The England Topic

Sven has no balls, he'll only ever pick the best team on paper and never the form team. Lampard is a world class centre mid and has shown how well he can play at international level, as well as the top club level with Chelsea, but he has been pants for England so far this season SO DROP HIM SVEN! He is one of our best players but if he's not on form then he needs a bit of time off. He looks jaded to me, can't really blame him as he's played the last 50,000 games for Chelski. Just a game or two on the sidelines would give him time to recover, he's a big boy and would bounce back bigger than ever if he felt under a bit of pressure.

There's a definite air of complacencey about most of the first team, especially the midfield. For example, the Beckham obession has to to be curtailed. He played well in both of the last games in my opinion but no one is un-dropppable (except maybe Rooney). The squad is brimming with quality and needs to be rotated more effectively.

Frankly I think it smacks of unbearable arrogance that England think so much of themselves that they feel good enough to play without a proper defensive midfielder. Michael Carrick or Scott Parker may not be as spectacular as Gerrard or Lampard but they both play an essential role in any team. Ask Real Madrid, you can only ride your luck for so long without a dedicated DMF.
 
If you think about it, on paper, England have one of the best teams in the world..... best collection of CB's (Campbell, Rio, Terry, Carragher, Woodgate) best LB (As. Cole) best youngster (Rooney) some of the best MF's (Gerrard, Lampard, W. Phillips and J. Cole) but the problem with England, as stated by others, lies within the management...despite Svens great record, hes allowing the ego's to take over on the football pitch, look at Rooney last night.....a decent manager would have given him the biggest bollocking in the world and taken him off!!
 
I wouldn't sack Sven.....with only a couple of games left before the beginning of the World Cup (if we get there that is). I think the media especially here in England are too intrusive to Sven. Suddenly it seems that and Tom, Dick or Harry is a professional manager.

Its easy to compare club football to international but I don't think they can be compared.With the huge difference in the number of games played, the manager hasn't got the advantage of rotating the squad. If the team was based on form, there would have been a different team playing every game!

And the last thing England needs is instability...

The fact of the matter is, we have two more home games. Hopefully the lads will qualify and we've got a lot of time between now and then - with plenty of friendlies to test any new ideas.
 
I remember England were terrible before the start of Euro 2004, with the whole detinst chair incendent and people were calling for heads there, and look what happened.

I still dont agree with people saying we needed a DM in a game like last night where NI played most of the game with 10 men behind, Our problem was simple we couldnt break them down.

Saying all that i just cant figure out what Owen hargreaves was brought on for...
 
Nickybaker said:
That's absolute tosh, he wouldn't be in there even if he played for one of the big 3!
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Sorry you are right, I meant to type "wouldn't". I have edited my post now.

All I'm saying is that because he plays for Bayern I'm sure Sven thinks he is some wonder player, which clearly isn't the case.
 
ReActor said:
Sorry you are right, I meant to type "wouldn't". I have edited my post now.

All I'm saying is that because he plays for Bayern I'm sure Sven thinks he is some wonder player, which clearly isn't the case.
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Now that isn't Tosh.

I think Sven's loyalty factor kicks in here as well. He rushed to get him capped so he didn't play for the Germans or Canadians just in case he was really good. Turns out he isn't great but Sven doesn't want to leave him out cause he'll feel guilty.

Was I the only person that saw him running towards the box with 30 secs remaining thinking "DON'T SHOOT!!!!!" which the twat duly did.
 
FD
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England have good players, it's just a case of playing them in the correct positions and finding a balance, particularly in the midfield. David Beckham's best spell in his career has been wide-right, with someone up front who can take advantage of his ability to deliver from that position. So play Beckham out there and get a target man up front.

It'd be daft to sack Eriksson at this stage, jeez you win your last two games you're in Germany next summer. One bloody setback and everybody is soiling themselves, get a grip eh?

P.S.

:lmao:
 
ClassicD said:
It'd be daft to sack Eriksson at this stage, jeez you win your last two games you're in Germany next summer. One bloody setback and everybody is soiling themselves, get a grip eh?
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My thoughts exactly - he's got an excellent record, one of the best I've seen an England manager have. We've had very few losses under him, and just because we've tried a new formation and lost two games with it (when both opposition teams fully deserved the wins, especially last night when you could see just how much Northern Ireland wanted to win it), now everyone's calling for his head.

The players are to blame. Especially Rooney. Anyone who says "it's the manager's fault for playing him in the wrong position" is a thug. So if you're a midfielder and you get played as a defender that gives you the right to do manic tackles and shoulder people in the face? If Rooney was that desperate not to play there, he should have just said "look, I can't cope with playing out of position, my legs fall off and my fists take off like rockets if I move out of the final third, I refuse to play". There's no need to walk around like a typical scally moron.

If Eriksson gets the sack, it's a massive injustice. I didn't want Venables to get fired and I certainly don't want Eriksson to go either, our most successful manager to date (bar 1966) in my humble opinion. I agree the formation's wrong, but he's done us well so far, so I think we should (shock horror The Sun) trust him.

If we don't qualify for the World Cup then I'll enjoy tearing him to shreds as much as anyone else. But I know that when we get to the World Cup nobody will remember last night (apart from the Northern Irish).
 
jamie_mack said:
I still dont agree with people saying we needed a DM in a game like last night where NI played most of the game with 10 men behind, Our problem was simple we couldnt break them down.
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Yeah, but having a proper DMF is not just about having extra cover at the back (which I personally think we need) but also, crucially, it makes more space for your attacking midfielder, wingers and even strikers to operate in.

