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[Uncle Buck]

Eriksson does not have to operate under the crippling constraints we have at the Albion, so it just doesn't stand up to comparison.

Pav makes a good point about Paul Scholes. Here we had an absolute jewel of a player for England, who got so pissed off with being f***ed about by Eriksson playing him here, there and everywhere (usually down the bloody left) that he decided to chuck the towel in and give up on International football. Part of it was probably made because of the (totally unfustified) stick he was getting in the media for not scoring for x number of games, but Eriksson never deployed him properly or found a role for him - and this was prior to the emergence of Puggsley.

A side effect of Erikssons consistant failure to organise and harness the talent he has at his disposal into an effective unit is that we've sadly lost a player of Scholes's calibre from the England team.

But it is hardly Svens fault that English football has failed to produce a decent left sided midfielder since Chris Waddle. This has been an issue that every manager since Taylor has had to deal with.

If we are to play 4-4-2 then someone has to play on the left. The emergence of Lampard rightly or wrongly meant that Scholes was likely to be that person.

Now once fit I would like to see Downing given a run in the friendlies.

 

[Icy Gull]

England punching below their weight. So qualifying for the World Cup, which was what they had to do is failing?

Winning the equivalent of the Sherpa van trophy when you are the equivalent of a top 10 Premiership team is what England have done and not very convincingly. Time will tell if they can mix it succesfully with the big boys, history says not and as you already know I don't believe we have a chance with the current manager.

 

[D'Angelo Saxon]

No reason why we can't win it. Except maybe Brazil, but I'm hoping they get knocked out by Togo in the second round...

I think it is worth celebrating qualification, cause a lot of good teams aren't gonna make it as far as the finals.

 

[maffew]

England punching below their weight. So qualifying for the World Cup, which was what they had to do is failing?

You cant deny that we are not performing as we should be and are capable of. 1-0 defeat to NI is punching way below our weight, and so is scraping wins against Wales and Austria.

We will though raise our game against the better sides as we did in Portugal which I think we have an ok chance in

 

[Uncle Buck]

You cant deny that we are not performing as we should be and are capable of. 1-0 defeat to NI is punching way below our weight, and so is scraping wins against Wales and Austria.

We will though raise our game against the better sides as we did in Portugal which I think we have an ok chance in

At the end of the day we have done what was needed.

In a way the hard work starts on 12th November when we play Argentina and we have to start ironing at the problems with the side.

Football is result driven and we are getting the results. It is just people want reasons to criticise the Swede and as they cannot with regards to the majority of the results, the next best thing is to go at the performance.

 

[3gulls]

But, only if we sack the Swede!

 

[Easy 10]

Uncle B, do you genuinely have no concerns whatsoever about the way England have been playing ? Do you have blind faith that everything will click into place when the tournament starts ? Do you think Sven is capable of galvanising and organising this team and driving them on to being serious contenders next summer ?

If so, what exactly are you basing this assumption on ?

I'd love to be proved WRONG on all this, believe me. If England go on to have a great tournament, reach the latter stages and either win the thing or go out to one hell of a performance, then fair enough. I will hold my hands up and say "Eriksson had it right all along...". But at the moment, I honestly can't see us doing an awful lot more than making up the numbers.

My heart says Semi-final or Final. My head says we'll scratch through the group and get turned over in the Quarters by someone like Italy or Holland. Then we can all start digging out the same tired old excuses.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Uncle B, do you genuinely have no concerns whatsoever about the way England have been playing ? Do you have blind faith that everything will click into place when the tournament starts ? Do you think Sven is capable of galvanising and organising this team and driving them on to being serious contenders next summer ?

If so, what exactly are you basing this assumption on ?

I'd love to be proved WRONG on all this, believe me. If England go on to have a great tournament, reach the latter stages and either win the thing or go out to one hell of a performance, then fair enough. I will hold my hands up and say "Eriksson had it right all along...". But at the moment, I honestly can't see us doing an awful lot more than making up the numbers.

