Did I imagine it or did England win tonight

[Giraffe]

agree with this. semi-finals would be a good performance.

it's the quality of play that bothers me more currently. i'm simply bored of watching them.

And so am I. But I expect to be. It's all about tournaments for me, I learned some time ago that qualifying is a waste of time and money and the games occur at a time when it's all about the Albion for me!!

 

[beefypigeon]

How is it not? Liverpool are probably around the 4th best team in the country, Droylsden are probably around the 114th best team in England.
England are apparently the 4th best team in the world, Wales are 114th.
It's an analogy.. not exactly scientifically proven..

But yeah, the second sentence is fairly spot-on. You've left out the point of England's clueless manager that would drop Parker for Lampard after all he has said about him in the past few days and that thinks James Milner and Gareth Barry are international footballers though.

We all know that England probably shouldnt be as high as 4th and Wales shouldnt be as low as 114th. Wales had 7 premierleague players in their team today.

 

[Surf's Up]

Same old same old .... they always struggle against teams that move the ball around quickly because too many of them are crap at closing down (or can't be arsed) and Wales seem to be developing this style of play under Speed. Add high levels of skill and technical ability to the mix and they're sunk. I nearly always find watching England uncomfortable, then irritating then downright annoying. They just don't seem to have the right blend of players, motivation and tactics. Is the "english game" a thing of the past because they still seem to be trying to play it?

 

[Easy 10]

3 points, job done.

Italy sraped past the Faroes Isles 1-0 the other day (with the islanders hitting the woodwork twice in the 2nd half). Its not how you get there, its just GETTING there.

Of course we'll lose to the first top 10 team we face next summer, but thats just the law. I'm used to it. Until Gus takes over the England team, thats what'll always happen.

Luckily for us, the FA have their heads so far up their own arses that Gus wouldn't even be on their radar. RESULT.

 

[Giraffe]

3 points, job done.

Italy sraped past the Faroes Isles 1-0 the other day (with the islanders hitting the woodwork twice in the 2nd half). Its not how you get there, its just GETTING there.

Of course we'll lose to the first top 10 team we face next summer, but thats just the law. I'm used to it. Until Gus takes over the England team, thats what'll always happen.

Luckily for us, the FA have their heads so far up their own arses that Gus wouldn't even be on their radar. RESULT.

Easy10 I totally agree with you. I do think Gus would be the perfect England coach and could still do it whilst managing Brighton. Perfect combination of understanding the players mentality, the English game, and the foreign game. Commands immediate respect. Couldn't be a better choice.

 

[Falkor]

See i dont think gus would be a great option, i have no doubt his going to be a massive manager, i think his the best up and coming manager in the game, but the England job would kill him, it would destroy any rep he had, the fact is lads England are not a world class football side, we need to get our heads out the clouds really.

People dont like capello, but people wont like the next man that comes in and the reason that is he wont be a success either as some fans expectations are far to high.

 

[Giraffe]

People dont like capello, but people wont like the next man that comes in and the reason that is he will be a success either is that out expectations are far to high.

Totally agree with this. Although the FA don't help themselves. Capello was never going to be a popular appointment. The key is the quality of the players coming through the manager is more of a facilitator. They need to go with someone who can manage expectations, gain respect from media/fans/players and not do stupid things in broken English.

But yes I agree about expectations as I said above. We should beat Wales, we did, therefore why complain. We should qualify, and we have, so why complain. Only complain if we don't make the last eight of a tournament because that is our natural level now. People go on about 1966, but we were at home and it was 45 years ago. Football has changed, the world has become a smaller place and countries have caught up, and in some cases overtaken us. We have to be realistic.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

There was an interesting comment made by Gus in a recent press conference (it's on Player, I can't remember which one!). He suggested that if he were in charge, he wouldn't just pick the players he 'had to' and also that he would look to the Championship for players as well as the Premier League.

In my opinion some of this countries best talent is in the Championship, be nice to see some people given the chance wouldn't it?

 

[Falkor]

I dont see why Capello was not going to be a good choice his record at the time spoke for its self and his current win record for England is 66% the most of any manager ever to manage England.

I still believe though a English manager should be English but there are not many great English managers out there so we have to look else where.

 

[Gritt23]

We're not a great International side, we rarely have been. Despite all the talking up of us we get from the media at various times, the reality is we have made one major Final in our history, and that was when we hosted (and won) the World Cup. Beyond that, qualification is the first aim, then try to see how far we get once at the the tournament.

Despite Sven and Capellos failings, I do think they have made qualification look so easy we take it for granted, but we shouldn't. We are qualifying with ease, so, at the moment it's JOB DONE.

 

[Giraffe]

We're not a great International side, we rarely have been. Despite all the talking up of us we get from the media at various times, the reality is we have made one major Final in our history, and that was when we hosted (and won) the World Cup. Beyond that, qualification is the first aim, then try to see how far we get once at the the tournament.

Despite Sven and Capellos failings, I do think they have made qualification look so easy we take it for granted, but we shouldn't. We are qualifying with ease, so, at the moment it's JOB DONE.

Spot on post

 

[Rookie]

We missed Wilshere last night playing Lampard slows down everything because the team has to be built around him. Friday night we played quick free flowing football last night was a slow centre 3 and Rooney was left isolated

 

[Wozza]

We missed Wilshere last night....

And herein lies the problem. England lose a player or two and we have problems. Lose three or four and we're utter GASH. No strength in depth.

 

[Gritt23]

And herein lies the problem. England lose a player or two and we have problems. Lose three or four and we're utter GASH. No strength in depth.

The only teams that don't suffer that are the International Super-powers and we are NOT one of them. Look at some of the great sides over the last 10 years or so, that have been like us, a QF candidate who could push further with a bit of luck, they have all had one or two key players that they would have struggled without, and have struggled since their retirement.

Czech Republic - Nedved
Romania - Hagi
Bulgaria - Stoichkov

Even France became pretty pony in a hurry without Zidane.

 

[Storer 68]

i think the bad feeling is a hangover from the 'golden generation's lost decade.
simply put, people are fed up with england.
people like myself are not seeing a genuine change in approach to games - you have to admit, the quality out there was poor, regardless of result

harly a "golden generation". more like a rather "rusty scrap iron" generation - and Rooney was awful last night

and since Beckham, who did after all make his debut for Manure in 1992-3, has the Premier league produced any English player who has made an impact on the international stage