The bottom line is we are not in the Top 20 of World teams whatever our official ranking says. A significant factor in our demise is the failure of a Manager (any manager) to run the show from top to bottom establishing a set playing style through all age levels so that young players can seamlessly move through the ranks playing in a familiar system. All the successful teams in recent years have done this and they produce more youthful teams as a result. Our biggest failing, and it was evident in abundance last night, is our inability to keep the ball even at close range. The number of times we simply surrendered possession under no real pressure was shocking. I even commented on the match thread why do our defenders always look like rabbits in the headlights when they were in possession around our own box, it was embarrassing that players earning obscene amounts of money can't master the most basic principle of the game. Where do we go from here? Nowhere fast I fear, with a manager that was 'bullied' by the press into playing Sterling and loathe to give Barkley more than half an hour on the pitch we are stymied by 'old school' thinking and will never succeed until someone with vision is appointed and allowed to revolutionise our game like never before and we all know that just won't happen...
Got to agree with most of this mate....Dont you just wish hoddle could have kept his mouth shut !! Anyway, once we are out we can start watching and enjoying the games. Looking forward to seeing more of Chillie, Holland, germany and the italians (who were a class above us) think Brasil are going to get the "lucky breaks" !
I think most of the problem is the Premier League has too many overseas players. English players dont get the chance to move up as they should. I'm not sure but I would imagine that the Prem has a bigger% of foreign players than any other league.
I agree with Sooperhoop and QPRNY You have a lot of foreign managers who prefer more technical players that PL teams are able to buy in abundance. I mean no disrespect but your players really look technically inferior to Spain, Italy, France etc I thin that you should move away "physicality first" into "technique first" approach and it should be done from the very young age
We've been saying the same stuff for literally decades mate. Nothing has changed except we have less players to choose from. English Dads still want their 8 year olds to tackle hard and win every game they play in. I gave up coaching because I wanted the kids to express themselves and to rotate position, and I got yelled at by red faced porkers who claimed their kids were centre backs for life and hated 'ball hogs'. I was delighted when my lad took up rugby. I played football at school and in kickabouts in parks and on the streets but that seems a rarity nowadays, state schools don't seem to do team sports, I see blokes in their late teens and twenties having a kick around in the park but never kids, and I can't remember the last time I saw kids playing football in the street. You have to join a club, where they are coached incredibly inconsistently, forced to play in positions and 'formations' and spend far too much time playing matches. To be a top level professional takes a huge level of dedication. There seem to be fewer and fewer kids prepared to put the hours in without instant reward. George Best kicked a ball against a wall for hours to make his left foot as good as his right. No one told him to do it, he wanted to. Not sure how many kids would do that today. On the other hand we (UK) do seem to be producing much better athletes, cyclists etc than a few years ago, so the dedication does exist. Perhaps the kids who want to be professional footballers are exactly the ones least suited to be professional sportsmen, and I can't help thinking that this is because the game itself has been corrupted to a huge degree, so driven by money in England more than anywhere else, that we've got exactly what we deserve.
I've just read that Roy is the second highest paid manager at the World Cup Finals. Again its the over self-exaggeration that results in failure. English football is money obsessed from top to bottom. The focus is all wrong. The current England fiasco reminds me of us under Hughes. The old 'we've got really expensive players therefore we must be brilliant? Right??' Wrong Lallana is not a £30m player Shaw is not a £30m player Until this mindset changes (will it?) we will continue on the slide.
Australia = played 2 lost 2 but there isn't an Aussie who isn't praising them!!! Anyone can except losses - it's about effort and pride..
Australia is a different matter, they qualified by being in a weak group, same as the the group that the US was in, with the exception of Mexico.
I only commented on the statement highlighted and qualification has no bearing on it. It is possible to lose 2 games and have credibility/praise/admiration etc.
Yes, but supporters of a weak team would be happy that they had managed to make it at all to the WC. Supporting them happily when they lose is understandable . Supporters of teams like England or Spain, who much more was expected of are not going to be so happy.
Apparently this is the first World Cup since 1958 where England has been unable to progress through the Group stage to the last sixteen, which really puts things into perspective on how badly things have gone in Brazil, albeit those two narrow 2-1 defeats.
We were told there was little expectation for this England team, however, a good display against Italy got expectations going through the roof again. That false dawn was underlined by Italy's failure against Costa Rica. It seems we only need one half-decent performance and the press frenzy ramps expectation levels to ridiculous heights, that in itself will hamper any manager developing a young team...
I think you are confusing what i am saying - for eg. would you be happy if England played well, with commitment and pride, in the Semi Finals against Brazil but lost to the better team? Again, you may be disappointed with the result but my original point was any supporter can be happy, regardless of their teams standing, if their team displays those characteristics - whether the team wins or loses.
I remember England losing all three group games, albeit in the Euros, in 1988 and going home bottom of the group. Two short years later they were in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Things can change very quickly.
We didn't even qualify for the World Cups of 1974, 1978 and 1994, so things have been worse. Missing the ones in the 70s, when we had genuinely talented and skillful players but had been overtaken tactically by the rest of the world, was awful. Graham Taylor's team, including Carlton Palmer, not getting to USA 94, was a mercy. I really enjoyed that World Cup, watched most of the group stages in a bar on Rhodes in 40 degree heat with very hospitable hosts.
Nonsense, no keeper in the world would have saved that, he's absolutely leathered it and Hart had no protection
Strangely enough, Mexico only finished in 4th place & had to qualify through a play off. I think you will find that although most teams in North America/CONCAF are not good, the top nations are quite respectable. The Central American nations have created many "surprising" results over the years & at present are better than the African countries. I expect it to be different in four years time & European nations will rise again.
Word from Woy.......(he really looks like he has a bad smell under his nose, which is indeed correct) please log in to view this image Hodgson says: "With the backing of those around me and the FA I feel I am the right man to carry on."
