Why does everyone slag off England, even when they WIN?

[Withnail]

It does always strike me as a strange paradox that a man so incapable of keeping his sausage in his trousers (allegedly) always puts out a team so passionless. Especially this week when they had been constantly saying they were going to make Austria pay for the Northern Ireland result.

 

[Easy 10]

Perhaps they're on a "pay nothing till January" thing, with 6 months interest-free credit.

f*** me, if this afternoon wasn't interest-free, I dunno what is.

 

[El Presidente]

Just call me a TWAT and be on your way.

Would never call The Master a twat. I know what mind-bending powers you have and I could go to bed one night and wake up the following morning next to a Cyberman

 

[Easy 10]

Well El P, you never know. Your luck might just be in

 

[El Presidente]

Well El P, you never know. Your luck might just be in

Better stock up on 3 in 1 oil for LUBE then

 

[trueblue]

Would we have got more points if we had won 10 nil. NO they did what they had to fairly comfortably.

But they didn't. They should have put the game to bed in the first half. Instead, they laboured to a slim victory with a very lacklustre second half performance, looking totally confused about the reshuffle when Beckham was red-carded. In some ways, the sending off was a Godsend for Sven because they'd clearly lost the plot at half-time.

Perform like that in the World Cup and they'll struggle to get through the group. The fact is, despite having some excellent players, they are not able to play as a cohesive unit and the buck stops with the coaches. We'll probably do better than that because the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Owen etc can do something special every so often - but by now, we should be looking much better as a team.

 

[Marshy]

Sven OUT, its now or never if we want to win this world cup

Another piss poor performance.

 

[Easy 10]

The fact is, despite having some excellent players, they are not able to play as a cohesive unit and the buck stops with the coaches.

Sanity.

Finally.

 

[cardboard]

We always will be crap if we don't play players in the correct positions


Where is our left side

Anyone who is properly left footed would be better than a right footed player out on the left

 

[Basil Fawlty]

I think people need to realise that Sven record in Qualification games isnt as bad as people think. One bad result and people are saying call for the head of Sven, now look what he has done taken us to the World Cup finals in Deutschland.

 

[Easy 10]

I think people need to realise that Sven record in Qualification games isnt as bad as people think. One bad result and people are saying call for the head of Sven, now look what he has done taken us to the World Cup finals in Deutschland.

Even with a place in the finals as his destiny, the mythology over Eriksson's record is nonsense
By Martin Samuel



DID you know that Sven-Göran Eriksson has lost only one qualifying game as England manager? Of course you did. It is the most overused statistic in sport right now, seamlessly replacing the previous one, that Eriksson had never lost a qualifying match as England manager.
“To talk of the head coach’s position after his only defeat in qualifying matches was ridiculous,” Gary Neville said, while Michael Owen chorused: “People seem to have forgotten that the defeat against Northern Ireland was his first in a qualifier in over four years.”



Actually, what is forgotten is how damnably difficult it is to lose a qualifying game as England manager. Do you know how many qualifying defeats the national team have suffered in 30 years? Thirteen. Do you know the largest number of qualifying matches lost by any manager in that time? Three. The average in a managerial tenure is 1.8. Between September 9, 1981 and June 2, 1993, England lost only one qualifying game.

It is nonsense, therefore, to insinuate that before Eriksson’s white-charger arrival, England’s footballers were regularly knocked from pillar to post in qualifying matches — or that a single defeat places him in a league of his own.

Eriksson is a little better than most, but not the best. Over three decades, England, on average, have lost 0.86 games per qualifying tournament. Eriksson, so far, averages 0.33 defeats. Sir Bobby Robson averaged 0.25. He also lost only one qualifying match as England manager in four campaigns and at a time when second place did not always carry the second bite of a play-off; now that genuinely is something that people have forgotten.

As is how close Eriksson came to losing precisely the same number of qualifying games as Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle, Graham Taylor and Don Revie: a David Beckham free kick, four minutes into injury time at Old Trafford against Greece, to be precise.

From day one, when the FA tamed the country into believing that there was only one man for the job, there has been a mythology around this head coach. It prevails in the suggestion that Eriksson’s record places him beyond question, when it is roughly par for the course.

Since June 7, 2002, when England defeated Argentina in Sapporo, Eriksson’s England have beaten every team they were expected to beat (most qualifying opponents, plus Denmark, Switzerland and Croatia), drawn each match they were expected to draw (Turkey away) and lost to every good team they have played (Brazil, France and Portugal). His best and worst results cancel each other out.

