Sven Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello all earned millions out of the Football Association and none of them solved the problem of how Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can actually play together successfully in the same side.
I've solved it. And I can't believe nobody has spotted this before. Frank Lampard should play as an out-and-out striker.
It sounds obvious but why don't England do it? I think he's more of a striker than a midfielder. His passing is decent enough, but not world class, he is not a brilliant tackler and he's a Chelsea legend because of his work in the striker's part of the pitch, not the midfield.
Lampard is a finisher, he's a great header of the ball and he times his runs so well. These are the hallmarks of a top striker.
Hot shot: Frank Lampard has all the hallmarks of a top strikerWhite hot: How Lampard could look in the No 9 shirt
Look at his goal against West Ham. Jussi Jaaskelainen beats a Eden Hazard shot wide. Victor Moses puts it back into the middle by which time Lampard has taken up a superb position on the edge of the six-yard box, a striker's position, a poacher's position.
James Collins gets to the ball first and half clears to Hazard on the edge of the box. Lampard has stayed in there but this time he's found space just by the penalty spot, there isn't a defender anywhere near him. He's also clever enough to be aware that he needs to stay onside, and after Hazard's brilliant dink up to him, Lampard heads home superbly.
He has scored plenty of goals for England, but his inclusion led to problems accommodating Paul Scholes and Gerrard – two quality players who would get into most international sides. With all three players – Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes – I think it's fair to say they have all underachieved at England level.
Heads up: Lampard nods home his 200th goal for ChelseaMeanwhile, England have struggled upfront with Andy Carroll, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Jay Bothroyd, Kevin Davies, Carlton Cole and others all struggling to truly convince at the very top level. And that's being kind to some of them.
It's not too late.
Lampard and Gerrard are in the squad for these two qualifiers. Our strikers are Defoe, Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge, with Theo Walcott also an option. We need to win games and we need to score goals.
Can any of those strikers guarantee goals? No. But Lampard can.
This is my message to Roy Hodgson. Try Lampard upfront with Rooney just behind him. It might just work.
Rio and Roy owe England fansAnton Ferdinand tweeted Monday afternoon: 'People have short memories. Wow!!!' Not hard to work out what he meant.
His brother Rio had issued a statement explaining why he had withdrawn from the England squad. In it he talked of his 'intricate pre-planned programme' to ensure his fitness.
Show time: Rio Ferdinand watched One Direction and their front man Harry Styles (right) on Saturday nightI'm not sure where his late night at the One Direction concert hours after he had played 90 minutes against Reading fits into this intricate programme.
Rio ate an Indian take-away last week according to his Twitter feed. Is that part of this detailed medical programme? Makes you wonder how detailed it really is. And I'm left to conclude that if he's out late after a game, and eating takeaways, it can't be so minutely detailed that the experts at the FA's new centre at Burton won't be able to look after Rio.
Last week Sir Alex Ferguson raised concerns about 'the number of games he plays.' Would Sir Alex have said the same if Manchester United had stayed in the Champions League? I am left puzzled by the whole mess.
And do you know what I am? I'm a paying England fan. I have paid a small fortune for tickets over the years and there are fans who regularly travel home and away to support England, spending fortunes for their country. These fans seem to have been overlooked in all of this.
Full shift: Ferdinand (left) played 90 minutes for Manchester United against Reading on SaturdayAnton's tweet suggests that if you're critical of Rio, then you should remember the England captaincy issues he has had, the fact that Hodgson claimed he was left out for footballing reasons, and that when faced with a decision the England manager seemed to pick John Terry over Rio.
I don't want to believe that Rio has messed the England manager around to prove some kind of point, or worse, to embarrass him.
Us England fans deserve a bit more respect than that. If you're fit, then play. If you're not, then retire from international football and most right-minded people will respect that.
Don't mess them around: England fans pay a lot of money to follow the team and deserve respectBut don't mess us around. We pay a lot of money to watch England. Roy and Rio owe it to the fans to be clear on this nonsense. And Sir Alex Ferguson could be a bit more helpful.
Refs deserve respectTime to get serious about respecting referees. Yes, they make mistakes and when they make unacceptable mistakes, they are sometimes dropped from Premier League duty.
But it has now got to the stage where some of the persecution is unreasonable and seems designed to whip fans up into a frenzy against referees, in the hope that the shortcomings of managers, players or even board members won't be scrutinised.
