Personally I hate the international breaks that we have as it means another weekend with no football and having to listen to all the pundits banging on about England's chances of qualifying! To be honest I couldn't give a monkeys if we qualify or not simply because we just aren't that good as an international football team. If we qualify the reality is that we will only be making up the numbers in Brazil so what is the point of it all? Better to watch the decent teams play proper football then go through the gut wrenching anguish of us failing miserably in the group or quarter final stages! English football needs a huge dose of reality as we aren't developing enough top quality younger players in all positions. Yes we have Ross Barclay coming through who looks a very promising player but I don't get all the hype about Jack 'put that *** out' Wilshere or Tom Cleverley for that matter! All I want to do on a Saturday is watch or listen to the Ipswich game, take the piss out of Norwich when they lose and generally take in all the domestic league action! So yet again another boring couple of weeks to endure why we as a nation pretend that we are an international footballing power. The hype followed by dismal reality! What is the point and is it really worth the candle?
The prospect of Sturridge, Welbeck and Rooney leading the line is the most exciting prospect for England since SAS in Euro 96 and Michael Owen's glory days. We won't just be making up the numbers, but we will be short of reaching the final. As 'Arry says, the FA went with a safe FA-style man which means they'll get safe qualification and then a safe exit in the quarters or semis, probably to Germany on penalties and be able to talk about how the boys done good and how we are unbeaten in a major tournament since the 19th century.
I'm quietly optimistic about England actually, we do have some youngsters with great potential coming through (if they fulfil it that's a different matter) and I do like Roy, he reminds me abit of our own Bobby Robson and although we've had some dire performances there have also been some decent ones and I can actually see what he's tryin to do, he generally puts out a balanced team rather than like some of the previous lot who just tried to get the best players on the pitch even if they were completely out of position. I think England has almost mirrored Ipswich over the past few years, we had that Golden generation but were rubbish as when ME came in we spent all that cash and now we probably have less talented players but are making slow progress and look more like a team. If Hodgson continues to pick inform players rather than just the names I think we could do okay next summer. That's where Capello went wrong in qualifying he picked inform players then when it came to the tournament he picked the big names even if they were injured, off form or hadn't played much football.
I will be there on Friday night giving the three Lions my support. Going to watch the under 21s next Tuesday, that will mean I miss our final qualifier, only the second home qualifier I will have missed in the last couple of tournaments. I love going + it is not that expensive, £30 tickets for me and my son & around £30 return on the train. All in all it's not much more than I would spend in a typical Saturday down at PR.
It may be just a figment of my imagination, but are these breaks coming round more often than ever before? It's truly ridiculous, play 3 games, then have weekend watching L1 or L2 football
I do agree.. although Hodgo has picked an injured and unfit Rooney too many times for my liking... That said he's hardly spoilt for choice and I think he has done quite well in trying to integrate younger players into the squad gradually. I suppose everyone will have their irks with selections, for a lot of people it's James Milner. Not for me though, all about Ashley Young and just how dire he is at international level. Shouldn't ever get near the international squad.
Hate them and have to say that England are a million miles away from the likes of Germany and Spain. Love watching the Germans play, anyone watch the Bundasliga prog on Mon nights. pure quality and exciting football watched by real noisy passionate fans, shame its hosted by a strange woman though!!
As for the break. Not to keen. But I'm English thru and thru and will be shouting them on Friday and Tuesday. I'm under no illusion should we qualify we'll be pulling up daisies. But it's essential we get there. Warky I know wilshire you don't get. IMO he'll improve as long as he stays injury free. Cleverly I'm with you all the way. He plays sideways and backwards and is a headless chicken. Kopr Ashley young is dire and has no right being in the squad. But we do have undoubted talent coming thru. The euros in 2016 should be the tournament to aim at. And although winning it is unlikely(watch the belgiums) we should by then have a nucleous of a young team that have played together
You only have to look at Connor Wickham's current situation to give you an idea of what is wrong with the England set up! He played and starred in the u21s but his lack of football at Sunderland is stunting his development. Unless he plays regular football he will be forgotten and all that early promise will have been wasted. This is the problem with English football and until young promising players like Connor get to play regular football there will be no talent coming through to the Senior England team. Cheap foreign players have flooded the Premier league and the home grown talent is not getting a chance. I'm bored with the whole England thing and the only national team that I support these days is the England Cricket Team.
I really rate Wilshire, he has the potential to be Englands best ever midfielder as you say Mads as long as he stay injury free and also it will be interesting to see how he copes with the added competition in his position, as he's been put wide left and isn't really effective there. Cleverly isn't the best for me, I'd rather see Barkley, Lallana or even Shelvey in there but saying that he's got a great mentality IMO, one which he's got from being schooled under Ferguson, so although ability wise, he's not the best I've got no qualms about him being in there. One the wings, for years we haven't really had anyone consistently decent, seem to have all been a bit forest gump, although I really do rate Townsend. There are decent English players out there, it's whether they'll be given a chance by England and also by their clubs to progress. For me Phil Jones is a Worldclass CB in the making but he's been played in too many positions and hasn't managed to nail down a place in the team and this could halt his progress!!!
Surprise Surprise PTC I completely disagree with you on Wilshere! He is sooooo overrated but hey each to their own!
Biggest problem is that all involved in the upper reaches of our game are consumed by one thing & one thing only.....Greed......until we learn to survive without depending on money we will never improve, the Germans have proved you can re-set the clock & start again, now they are flying both internationaly and domestically. We need to get the cash cow of our back and set some real rules that all will play to, the FFP rules are a start but do not go anywhere near far enough.!
Hoppers I read somewhere last week that the FFP rules are being challenged in the European Court for being anti competitive so watch this space! FFP might have to be scrapped if it is found that it breaks current EU law!
I think you make some valid points warky. The lack of opportunity for the English players doesn't help at all. And Connor is a good example. But I'd agree with you on Ross Barclay. He knocks spots off cleverly. But we have a young keeper, who although is struggling with confidence right now is going to be number 1 for many years. Then we have Fraser Forster. Defence we have Kyle walker,Steven caulker,jones and smalling,baines. All these playing regular. Midfield,wilshire,Barclay,Henri Lansbury who I'm surprised hasn't pushed on but is talented, llalanna at saints is still young. Adam Johnson. Aaron Lennon. Up front sturridge, welbeck, Carroll, and Rooney still has plenty of years left in him. I don't think it's all doom and gloom yet. IMO and again your right warky the cheap foreigners do more harm than good to the national team. And when you can pick up for example a Michu for 2 million can you blame the money men.
Good points here, the problem is the short termism of the game atm. Clubs(and managers) are so desperate to do well in the short term that they buy these cheap (or expensive) foreign players ready to play first team football rather than trying to develop talent through their academies. And in a way you can see why because managers are under such pressure to achieve instant results sometimes they can't afford to bed in young players and also their is so much money in the PL compared to the lower leagues clubs will do anything to stay or get there. I like the idea of FFP, it is the way forwards and is starting to work at our level but the problem is it is pointless and may adversely effect the lower leagues because the PL has a different set of rules and is a cash cow. The same rules of breaking even should apply to all clubs at every level and the wealth should be more evenly distributed throughout the leagues, I mean the team who finishes 20th in the PL this season gets 100million only £4 million less than Man U got last year for winning the title, that's just crazy.
This Daily Mail foreigner stuff doesn't add up as I've said time and again. England have underperformed for nearly 50 years now. Wickham chose to go to a crap club it's as simple as that.
Just as a quick side note as ffp mentioned. It's criminal that today a team(albeit lower leagues) goes out of business owing what Rooney earns in a week.
