and also richards played his part in winning city the title, he contributed more than zabaleta

Ah, the old 'my opinion' clause.

Giggs is probably better than Beckham these days. I haven't seen enough of Beckham for a few years to judge although I hear he's been doing alright.

However, 'your opinion' on Micah Richards doesn't seem to have been shared by the last couple of England managers. Mancini also preferred Zabaleta in the run-in, and you might say his goal against QPR was as big a contribution than anything Richards did in winning the title. Over the last 4 years Richards has made 1 more Premier League appearance.

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yeah, Richards played all the first half of the season and did barely anything wrong.. so i can't see why he was dropped, he's solid defensively and good going forward.. although granted, he can't really last a full game due to him bombing up and down the pitch, but didn't richards have an injury at some point in the 2nd half of the season?, which probably played a part in him not playing much.

Spain have got Javi Martinez and Jordie Alba. Just shows how serious there taking it

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@George_S96

Or rather how much strength in depth they've got, all the way down to under 23 level.

Players in Spain's squad have been playing in European competitions this season. In England/Great Britain, they're lucky to even get near the first team in the Premiership.

This is one of the many reasons why Spain are better than England, and will be for years. Their young players get the chance at the top divisions at club level.

In the Premiership, greed, money and success are put first, so the players are bought in and thus, the youth system suffers.

Until this changes, as well as a change of mentality in grassroots development and tactical evolution, England won't win a major championship.

Apologies for going off topic.

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If ever you're bored or miserable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZohZoadGY

Agree with every word

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@George_S96

And Barcelona produce world class players like there is no tomorrow

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@George_S96

Briefly looking at the squads there seems to be as many players with European experience as there is in the Spanish team! Clearly given the inclusion of Alba then there was no rule about taking players who had participated in the Euros...otherwise (if the rule is still under 23 at the turn of the year?) we could have had AOC, Andy Carroll, Phil Jones, Martin Kelly & Theo Walcott.

This is also ignoring the injuries and unavailability of Rodwell, Smalling, Walker who are not players scraping their places in their respective Premier League squads.

Mata, De Gea, Thiago and Iker Muniain also in Spanish squad.

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@George_S96

And your point is? Of course some players get near the first team, although if you bring in all the Spanish players available for the Olympics who played at Euro 2012, there'd be a lot more quality in there than the world beating Andy Carroll and Martin Kelly.

You've been totally reductionist and picked a small part of my argument, when in fact the point you're looking at feeds into my overall point.

My point is that more young Spaniards get near the first teams for their clubs than young English players. Not only this, but their technical development is better at a young age. This enables them to become better players.

Just look at the Olympic goalkeepers. Jack Butland spent time at Cheltenham this season. Jason Steele plays for a Championship side. Yet for Spain, David De Gea is Man Utd's number one. Bit of a difference.

I could go through the whole squads, but it would be time consuming and repetitive.

AOC is not a regular starter at Arsenal. Carroll and Kelly aren't regular starters at Liverpool. Jones doesn't regularly start at Man Utd. So thank you for proving my point.

I think you could make an argument that this Spanish Olympic side could beat the England side that started v Italy.

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If ever you're bored or miserable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZohZoadGY

think i might have mis read your point. Thought u were suggesting that the gb u23s are lucky to get near the first team...when most of them actually are. Didn't realise it was a general point about development.

Unfortunately though if you listen to the "solution" according to Southgate who has being doing the research on behalf of the FA - how he got that job I will never know. They seem to keep drumming on and going back to the fact that in Spain & Italy the big sides 'B' teams play competitive league football. Pretty sure that is not what we want!?