Surprised not to see a match thread, but that said I watched from the 94th minute myself. Some things that struck me as depressing; Fat Sham saying "I can't tell Rooney where to play". Erm, wtf is the point in even having a manager? Don't understand that comment at all. 8 of the losers who fcked up at the Euro's kept their place - what does that tell you about the state of English football? Or the state of the manager? Why not have consequences for failure? We were exactly the same. Perhaps unsurprising, but even the goal itself came as a result of a bumbling run and a bad effort by the GK; yet we'll cruise through qualifying with something near a perfect record. Again. Is there any hope for the National game? A deeply unlikable manager, same players regardless of performance, same performance regardless of players. Bereft of pride, bereft of invention. Is it already too late? Has Sky successfully killed the National team?
Different day, same **** really, got lucky at the end but leaves me cold as far as international football is concerned, I won't be bothering anymore.
Pretty much what I noted on Shearers Ebar. I'm not sure I can engage with this for another 2 years until we appoint another manager doing the same thing. I can't blame Sky. People will engage with the national team when the FA grows a set of balls, gets football people involved, re-organises the structure of the game here (yes they'll have to tell the PL what's what not the other way on - like in other countries), and appoints a manager who the country want to engage with. We need someone with a bit of passion, knowledge and forward thinking. I am patriotic and want England to win every game. That will never change. However watching the likes of Harry Kane and Henderson last night was painful. How they were picked I'm not sure. We essentially changed very little from the summer. It didn't need to be wholesale but there were key decisions which needed taken and weren't.
Biggest problem is lack of quality - Prem League - "best in the world" but only because of the money going to foreign imports (I know we're just as guilty as any) but look at the footy gossip bit on the BBC website or anywhere else about who is going to sign who and at least 90% of the players mentioned aren't English, not even British normally Until this stops and we generate genuine talent across the board, we'll go nowhere - Vardy, Kane etc - stellar seasons at their respective clubs, but only because of the non English talent surrounding them, take that away and you have two fairly average players. Not even sure how you address it - the genie is out of the bottle now, going to take some effort to put it back
I didn't even know they were playing. Can't be arsed with England at all. Would take a Toon cup win all day long over an England WC win. The over paid prima donnas can suck my plums.
Went for a bike ride instead. We don't have any real top notch players at the moment so the outcome is inevitable.
Haven't been interested in England since 1996. The PL has ruined the England team and the affinity most fans have with it. Rooney, Sterling, Sturridge, Cahill, Stones et al are just overpaid rubbish. The foreign players are what make the PL great. Most other countries actually give a damn about their national team, but the cretins in charge at the FA don't give a damn as long as their lovechild continues to line their pockets. The PL should be 90% English/ British players with the 10% balance made up of marquee signings who bring something different. Most foreign players in this country and bang average and just take money out of our game. Scandalous that it has got to this stage. Add to that the fact that coaching is **** in this country and you have a steady decline.
The pub I was in was fairly full, plenty of England tops. Not the best performance....but, who gives a ****, we won and that's all that mattered for the first qualifier. Perhaps if we'd lost people would have been a bit happier...
