I was at the game today. A few things I took from that game. 1) Gerrard is still by a mile England's best player. 2) Cleverley is pure shyte and will never get any better. 3) England cannot win the world cup for a long time.
Until we find a player who can dictate a game from central midfield we'll be also-rans, there's a total lack of imagination in the side and we'll struggle to win this group. San Marino will provide an opportunity to boost our goal-difference but Poland away will be a test for this lot...
I'm afraid I'm one of them. Well, I do care a little bit but... I don't like Hodgson and it actually seems that no one has had balls as a manager since before Eriksson. Even Eriksson was better, actually! My good memories are of England always throwing the kitchen sink at teams, even if the team was better or had a bigger reputation. Now, we play defensively against almost everyone and try to pick out the occasional attack. On paper, our team are in the top 8 national teams at least but on the field we are only as effective as someone like Ukraine.
Takk Oz! The Norwegian "pundits" and commentators are pure shyte, with the odd one or two exceptions, but they don't work for TV2 When I watch the Premier League channel I always choose UK commentators, a gulf in quality between them. Watching the England game last night I couldn't help falling "in love" with the Konoplianka lad. And that is not just because of his goal, his all round game was excellent. Remember him from the Euros, his country's stand out performer there too. The way he nutmegged Gerrard and then skinned Johnson was a sight to behold. I know he's highly rated by his club Dnipro (a price tag of 50-60 mill euros!), but this is really the one, the one we should go all out to get if our "project/ambitions" are what they say they are. Pure pure quality. He won't cost anything near that price tag, just a tactic to scare away suitors imo. And re Col, thought he was on hols??? If what you say is true Swordsie boy then shame on you. Col is and should be a mainstay on here, great character imo. But I'm not worried his absence will be a long one. I can guarantee you he won't stay away after Adel has ripped the scum apart this Saturday, watch this space...
Fully agree. Cleverley and Milner are simply not good enough. Every time the back four had the ball no one with the exception of Gerrard made themselves available to pass to. Seemed there wasn't a midfield on the pitch. That is Roy's fault and no one else’s.
Agreed, I was thinking much the same when he put the afterburners on and left Johnson for dead. When Frank the Plank got man-of-the-match I wondered what game they'd been watching...
I see Andy Townsend give the man of the match to Fat Frank rather than Gerrard because of him getting sent off Townsend you are just right for ITV, a plank
Totally agree with all this Norway! I am not a lover of the Cowboy channel one bit, but even NRK didn't refer to that very dodgy injury time pen last night! I bet they are talking about it in Slovenia!! That Konoplianka looked really good, as you say both his goal and all round game. Would love to see him with us too, but there will be competition!
The Vauxhall man of the match was originally given to Gerrard, it was on the screen. Then they changed it to Lampard because Gerrard was sent off.
This guy certainly realizes the raw truth:- please log in to view this image England's record goalscorer Sir Bobby Charlton has written off the current national side's chances of success at the 2014 World Cup. England begin their qualifying campaign for the tournament in Brazil with a match in Moldova on Friday. But 1966 World Cup winner Charlton, 74, believes Roy Hodgson's side are "a way off" competing for trophies again. "They haven't got a lot of top-quality players so you must feel it is going to be difficult to win things," he said. "You cannot see it happening in Brazil at the next World Cup, for instance. "Perhaps, if the right group of players come together and stay together for a while and gel into a team, with the right manager, then perhaps it might happen, but I have to be honest and say it's a way off. "Since the European Union and the influx of so many foreign players, there is a definite shortage of English players from which the England manager can select. It has become far more difficult. "I feel sorry for the England manager, whoever he is, as he simply doesn't have enough players to choose from." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19479616
Norway is quite right - the English ones are sheer class in comparison. Watching football on Norway's TV2 is sometimes like reading about it in a glossy weekly magazine of pure sh*te you find in the Dentist's waiting room.
For me England had two major problems last night; 1. England did not have a natural DCM in the side. Deploying Steve G in that position is IMO ridiculous. He is now England’s best player but he is no DCM. He played way too deep last night. His strengths are driving at the opposition defense from midfield and arriving late in the box. He can't hurt the opposition by picking the ball up off the back four. Way way too deep. 2. England have still not managed to replace Scholes. Everybody could see what he did to the Utd midfield when he returned last year. He changed their season by himself. England are starved of creativity in CM and this in turn creates very little quality for the forwards. Steve G playing so deep also compounds the error for me. I really think it's time that Rooney was converted to an AMC and gave England the creativity and energy they need in the middle. He does not score enough when playing upfront anyway. Think he has all the attributes to play AMC. Thoughts ?
Thanks for taking the time to think it through Nuts, but really we only have one problem - we don't have decent players. Rooney aside, who would be really excited about joining the Rs ( from last night's team say)? I
Must be like the American's commentating. The English station's commentating is good to be fair but the post-match analysis is useless. Its a love-in with everybody always agreeing with each other. The best combination would be English commentating and RTE analysis.
SB, it’s not too often that I disagree with you but I will here. By the way, please don't take offence to a paddy lecturing you on the English national team. My general opinion is that the standard of international football is in decline and has been for many long years. Negative football has taken over with managers afraid to take risks with young potential talent. Let’s look at the Irish team for example. We have our worst team in the last three decades. Our national team would struggle in the championship. Yet Trap took over, made us difficult to beat and believe it or not we qualified for the last Euros. IMHO there are plenty of very talented players in England. But it’s the age old question of why can't they take their club form to the national team. There is no doubt in my mind that the FA has not helped itself by consistently employing rubbish managers. IMO a MON or Sir Alex would get that team winning in the morning. When is the last time that the English team had a manager with a personality, or a manager capable of motivating his players. IMO the talent is there. Loads of it. I am not talking about England being world beaters, just competitive at a high level. The English team is in transition. A whole generation of talent wasted by inept managers. That’s why the FA employed RH. A safe pair of hands to oversee the transition. England need to take a chance. Retire JT, Lampard, Cole etc etc. Give the youth a chance. No expectations. No media pressure. Let them build slowly but surely. I think the talent is there SB, just not deployed correctly.
How many years ago was it clear that Lampard and Gerrard create more problems together than they solve? We have no proper talent really coming through as we've Stuart Pearce in charge of the U-21s which doesn't prepare the youngsters effectively for the step up with his short-sighted tactics. Hodgson is reliant on the same old faces as the nucleus of the team as he can't risk giving young talent it's chance in the qualifiers. Why pick Sterling if he doesn't try him? There's every likelihood that Terry will lead England to Brazil 2014 if they qualify, which is no foregone conclusion...