My heart says Semi-final or Final. My head says we'll scratch through the group and get turned over in the Quarters by someone like Italy or Holland. Then we can all start digging out the same tired old excuses.

I think there are issues, but this time last year we played the first game in Vienna and the task was to qualify. Well a year later that has been achieved and the next task is to try and win the thing, but you cannot win it unless you qualify.

We go into this tournament with one of the strongest sides I can remember and probably the best selection of players since 1970. However in certain areas there is not inspiring cover. I think if either Owen or Rooney are missing we will struggle for goals, the cover strikers are either all too similar or do not look like they will score.

The midfield is the real worrying area, I do not think Lampard and Gerrard click as a pairing. Either one has to be dropped or we look at playing 3 centre backs and see how they react to that.

Ultimately Sven's record stands up to scutiny. The football might not be inspiring, but it is generally effective and the purpose of football is to win games and we do that.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I am no fan of Sven and think he probably has had his time. Having said that, we have qualified again & he will make us one of the teams to beat in the finals. That may sound fanciful right now after the poor performances recently, but I would rather get them out the way now. Svens record in major tournaments is not as bad as people here make out.

In the last Euro's we were the best team until Rooney got injured. If it had been anyone else I think we would have won that tournament. We were also the most exciting - and had the stand-out player.

In the last World Cup we dicked Denmark, and beat Argentina. We were very unfortunate to play Brazil in scorching heat. I hate the "they get paid so much they should have been okay in the heat" argument. It doesn't matter if you're a billionaire, heat & altitude effects you if you're not used to it. While we got Brazil, Germany had all the dregs right to the final. So, to answer the original question, IF WE GET A SIMIlAR DRAW TO GERMANY AT THE LAST WORLD CUP, WE HAVE A CHANCE.

I would also like to thank Sven for the two best moments in my time watching England - 5-1 in Germany, and beating the Argies 1-0. Great days!

 

[Easy 10]

Ultimately Sven's record stands up to scutiny.

With the exception of Graham Taylor, Svens qualifying record is as good as every other England managers over the last 25 years. No better or worse.

His record in tournaments show 2 soul-crushingly limp exits. You can't just look at a scoreline and base an opinion purely and singularly on that. A scoreline can cover a multitude of cracks and deficiencies which all come home to roost when it matters, against the best. Put simply, we get found out.

And I've not seen anything since Brazil 2002 to suggest we've made any progress at all. And given the players he has to work with, thats "disappointing", shall we say.

 

[Yoda]

The midfield is the real worrying area, I do not think Lampard and Gerrard click as a pairing. Either one has to be dropped or we look at playing 3 centre backs and see how they react to that.

The trouble there is they both play a similar role for their club.

 

[Yorkie]

No reason why we can't win it. Except maybe Brazil, but I'm hoping they get knocked out by Togo in the second round...

I think it is worth celebrating qualification, cause a lot of good teams aren't gonna make it as far as the finals.

That's right. Once there anyone has a chance.
We may even get a Sol Campbell header allowed this time or get through the tournament without Beckham or Rooney being booked.

 

[maffew]

At the end of the day we have done what was needed.

In a way the hard work starts on 12th November when we play Argentina and we have to start ironing at the problems with the side.

Football is result driven and we are getting the results. It is just people want reasons to criticise the Swede and as they cannot with regards to the majority of the results, the next best thing is to go at the performance.

I agree with some of what you say, the main thing for now is just getting there. At this stage it would be suicidal to kick Sven out, its too close though I think his substitution was poor on Saturday again. If you're gonna bring on King and defend your 1-0 (which I think was correct to do) then should they score Owen would have been the player you'd want left on not Crouch

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Now were there we should sack Ericsson and get someone in with a chance of getting us the big prize. Stuart Pearce for me.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Does anyone still buy the argument that our problems all stem from left midfield?