It seems we can and do win at almost every sport other than football.....the recent Olympics showed how good we can be at other games. Get the right people in the right place at the right time with the right funding and bob's your uncle.....and we aren't too bad at non-Olympic sports either like 15 a side rugby union and cricket. I'm sick of the hopes and the disappointments of following England to the degree that it's now once bitten, twenty times shy......and the answer to why we can't win seems a complicated mix....too much money earned, too many foreigners in our top league, poor managers, poor tactics, not enough time spent together, etc, etc, etc. Maybe be should somehow sign players on a central contract where they play together for months at a time and stuff the clubs? Who knows? Actually, who cares anymore? <seen it all before>
Not being a Pom I thought I might say something re this England setup. I, as I assume most fans did, thought that when Woy resigned/was sacked and Large Samuel appointed, a fresh approach was going to be implemented. Sadly, it seems I was incorrect in my assumption therefore the saying in Under Siege 2 was correct, "assumption is the mother of all fkups". ok the keeper was a gimme re injuries, he sacked Smalling and brought in Jagielka ( a 34YR OLD), preparing for the future Sam? Henderson seems a joke, why not persist with Barkley. Rooney, as reported, does what he likes (get rid of him and build around younger players). England are fking crap when the likes of Sturridge, Lallana, Walcott et al are considered worthy of a spot. As Bigi and Windy have stated, the PL should have restrictions as to the number of foreign players, 90% not really feasible however surely a team should have at least 50-75% home grown players to at least give them a chance. As a Swans fan I have seen some of the foreign morons we have signed and shudder at the cost, the obscene wages they are on and for very little return. Anyway, I assume (that word again) that England will qualify and once again disappoint, the team seems to be Seed 1 Reserves, a team thrown in because they always play crap sides, win, build up the points and then can never deliver when they play the good sides, oops forgot Iceland. anyway I expect a mouthful lol for my rant (from a Scottish born Aussie who supports the Swans). And the question I may get would be who to bring in??????????????, I wish I was getting paid Sam's cash to answer that.
The idea of restricting foreign players would be against European employment laws I believe, but, if 'Brexit DOES mean Brexit' we may not have those restrictions in the future. I think it's right that the huge influx of foreign players is harming the national side; the pool of talented English players to pick from is pretty small. I think there are cultural factors influencing the lack of talent as well. Working class kids are not playing football as much as they used to do - at least that is my perception - although they probably play a mean game of FIFA 16 or whatever the computer games are called. As for Allardyce, he is a one-dimensional dinosaur of a manager. He has no ideas beyond hoofball. Except he won't even have the bollocks to use the tactic (singular) that ultimately got him the job in the first place. He will pick the same names because he will want to avoid criticism for picking less popular players from 'smaller' clubs, just like the players on the pitch themselves want to avoid criticism by playing slow, safe football and not taking risks - giving the ball to someone else instead of taking the initiative; passing the ball sideways, when they could look for a through ball; turn and pass it backwards, rather take on the man in front of them; fear the opposition instead of saying "let them fear us". None of them have any balls. I'll watch them at the world cup if they qualify, but I can't sit through this qualifying campaign. It's just to painful to watch, on many levels.
Well I aint gonna write off a manager after 1 game, come on. That said, I don't have high hopes for Fat Sams reign. Seems pretty obvious to me the team needs to be built aroun Dier and Dele Alli. Let Alli play in the middle and find some proper wide players. Problem at the euros and will continue to persist is Rooney, Alli, Lallana Sterling Sturridge, they're all playing in the same position. At least back in the day people knew their positions. Say what you want about Beckham but he stayed on his side and put at least one golden cross in per game. I'm not convinced by either Spurs fullbacks though. Defensively they're just not international level. And that's the thing about internationals, games gonna be won by 1 goal. You can't just gift goals away. Cashley Cole was world class in his prime, yes he was hated, but he did that job for england for about 10 years without anyone ever getting near his level.
While I understand why it is hard to feel positive after years stuck in an abusive relationship, the England team really is a case of having nothing to fear but fear itself. The trouble is that we are afraid of the fear and that ****s up the whole process. The players are as talented as most countries' squads. I think England fans tend to assume that other countries are full of international class players but frankly there wasn't one team at the Euros who didn't have obivous weaknesses, except maybe Italy who got knocked out quite early. England just has a history of losing badly which breeds a fear of losing badly which results in deicisons being made by commitees, managers bottling it at key moments and the team succumbing to melt down the moment the risk of a humiliating defeat raises its head. I have little good to say about FS but he may just be egotistical enough to not give a **** what anyone else thinks. If so, that may make up for any other dificiencies.
