Because it's a slow day, I'll just rip apart the rest of the article... Apart from the fact that sounds like it was written by an eight year-old, how can he build a "brilliant squad" when he only has English players at his disposal - and the likes of Rooney and Gerrard will doubtless waltz into the team regardless because the sponsors demand a return on their investment? The same Germany that reached the 2002 World Cup final? The German squad wasn't rebuilt following Euro 2004, it was rebuilt following Euro 2000. The first phase had the likes of Metzelder, Ballack, and Frings brought in as a solid base to build from, the second phase was introducing the likes of Lahm and Podolski to it for the 2006 World Cup, and the current squad is the third phase. Besides, Hodgson;s contract isn;t for six years, so why talk about a long-term project when he clearly won't be around to see it through to the end - and will probably be sacked when the team don;t win everything instantly. Reaching a World Cup final is now considered a failure? Bloody hell... Except for the minor inconvenience that there isn't a single player who looks likely to be the long-term replacement for Ashley Cole, whilst the younger players included the ridiculously ineffective Ashley Young and the bizarrely selected Martin Kelly, whilst England fans are supposed to put faith in Chris Smalling to hold the line at the back? ot camping seven men in the area and actually trying to play football is one way to avoid penalty shoot outs. And maybe then you could actually practise penalties, rather than use them as a convenient crutch to pretend the team went down fighting, rather than yawned their way to defeat.
Well ripped hbic! I am slightly disappointed you didn't spot that Wayne Rooney should think about a refund on that hair!
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.
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 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 it’s even worse when you realise he came on as sub after an hour. how embarrasing...however we did invent the game
and what has Roy said;i won't ditch the old guard,even though i will bring new players in,so we keepthe players that have failed time & time 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.
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.
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!
Yes, I think we're going round in circles here, a bit. The fact remains that a large new broom is needed. It's time to say to the old guard, " thanks for what you've done, but goodbye now" if we fail to accept that we must rebuild from the ground up, we'll continue to go backwards.
True. Portugal are really taking the game to them though with surprisingly good results. Portugal have been as good off the ball as on it, it's like having a team of Scott Parkers
Well I'll be damned, Spain start with a striker. ...and bench Fabregas, who is captaining my fantasy team for the semi. Del Bosque, hijo de puta!
