Capello rues lack of talent

Capello: Youngsters not good enough

England manager Fabio Capello says young players coming through the ranks are not good enough to play international football.

The inquest into another failed World Cup campaign has got under way and answers are being sought from the Under 21 set-up.

The likes of Steven Gerrard, John Terry, David James and Frank Lampard are likely to have played in their last finals and new talent is being sought to take up their positions in future.

However, Capello believes the calibre of the players in the system at present is not up to standard - and admitted he has precious few other options to tinker with as sights are now set on the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

Just not good enough

The Italian boss said: "Where are the young players? The best are in the U21 side but they are just not good enough at the moment. There are probably just two or three who would join us in the next six months.

"Adam Johnson and Kieran Gibbs at Arsenal. Then there is (Michael) Dawson, (Gabby) Agbonlahor and (Bobby) Zamora. And (Owen) Hargreaves.

"No, some are not so fit and not so young. We also hope Theo Walcott will recover fitness. And then there is Jack Wilshere."

Capello indicated Hargreaves and Zamora were the only other players he would have picked for the finals had they been fit enough.

Qualifying for the championship in Ukraine and Poland starts against Bulgaria in September and the duo can expect to be involved, should they return to full health.

He added: "Bobby Zamora is not young and was injured, but he is a player we have spoken about. Another player we hope that will be fit is Owen Hargreaves. He did not play at all last season."

The 4-1 loss to Germany compounded a disjointed campaign for the Three Lions, who looked sluggish even in the group stages.

Joachim Low's team ruthlessly exposed the sloth in the Free State Stadium on Sunday as the virtues of swift counter-attacking football paid dividends.

Has to change

And the lack of tempo throughout the tournament left Capello questioning the schedule his team face with their domestic clubs.

He went on: "I understand something which is really important and why England did not win before. When English players get to the end of the season they are really tired.

"In total, we played seven games in this period and I never saw the players that I saw in the autumn before the heavy Christmas spell, or two months after Christmas.

"They trained well and were focused on everything but they were not the same fast players I know. Something has to change.

"There are too many games and at the end of the season it is Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday."

England had fallen two goals behind in quick succession to leave them shell-shocked in Bloemfontein and the team looked abject in their quest to mount a fight back.

Appetite

The fear that gripped Capello's players in the draws with USA and Algeria appeared to have returned, meanwhile, sloppy defending only allowed Germany to capitalise in ruthless fashion.

The manner of the exit left the 64-year-old unhappy, who added: "At 2-1 Germany played with fear, even (German general manager) Oliver Bierhoff said that when I saw him at the airport.

"But I am also angry about the defending and our positions on the pitch. We conceded five goals in total and three of them were avoidable."

Pressure is now on the manager, however, Capello said his desire remained unchanged. He said: "Yes I have the appetite. I never stop. Ever."