It's hard to say as no manager will come out and criticise Hodgson to say he's getting it wrong. I'd take any manager who reckongises we're making the same mistakes over and over, who doesn't want a squad full of players from the big clubs and one or two token players from the rest. People talk about a lack of quality English players but I could name 50 or 60 that could walk into Estonia's team and yet our "best" 11 struggled against their best 10! In terms of those who I think have the right playing style to suit England and make us entertaining: Laudrup, Howe, Warburton off the top of my head and I'm sure there are plenty more.
I still think that Redknapp would do a better job than Hodgson has, though his stock is falling rapidly and he seems to have almost given up, to me. International football would probably suit him down to the ground, as he'd have lots of free time, wouldn't have to be involved in transfers and could get the players into a system and playing with confidence. He might end up with a side whose average age would be about 38, though! Triffic.
Harry would want a Modric type of player to make his ideas work, and a Bale and a VdV. The problem is there aren't any English players like those three. We have had them in the past, Hoddle for example, but never enough at the same time. Until we encourage skill over strength it will remain that way.
We got 4th without VDV and with Modric playing on the left and Huddlestone in the middle. I'm sure 'Arry would do a good job but my reservations with him is that he has his favourites which is one of the things I think we need to get away from.
Redknapp is the kind of manager who can get a team playing if he's allowed free reign to pick the players he wants to work with and favours, something that can work at international level as long as you don't fall into the trap of picking your old favourites as YV says. I could see Harry suffering from that but in an international situation that is perhaps less of an issue than at club level as there is less of a sense of keeping players happy and in form by giving them their games. Internationally, apart from in tournaments you can conceivably just play your best available XI in competitive matches and as long as you perform nobody complains. How much did Spain change their team (except out of necessity) in their successful years, except when players became too old to feature? Having favourites, or a key pool of players who the manager will consistently pick as long as they are in good form relative to the others in their position, isn't necessarily a bad thing at international level, as the big task is getting the players to play as a team in the short space of time you get and certainly avoiding complacency in that pool of players. And Roy seems to have his favourites too to be fair, so its not necessarily something we have escaped by not having Redknapp. I think that as a club manager Harry seems to suffer from (perhaps unfairly perceived) short-termism but in international management thats sort of ok as long as he keeps dialogue open with the U21s and lower, so he can have reports on young players he should perhaps be looking to phase into the senior side, and as he would have plenty of time he could go around the grounds and scout them himself too it might not be too much of a problem. I've always thought Redknapp had a good eye for a player, but maybe developing them wasn't his strongest point always. But he wouldn't need to do that with England, certainly not nearly to the same extent anyway. At the time of the England manager succession I wanted Roy because I was worried about Redknapp, for the life of me thinking about it now though I can't fully remember why I was worried. I think Roy is doing a reasonable job really, but there is a lot of room for improvement with England right now. If Redknapp is still up for the job in a couple of years if/when Roy leaves, I wouldn't be averse to giving it to Harry unless another outstanding candidate presents himself - bear in mind I believe an Englishman should manage England so for me the pool is somewhat limited. And lets not forget that a lot of the players whom Redknapp would probably have favoured to the long term detriment of the team - I'm thinking Lampard, Gerrard, Ashley and Joe Cole, Ferdinand and Terry etc. - are long gone from the international scene now, so he wouldn't be able to pick his favourites anymore.
I doubt Redknapp would do any better with the side we've got now. We have to remember that Redknapp came along at a very particular time; and I will forever maintain that any half-decent manager could have done with that Spurs squad what Redknapp ended up doing. He was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. If he's that great a manager, why is he making such a massive **** up with QPR?
