Other than Steve McClaren and penalty shoot-out, the two words that strike fear and loathing into the hearts of England supporters more than any other are Golden Generation.
Three years ago, England strutted around Germany looking and sounding like world champions and confidently proclaimed football would finally be coming home.
When England's luxury jet returned to these shores, however, the only things of value to be found in the luggage compartment were the designer products purchased by our world class WAGs.
Under Fabio Capello, any such talk of an elite group of players re-writing football history in South Africa next summer is unheard of, and for good reason - on current form we don't have any elite players.
That so-called Golden Generation is again likely to form the bedrock of England's assault on the World Cup in South Africa, and yet it seems to have gone unnoticed, amid the furore surrounding Manchester City, that it's a jolly good thing things aren't kicking-off tomorrow...just look at the evidence.
Rio Ferdinand:
Last seen impersonating the defender formerly known as Rio during Manchester United's no show at Anfield in late October. His form prior to that 2-0 defeat was hardly inspiring - witness his inability to keep pace with Craig Bellamy in the Manchester derby and brain dead back pass which gifted Holland the lead in an August friendly - and his increasingly fragile body suggests he's not the sort of player who can be relied upon to withstand the rigours of potentially playing seven games in the space of a month.
John Terry:
If you're the captain of England, surely no good can ever come of befriending someone who goes by the name Terry 'the ticket' Bruce. Even so, in relation to this latest tabloid rumble, the first question we should concern ourselves with is what type of moron pays £10,000 for the privilege of watching Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack enjoy a bubble bath together in their Speedos?
That aside, Terry's form is of increasing concern and there are some who believe he has never looked the same commanding figure he is for Chelsea on the international stage. Petr Cech has copped most of the flak for his side's set piece weakness, but as skipper, defensive organiser and their strongest aerial presence, Terry appears to have got off pretty lightly in the blame game.
Frank Lampard:
Take away his contributions from the penalty spot and you'd be hard pressed to find enough footage to fill a Frank Lampard 2009/10 youtube compilation video. Under Carlo Ancelotti, like Michael Essien, England's most eloquent midfielder is in danger of becoming just another cog in the wheel at Chelsea, rather than the all-action driving force he was under previous managers.
He went 10 games without a club goal earlier this season, and although you couldn't argue he's been anything other than neat, tidy and efficient over the course of the last month, you could say the same about Mark Noble at West Ham, and he won't be lining up for England against USA on June 12.
Steven Gerrard:
I never thought I'd live to see the day that the most talented all-round footballer this country has produced since Paul Gascoigne - forget Wayne Rooney, we'll come to him in a minute - would be out thought and out battled by a player as limited as Portsmouth's Michael Brown. December 19, 2009 was a dark day for English football, not just Liverpool FC. Fitness issues can longer be offered as an excuse for Gerrard's lack of dynamacism.
He's started his side's last eight matches, three of those alongside Fernando Torres, and has only 'that' penalty against Birmingham to show for his efforts. Were Rafael Benitez to contemplate dropping his captain, the Spaniard might as well douse himself in petrol, take a seat on the Kop and ask the closest cheeky scouser for a light.
The master of the sideways pass, Lucas, bears the brunt of the abuse dished out by the Kop, but Liverpool fans expect nothing of him and aren't overly disappointed when his only contribution over the course of 90 minutes is winning the race to congratulate the goalscorer. Of Gerrard, infinitely more is expected.
Wayne Rooney:
Sorry to bang on about it, especially as we are likely to need reliable penalty takers in the summer, but take away Rooney's efforts from 12 yards this season and you're left with eight goals from open play this season. While that's far from a disgraceful return, it needs to be measured against the standards set by the man he has effectively replaced, Cristiano Ronaldo.
At this stage of the campaign 12 months ago, the Portugal forward had scored ten times, having missed the first month of the season and, before you say it, only one of those came from the penalty spot.
As United's linchpin, Rooney's prerequisite is not to dominate or decorate certain games, he's expected to dictate an entire campaign. Rooney hasn't been United's 'go to' man in the big games this season, indeed it's been Darren Fletcher who has caught the eye in the heavyweight contests.
Nobody can doubt Rooney's abundant talent, but the feeling persists that neither Sir Alex Ferguson nor Capello can truly say they have concocted a way of harnessing it to its full potential. If they had, Rooney, not Lionel Messi, would've been accepting Fifa's World Player of the Year gong this week.
Here's hoping Capello can break the code ahead of next summer.
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