Great, another Englishman who keep their balls away from the opposition.
The disappointed England players flew home yesterday — with coach Roy Hodgson promising to now build a brilliant squad by following Germany’s blueprint.
Hodgson said Germany had transformed a lacklustre team into world-beaters in six years.
He added: “We saw with Germany in 2006 that they went into the World Cup finals highly unfancied, with a number of young players and some older players who had failed, and we have seen how they have kicked on.
“We have to take heart from that. I would like to think that there’s good reason for optimism for England because there’s good young players coming through.
“There is no doubt those younger players will figure in future.”
“We got to the penalty shoot-out but it’s so difficult because our record is such a poor one. There is nothing you can do to prepare for that moment.
“We have to get better over 90 minutes and we have to try and get better at penalty shoot-outs.”



http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/euro2012/4396890/Holland-in-shock-clear-out.html
this actually is how it should be done as the title suggests.
VDV's international days over?
The tabloids keep pointing at Germany's overhaul, but they forget one key point that made it possible - as they were hosting the 2006 World Cup, they had an opportunity to overhaul the squad that nobody else in world football had. Germany had an opportunity to overhaul not just the players, but the way the team played, and because there was no risk of missing out on the tournament if the changes didn't take right away they could do that. The only sides capable of taking their time like this at the moment are Brazil for 2014 and France for 2016 - whilst Qatar have plenty of time to get up to standard for 2022.
England cannot do this because they are not hosting any tournaments to allow them to tear things down and start again - and even if they were, how do you think the tabloids would reaction to various "name" players being told their international career were over at the same time?
England had their opportunity to overhaul their style of play ahead of Euro '96 but didn't really do that, instead they built a side that played like all other England sides past and present and, apart from Gary Neville and Judas Gobshitriot, none of the younger players had any future in the England squad.
Compare this to the France side in Euro '96, or Germany from 2002 - they were building a solid base of old stagers with players who would be there for many years. You can't say that for the current England set-up because, barring a few players (Walker, Wilshere, Jones, AO-C) you can't see any of the younger players being of a quality to justify their place in the 2018 World Cup, which will likely mean the usual suspects (Rooney, Walcott, Young) demand inclusion yet again.
I don't think that that's a very valid reason for not doing what clearly has to be done. Let's face it, if we carry on the way we are, we could easily fail to qualify for the next WC, anyway.
I think we just have to do what Clive Woodward did to the England rugby team some 15 years ago. Tear the whole thing down, and start again. It took Woodward around 5 years to build the side that eventually won the 2003 WC. With a few heavy, embarrassing defeats along the way. But, he had his vision - his end goal - and he built a side, that at the time, was unquestionably the best in the world.
I think you have to start with the likes of, Wilshere ( assuming he's ever fit again) Welbeck, Walker, jones, Oxo, etc and build with a clear target of building a side that can compete on the world stage, within say, 4 years. There will be other youngsters out there that haven't come on the radar yet - like Oxo. When they arise if good enough they should be assimilated quickly. All dead wood should be ruthlessly disposed of. One thing Woodward was very good at.
The most damming statistic of them all was that one which showed our best passing combination was between Joe Hart and Andy Carroll.
That would have been bad enough if Carroll had played the whole game but itâs even worse when you realise he came on as sub after an hour.
how embarrasing...however we did invent the game![]()
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/euro2012/4396890/Holland-in-shock-clear-out.html
this actually is how it should be done as the title suggests.
VDV's international days over?
Again, he could do that because qualification wasn't at risk - England (along with France, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina) automatically qualified for the tournament, so could build a team over time and use the annual Six Nations to bed them in. However, Woodward didn't build a side with one eye on the future, he built a side for that tournament, with numerous key players like Johnson, Luger, Bracken and Back all retiring from internationals after the tournament - which is why England failed to win the Six Nations until 2011.
More embarrassing, Pirlo attempted more passes than the entire England team combined.
Does he want to be sacked? Ditching VDV and Huntelaar, but keeping on Van Bommell and De Jong, implies a certain amount of mental instability.
No doubt. Woodward's avowed intention was to build a team that would be the best in the world and would win a world cup. He succeeded - that's the whole point. This galvanised the rest of the world - especially the Southern Hemisphere sides, who all set about improving their game, coaching, bringing through of new talent, etc. whereas the England set-up became self satisfied and did not. they stagnated. England did not necessarily become a worse team, they just idn't improve. Whereas others did. We just got left behind. The way English football has been left behind.
That's the one mistake that they made. However, the point is that Woodward built a team that was the best in the world, at that time. I wouldn't mind England having a go at that but we're miles away. That's why the whole thing needs tearing down, and rebuilding from the ground up.
The problem being that, if the team is built for one tournament and then a raft of key players retire afterwards, it's back to square one again.
England's problem, in both football and rugby, is they keep players on too long without looking at who will replace the players in the team. Johnny Wilkinson is the perfect example, as he was kept in the England team even though he was unable to play a full game and his kicking wasn't as reliable as it once was. Ireland look set for several years in the wilderness as they haven't replaced O'Driscoll or O'Gara and they will have to soon, whilst similar problems befell Wales in the 70s and the 90's. As for football, Germany had this problem in 1998-2000 as they kept on too many players too long (whilst Sammer, who was a long-term prospect, was forced to retire with a knee injury), and similar could happen to Italy when Pirlo and Buffon retire from internationals.
I don't disagree as I've said. However, Woodward had the vision, when he became the England boss to see that the whole set-up needed changing, and he immediately went about that task. We suffered some humiliating defeats whilst he was rebuilding - including a 76-0 thrashing by Australia. Yes, some questioned his methods, but he was not deterred and carried the job through. As I've already said, which was partly, but not entirely, Woodward's fault, we failed to keep making progress - while others did. But, the fact remains that the England team had a manager who was visionary enough, and good enough to build a team that be ame the best in the world. Until the England football set-up takes it's head out of it's arse, and realises what needs to be done, we will continue to fail dismally.
Good game so far![]()
The real problem was there was no future plan - Woodward left within a year, whilst various members of the squad retired, and there was no replacements.
The issue is that, whilst in the club game there is always one eye on the future (with the obvious exception of Chelsea, judging by last season), in the international game there isn't any long-term planning. As others have said on here, the odds are the coach will be crucified by the press for dropping Gerrard and Lampard at the same time (even though, for the sake of argument, Wilshere and Cleverley could be as good as them, if not better), and they would be looking for any excuse to hound them out of the job at the earliest opportunity. There's also the problem that's occurred since Sven was in charge, where the belief is the best English players all play for a select group of sides (Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool - and, more recently, Man City), which isn't the case at all...but, again, this myth is propagated by the press.
It should also be said the German press were hardly behind Klinsmann when he was in charge of the German team, and it was only the performances in the tournament that changed their mind. If they had to go through a qualifying campaign, he may not have lasted to the tournament - and that may have also seen Loew jettisoned in favour of a pair of safe hands.
Spain are missing Vila, badly. They don't seem to carry any threat going forward. Portugal making a good job of harassing them though. So far!