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England crisis, what crisis??
- Thread starter crodonilson
- Start date
Scotty Mac
New member
- Jul 13, 2003
- 24,405
we'll find out come november
Great news. Despite a poor WC we are still without question one of the stronger teams around, much to some people's annoyance
Are we? Strong teams tend to get to semi finals and finals and not make feeble excuses when we get knocked out.
sten_super
Brain Surgeon
This is the same France that lost to Norway and drew 4-4 with Cyprus in their last game? The French are in no better a position than we are. Who are these supposedly world-class players that they have that we don't? I can think of only Evra that would get near a World XI (if that is the definition of world-class you are thinking of).
Scotty Mac
New member
- Jul 13, 2003
- 24,405
france are having a shocker of it because, if i remember correctly, they are not picking any players who were involved in the world cup. at least they didnt in their first friendly afterwards
There's a lot of truth in points 2 - 6, but on point 1 it's not just premier clubs with 'uncaring' fans. There were a few polls on here before the World Cup along the lines of "Would you rather England won the World Cup or Brighton got promotion next [now this] season?" I always voted England as to me a World Cup win pisses all over a bog-standard Brighton promotion (of which I've seen several and expect to again - even if it means getting relegated first!). However a disappointly large percentage, usually over 50%, would vote for Brighton saying that 'club always comes first'. Not sure if Orient fans are the same?
Sheebo
Well-known member
- Jul 13, 2003
- 29,319
Yes. Apart from the fact that evidence from the last TWO major tournaments absolutely pisses all over your fireworks, you're very nearly spot on.
OK so I was slightly fishing given some people's pathetically negative shit on England on this board granted. I did only say one of the STRONGER teams which I do believe is true - We've just proved we're a lot stronger than Bulgaria and the Swiss and they're average international teams when compared to Moldova / Lichenstein etc... Out of x hundred international teams we're ranked as 6th - I think it's accurate given who is below us in that table - you may not. C'est La Vie. I love England.
Icy - Yes I do watch the games so trying to patronise me simply won't work
Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
New manager, new team and I must confess I was thinking more of the team that they had in South Africa who decided not to play when I was thinking of their World Class players.
Whether they are in a better position than us will become apparent when we play them I guess.
Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
You can blame the wankers who represented us in SA for that
Sheebo
Well-known member
- Jul 13, 2003
- 29,319
This was long before that WC took place - even I agree we were shite there. However in qualifiers we've looked brilliant. As I said before, unfortunately in international football you are essentially judged on 3 - 7 games every 2 / 4 years
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,267
I think that when push comes to shove we've had too many players who play with fear.
England's best moments have been when the side has included the likes of Gazza, Lineker, Terry Butcher, Waddle, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, i.e. players with big personalities, big talent who fear no one and, by and large, keep their noses clean off the pitch.
On the positive side it's possible Joe Hart, Theo Walcott and James Milner may be 3 players of that ilk, but only time will tell.
England's best moments have been when the side has included the likes of Gazza, Lineker, Terry Butcher, Waddle, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, i.e. players with big personalities, big talent who fear no one and, by and large, keep their noses clean off the pitch.
On the positive side it's possible Joe Hart, Theo Walcott and James Milner may be 3 players of that ilk, but only time will tell.
I thought England could do well in the World Cup, not win it but at least 1/4 or semi.
Mick Beard BHA
Hirsute
Portugal drew 4-4 with Cyprus.
In the qualifiers France lost at home to Belarus, but then won in Bosnia.
sten_super
Brain Surgeon
Yeah I got myself a bit confused. Still, losing at home to Belarus isn't much cop!
Incidentally, they were without some of their 'star' players (Anelka, Evra and Ribery) as they were serving bans imposed by the FFF for their dissent at the World Cup. Should still have had plenty to get past Belarus though...
100% agree, i think it is the fear. This was brought home when we played Andorra in one of McClaren's first games in charge. We'd had the fall-out from the 2006 World Cup when people blamed the manager (as usual), a cheating foreigner (as usual) and the fact that the players simply weren't as good as they were made out to be. All those were factors to a greater or less extent, but another major factor was that the players were bottlers who too easily became paralysed with fear. During the first half of that Andorra game it became dreadfully apparent; you had players hiding, passing square, going backwards, anything except playing with positivity. 0-0 and rightly booed off.
Hopefully the new generation won't be burdened with such expectations as the 'Golden Generation' and consequently I hope they won't play with the same 'rabbit in the headlights' mentality that Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, etc all too often had.
It's a bit like Vaughan's Ashes-winning team of 2005 managed to shake of the "Oh shit we're playing Australia we're bound to lose" approach of previous England sides.
Kalimantan Gull
Well-known member
Good call. They had a definite plan of picking players who hadn't experienced defeat to the aussies before, e.g. ending Mark Butcher's career early and snubbing Graham Thorpe for Ian Bell. They only had Vaughan, Tresco, Hoggard and Harmison from the previous series.
Sheebo
Well-known member
- Jul 13, 2003
- 29,319
So did I mate trust me. But new leaf and all that Euro 2012 we've comfortably beaten 2 teams that are actually better than average possibly (I know I said average earlier)... I am aware their isn't much change in the squad but I still believe that squad can beat someone like Germany. Our tactics just seemed all wrong that day, we played at a slow pace when we needed to quicken it up at take it to them. I also 100% believe the players were very fatigued after all the games in the season and they looked a lot fresher in the 2 qualifiers recently after a Summer break.
Spanish Seagulls
Well-known member
Is it any wonder we were shit at the World Cup when half the team had Super Injunctions to stop the press leaking stories of their behaviour? Would you be able to concentrate when you knew they were dying to blow the whistle on you?