i hate all this England bollocks, as it is usually down to club ****ing rivalry which way the argument goes, not the merits of the reasons why. end of the day the club pay the players wages, so it is right in my opinion they have a say on what's best for their asset, whichever ****ing club you play for!
I lost interest in England years ago because of the **** United players got from the press and opposition fans. It's still going on with Rooney. Yes he wasn't very good against Estonia, none of them were, and he missed too many chances but ultimately he was the match winner and yet he's been slated. It's all bollocks.
Fair point- I was trying to be brief, so perhaps I should have explained my view more fully. I would criticise Hodgson for saying what he did about Sterling because it makes the lad look like he doesn't care. Woy could easily have said something like "I'm starting Sterling on the bench because he's looking a bit tired". That would be the correct, diplomatic approach. His team, his decision - he has to take responsibility publicly, regardless of what goes on behind the scenes. I can't be arsed reading the media lynch-mob logic after the game, but perhaps they are the ones who have retrospectively inferred that Sterling's omission was somehow a major factor in the poor performance. The gist of my argument was, that after another laboured performance against a team ranked 80something, playing with 10 men for half the game, the manufactured furore over Sterling is being used to mask the fact that Hodgson is just not the man for the job, and I was laughing at the absurd sight of some fans on here trying to excuse Woy's ineptitude because it gives them yet another opportunity to have a go at Liverpool.
Fair enough but obviously that's bollocks and it's the kind of comment that stinks of club bias. You don't score that many goals for England by being ****e. There is this expectation that if Rooney doesn't put in a Ronaldoesque performance then he has automatically had a bad game. He's not turned into the world class player that some thought he might become but he's still managed to score goals for England when other supposedly quality players have struggled to make an impact on the international scene. At least when he was 18/19 he wasn't too tired to play for England.
i don't think anyone has been good for england since 96 lol to be honest, when we had shearer and sherringham as strikers, you always felt like we could do something, with maybe the odd exception ie 01 when liverpool thrashed Germany, England have been pretty poor in my opinion, crap managers hasn't helped mind and we have had some serious talent wasted. rooney wont get as much criticism as he is captain, its not club related, as we have had the same with gerrard,rio,terry etc as captains as well. i just dont feel anything as far as England goes any more,i will follow the odd game, but i just dont get as excited as i used to, and the only time we discuss it is it usually ends up with who you support or don't like etc which side of the argument you fall on. club all the way for me.
Interesting... Reports now saying the Sterling didn't ask not to play, simply that he wasn't 100% but if selected would have no issues playing.. Stinks to high heaven that good'ole Roy used the Sterling incident (or lack from what's being reported now) to divert the abuse he would have got for his team struggling to beat the mighty Estonia, who were down to 10 men for most of the second half. He's one of the most inept managers out there, be it league level or international and now proven that he's willing to throw his own players under the bus in order to divert any negativity that may come his way.. If I were Brendan Rodgers, I'd be speaking to our legal team with regards to what I can and can't say in my next press conference and go at the fool with both barrels!
Sterling has played almost treble the amount of mins this season as he did last season. He's played in the World Cup during the summer as well. He's been playing consistently for 10 months straight. The lad is 19 and is now expected to carry club and country. And for the numbskulls who ask why Sterling hasn't been rested by Rodgers - a) he has been rested and b) in case these ******s haven't noticed, we lost the 3rd best player in the world, and our next best striker is out injured. We simply cannot afford to drop Sterling at this moment in time. People are praising Roy's honesty - he comes across as quite honourable and noble? Fair enough - IMO the best managers are the ones who deflect attention away from team and players and onto himself or external factors. Look at Mourinho and Ferguson who were the managers. What Roy does is deflect attention away from himself - he's quite a selfish man but also a coward. Instead of focusing on England's poor performances, we're now talking about a 19 year old who had the confidence to discuss his fatigue to his manager and is now being slammed for it. And the question isn't about whether Sterling is too tired to play - it's about being at a fit enough level to play at a high standard. He's clearly fit enough to play 90 mins but can he continue to play at the high level, week in week out? Even Suarez tailed off towards the end of last season. What is clear to me is that Roy is a buffoon, dinosaur who completely out of touch with the modern game - his case for not giving players a 2 day rest and saying there isn't any research to back it up is ridiculous. His idea is to have a training session to fit all players. England want to move with the times and compete with the likes of Spain, Germany etc but we have an outdated manager with outdated thoughts and methods, who thinks players should be playing nonstop and getting injured for the sake of it (I call it the Terry Butcher syndrome - looks all hard and patriotic doesn't it?)
Roy has always been an inept coach. But one thing that has come to light is that he's a coward. Quick to deflect attention away from himself and onto players and other people. The best managers take attention away from the team either by blaming external factors or even taking the flak themselves - never Roy.
I don't think Sterling asked to be omitted from the starting line up. He simply stated he wasn't feeling as fresh as he'd like. Hodgson shouldn't have made a private conversation public. He does seem to be a fool when it comes to stuff like that. Didn't he tell some stranger on the tube that he wasn't going to select Rio Ferdinand anymore. The only issue I have with Sterling is that he shouldn't be feeling tired so early in the season. Athletes in other sports ie men's tennis manage to maintain a level of fitness and freshness throughout a 12 month season which involves a lot more competitive and intense activity/endurance than football. Most footballers are soft.
