[Football] Sven's selection conudrum, can we solve it?

[Weststander]

I did. It more than made up for that Friday night defeat at Northampton the night before.

Straight down from Sixfields to Gatwick Airport on the last Thameslink train, then checked in at about 6am and in Munich by 9am local time.

A middle aged couple came into one of the bars there during the day.

"You're here for the football."
"Yes."
"You watch a lot of England games away."
"Yes, we know one of the players."
"Ah, who's that?"
"Michael Owen"
"How do you know him?"
"I'm his mum and this is his dad."
*pause*
"Would you like to have a seat Mrs Owen?"

Having had that awful final game 0-1 defeat to Germany at Wembley where it was terrible weather, we were worse and Keegan resigned shortly afterwards, it's fair to say that most England fans travelled more in hope than expectation. But Mrs Owen was quietly confident. And she was right.

The thing that really struck me was seeing some German kids walking back to the coach after the game. They'd have their faces painted with the German flag, but it had run down their cheeks no doubt due to the tears shed as the 5 goals went in, and was now around the chin area where it had dried long before I saw it.

I think the match ticket price was around 11 Euros. Straight to the airport and back to Gatwick by about 1am GMT.

Unforgettable.

Lucky you, what a story.

I just watched it on the box, but loved every moment. Their desperate tactic became crosses to the giant Carsten Jancker (easy to misspell that), and he could’ve buried a few headers.

The England support on that large curved end looked and sounded huge.

 

[hart's shirt]

Lucky you, what a story.

I just watched it on the box, but loved every moment. Their desperate tactic became crosses to the giant Carsten Jancker (easy to misspell that), and he could’ve buried a few headers.

The England support on that large curved end looked and sounded huge.

Jancker was an absolute colossus. David Seaman's save against Bohme was crucial at 1-1.

I was behind that goal where Gerrard lashed in. Yes, it was very noisy!

Wonderful stuff.

 

[Weststander]

Jancker was an absolute colossus. David Seaman's save against Bohme was crucial at 1-1.

I was behind that goal where Gerrard lashed in. Yes, it was very noisy!

Wonderful stuff.

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I always love seeing the England flags from smaller clubs/towns up and down our nation, including supporters of Non League clubs, all with a passion for the national team. [Plus a nice jaunt overseas].

 

[stewart12]

He had the strongest England line up of my time. The 2006 team should have gone on to win that tournament. It was the strongest side England have taken to a World Cup since 1970- and the path was opened up for them.

I think 2006 was the strongest Sven squad we had. In 2002 and 2004 the starting 11's were strong but the squads were quite thin. 2006 seemed to have a bit more depth in defence and midfield, plus a decent in form goalkeeper in Paul Robinson.....

....BUT

Sven made a proper balls up on the striker front. He selected 4 strikers for the squad. Rooney- fine, he was an automatic choice at that point, Crouch- fine, decent target man and capable of scoring goals, Owen- well yes, fine, but he was already very much in 'injury prone' mode by that point and was definitely passed his best so it would make sense to have some back up....and then Walcott. I could see the logic in taking a young prospect to a tournament if those in front of him stay fit and he's there for experience (like Brazil did with Ronaldo in 1994). But once Owen got injured in the first game, which was always a possibility, we looked desperately thin up front. Crouch was a good impact sub at times but doing full 90's every game?

I can't quite remember which strikers were bang in form at the time, but the obvious one is Jermaine Defoe. Not sure Defoe was ever magnificent at international level but he could have done a job as back up to Owen. Also, Darren Bent was the 3rd top scorer in the premier league that year and was surely worth a shout ahead of Walcott?

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

I know it's not quite the same era as Sven's time with England, but I heard Mica Richards (who comes across as a decent bloke) speaking on R5 last night. His England games were mainly under MacClaren, who he liked. But his take on the experience was

1. Many of the senior pros disrespected the boss.

2. The England setup was beset by cliques.

3. The atmosphere was so toxic that he dreaded playing.

I'm just wondering the extent to which this 'culture' has characterised and diminished all England teams from around that Golden Generation era, including Sven''s i.e in simple terms, were they unmanageable?