In my book you pick a player for that role to simply "do a job". That man for me is either Wayne Bridge or Stuart Downing. I think Bridge should have been given the job a long time ago and the coaches should have worked with him and the rest of the midfield to make it work.

I accept that both he and Downing are presently unfit which gives Sven a major problem but it cease to be so when one or both fully recover.

Sven has had numerous opportunities to play Ashley Cole and Bridge on the left but has rarely done so. This has been a mistake in my opinion.

 

[Uncle Buck]

With the exception of Graham Taylor, Svens qualifying record is as good as every other England managers over the last 25 years. No better or worse.

His record in tournaments show 2 soul-crushingly limp exits. You can't just look at a scoreline and base an opinion purely and singularly on that. A scoreline can cover a multitude of cracks and deficiencies which all come home to roost when it matters, against the best. Put simply, we get found out.

And I've not seen anything since Brazil 2002 to suggest we've made any progress at all. And given the players he has to work with, thats "disappointing", shall we say.

His tournament record is better than most others as well.

Sven, two tournaments to date, two quarter final exits.

Keegan, one tournament first round exit.

Hoddle one tournament, second round exit.

Venables one tournament, semi final exit.

Taylor two tournaments, first round exit and did not qualify.

Robson, 4 tournaments, did not qualify, quarter final exit, first round exit and semi final exit.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Does anyone still buy the argument that our problems all stem from left midfield?

In my book you pick a player for that role to simply "do a job". That man for me is either Wayne Bridge or Stuart Downing. I think Bridge should have been given the job a long time ago and the coaches should have worked with him and the rest of the midfield to make it work.

I accept that both he and Downing are presently unfit which gives Sven a major problem but it cease to be so when one or both fully recover.

Sven has had numerous opportunities to play Ashley Cole and Bridge on the left but has rarely done so. This has been a mistake in my opinion.

In fact since Euro 2004, when fit Bridge has played that role, but alas he has been injured for about the last 8 months, again something that is not Sven's fault, although I am sure someone will find a way of spinning it so it is. Downing when fit needs to be given a go there, but his chance looked to be in the USA and he got injured and pulled out. So we are making do, although Joe Cole has not looked the worst option there.

I am not convinced with Wayne Bridge in midfield, he looks like a full back playing there.

To be honest in the last few games the problems have not been on the left of midfield, but in the centre. However nobody can legislate for the fact that this country has not produced a decent left sided midfielder for a generation.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

With the talent at Sven's disposal and the oppostion to come 2nd was the bear minimum expectation. My Mum could have picked and motivated the squad and got them through these qualifying stages so no points for Ericsson there.

When we play anyone of any substance we stiff under Sven , France World Cup 1-0 up after 89 minutes somehow manage to lose 2-1, Portugal lose 2-1, Brazil lose 2-1 when 1-0 up and extra man for 30 minutes.

No under Sven we have no chance as he is the emporers new clothes. He has no discernable talent except shagging quite attractive 30 something Women and at that he is very good indeed

 

[Uncle Buck]

With the talent at Sven's disposal and the oppostion to come 2nd was the bear minimum expectation. My Mum could have picked and motivated the squad and got them through these qualifying stages so no points for Ericsson there.

When we play anyone of any substance we stiff under Sven , France World Cup 1-0 up after 89 minutes somehow manage to lose 2-1, Portugal lose 2-1, Brazil lose 2-1 when 1-0 up and extra man for 30 minutes.

No under Sven we have no chance as he is the emporers new clothes. He has no discernable talent except shagging quite attractive 30 something Women and at that he is very good indeed

Err we drew 2-2 with Portugal and lost on penalties. But do not let facts get in the way.

No discernable talent. So at club level he has more or less won the lot.

Hmmm, balanced argument.

 

[maffew]

No under Sven we have no chance as he is the emporers new clothes. He has no discernable talent except shagging quite attractive 30 something Women and at that he is very good indeed

Faria is a munter

hardly a shining example is he!