Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

John Carlin in The Sunday Times today has written a fantastic piece that perfectly highlights England’s shortcomings as a football team.

He interviewed Spanish ace Xabi Alonso about why England failed so miserably at the World Cup, who said, very eloquently, that the 11 best does not make the best 11.

Yes, we can litter our team with world-beaters and Champions League heroes, Premiership champions and footballers of the year; but ultimately, it is not a team.

To make a team, you design it, and design it with specific players and their specific skills in mind. You do not get the 11 best players and force them into a position and a system that they’re not used to. You don’t force them to play in these unfamiliar ways, because, as we have seen, they will play like strangers.

England have played like strangers for so long that it has become the norm – to get better, to make it into a further stage of the World Cup than the last 16, we need to break the mould.

When Germany were thrashing England the other day, the commentator said: how many of these German players would you swap for the England team? He was talking, of course, about the supposed brilliance of our individual players.

But Germany are a brilliant team. They play with the fearlessness of youth, and they play like they are enjoying themselves. And they are now in the semi-finals after destroying Argentina in a similar fashion to the way they dismantled England.

It is not about the individuals: it is about how they co-exist, how they play together, how they string passes and think and work as a unit out on the field.

I just hope that England learn their lesson, and learn it quickly.

Sometimes, sport – and in this case, football – can be a stage for us to view the changes society has undergone over the years. Football is just a good example of it, because there have been so many interesting stories recently.

In the past, for example, a player wouldn’t necessarily fly home from their tour of duty, or miss matches to spend time with their wife or their children. It seems to be happening everywhere now, though.

Manchester City have given Carlos Tevez permission to fly back to Argentina to be there for the birth of his child, and they are a team that is battling for a place in the top-four and in the Champions League. Now they’ll have to do without their prolific top scorer for a while.

John Terry, who has had a lot of marital trouble recently flew out of the country to find and talk to his woman, too.

I think that, increasingly, the father is being seen as a hugely important figure in society. The father is just as key as the mother: it is important to have him there, in the early stages of a child’s life. And it’s reflected in football; it’s reflected in all sport.

There might be a story in the news about it, briefly, when the player first goes away, but it is soon forgotten. It’s accepted, it seems, and an entirely natural thing. It’s certainly interesting to think about.

On a Saturday evening, there’s something special about sitting down and watching football on an HDTV. It’s a most satisfying experience at the best of times – have a few mates over, stockpile beer and crisps and all manner of other food. Indeed, you can have brothers who spend all day playing computer games, and others who spend their time out in the garden for hours on end, so that they rarely see each other when it’s not lunch or dinner time – but when a good football game rolls around, it’s a union of temporarily like-minded individuals, and it’s awesome.

Manchester United vs Arsenal was the game of choice today, and it’s usually a lock to be entertaining. Here, we had a come-from-behind, on-the-edge-of-your-seat sort of match, and it was certainly a good advert for our new television and the benefits of Sky HD, even if it wasn’t the best football from the defending champions.

The new television was found after browsing the latest technology forums – which can be helpful in a great many ways. And because you’re interacting with and talking to a number of people who are very keen for and knowledgeable about technology, you can get answers for all of your questions, too.

Now, though, the Saturday’s over. And on Sunday, I’m off to Oxford, so no matter how brilliant the day might be, it will be late when I get back and it’s guaranteed to go by in a flash. Ho Hum.