JAMIE CARRAGHER HAS blamed the men of the press for England’s failure to be any good at Association Football.
The Liverpool defender came out of retirement last summer to help Fabio Capello in their quest to be thumped 4-1 by Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup, a defeat that led to a wave of criticism for the players and their Italian boss.
Carragher feels that it’s this criticism, and not the influx of ‘those nasty foreign types’ or the failure to start training kids while they’re still in the womb, that is leading to early exit after early exit.
“One mistake and you could be absolutely slaughtered,” the Liverpool defender told the BBC.
“At your club, you know you will not be criticised as much and perhaps three days later there will be another game.
“With England, it could be months before you have another fixture. There is a fear at times when playing for England.”
Carragher also wheeled out the boredom issue, insisting that being banged up between matches like the ladies of Prisoner Cell Block H was doing nobody any favours.
“You stay in a hotel all day but you are at a World Cup for a long time and should be able to experience different things,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want players holed up. Take away the boredom, embrace the country we are in more. You never see anything.”
Sightseeing. Yes. That could be just the ticket. What could possibly go wrong?