HIAG I agree to an extent that it is a player problem with England. At the moment, unless we set up to counter attack and somehow soak up pressure for a game and sneak the odd goal, we're not going to trouble any of the top-tier international sides, of which we are emphatically at the moment not one of. My view is that Redknapp might at least get the team playing the game at a faster tempo, which is a big problem for England right now, and that he probably wouldn't pick Milner at the base of a midfield diamond ahead of someone like Huddlestone, or indeed pick Wilshere in that same position just because he is Jack Wilshere. I don't think Redknapp would come in and we would suddenly sweep every team before us and win every tournament going, but we might get more entertainment than we do right now, and we might win more games (or at least lose no more than we do now) with it.
A lot of people, including me, were sick of watching England play dreadful football while somehow sneaking out of the round robin phase of major tournaments. Why not try to play a little football? At worst, England will provide a few entertaining moments while going out before the knockout rounds. Well, Hodgson seemed to have listened to us. The problem is that the attempt to play like Liverpool went the way Liverpool's attempt to play like Liverpool is going this year: not so well, in lieu of a Suarez. I'm still not much of a Hodgson fan, but nobody could get this squad both playing good football and beating good teams. Either one may be beyond them, really. For what it's worth, I think Redknapp would do somewhat better, at least on the playing attractive football front.
Iceland 2-0 Netherlands. Iceland 24 % possession, guess who has both goals. Belgium doesn't start Chadli and is struggling against BH. I hope their loss is our gain. Vertonghen started though, while Dembele keeps Chadli company on the bench.
Bale is a truly exceptional player. He's not Messi or Ronaldo(yet!) but he's certainly the best of the rest. Hi pace is devastating but he's always adding things to his game, he held up the ball very well in the second half when they went down to 10 men. If only Wales had a decent coach they'd be a good side.
Dier, Carroll and Kane start for England U21s away against the Croats, Pritchard makes the bench this time. The big name for them starting today is Halilovic, their national wunderkid who we were linked with and went to Barca in the summer. He actually played for the senior Croatian side a coulpe of days ago and starts tonight. Have England ever done that? Elsewhere for us this evening, Eriksen's Denmark take on Portugal, and Chiriches's Romania have Finland. I think thats about it.
Injury count for this international break: Lloris (groin injury, confirmed by Didier Deschamps) Chadli (hip injury - albeit reported by the Wail) Feck...
Livaja, the Croatian striker, has equalised. Defensive error from our goalscorer, the CB Liam Moore. Nearly half time.
Half time, its still 1-1. Our lads are putting in a decent showing, Kane has looked to try and create chances and he's looking a presence up top. Showed great feet early on in the box to create a chance within the first 5 minutes. Carroll has looked good on the ball, and encouragingly for his Spurs future he is trying to put in the yards too and has even made a couple of tackles(!). Dier has looked much as he does for Spurs at RB - capable of doing a decent job but he's clearly a CB. England are playing an odd system, 4-3-3 but Berahino and Redmond are drifting in off their wings so the fullbacks are having to provide all the width, but there isn't really a CM in the team who can provide cover properly so Dier in particular is looking a bit reluctant to get forward at times. Its probably the CB in him too! England players we should maybe be looking at? Well I'm sure every PL club has looked at Will Hughes but he looks a player Pochettino would love - good on the ball but also working very hard, and particularly looking to press high more than any other player. Redmond looks technically good and obviously a quick lad, always looking to turn and make things happen. I'm not sure that position would be a priority for us though given we have Pritchard who is surely looking to break into the team who is a very similar type of player. Butland looks like he has the makings of a good keeper, he's looked good for a few years now but I'd like to see him playing regular games at his age like Courtois did. On the Croatian front, Halilovic looks a cut above everyone on the pitch in terms of technique, vision and application. Its clear watching him why Barca wanted him. He runs with the ball a bit like Messi, with it seemingly stuck to his feet, which is great to see at 18. He needs to get into the game more though.
I am not a fan of Butland. He's a bit too static for my liking, plays as if his boots are weighing him down. Good stop in the first few minutes of tonight's game though.
Kane is simply outworking the other 21 players in this game. It's good to see him stand out, on the other hand I wish he'd save his energy for Saturday. I think he may have had the assist for the second goal, and created a number of good chances.
