It is surely about time England need a new look and bring in the likes of Lallana and Barkley to build a team from. Gerrard confirmed on Sunday that he would wait a few weeks before deciding whether to quit England.  The England captain, who turned 34 last month, requires pain-killing injections in his back and next year he will be playing Champions League football for Liverpool on top of an already gruelling domestic schedule. His position in the international side has also come under scrutiny at this World Cup thanks to his sub-par display against Uruguay – a performance that did not merit a mark out of 10, according to Spanish newspaper AS.  Hodgson made it clear to Gerrard on Sunday morning that he thinks his captain still has what it takes to play at the highest level.

“The manager has asked me to stay,” Gerrard said.  Hodgson replied with a “yes” when asked if that meant he wanted Gerrard to carry on as captain too. It may have been just a one-word answer, but that was a big vote of confidence in Gerrard from Hodgson, who still values the midfielder’s leadership and playing skills highly. Still, Gerrard will not be rushed into making any snap judgements regarding his future. The Liverpool midfielder has gone through many ups and downs over the last few months. He enjoyed a superb year with the Reds until his slip against Chelsea handed Manchester City the title. He was proud to finally lead England into a major tournament as the official captain – not like in 2010 when he did so by default – but ultimately his accident flick-on to Luis Suarez handed Uruguay the win in Sao Paulo.

“In my head I’ve got a mixture of emotions: frustration, pain,” he said. “The season for Liverpool ended badly for me and the team. I was coming out of that trying to put that to bed, trying to get some positivity back in the World Cup. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. But I’ve faced adversity before, played through it, stayed strong. I have to try and grieve, get away with the family and away from international football, and then make a decision. It would be wrong for me to make that decision now. I need to get away for a while.” Gerrard was giving little away about what his gut feeling was on the matter. It looks as if it will be next month before the 112-cap midfielder goes public with his decision.  “The first person who’ll know is Roy. I spoke to him this morning and said I’d need at least three weeks to clear my head. I will consider it long and hard, and speak to people who will help guide me. I’ll put everyone before myself. I’ve done that all the way through. I’m able to make the decision that’s best.” Hodgson confirmed after the press conference that Gerrard would start on the bench in the dead rubber against Costa Rica, meaning Frank Lampard will captain the side in Belo Horizonte for what might be his final England appearance. Gerrard has experienced three penalty shootout defeats with England, a humiliating defeat to Germany and he has been part of a failed qualifying European Championship campaign. But England’s early exit from this World Cup is one of the lowest points of his international career.  Gerrard was so deflated after the Uruguay game that he did not watch the Costa Rica-Italy game even though the result of that game would decide England’s fate.

“I didn’t watch it all,” he said. “I was flicking to check the score. “The last couple of days have been grim. I had a tiny glimmer of hope but that made the pain even worse when the game was gone. It was a desperate position to be in. To me, that’s not good enough – hoping on others – when you’ve got the talented players you’ve got in this squad. When you’re an England player, captain, fan and you’ve worked so hard to get into this position, for two years to get to a World Cup, and had that belief and confidence you’d get out the group, for it to backfire over a few days… it’s a tough place to be in. I’m not going to share blame or responsibility, so I’ve got to take it on the chin”

At this stage of the tournament, with England already knocked out the biggest question is, “Where do we go from here?”  I have said what I think about the managerial position, although it is clear Roy Hodgson will be moving over to allow Gary Neville to take over once the European Championships are over. However, on the playing side can anyone tell me what is the use of playing Frank Lampard, when in two years he’ll be putting his feet up in New York.   This match is tailor made to thrown in those fringe players and those who should have been playing in the opening match against Italy. The likes of Lallana and Barkley, who both came on when tiime was running out, and showed a distinct improvement. These two have been in brilliant form with their clubs all season and have great attacking attributes, yet Hodgson went for the negative and defensive qualities of Gerrard and Henderson.

We now need change and after 105 caps and winning nothing at international level we plump for Frank Lampard who has not only passed his sell-by-date at international level but been released by Chelsea.

We should be looking to groom these young players and there is no better match to thrown them in that the Costa Rica one. Plus, what annoys me is that both the players I have just mentioned have been selected for tonights match when they should have played when there was importance attached. I said two days ago that Hodgson would now select his best team, although this is not, if you take Frank’s selection into account, but the two biggest blunders he made was leaving out Lallana and Barkley. Managers at World Cup’s have become well well known for blunders going all the way back to 1970, although had Alf not won it in ’66 he would have been slated for his selections. But winning can sometimes be more dangerous, as the whole nation and the media in particular all got so carried away, when all it did was paper over all the cracks. It was only because everything that Geoff Hust (the original Golden Balls) hit found the oppositions net, and all of Alf’s selections were overlooked. That team was very close to being the worst team, individually, to carry off the trophy. And that was the last time that we could boast three World-class players in Bobby Charlton and Moore and Alan Ball and four, if you include the goalkeeper, Gordon Banks. When Alf was sacked the FA did not have a clue who to appoint, I remember when retuning from my ban they gave Ken Furphy the job of taking an Under 23 Tour with giving him the senior job in mind.  Absurd!