Sven - next Madrid manager?

[Uncle Buck]

I would like to see someone come in with some balls!! Like O'Neil, someone who would not think twice about Beckham or Owen being played or not if he was out of form or injured.

Therre is no way O'Neil would want to manage England and most of the England support would not want O'Neil near the side.

A couple of things it seems that the assistant at Madrid has been appointed manager.

Also why is Sven going to take on one of the hardest jobs in Europe at a club that generally changes manager every year, when he is sitting on a £16 million contract and knows that the FA cannot afford to sack him?

 

[Pavilionaire]

What an opportunity to get rid of the Swede and save a fortune!

 

[Simster]

Give the job to Harry Redknapp. Then when we scrape through in second place (on goal difference from third) and beat Switzerland in the playoffs for a World Cup spot on penalties, Harry can remind us what a "miracle" he has worked by doing the job on a shoestring and not spending any money on players, like he did at Portsmouth.

 

[FamilyGuy]

I would like to see someone come in with some balls!! Like O'Neil, someone who would not think twice about Beckham or Owen being played or not if he was out of form or injured.

The prima donnas need telling their place is not guaranteed so get out on that pitch and prove why I should give you the shirt!

We DO have the players to win something!!

Absolutely !!!

My vote goes to Harry Rednapp (fat chance of that happening tho')

 

[Wilts]

Absolutely !!!

My vote goes to Harry Rednapp (fat chance of that happening tho')

And would completely screw over Pompey which would be the icing on the cake!

 

[3gulls]

Why? No one else would do as good a job as him for England

And what has he won exactly? and how much does he get paid? The whole thing is a joke! Give the job to a Brit.

 

[Mick Beard BHA]

Give the job to Harry Redknapp. Then when we scrape through in second place (on goal difference from third) and beat Switzerland in the playoffs for a World Cup spot on penalties, Harry can remind us what a "miracle" he has worked by doing the job on a shoestring and not spending any money on players, like he did at Portsmouth.

Sim, are you suggesting that France arent even going to finish in the play-off spot in Group 4?

 

[CHAPPERS]

Harry Redknapp?

Behave.

My vote for next England manager is Steve Bruce although I'd like to see Claudio Ranieri.

 

[alan partridge]

Fair enough all those of you who want Sven out.

But can you stop using the 'what has he won?' argument.

It sounds ridiculous. I am in my 30s. I wouldn't be surprised if England never win a major tournament in my lifetime. We might, but more than likely we won't. We haven't won one for 38 years so what the hell are you on about?

If we get in some chest beating tea cup thrower I really will resign myself to thinking we'll never win anything again.

 

[3gulls]

Fair enough all those of you who want Sven out.

But can you stop using the 'what has he won?' argument.

It sounds ridiculous. I am in my 30s. I wouldn't be surprised if England never win a major tournament in my lifetime. We might, but more than likely we won't. We haven't won one for 38 years so what the hell are you on about?

If we get in some chest beating tea cup thrower I really will resign myself to thinking we'll never win anything again.

Sadly, you are correct about our prospects. However, my point is that as he is no better than home-grown managers, and is getting paid stupid money, why is he here?

 

[alan partridge]

Sadly, you are correct about our prospects. However, my point is that as he is no better than home-grown managers, and is getting paid stupid money, why is he here?

Personally I'd say he is better than homegrown managers. Only ALf Ramsey and Bobby Robson can be realistically better than Sven and so far Sven's England have failed to put in a shocking tournament.

 

[fatbadger]

And what has he won exactly?

Considerably more than any English manager currently working in the business.

 

[3gulls]

Considerably more than any English manager currently working in the business.

For England!

 

[fatbadger]

For England!

Fair enough. In which case he has won just as much as any other English manager currently working in the business...

 

[Brovion]

"Sack the manager, we've got the players, we should be winning World Cups not struggling to qualify. We should have kicked Norway all the way to the North Pole."

Those were pretty much the words of one B. Clough after we'd lost to Norway in the famous "Winston Churchill, Lord Beaverbrook, Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating!" match. NOTHING changes, down the years people have always said "we've got the players, it's all the fault of the manager". Yeah? well other countries have good players too you know, we've no God-given right to win tournaments.

Actually, something has changed. we're now good enough to qualify for tiurnaments relatively comfortably and reach quarter-final stages without embarrassing cock-ups. Those of us who are old enough to remember when England were REALLY dire acknowledge that an element of progress has been made. I hope the new man can carry it on.

 

[Easy 10]

(Come on Easy, tell us how changing the manager will make us world-beaters. I'd rather talk about England, golf and cricket than the Albion today if you don't mind).