I'm not convinced Lampard and Gerrard are an effective partnership in centre mid. Lamps tends to drift forward leaving Gerrard to mop up at the back where he is as good as wasted. Sticking Beckham in there ASWELL is making the middle very congested. Maybe its time to try Lamps OR Stevie G, Becks OR SWP but not all of them at once. ITs a case of too many cooks IMO. An embarrassment of riches in midfield is making us look like mugs.
 
Over the last 3 games it's been evident that England miss Gary Neville. A truly undervalued player. In the Denmark game we had Glen Johnson showing he's not international class yet, and Luke Young has done nothing to suggest he's any better over the last 2 games. Young was trying to get forward last night but often failed to beat the last defender or get a decent cross in.
England have a whole different dimension with Neville in the side. People don't seem to notice how much ground he'll cover in a match (only matched by Cafu IMO), or how many quality crosses he'll whip in.
I'm not saying England would have done any better in the last 3 games with him, but he definetly makes a difference.
Anyway, that fat genius Rooney will win us the world cup. He should have got in the crowd and had a fight with some of the Irish last night.
 
A day later and the result still does lye in the mind, but lets deal with it well get to the world cup be it winners or have to go through a play off. And lets face it we will most proberly be the only nation representing the Brtish isles in a major tournament for what is 8 years or 4 times either way it cant be bad just a black week at the moment. I think its hard to call for Svens head 2 games hes gotta win and if he doesnt were in the playoffs , but our chances of making an impact at the world cup , very unlikly under Sven . We have a situation where players are winning games where it should be the team winning the games, last night has knocked this team back a little and I dont honestly think hes the guy that can fix this mess.
 
England have a few problems.

1 a horrible press: their comments are ridiculous, never take for granted what those horrible tabloids write.
2 the best team is not necessarily the team with all the best players. I'm not sure if a team with Lampard, Beckham and Gerrard in it is a balanced team. So Sven should make choices, this would make the team more balanced and the concerned players more alert and motivated. The best England team was that with Beckham providing crosses on the side and with a target man upfront. I hesitate writing this because i will get crucified but why not play Heskey again...and why not put Rooney a couple of matches on the bench. In the short term the England team could benefit from this, in the long term Rooney aswell will certainly see that this has been a good thing for his development. I have my doubts about Rooney. He is certainly the player who is most similar to Gascoigne. He has the same talent but i'm afraid that in his head he's as daft as Gazza. So put Rooney on the bench for a few matches and replace him with Heskey (there, i have spelled it out...let the lynch mobs come...prepare feathers and tar...).
 
hutch said:
Over the last 3 games it's been evident that England miss Gary Neville. A truly undervalued player.
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Totally agree with you there mate, although as a person he is a tosser as a footballer he is a fantastic right back and we'll be fucked if we don't find a top quality replacement before he retires!
 
Beckham and Neville work well together. I think its about time Ashley Cole is given a real left winger to work alongside.

As for the centre of midfield, Gerrard and Lampard are too similar. But out of the two, Gerrard is more disciplined and can stay back to defend better than Lampard. Which is why its best if Lampard was replaced my an attacking midfielder. And only person in the squad who can do well there is Rooney but then we need someone in attack as good as him.

Which is why I still think the old 4-3-3 with 3 strikers is the way to go.

------------Robinson-----------
----------------------------------
--Neville---Rio---Terry---Cole--
----------------------------------
---Beckham--Gerrard--????---
----------------------------------
-------------Rooney-------------
--------Owen------Defoe-------
 
England are pretty much over-rated by their own press. Here on the other side of the sea nobody really rates the national team. We do love the league, that's because the stadiums, the fans, the players etc. create a great atmosphere. English teams are doing quite well in Europe for years (Manchester, Liverpool, Chelsea), but the national team sucks to be honest. I've watched a lot of their games and I am just not impressed. Eriksson is a terrible coach, after so many years he still hasn't build a good team that plays good football.
 
I agree with you there. You'd think after the way these players play for their clubs that the National team would be unstoppable.
 
I completely agree with Joostebrood and the reaction Runedge is a perfect illustration of the fact that English people overrate their players...the fact that English clubs do reasonably well is largely due to non-English players. I know that for example Lampard and Gerrard are world class players but think Man Utd in their glory years and you think Keane, Giggs, Cantona and now Van Nistelrooy, think Arsenal and you think of Vieira, Henry, Pires and Bergkamp, think Chelsea and you think of Makelele, Duff, Robben (less for Chelsea than for both others). Liverpool could be the exception with Gerrard and Carragher as the all-important players (but let's not forget Luis Garcia and Xavi Alonso).

Oh and the Premiership is by far my favourite league due to the playing style, the fans, the proximity of the fans to the pitch,...
 
Got to disagre the the spine of the United side would be argubly be all the homegrwon tallent that came through at the same time i.e Scholes, Beckham, Neville and even when they won the treble the side front line was led by Andy Cole. Chelsea i would say main players are Terry and Lampard rather than Robben ect...
 
I agree with Jamie Mack. The only players you can never see leaving the Chelsea XI are Lampard and Terry.
And at Man Utd, yes there are many good foreign players there but the ones that have been in the team through all the years have been the English players. And there still continues to be many more English players coming in with the latest being Rooney.

England's individuals are definately gifted. Theres no arguing there. Almost every player in midfield and attack are potential match winners. Lampard scores goals for his club, Gerrard does, Rooney does, Owen does, Joe Cole, SWP, Terry, theres so many players in there that you should be expecting goals from.

Maybe thats the problem. Too many goal scorers and not enough providers.
 
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