Rooney is being slaughtered. I don't see the need for this. I think there is a role as a ball playing midfielder. He and Barkley should compete for one role. In a three man midfield I don't think this is particularly complicated. Dier plays holding role, we find someone to back him up (Noble/Drinkwater?). Rooney/Barkley compete for ball playing midfield role. Alli plays 10 and we find someone to back him up. Wilshere? ou then pick 4 wide players from Sterling, Antonio, Walcott, Ox, Townsend, Lingaard, Lallana - basically whoever is in form. Then you have 3 from Kane, Carroll, Sturridge, Rashford, Welbeck, Vardy, Defoe - again whoever is in form. The four full backs pick themselves bar the left back with Shaw, Rose or Bertand, Clyne, Walker. The four centre backs pick themselves bar maybe the one back up with Stones, Cahill, Smalling, one other from Jagielka, Davies, Jones or the other dross etc etc The keepers are Butland, Hart, Forster My england team: ------------------Butland--------------------- Walker-----Stones-Smalling------Shaw ---------------------Dier---------------------- -------------Barkley--------------------------- ---------Sterling---Alli---Lallana--------- -------------------Defoe-------------------- I'm not convinced with Sterling but we are so ****e. I prefer Ox but he has gone backwards quickly. I think that is sadly as good as we are. Rashford is a problem because he doesn't play. I'd actually go Defoe until he does (he scores all of Sunderlands goals for ****s sake). The bottom line is you look at that team and squad, we are not that good. The pool we are picking from one is too small. We have to force the issue on foreign players - its not working the way it is. It may not solve the issue but its worth a go. We also need to find a winter break - it doesn't need to mirror the continent it just needs to work for us. All the best football brains worldwide believe in it, there is a reason for it. It won't solve everything but all the little bits will help. We have to produce more players and we are. Sadly this is going to take 10 years and we don't have a lot of patience in this country.
The obvious thing in that list is we have no players you would describe as world class - though I think Shaw will be a world class left back.
The problem isn't too many foreigners in the English leagues. It's too few Englishmen in the foreign leagues. I could fix the problem with one rule change, if they made me football king for a day: No team in the Prem can field a player over 19 unless he has played at least 30 games in a competitive league (reserves don't count) in the previous 12 months. It would stop Prem teams stockpiling all the young English talent. If they thought soemone was worth having on their books, they would have to find him somewhere to play (Huddersfield, Brugge, whatever).
We have always disagreed on this issue of course and we still do. It could have been resolved without drastic action a long time ago, now I believe we have to adopt the approach Germany did after Euro 2000. The difference being the FA have no power and will therefore find it impossible to get the big clubs to "buy in" like the German clubs did, or the spanish clubs when they adopted a similar approach (its well documented both these nations said getting more nationals playing in the top league was a priority - its worked). Therefore I'd be an advocate of restrictions. There is no problem in 10 years time if it has made no difference to loosen the rules again. Having a phobia of attempting change and looking at all the pitfalls is exactly the scaremongering that has resulted us being where we are in my opinion. This whole head burying exercise we do in terms of not getting more English players AND managers/coaches operating in our top flight, and not enough of our players going abroad is pathetic for me. One thing is for sure is the current attempts are failing. I think we have part of the equation progressing. I'm not a doom monger like some, we have invested in grass roots and coaching etc. You need opportunity and exposure alongside it. You only have to look at the managerial roles here in the summer, its comical. There were jobs available at Man C, Chelsea, Man U, Everton, Swansea, Southampton, Watford. Liverpool and Spurs have both changed within the last two years. Not one even dared chance an English manager. "none are good enough is the cry". That's nearly half the bloody league On the continent they do not worry about promoting coaches from within or lower ranked clubs. We have created a barrier over a period of time, and that is now used as an excuse. We now need some positive discrimination to break it down. It doesn't need to be forever. I think our top league is losing its character every season and becoming more like a league of nations. Obviously the pace of the game etc remain at present and what you would call typical characteristics of the English league. For how much long though. I do agree more of our players need to go abroad however.
A season in Serie A will do Joe Hart the world of good. Jack Wilshere however proved the true mentality with English 'stars.' He could have signed for several European clubs on loan but instead chose to stay on his current wage and signed for Bournemouth [coup for them.] A season abroad would have developed Wilshire.
