The fingers will now be pointed as to who was to blame for England's exit from the Euro's. I believe every Liverpool player at the tournament(that got game time)can hold their heads high. The truth is England and English players just aren't as good as the hype and the false bravado the hacks come out with before every major tournament. Now **** that **** lets concentrate on the new season.
We were a better team without Rooney. There, I've said it. The media hyped-up his return against Ukraine to a point that I half expected them not to turn up, and we played our worst game of the tournament: until last night. And some Utd fans on these boards are saying he was not 'match fit'.... Anyway, I'd have played 4-5-1, with Jones or henderson supporting Parker and Gerrard. Not rocket science or hindsight - they both looked dead after 60/70 mins against Ukraine, and we knew Italy would push harder than they did. Would have used Ox and Walcott on the flanks then, with Wellbeck up front and Carroll in the second half. Tbf to Roy though, we're sh!t and he did okay with the materials given. Thing is though, had WE had Pirlo, Ronaldo, Schweinsteiger, Ribery, Alonso, Iniesta, Torres, Kedeira et al, Roy would still play the same way anyway.
Rooney was just shocking this tournament. I know he scored the one goal and that is what FOR do but today he just needed to look at Carroll on how to hold a ball up Ah well, some cracking semi final ties on now!
If we have to blame people for the state of the England football team then we should not be looking at the players who were on the pitch or even the manager. A bloody great searchlight should be shone on the true culprits and that is the FA. For over 20 years we have known that there has been a significant skills gap between our young players and those of other countries. We have had chin music from the FA and very very little true action!
TalkSponk gave Johnson a grudging 6, but gave wellbeck 7! Said Johnson gave the ball away and was out-of-position, but praised Terry's saving tackle on Balotteli in the first half (ignoring that Terry played him on in first place) yet fail to metion Johnson two interceptions on Balotteli in the second half, or several other last-gasp tackles he put in. Or that lescott nearly gave a goal away by playing the Italians on in the second half either.
I was pleasantly surprised by the English Liverpool players, especially Andy Carroll. Took his goal well against Sweden although arguably Grant Holt would also have buried it but the cross from Gerrard to create the chance made it a superb chance - it was begging to be buried. England had too many passengers though, Rooney & Milner, for me, were the biggest culprits and I didn't think Ashley Young was up to much either, not to worry, hopefully RH will drop the deadwood and pick a proper team of players for the World Cup. What was blinding obvious to everyone who thought otherwise - Gerrard without Lampard in the side is far better and more effective - my man of the tournament (for England). Although England tried their best to not play much football and the possession stats from all 4 games will bare that out, what was clearly shown is that RH managed to organize the back line a bit better and the team looked harder to break down (except for a 10 minute spell against the Swedes). All in all I am fairly pleased that we managed the QF's as I didn't expect them to get through the group stage tbh. Now we are left with perhaps the 4 best European national teams who will serve up some decent games between them in the next week of so
Look at the priority given to projects that might actually produce the technical ability in England. When was the National Football Center supposed to be finished?Oh yeah having an overpriced national stadium was much more important. The new date was this year wasn't it? How long will it take after that to see any effect on the senior team? Has the FA came close to bridging the gap in the number of qualified coaches in comparison with the Spanish and Germans. That was a talking point 10 years ago.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/england-0-0-italy-daily-mirror-930187 That's more like it. TalkSponk are quegs. Look at Ashley Cole's ranking and the photo of ballotelli. Is it just me, or does Mario look like he has a condom on his head?
I don't not normally agree with much the mirror writes, but the author of that article seems to have watched the same game as me. Unlike Talk ****e.
Rooney, Milner, Young and to some extent Wellbeck were all awful. They all worked hard but lacked quality to punish the opposition. Then you have the ageing legs of Gerrard and Parker who were completely overrun in the midfield and don't possess the same technical ability as their foreign counterparts. But then again, what were we expecting from Roy's England?
frank, The ONLY thing that the FA is truly concerned about is this years income! How long have they had the token Trevor Brooking as the head of development with absolutely no power to make anything happen?
The ridiculous thing Dave is that the Germans had one bad tournament, completely revamped their whole set up and outlook on the game and within less than a decade are back to where they used to be. Its ridiculous that the FA have so little foresight and competence that they still can't make any headway whatsoever.
As anyone else noticed how the best international teams usually have a large proportion of players from one or two clubs...? Germany have a lot of Bayern Munich players, Spain are mostly Barcelona with a lot of Real Madrid too. These sides have the advantage of already having team harmony and spirit, they know how each other play before even meeting up.
Billy, I believe that the core of the problem lies with the very culture of the FA. Even in its latest format it is really still a collection of committee members who build their own 'power bases' with little or no reference to the world around them. Over the last 10 years in particular they have devoted themselves to becoming a money machine. hence we have lots of talk about raising the standards of coaching but little tangible action. It is left to clubs like Liverpool to set the standards by adopting more European techniques for the development of their youngsters. However, Academies like ours are only the tip of the iceberg. Even at junior level we continue to play too many competitive games and far too little time developing ball skills and team play. Go to any park over the weekend and you will find loads of parents screaming for their offspring to 'get rid of it' or play 'one touch' but most of all to win! When was the last time you heard a parent or coach congratulating a kid for his dribbling skills (even if he did ultimately lose the ball) of the inteligence of his passing? It's nothing new. We had lots of physical training but somehow we were supposed to absorb our skills by watching liverpool play! (and at school level we were successful).
I dunno about this "we can't hold onto the ball" stuff. We invented pass and move. Note the inclusion of 'pass' in that description. I noticed a lot of the time England's players were passing it off and then putting two opposition players between themselves and the ball rather than making themselves an option to receive the ball. Too often the player on the ball didn't have the right options, which is not down to the passing but the moving. We don't hold onto it enough but that doesn't mean we can't. The pace of English football means you can't arse about, something it can take foreign players (like Ronaldo) a season or three to figure out. So to an extent our football discourages it. But English audiences would never sit through a season of knocking it about at the back. Look how often commentators whine, "It's a contact sport." When I was a kid we played it as a game of skill, not strength, but skill gets coached out of players long before they reach the top flight.
Not sure I agree Page Moss. They were not bigged up as you put it. Rather the oposite. It was only when we exceeded expectations that the press smelt something they could ride on. Most of us know we performed exactly to our level. A second tier nation, which untill major infrastructure change, will continue to be just that. Quite proud of the squad, bar Rooney and Young who were pish. Milner at least put a shift in and put a few balls in.
Top players for me were Gerrard (obviously) Terry and Lescott. Shout out to Johnson, Cole, Parker and Hart too. Carroll did the job when asked and Welbeck largely played well. Walcot is Walcot, Chamberlain got some experience. Think Carroll might of been a better shout in front of Rooney, but to be fair to Roy anyone in his position is almost obliged to play him. Think we did okay actually.
