Another England thread!

[Elder for England]

It doesn't spk for itself at all - of course we are one of the best teams in Europe - we just underperformed for a clown manager

What. a. cop. out.

Underperformed?? How many games can that be an excuse for.
No it wasn't for the manager. These players need to take responsibility just as much as McClaren. Yes he gives the talks and the tactics but when they're out on the pitch it's upto them.

We don't have a right to be one of the best teams in Europe because we're England and we used to be good, we have to earn it and right now Croatia (who are ranked 15th) look a better team than us

 

[Sheebo]

What. a. cop. out.

Underperformed?? How many games can that be an excuse for.
No it wasn't for the manager. These players need to take responsibility just as much as McClaren. Yes he gives the talks and the tactics but when they're out on the pitch it's upto them.

We don't have a right to be one of the best teams in Europe because we're England and we used to be good, we have to earn it and right now Croatia (who are ranked 15th) look a better team than us

WHY.DO.YOU.SPEAK.LIKE.THAT?

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Sometimes funny things happen in football - 11 for 11 we're easily in the top 5 in the WORLD

comedy GENIUS

 

[ali jenkins]

England might have some of the best PLAYERS in Europe, but we dont have one of the best TEAMS.

Untill someone realises that we need to pick the players to fit in the team rather than the other way round we wont win ANYTHING!

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I don't think we'd have qualified from ANY of the four groups in this competition. Our only chance would have been sneaking through in group A behind Portugal, but even that would have been unlikely as I'd still fancy Turkey to get something against us. On that basis, I'm happy we didn't qualify as it got rid of McLaren and it meant we can enjoy a tournament without the media hysteria that accompanies England at major events.

i agree

group A: we'd get hammered by portugal, and we'd struggle against turkey/czechs

group B: clearly nowhere NEAR croatia, and we'd also get beaten by germany

group C: total EMBARASSMENT would ensue

group D: could potentially qualify behind spain but wouldn't bet on it

 

[El Presidente]

Sometimes funny things happen in football - 11 for 11 we're easily in the top 5 in the WORLD - blatantly even if you don't agree with that we're top 10 - we've got to the 1/4s twice in recent WORLD cups and the Semis in the last 5 World Cups so blatently overall we ARE good enough...

We simply didn't perform as we could and should in qualifying - for a shit manager...

McLaren was not a great manager, but we had a better one and people were more concerned about his sex life than his technical and tactical abilities so got rid of him.

As for the team, they are laboured, unimaginative, unable to beat a man, possess poor goalkeeper(s), no one pulling the strings in midfield, and strikers who are either injured or cannot score against the best opposition.

 

[Elder for England]

WHY.DO.YOU.SPEAK.LIKE.THAT?

Excellent

ah bless, nothing to come back with so you have to criticise.

 

[withdeanwombat]

The fact speaks for itself - we're not there! i.e we're not good enough.

Oh come on!

We're not there because the other countries cheated by having proper managers and playing better football.

Blo*dy Johnny Foreigner has forgotten his place.

 

[Old Greg]

Most of you are talking shit - like usual. I don't see how you can say we dont have quality players. For example our 2 centre halfs were captains in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, that surely speaks for itself. It clearly is tatics and confidence, not ability. Croatia dont have the greatest or te most known players in the world, hardly any of them are playing in the top teams in europe. yet with the right tatics and confidence they look very good. I don't care what any of you fools think, if you think that Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Owen, Barry, the Coles etc arent quality players, thn that underlines your lack of knowledge of the game you profess to know.

 

[1234andcounting]

The French may have failed miserably this time around, but their recent record at international tournaments reads

1998 World Cup Winners
2000 Euro Nations Cup Winners
2006 World Cup Runners-up

And I think it is fair to say they won the first two with a fair amount of style too.

A record England can only dream about.

Have just got back from a week's holiday in Germany and watching the coverage there puts a wholly different perspective on it. I don't know if anyone has ever done a ranking of European nations performance in both the World Cup and the Euros but I would reckon England are definitely below:

Germany
Italy
France
Holland
Czech Republic (if you include Czechoslovakia)

Arguably below

Portugal (occasionally reach semi-finals on foreign soil which England has only done once)
Denmark (for their 1992 EC win)
Greece (for their 2004 EC win)

Would be below

Croatia - if they had existed for longer than 15 or so years.

For under-performance only Spain can match us really.

So, by way of a long answer to the question, I have ceased caring about whether England qualify or not because:
- no-one in authority (ie the effing useless FA) seems to
- we only f..k it up when we get there anyway.