You have summoned me, and I shall answer (I'd previously been avoiding this thread, as I could already wallpaper my hallway with the transcripts of my rantings about Sven).

I don't expect England to be world-beaters. BUT, with the current crop of players we have, neither do I expect us to bow out of major tournaments at the quarters with nothing but a whimper. We have done that twice under Sven now, and I simply do not believe that he is getting the most out of the squad of players at his disposal. The stats show that he has a credible record, but the recurring theme is that as soon as we come up against anyone with a bit of quality, we fold faster than Superman on laundry day.

We need a manager who will:

1. Pick players according to their form and NOT reputation / past glories. Even picking players who are actually fit would be a start.

2. Acquire the necessary distance between him and the players. I don't WANT the squad, captain and the manager in this perpetual love-in where all they ever do is say how wonderful they are. If arses need kicking, I want them to be kicked. They players call Sven "calm". I think they are mistaking calmness for weakness, and they are all in too much of a comfort zone with him. When things get tough, his passive nature extends to the players on the pitch, and we fail as a direct result.

3. Get off his arse and make effective tactical changes when the need arises. His inability to think on his feet has been found out big time in the last two tournaments. Where other managers make changes when the game is slipping away, Sven sits on his hands. When he's forced into a change (Rooney's injury) he makes inexplicably bad ones (Vassell up front with Owen ? ?).



Those are my "Big 3" gripes about Sven. If we could get someone in who would rectify those three points, we would be a lot closer to this group of England players actually achieving their potential. It doesn't need to be a big name. Just someone who can harness, galvanise and organise this squad of players more effectively. I honestly believe this is the best crop of English talent we have had in years, but it is going to waste at the moment because we have the wrong man in charge.

Look at how far Bobby Robson took England. OK, he didn't win anything either. But with an inferior squad of players to the current one, it took a goal of sheer genius plus a handball to knock us out in 86, and it took an absolutely titanic battle against a superb West German side to knock us out in 1990. If we're going to go out of tournaments, I want us going out knowing we've given our best shot. We've never yet done that under Sven.

 

[Brovion]

The thing is Easy I don't disagree with you - except for your last paragraph. Don't forget Robson was vilified by the press for making exactly the same mistakes as Sven does. In 1986 he insisted that he had to have his talismanic captain (Bryan Robson) in the squad and in the team - despite the fact he was unfit with a shoulder injury. This backfired badly and we lost to a weak Portugal and drew with Morocco before beating Poland. (And Maradonna should never have been allowed to get NEAR the goal for his second in the quarter final). Then in 1990 after draws with Ireland and Holland and a narrow win over the whipping boys (Egypt from memory but I could be wrong) he was only persuaded to change his tactics and formation by the senior players. Then we scraped wins over Belguim and Cameroon before going out to West Germany.

In other words even under the saintly Sir Bobby we stumbled our way through tournaments, and as you can see flattering to deceive against weaker teams and the choking against the big ones is not a modern trait - we've always done it. (Ditto 1998. I won't even mention 1994 when we didn't even qualify). At least under Sven we score a few more goals.

All I'm saying is don't think that changing the manager will make us consistently a better team because "we've got the players". It won't.

 

[Kev the Ape]

nope it aint going to happen people, he says he has a contract with england and his going to see that out till it ends. so real madrid new manager will be arsene wenger.

 

[Easy 10]

Fair points Brovian.

OK. I'm not saying that Bobby Robson was a great England manager by any means, and you're right, we had just as many stumbling performances under him as we have now. What I would say though is firstly, that the England squad we had around 86-90 did not have the depth of talent that this one carries. And secondly, that despite the team not being as talented as the current one, Robson managed to cajole better performances from them in the huge crunch games than Eriksson ever has. Yes he got slaughtered in the tabloids, but that goes with the territory and anyone with half a brain is capable of ignoring the predictable "heros-or-idiots" extremes that the papers always peddle.

Its immensely frustrating with Eriksson. We really do have a great nucleus of English players right now, but they are being managed by a man who seems to lack the "oomph" to motivate them, and the tactical nouse with how best to deploy them.

 

[CHAPPERS]

To be fair to Eriksson to he's never really had a full strength first choice line up either.

Gerrard out for the World cup, Beckham hardly fit, Owen off the pace etc and this summer it was clear that the midfield was jadad, Ferdinand was out as was Campbell and he used King and Terry very well to replace them. The fact is we didn't have the strength in depth when needed (and if 'that goal' had stood of course) to go on and win the tournament.

Fair play to him for using Rooney though eh?