Just as there is no precedent for the 5-1 victory in Germany in September 2001 in at least three decades, no England manager has suffered a night as humiliating as the 1-0 defeat in Belfast. The difference is that Eriksson’s peak was four years ago, his trough last month. Hence the debate, Gary.

The only qualifying result in 30 years that in any way compares to Eriksson’s nadir was the “Winston Churchill your boys took one hell of a beating” defeat in Norway in 1981, under Ron Greenwood. England went on to qualify, though, and Norway proved to be a rapidly improving nation, as England’s record in subsequent meetings (three draws, one defeat) suggests. A Norwegian blue 12 years later as good as did for Graham Taylor, one of only two England managers in 30 years to suffer multiple defeats in the same qualifying campaign (Greenwood was the other, with three, yet his team still progressed to the 1982 World Cup finals as runners-up to Hungary). Taylor’s other reversal came against Holland.

Indeed, many of England’s qualifying losses are against countries that would be placed in this superpower bracket. Italy upset Hoddle and Revie, Germany forced out Keegan, Holland scuppered Taylor. On other occasions, England simply ran into the team in form: the Czechoslovakia side that defeated England under Revie in 1975 were crowned champions of Europe in 1976; Robson’s sole qualifying defeat was inflicted by a Denmark team who went out of the 1984 European Championship at the semi-finals stage on penalties.

So Eriksson is good, but not great and in the next eight days in Manchester we shall see if the players intend providing him with anything more tangible than deepest sympathy. Having suffered one qualifying defeat, England are not due another until mid-January 2008 at the earliest — one roughly every 27.6 months is the average — so the omens against Austria and Poland are good. Austria have no manager and Poland’s status as a bogey team is hugely overrated — they won a single game against England, in Katowice in 1973, since when they have lost seven and drawn five.

 

[portlock seagull]

Winning is the abolsute MINIMUM England should expect at home against teams of the stature of Austria. The bare minimum. At club level, that kind of fixture you're talking Chelsea v Burnley.

But is it really too much to ask to see the emergence of an England team to be proud of ? To be feared ? Why do we seem incapable of stringing 5 passes together ? Why are we still fannying about with systems and formations, groping for the winning formula that will finally make this group of players click ? Why can't we have some creditable, tried-and-tested alternatives when things arn't going to plan ? Why can't we boss a game from start to finish ? Why can't we ever look CONVINCING ?

Someone please tell me.

I fear because we're......English - c'est la vie!

 

[Blackadder]

The main thing is, we are through.

As a kid I went though 1974 and 1978 without qualifying, and again in 1994, and I hated it!! (in the seventies the media expected us to support Scotland - which I did until I found out how much the jocks hated us!)

We have time to turn it around for Germany.

 

[Easy 10]

I fear because we're......English - c'est la vie!

c'est la vie - that means ITS OUR RIGHT doesn't it.

YES.

 

[Pavilionaire]

It's hard to be satisfied with tonight's performance and the manner of the win.

Sure, Holland have done us a favour so we're through. But I honestly saw more football played in 5 mins of Belgium vs Spain than I did in the Austria match, and because I've been weaned on this "Premiership is the best league in the world" stuff for almost 15 years I expect more, so it's hard to be happy.

 

[Blackadder]

Maybe the word should be relieved rather than happy.

Either way we have the best part of a year to improve.

 

[Turkey]

It would have been nice to see a better attacking display but I thought we were pretty comfortable. All the nonsense about us holding on was sillyness - they hardly threatend our goal. We had a pen, should have had another and had a 2/3 good chances. 10 men and then Campbells injury reducing our options. It was an important game to just get the result and I thought we did alright. Pleased with the midfield, Gerrard and Lamps done well together and Joe Cole was playing very well. Carragher and Young done well as full backs too.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

I could only watch the second half (bloody student's weekly shop) but we were so shit in the second half - once again it didnt look like a TEAM. David getting sent off was the most stupid decision ive ever seen (diving Lederhosen wearing SCUMBAG), but even with him we played like no-one knew what the f*** to do! Why are we going 1-0 up, and then sitting back on it? I want us to win 3/4-0 - like we should have done against a team that has done f*** all all of their lives!

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Where is our left side

Anyone who is properly left footed would be better than a right footed player out on the left

Such as.....?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

And therein lies the problem.
People get accustomed to "doing what we had to do", until we find out that while its enough against the likes of Austria and Wales, it kind of falls apart when we come across semi-talented opposition (and sometimes even crap opposition too).

This blase "it'll be alright on the night" attitude always comes back to bite us on the arse. And its getting more and more painful every time, cos I just KNOW England are going to f*** up my summer next year.

If england win the world cup by doding what they had to do will you still be bitter and twisted?