I didn't see Hansen winning loads of trophys at international tournaments or evening getting to many with Scotland. Scottish football is in turmoil as it is so I think he really needs to keep his head below the parapet. Then again, the size of it makes it an easy target
The thing is I just know it'll be the same players picked when we start up again for the WC qualifiers which will include the old guard, and we will probably chug our way through with media darlings Rooney and Young in the team like nothing has ever happened.
where did you read i expected us to do well? no Ive never believed the hype..we are very,very average aslo rans and always will be...
You put Rooney against a crap team and he will destroy them. Put him against a great team and he doesn't do anything. Rooney isn't a big game player
Gangsta .. we were definitely outclassed ... Italy 63% possession ... over 700 completed passes to our 300 ... and not just the tiippy tappy Spanish stuff ... how many saves did Buffon make compared to Hart ... we were very lucky not to lose in normal time ... Pirlo looked like he was playing in a kick-about against some school boys ... funniest moment of the night? ... Hart's Grobelaareque psychology at Pirlo as he stepped up to take his oen .. looked like he was attempting the Haka on his goal line... Pirlo frowns, momentarily, bit like when a midge is annoying you, then promptly steps up and makes Hart look like a right tart (Yann Kermogant take note - that's how you do it!!!!!!) ..
Defensively we was brilliant. It's just Young, Rooney and Milner offered nothing going forward and we struggled to keep the ball. We had no end of big players missing so I think we did very well to get to the 1/4 and remain undeafted throughout the tournament.
The reason we got out of the group is because we had what many thought our biggest name missing for two of the matches
Proud - your patriotism is admirable but if these 'big players, are Wilshire, Kyle Walker, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and Rio then I can't personally see how that would have changed things that much? ..
Defensively we were average but lucky ... against Sweden we conceded two of the softest goals in the tournament .. last night we were saved by the post (twice) plus, admittedly, some good blocks ... but Balotelli and Cassano exposed our lack of pace and tactical awareness at the back almost at will...
Did much better then anyone thought we'd do - we won our group and took Italy to penalties. We have the likes of Cleverly, Wilshire, Cahill et al to come up and that have some creativity and spark - keep the faith!
What struck me last night was the realisation of just what a talent Gascoigne was ... Rooney is a pale imitation when it comes to the big games ... and that is what we lack .. are Wishire or Cleverly going to be any where near as good as Gascoigne? .. if not them, then who .. it's a little depressing ...
But they didnt hit the post through bad defending. One was cross which Joe Hart misjudged and the other was a 30 yard volley sliced against the post. You cant blame the back 4 for them. Apart from switching off twice against Sweden the back 5 have been brilliant all tournament
'Brilliant' .... my definition of briliant is rather different ..we were valiant I'll give you ...outplayed in all 3 games but rode our luck and had some inspired moments, notably against Sweden... the Ukranian 'goal' was offside but that just clouds the fact that Terry was totally exposed and got lucky .. a good forward (like Ibrahimovic did) can now leave him for dead ... I thought Glen Johnson had a good tournament ... he may not be the best defender in the world but he got in some vital last ditch blocks and did far more in attcak than Young, Milner or Rooney... but we are really looking for flecks of gold in a field of ***** Last night, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, was a bit like a 3rd round FA cup game where a conference side parks the bus and gets a nil nil with an average prem side .... plucky yet valiant losers (in the replay or pens)
Had everyone have been fit then our team would have been totally different Frank Lampard, Jack Wilshere, Kyle Walker, Gary Cahill and Gareth Barry have all been key members of the England team or will be key members of the England team now. Roy was missing them and only had 1 month in the job. He did very well with what he had, i dont deem the team failures and i think they did very well. We played France, Italy, Ukraine and Sweden and remained unbeaten. So lets not make out we got hammered by them all. Part of the problem is people over rate the team and when they dont roll teams over they complain. For the first time in years i think the national team is starting to head in the right direction under Roy
Hart Walker Jones/Terry Lescott Cole/Baines Milner Gerrard/Wiltshire Parker/Barry Young/Ox (one of parker, gerrard, barry will still be good enough) Rooney Welbeck. looks ok to me for the world cup.
We have not played well all tournament really. France, true first 30 minutes we were O.K. we had one real attack and scored then sat back and invited pressure for 60 minutes. In which they scored a soft goal. Sweden, we were 1-0 up and cruising against a ****e side and yet Olof Melberg managed to score twice. We should have put them to the sword and thrashed them. Ukraine, again, score once and sit back. Not once did we look like scoring and it took a huge slice of luck for the goal. Italy, thoroughly outplayed, never looked like scoring. Like I said, if Pirlo isn't closed down then he'll destroy you. The BBC commentator even said, 'i'm getting fed up of mentioning his (Pirlo's) name.' We were not good enough and thats where we are. Nobody in our side is world class, not even close. In fact i'd say we have a hell of a lot of players who couldn't get into mid table PL sides. Rooney only plays for the pay cheque and he needs to have his 'best English player' bubble burst because he is not. The only players who came through the tournament with real pride are Gerrard, Terry, Cole and Parker. People say 'let the kids have a chance' but we'd be ****ed without the 'old guard'.
Nobody has mentioned getting hammered ... but at the same time let's not try to make a silk purse etc .. we were outplayed by France, Ukraine and Italy and were about even with a one-man Sweden team .. that is the reality .. we shouldn't feel sorry for ourselves - we need to look at the future and start to overhaul our thinking ... Rio, Terry and Lampard now need to eased out IMHO .. a rigid 4-4-2 is not going to work without fantastic individual players ... and currently we don't have them ...
