Bentley = 12 million pounds? Thats a joke. Now you have Capello who organizes the team nicely and disciplines the team well and actually plays players who WANT to play. Example is Micheal Owen. He is obviously a joek and if he was serious about playign for England again he would actually try to score.

Micheal Owen is still hungry for success but has been plagued by injury. He has just been unlucky. All players care about representing there country. Its more a case of who can handle the pressure.

I see what you mean with playing against players who different styles, but that is what European competition is for. To challenge yourself against non English teams. The spanish League doesnt have any English players and very few Italians. It is made up of Spainsih and South American players. They play the same style and yet they are THE best national team in the world.

Ronaldo is probably the best buy aside from Cantona Utd have ever bought. Although Ronaldo pissed me off a few tiems this year, he has been amazing and if it wasn't for him United would probably have struggled to win 3 titles and the CL. If Ronaldo leaves United I think it will be a bad descision for him, but I will applaud him for everything he has done at United. Beckham shouldve never left IMO.

Also Real Madrid are a joke now. Smashed by Liverpool and Barca. As soon as the yreach teh Champions League their play is exposed. The Spanish Liga is no competition for English teams. Just cause Real beat shitty La Liga teams who have horrible defense doesn't mean they can beat top teams like Barca and Liverpool.

Real Madrid need to clean out their team this summer. Heinze, Cannavaro, Pepe, Metzelder need to go along with Van Der Vaart and a few others. Nistel rooy will be back. If it wasn't For Casillas, Madrid wouldve lost 4-0 every game

@footballfan - ronaldo was £12 million and Van Der Sar is already 38 and Sir Alex already said that he is no longer automatic no.1 keeper next season.

@captainpreferences - regardless of play style the National team will not progress past knock-out round/quarter finals no matter how good the manager is because the players (majority) aren't getting Champions League football and play for middle table teams (no offense). More english players would certainly help. The ratio of foreign players to english is something like 20:1.


Its all irrelevant though seeing as a) national team can go hang - MUFC are all that matters to me and b) MUFC have plenty british players already.

Yes but not all teams and players get UEFA Cup or CL football. In the case of the Spanish team, there are a few Spanish players playing in England, but the rest are just great players. I don't think the playing agaisnt foreginer idea applies to them but I think it would work greta with England. How many English players have played football outside England in the last 10 years? Beckham, Hargreaves thats it.

I believe the Nation team can get better and even progress to teh Semis next year if they have a good manager and thats what Capello is. Look at Italy last World Cup, they had a good manager and they played to win for their country not their clubs.