There were four big decisions during the 1-1 draw between Sunderland and Norwich at the weekend.
The handball which saw the Norwich keeper Mark Bunn sent off, the handball against Sebastien Bassong for Sunderland's penalty, the handball in the box by Danny Rose for which Norwich only got a free kick when they should have had a penalty, and a two-footed lunge by Grant Holt on the Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet.
Seeing red: Mark Bunn was sent off after handling the ball outside the boxAfter the game the Norwich City chief executive and director David McNally tweeted that he was 'extremely disappointed with the officials', and described decisions as 'shocking.' He tweeted on three of the big decisions (conveniently forgetting to mention the Holt lunge which should have seen him sent off).
McNally said: 'Bunn did not deliberately handle the ball.' He didn't give any categorical proof of this.
The referee felt it was deliberate, and the fact the keeper came charging out of his box with his arms up, and the ball hit the underside of an arm suggests the ref might have had a point.
The chief executive then tweeted: 'Fletcher offside in penalty incident.'
Fletcher had been tripped, maybe accidentally, by Bassong and was picking himself up when he was in that offside position. McNally didn't mention this. He also didn't mention that for a player to be active he has to touch the ball. Bassong miscontrolled the ball on his chest, so he then controlled it with his arm. Penalty.
Should have gone: Holt lunged in on Simon Mignolet but only received a yellow card (below)Grant Holt
The third comment was that 'Rose handled the ball inside the area.' He is right, it was a mistake from the officials.
But Rose was airborne when he handled the ball. When he landed he had one foot inside the box and one foot outside. It was a penalty, but it wasn't the easy decision McNally seemed to think it was.
My point is this: the net result of a club chief executive tweeting such unequivocal criticism of match officials is that fans will feel they have the club's backing if they want to hammer a referee, and so will the players. Indeed, Robert Snodgrass seemed bemused that he received a yellow card despite barking at the assistant referee and poking a finger in his direction.
Unless David McNally is suggesting some sort of anti-Norwich refereeing conspiracy, then he is merely talking about honest mistakes. They happen. Get over it.
Martinez should punish horror tackleRoberto Martinez had a fantastic opportunity to teach a young player a harsh lesson on Sunday. Callum McManaman's shocking foul on Massadio Haidara went unpunished.
Martinez should have instantly substituted the teenager. But instead he trotted out the pathetic line about McManaman not having 'a nasty bone in his body.'
High tackle: McManaman catches Haidara above the kneeHe clearly can't tackle safely and he is a risk to opponents. Until that is eradicated from his game, Wigan should not be allowed to play the youngster.
I hope Martinez takes some responsibility here, because Dave Whelan's comments that McManaman won the ball 'as clean as a whistle' suggest Wigan Athletic as a club are prepared to let this incident go unchecked.
Carragher must delay Liverpool retirement
I was at Southampton on Saturday and four English players stood out for me. Rickie Lambert's all-round game was fantastic. He led the line, he had movement, he scored, he was terrific.
Jay Rodriguez has yet to justify his price tag but he scored a superb individual goal that deserved more attention.
And the full backs – Nathaniel Clyne on the right and Luke Shaw on the left – were first class. They were defensively sound and threatening going forward.
Liverpool were at times a shambles at the back. I seriously suggest Brendan Rodgers devotes some time to trying to persuade Jamie Carragher to delay his retirement for another year. Without him on Saturday they lacked leadership and defensive quality at the back.
Missed: Liverpool could have done with Carragher's organisational skills in the defeat at Southampton Blackpool shower should be docked points for pathetic pitchI went into an on-air state of euphoric happiness whilst reading the football results just before 5 o'clock on Saturday.
Confirmation of the delayed full-time whistle at Blackpool reached me, and I couldn't contain my joy that Peterborough United had held on for a vital victory.
Watching the highlights of Kane Ferdinand (my favourite member of the Ferdinand footballing family) heading home the winner I was reminded just how awful Blackpool's pitch is.
Result: Kane Ferdinand (left) scores for Peterborough on Blackpool's horrible pitchIt's a blotchy, botched bobbly beachy bitch of a pitch that is unacceptable at Championship level.
It's the same for both sides, but those who try to play a passing game – and that includes Posh – are disadvantaged.
The least a home side should do is provide a pitch fit for purpose. Blackpool do not do that, and that's why I believe they should be docked points.
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