So if you're knocked out with a few games to go it's no good having your best players available to try new things or keep trying to work on tactics etc? A team like Wales that rarely qualify need their best players for every game to help work on tactics and allow the lesser players to play with the better ones to help improve their own game. Think it was Scotland and Wales that both said when they had no chance of qualifying for the last WC every game became a build up to the Euro qualifier and ensuring they were in the best place possible to qualify for future tournaments. England playing Estonia is like. United playing mk Dons (well maybe a bad example ) but you play some of your fringe players to give them experience should anything happen in an important game to your number 1 players.
Crouch had a better goals to game ratio for England than Rooney. Scoring 40 goals in qualifiers against San Marino means **** all of you can't score in a tourney ament against a half decent team. Id love to see Rooneys goals since 2006 and who they were scored against and what competition.
I agree, he shouldn't really feel tired.. I think we've managed him well enough at Liverpool, had Sturridge been fit and Lallana not got injured in Pre-season, he'd have played less, but still, 19year old should be fresh and raring to go, unless he's got a slight niggle and can't give 100%, for which I think he should be commended for his honesty and not condemned! My main issues is with the handling of this private conversation between manager and player.. goes to show how out of touch Roy is and how he's willing to throw anyone under the bus in order to divert the attention away from the performances of his team!
This is no mistake by Hodgson. It's his own cowardly way of getting one back at BR/Liverpool after being criticised after the Sturridge incident. Don't forget that he also previously made him train with an injury. It's no coincidence that after telling the world that sterling didn't want to play (something that now appears a little off the truth), he went on to preach that it's not only him responsible for a players fitness and then to criticise LFC's training program....Despite pretending to be everyone's nice old uncle, the guy has an ego the size of a house (not sure why) and it's fighting back. We all know he's a loser though: Prior to the match, he made comments about us remaining unbeaten. He should have been saying we're gunna try to win them all. That's the rhetoric of a winner. Then, he states that Sterling didn't want to start, already shifting blame just in case. He's a ****, negative, defensive manager and coach. Both on and off the pitch. Tbh, he and the FA deserve each other. Unfortunately, it'll probably mean that the next generation of players, who are capable and potentially some future world class, will be wasted and then thrown under a bus. Shame....
Laughable some of the comments on here! It's Hodgsons fault is it? Is it ****e. It's Sterlings fault for being a lazy, unprofessional, unpatriotic twat. I wouldnt play the idle sod again. It's never liverpools fault. Always some half arsed excuse with you lot.
Subtle.. FYI, Alan Shearer retired from International footy at 29.... what a great patriot he was, retiring whilst at the peak of his career..
I don't agree on either point fella. Firstly, Woy didn't need to deflect anything away from the game, as they won ffs. Despite their ranking that wasn't an easy fixture as Holland found out last year when a late goal salvaged them a point in WC qualifying. England came away with 3 and that's all that matters. But post match all the talk has been about Sterling not the 3 points. As for his comments, they were deliberately barbed. In my opinion Sterling was operating under instruction from Rodgers and Woy was simply making it plain that the decision not to play him wasn't his, it was the players.....so draw your own conclsuions as to why chaps - that was why he put the lad on the spot, as he knew he was being played.
So it was our fault when Hodgson admitted to pushing Sturridge with an injury? Before you answer, bare in mind that Sturridge HAD AN INJURY, and HODGSON ADMITTED HE DID IT TO 'TEST HIS RESOLVE'......I know it may be hard for you to grasp so I've put in bold the key facts. Another fact also made clear for the window lickers (I MEAN YOU): STURRIDGE TOLD HODGSON WHAT HIS TRAINING PLAN WAS TO AVOID INJURY AND HODGSON ADMITTED HE CHOSE TO IGNORE IT. Hey presto, Sturridge gets injured Now, with this in mind, fast forward to this game. It has now surfaced that STERLING DIDN'T ASK NOT TO PLAY, he simply made the manager know that he WASN'T FEELING 100%. (Key facts also idiot proofed for you). Is this the action of 'a lazy, unprofessional, unpatriotic t**t'? Or a professional who has been educated to look after himself? Not convinced? Here's more: HODGSON DOESN'T BELIEVE IN THE TWO DAY REST TECHNIQUE USED BY LIVERPOOL AND QUESTIONS IT'S SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE. That a direct affront on LFC. Fact is that ALL SPORTS SCIENTISTS AGREE THAT THERE IS PLENTY OF EVIDENCE TO PROVE THIS. All modern ones anyway. So all this in mind, it appears that you've actually not really taken anything on board at all and just used the thread to use the comment 'It's never liverpools fault'....thus proving another fact: WE ALL KNOW WHAT TYPE OF LOWLIFE YOU ARE. Also In Bold because your comment also has proved THAT YOU'RE A BIT THICK.
Raymond Verheijen - well renowned fitness coach has completely slated Roy and other like minded English coaches. He gives a proper explanation as to why players like Raheem require 2-3 days rest. But you shouldn't engage with the WUMS - rival fans will just side with Roy for the fun of it.
Can't be arsed to read all that tbh. I'll just take it that you disagree. Scousers in the 70's and 80's used to be a great bunch of fans. You lot are a pale imitation of your forefathers. Arrogant tossers.
