So, for those who haven't given up completely on England (ranking: 20; population: 53m), can the plucky minnows get anything from the Nazi-gold-hoarding tax avoiders (ranking: 9; population: 8m)? Welbeck will come in for the injured Sturridge. Henderson is doubtful - if he misses out either Milner or Delph will step in. Personally, I think Switzerland have got too much for us at the moment. Unless Sterling plays a blinder and rips them a new one, it's hard to see anything other than a home win.
Watched some of Roy's press conference. In a very roundabout way he basically confirmed that he'd be delighted with a point from this one. So, sadly, I can't see it being a game of football that will be enjoyable. Can't see it not being 0-0 or 1-1.
I think most people have given up on England. Bring back the home nations or just bin the whole concept.
I don't know much about how bad England are going to be, but I know a fair bit about the Swiss team and there are some really dangerous players in there. Yann Sommer, their number 1 has made the move to the Bundesliga this year after impressing for Basel in over 100 appearances and has been filling the boots of Diego Benaglio, who announced his retirement following the World Cup. Their defence is actually their weakest area, although the likes of Ricardo Rodriguez and the experienced Stephan Lichsteiner are not to be trifled with. The midfield is where all the danger comes from and is where their most likely source of goals lie. The Swiss have a number of highly skilled, attacking midfielders and will look to break against the English defence. Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, both of Albanian descent, are going to be their creative outlets, while those of us who watched the Premier League last season will be fully aware of what former Fulham attacker Pajtim Kasami (another of Albanian descent) can do. Finally, left winger Valentin Stocker loves to cut in and hit them, he'll be a real goal threat for them if given half a chance. Finally, the Swiss front line is nothing to write home about, although Admir Mehmedi (you'll never guess where his heritage lies) has a decent turn of pace and new Bayer Leverkusen signing Josip Drmic finished with 17 Bundesliga goals last season (although his team, Nurnburg, were relegated) so expect him to be a danger. It's one that in the not too distant past, England wouldn't have worried about, but the balance of power has now shifted and the Three Lions will have to dig in if they are to get anything. A win would be a cracking result, if only because I can't see the Swiss losing to any other team in that group, but you just know England aren't gonna do it the easy way. I'm going 2-1 Switzerland, but if England play well on the night, there's no reason they can't get anything.
Quick question. If England are ranked 20, at what point will they lose their seeding for major competitions?
It depends on the competition. For the World Cup 2014 qualifying and finals, the Fifa world rankings were used, so Switzerland were in the third tier for the qualifying draw but were then in the group of top seeds for the finals, having shot up the rankings. But for Euro 2016 qualifying, Uefa used a national coefficient based on previous performances, and England were ranked 5th in that (France not being included), with Switzerland way down in 15th (and Belgium down in 16th). This coefficient takes a more long-term view that tends to favour the more consistent 'big' nations.
In the event of Scottish independence the so-called Tartan Army will have to become in reality the Scottish defence force.
So in real terms we could (assuming we qualify) be an unseeded team and wind up playing the big boys at the group stage.
Bizarre as it sounds, I think peoples low expectations will help the team tonight even if probably the best result for us in the long-term would be if we lost 5-0 and Hodgson got sacked with the new manager (hopefully not Bruce) still having several matches to save our qualification
Well, assuming Uefa use the same system they did for Euro 2012, they will use a national coefficient based on Euro 2012 qualifying and finals performance (20%), World Cup 2014 qualifying and finals (40%) and Euro 2016 qualifying (40%). So if we win our group, we'll have a good chance of being seeded, but our poor recent tournaments mean the second tier (teams 9-16) is most likely. This Uefa coefficient is only calculated every two years, so it'll be done in November 2015, just before the finals draw.
Bearing in mind the treatment received by some past England managers from the press, does anyone else think Hodgson has got off particularly lightly? And if so, how long will this goodwill last? If we lose tonight, can't help feeling that knives will be sharpened, even though it would take a colossal disaster to still not qualify. Has Roy really done enough to be in charge of his THIRD tournament? Considering the lack of progress, I do feel he's been particularly fortunate. Wonder why?
Knives are being sharpened right now, I reckon. So far they've probably gone fairly easy on him as there's a recognition that this isn't a great generation of England players. Bobby Robson, who copped so much flak until the 1990 World Cup, had much better players at his disposal, and Graham Taylor managed to ignore some very good players while picking crap ones.
I'm actually expecting an England defeat tonight. As a City fan that's a train of thought to which I'm accustomed, but as an England fan it's a new experience.
An equally important question is, would any of the likely candidates to replace Hodgson do much better? I'm not convinced that many would. There's some things like the obvious tendency he has to only pick players based on their club's status. But there's also a distinct lack of quality coming through, caused in part by the ridiculous state of affairs in Prem football where clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal have more Frenchman and Brazilians in their squad than Englishmen. Not absolving Roy by any means, but the rot is top to bottom, and whatever the ethos and playing style changes a managerial switch might make, it might also do f all.
Yes - face it, we're weak in the heart of midfield. Frankly, when Cleverley is picking up caps and Colback is getting called up, I think we could do far worse than Delph. He's well ahead of those two for my money.
can't we just invade Netherlands , and take their players as our own ! its gonna take a long time to right the wrongs of English football . Brasil do alright and most of their players play in a variety of leagues overseas Germany always do well and most of their players play in Germany France have been doing alright and most of their players play abroad and their leagues are filled with African/French players Spain do alright and they mostly play for three clubs Nederlands do alright and erm they play all over europe too Italy do alright and their domestic league is a bit meh ! and their players play in that league mostly So for the England excuses theres no single way that its done by the nations above and they have all been successful to a much greater extent than England.
