http://www.football365.com/news/21554/9389697/Gerrard-Retires-From-England-Duty... Thank Christ! biggest piece of overrated rubbish ever to put on an England shirt! Not fit to wipe the mud of JT's boots as England captain!
Good riddance to big game bottler Gerrard. from backpassing to Zidane, to missing pens in shootouts, going missing in Bloemfontein and getting owned by Pirlo
He never struck me as a " leader of men". It's a shame JT handed in his notice as I'm sure England would have delivered much more! Who will be the next captain?
Don't remember England being out after 8 days when Terry was there. Gerrard was massively over rated but sadly the current crop is still nowhere near his level. Not sure where this optimism about England's current batch of youngsters comes from. They have A LOT to prove.
Gerrard had his moments but was neither the player nor Captain for his country, that he was for his Club. He is also a good example of why senior players should go when their time is up, and not try and hang on " just one more year". I disagree with those who clamoured for JT to return, he chose his time to retire and should stick to it. Quit while you are ahead is good advice.
Sterling looks like he will be a cracking player, but the rest of the youngsters.......meh! When you look at them and compare them to how good Rio, Lampard, Joe Cole, Terry, Ashley Cole, Rooney etc were at their age it doesnt fill me with confidence.
It's about building a team though. All those players never formed a top team, so maybe the likes of Barkley, Sterling, Sturridge, Walcott, Townsend, Shaw, Stones, Walker, Rodwell, Rodriquez, Morrison, Cahill, Smalling, Jones can be forged into a better team. Hodgson not the man for that, but 2018 those players will be at their peak.
But then again, Germany have just won the world cup with players less hyped than Rooney alone, and Holland reached the semis with a team of journeymen (bar Robben and RVP). It's about team ethic, everybody having a clearly defined role and playing it to their max, confidence in your technique etc etc, not how many times your name appears on tabloid back pages.
I agree. But I also feel, under the right circumstances, that batch of players I listed above could have done great things. You are spot on in that the work Ethic and the rest of the stuff wasnt there, otherwise that team could have done wonderous things. When I think back to how good Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Gerrard and Rio were back in the day and what they used to do at club level week in, week out. If they were handled properly they could have achieved something. Its a crying shame. And when I look at these latest bunch of buffoons, some will become decent players, but none what I would call World Class imo, Except maybe Sterling (like I already said).
I think Stones will be the best of the lot, he's looked outstanding every time i've seen him play. He's so confident with everything he does.
Not sure what Gerrard was meant to do in the set up Roy used... He's old and needs two beside him. We got a brilliant season out of him by putting Hendo and Allen/Lucas beside him. Roy could easily have use Henderson + Wilshere/Barkley/Carrick etc beside Stevie to allow him to dictate. He didn't and England got pulled around. Admittedly his set pieces were uncommonly poor. Unbelievable that Roy has escaped criticism - if England had a Rodgers or Martinez they'd have progressed. the talent is there. Pirlo is a great player but Itsly did everything to accommodate him - three centre backs with two wingback pinning England back and Marchisio + Veratti doing all Pirlo's running.
True but Pirlo can still dictate games, I don't think Gerrard can, especially at international level. Roy has got to be the luckiest England manager ever in a way. Expectation is so low now that people can't even be arsed to get on his case. For all England's potential, this was the worst world cup display ever and now our lowest ranking since 96.
Agreed the talent is there. Indeed I don't think Germany / Holland are any significantly more talented than we are. They just have 2 things we don't: Organisation & Expectations, both of which need to come from the manager, and Hodgson has fallen desperately short on both counts. On the Organisation front it's square pegs for square holes and round pegs for round holes. Everybody must have a clearly defined role to which they are already accustomed to at club level, unlike say the use of Rooney. On the Expectations front, we hope to reach the latter rounds, whereas they clearly EXPECT to. I'm not talking about the public expectations here (generated by the media), I'm talking about that of the playing staff. Massive difference in mentality there.
Whilst not essential, what also helps is that Germany and Spain before them took their core players from practically the same side (Bayern and Barca). Therefore the players knew each other very well, leading to cohesion. We had a lot of Liverpool players admittedly but none of them are proven winners in the same way the aforementioned sides were and Henderson and Johnson are hardly Lahm and Kroos are they!! I have to disagree re the talent thing, Holland maybe but they still at least had 2, maybe 3 world class players performing well. We had none if you factor in Rooney's average performances for England generally. Germany are littered with fantastic talent and could bring players like Schurrle and Gotze off the bench too.
On Pirlo - he's played that role his entire career. Gerrard started what.. A year and a bit ago? Real pity that England don't have a manager who can inspire his players to play in a new way... But maybe with clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal producing a new generation of players used to a possession style things will eventually change. EDIT: and yes England took lots of Liverpool players - but Roy didn't use them in the right way! Something he has experience doing!