 

[sod1]

I'm just glad McClown got sacked sooner rather then later and we got Capello in ASAP so not qualifying had a silver lining for me.

agreed

 

[Brovion]

Most of you are talking shit - like usual. I don't see how you can say we dont have quality players. For example our 2 centre halfs were captains in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, that surely speaks for itself. It clearly is tatics and confidence, not ability. Croatia dont have the greatest or te most known players in the world, hardly any of them are playing in the top teams in europe. yet with the right tatics and confidence they look very good. I don't care what any of you fools think, if you think that Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Owen, Barry, the Coles etc arent quality players, thn that underlines your lack of knowledge of the game you profess to know.

I actually agree with a lot of that. We DO have decent players. The players you've mentioned would walk into most of the teams in Euro 2008. Most of the teams but not all - however with a decent manager (like we had last time) we'd probably be good enough to reach the quarter-finals. I don't think we'd win it though as talent-wise we're a bit lop-sided: we've got loads of solid centre halves and industrious midfielders, but we lack real flair players who can turn a game (a Gazza for example). Also currently we lack a decent goalkeeper and a quality striker - Owen's not the player he was and Rooney's proved he can't play as the lone striker.

However our problems aren't all down to the players. They're NOT shit and they DO care, but Cappello got it spot on when he said that the 'England shirt is very heavy to wear' (or words to that effect). Telling them they're the 'Golden Generation' or 'the best team since 1970' and pointing out that we've won nothing since 1966 and that that should end heaps unrealistic expectation on them. I noticed this when we played Andorra away; the crowd were on the team's backs and shouting for McCaren to be dismissed, and the players just passed it negatively to each other terrified of making a mistake.

Spain of course share our problem and for this tournament on their team bus they have a slogan: 'Whatever happens, happens. Spain for ever'. I think that's a better attitude than saying "We're one of the best teams in the world, we should be winning these tournaments."

 

[Sheebo]

Most of you are talking shit - like usual. I don't see how you can say we dont have quality players. For example our 2 centre halfs were captains in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, that surely speaks for itself. It clearly is tatics and confidence, not ability. Croatia dont have the greatest or te most known players in the world, hardly any of them are playing in the top teams in europe. yet with the right tatics and confidence they look very good. I don't care what any of you fools think, if you think that Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Owen, Barry, the Coles etc arent quality players, thn that underlines your lack of knowledge of the game you profess to know.

Hear hear - someone else who doesn't live the doom and gloom life of most of the muppetts on here...

 

[Sheebo]

Excellent

ah bless, nothing to come back with so you have to criticise.

ACTUALLY. i had to GO so couldn't finish our DEBATE. and patronising is not a good credential to have LADY!

Was chuckling to myelf last night about u England bashers - i watched us RIP apart that Russia team in one of the most comfortable victories i've seen at Wembley a few months back last yr - and look how well they did last night...

If we get it right we'll be right up with a shout at the World Cup under Fabio...

 

[Sheebo]

:
comedy GENIUS

Excuse me? What sort of comedy do you watch?

11,000 posts and a student - speaks for itself

 

[ali jenkins]

We might have good players that could walk into most teams at Euro 08, but we DONT have a good team.

Players like LAMPARD and GERRARD cant play in the same team, they need someone to sit back like BARRY or HARGREAVES (sp).

ROONEY is not a goal scorer and will never be a 25+ a season player.
We dont have anyone that can poach in the box like Lineker used to and Van Nistelrooy does.

The England team that won te world cup was not the best players at the time, but they fitted well into the best TEAM, which is what Capello should be doing.

 

[Sheebo]

We might have good players that could walk into most teams at Euro 08, but we DONT have a good team.

Players like LAMPARD and GERRARD cant play in the same team, they need someone to sit back like BARRY or HARGREAVES (sp).

ROONEY is not a goal scorer and will never be a 25+ a season player.
We dont have anyone that can poach in the box like Lineker used to and Van Nistelrooy does.

The England team that won te world cup was not the best players at the time, but they fitted well into the best TEAM, which is what Capello should be doing.

Agreed with you Alistair

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Excuse me? What sort of comedy do you watch?

11,000 posts and a student - speaks for itself

brilliant!

the reason i find it LAUGHABLE that you seem to think that england are, man for man in the top 5 sides in the WORLD is thus:-

1. no world class goalkeepers

2. no world class full backs (and no, ashley cole does NOT count)

3. no creativity WHATSOEVER in midfield

4. no-one, with the possible exception of joe cole, with the ability to run and defenders AND cross a ball

5. no-one who can score a f***ing goal

there