Roy is a coward. We will do **** all in the Euros because as good as we play up to then (and we didn't even play well before the World Cup) Roy will still bottle it in the 2 or so games that matter.
The Fa have invested in grass roots but it will take time. It could take 10 years to see results as we are investing in the future. Unfortunately people seem to expect instant results from it, which to me is like expecting a tree to grow in a week... The English public take a lot of the blame. People are horrid to the England team. Its killed the spirit. As long as people react like that England will crumble. The attitute towards the England team is killing us. As I said before. Some top countries have a lot of average players we have never heard of and are winning. They win because of spirit, passion and disciplin. Being an average player goes out of the window at this world cup. But in England an average player is treated like an outsider, a scape goat and is written off before they start.
i do feel that england have never had a really cohesive group and have always picked flavor of the month. however i do think quoting all those years the history is out of group and qfs type level so it may simply be the fact that england are not that good at football and are last 8 type team! its possible fro croatia etc to top up once in SF but its never sustained...over the 40 off years quoted englnad have been consistant.. qf or last 16. the other consistent theme is inability to not concede and take pens so it would suggest the english club game doesn't translate into the rather more defensive and tactical international code. eg. 1990. borefest won by boring germans kicking everyone 1-0 pen 1994 pens in final low scroing italy make final 1998 france no good forwards, zidane suspended mid tournament they defend thier way through.. blanc and baldy barthez more important. 2006 plucky germans attacking under klinsmann at home. lose... italy v france final both defend like mad zoom forward to spain 2010.. 6 midfilders 1-0 merchants holland in final england want to attack... perhaps roy hodgosn is a tactical genius and nobody bought into it but i rather fancy its actually not the case and that a manager like mourinho would win the world cup with portugal this year if he was given the squad they had. putting 0 on the opponenets scoresheet seems most important of all. so the lesson should be to stop bringing 20 attackers and bring 20 defenders instead
True, Look at the French. Made some big selection decisions and loosing their best player to injury. But they have picked a squad the best fits the team and style they want to play. They have also picked a squad with the future in mind and got a squad that should be playing together for at least another two tournaments. England went half arsed on this idea, picking a group of youngsters, but then shoving in average reputation players and topping it off with a group who have had their day. The fact that Jones and Smalling have made this WC is awful, Man U had a poor season and neither of them were regulars. For the qualifiers and then Euros I'd like to see England pick a definite path. No player over 26, that way you'd expect to get at least two finals from them, and to stop picking players just because they play for a big club.
We've picked the best twenty-three for years, its part of our problem. We do exactly the same for the first eleven, what other nation would try to push Gerrard, Lampard, Cole and Scholes into a midfield four? We never pick the best team! The 2012-13 season is a good example of this. Man City clearly had the best squad when looking at individuals but Man Utd won the league as they were the best team.
Seriously Guys... Who the fcuk cares!?! So long as the Premiership and the FA continue to rake the Billions in no one will give a 5hite about the England National Team! 64 Years since the 1950 World Cup and in all that time we have managed one Win and one Semi-Final. It's pathetic!
Next. Veterans love world cups and world cups love veterans! How often do veteran players grab positive headlines at world cups. Klose, Pirlo, Zidane. Maxi Rodriguez is in the Argentina team. We should not fear an oldy in the England team. Even if they dont feature all the time for their clubs or even if they have dropped down a club level. Gerrard, Lampard, A.Cole, even Beckham could have a solid world cup if he'd kept on playing. Grafters over stars, and experience can be key.
What I find the most astonishing is the sheer delusion in the England camp and English media. All these players saying the future is bright and things look good for Euro 2016, Bullshit. There's a few good potential youngster in the current squad. Sterling, Barkley, Shaw, Ox. There are some good players that could be better in the future, Sturridge, Henderson, Wilshere, Wlacott, Townsend, Cahill. And there are few that aren't in the squad, Stones, Flano. But the rest are over hyped Average players or too old. I see only half a squad now and most of the players play in similar position, are the other half going to suddenly appear in the next two years or are England going to have to fill the rest the players who have failed over and over again or who are just plainly average. Not to mention that our weakest area was in defence and there appears to be nothing new to fix the problem. We should write off the Euro's as nothing more than an experience, ditch the older (manager included) and start a fresh using the young players as a base. We need to take a longer view and build for 2018.
Almost all our young players are attacking midfielders to. But as my point before said. You can fill the rest up with average grafters and go far in the tournaments. Flanagan, Delph, Davis (from Hull), Lambert, Crouch. All solid grafters.
Next point. Multi nationals. No body welcomed Hargreaves because he grew up in Canada. But Hargreaves was fantastic for England. A grafter. A tournement style play. Other countries use multinationals all the time. A lot of African players are born, or grow up in Europe. Germany and Ghana have a Boateng brother each. Tiago Ilori was born in England and moved to Portugal aged 3. Lets try and get him in the England team. With immigration in England being so big there must be others.
prob true... when he became a manc he was done... i think it was also him playing in germany not here that made him look like just jumping the queue to play for england. english cricket has lots of non english playing
Janezij (spelling?) was eligable for England but chose Belgium. Coates could have chosen Scotland. Sneijderlin has been pinched from us by France. Sterling was born in Jamaica and moved here aged 5. Lewis Holtby could have chosen England.
Another thing: Experience club managers < National heroes A lot of countries hire national heroes as manager. Unless they can get an expert in international management, and it can work. I guess its a passion thing. Italy are apparently considering Cannavaro.
hmmmm that doesnt sound good given thier headlines of setting back or wiping out 50 years of history by being eliminated. they don't have good players (enough of) and didn't defend well enough IMO they then tried for 0-0 and had a man sent off so they failed to deliver their famous discipline and tactical nous
Club managers have usually built a reputation by the time they become a national coach but that experience simply doesn't fit. they don't coach players and teams to become better, they sell players and buy better ones. You can't do that in International management. I have said for a few years now, international management is a perfect arena for new managers to ply their trade. Having played the game and worked on formations and tactics all their careers without the worry of transfers to improve squads etc, they mind is focused on whats available rather that what they could have.
