The England Football Team. Surely now.......

[curlie467]

968 said:

I blame Lampard. (That'll be the England 'fan' logic). Clearly it's his fault, as he's past it, even though he only played for 10 minutes. It's not Rooney's fault, for giving away a penalty with a clumsy challenge, it's not Robinson's fault for being a 3rd rate keeper, it's not Gerrards for missing the easiest goal of the season, no it must be Lampards fault.

That sounds about right. Well said, defo lampards fault.

[Marki]

968 said:

I blame Lampard. (That'll be the England 'fan' logic). Clearly it's his fault, as he's past it, even though he only played for 10 minutes. It's not Rooney's fault, for giving away a penalty with a clumsy challenge, it's not Robinson's fault for being a 3rd rate keeper, it's not Gerrards for missing the easiest goal of the season, no it must be Lampards fault.

From what i saw you are spot on ,, err tell me do you want a sort of weekend job with a bit of travel involved

[stimmers]

at least we get to bin the European championships if we can't bin football all together

(before captain head steam comes back, its a joke)

Edited by stimmers on Wednesday 17th October 21:10

[stander]

just watching the highlights now, so far england are playing well but with two close calls on pens, you can see the risk... (oh just seen the pen! outside of box - defo influenced by earlier tackles)

i dont know, just all that media hype and players saying "we are going to win it" crap - it always pisses me off. All the fans I know much prefer england to just stay nice and quiet and get on with the business of winning. why do players and media have to build everything up?? wrong f'ing mentality...

TBH with the best paid players in Europe, and 4 teams good enough for QFs of European Cup, WTF is going wrong???

[Wacky Racer]

Fittster said:

Hmm, time for a new manager.

That bloke at Man City looks pretty good.

Sven's going nowhere.....



(Except to the top of the Premiership).....

[Fittster]

stander said:

just watching the highlights now, so far england are playing well but with two close calls on pens, you can see the risk... (oh just seen the pen! outside of box - defo influenced by earlier tackles)

i dont know, just all that media hype and players saying "we are going to win it" crap - it always pisses me off. All the fans I know much prefer england to just stay nice and quiet and get on with the business of winning. why do players and media have to build everything up?? wrong f'ing mentality...

TBH with the best paid players in Europe, and 4 teams good enough for QFs of European Cup, WTF is going wrong???

Well what are the team supposed to say when interviewed by the media "In all honesty we're here to make up the numbers"? Teams either have to say they are there for the experience or to win, there's not really any other answers.

The trouble is most of the big teams in the prem are packed full of EU immigrants and few English players are good enough or interest enough to play abroad. So the number of English playing regularly in the top flight is quite low.

[LaSarthe+Back]

Fittster said:

stander said:

just watching the highlights now, so far england are playing well but with two close calls on pens, you can see the risk... (oh just seen the pen! outside of box - defo influenced by earlier tackles)

i dont know, just all that media hype and players saying "we are going to win it" crap - it always pisses me off. All the fans I know much prefer england to just stay nice and quiet and get on with the business of winning. why do players and media have to build everything up?? wrong f'ing mentality...

TBH with the best paid players in Europe, and 4 teams good enough for QFs of European Cup, WTF is going wrong???

Well what are the team supposed to say when interviewed by the media "In all honesty we're here to make up the numbers"? Teams either have to say they are there for the experience or to win, there's not really any other answers.

The trouble is most of the big teams in the prem are packed full of EU immigrants and few English players are good enough or interest enough to play abroad. So the number of English playing regularly in the top flight is quite low.

Quite agree, and it's for that reason that I hope that Russia win their remaining two games, and Croatia hammer us at home.

For too long have we just scraped through at the quali stages of almost every major tournament over the last 10-15 years. Then when we just scrape through our group, suddenly we're the best in the world!

Not qualifying will be the kick up the arse that England and the FA need to sort the game in this country out. All the foreign players say the Prem is the most competitive league in the world, and they're correct, but our own young-and-upcomers' talent is being over shadowed, and prevented from shining and there is nowhere else for them to really go and get noticed.

Perhaps not qualifying will make the FA realise that the game in this country is driven too much by money, and that by capping teams for example, to 5 non-UK players on pitch at any one time can only have better benefits for the direction our international game will head.

I love England, and over the last few years, have agonised at every nail-biter, but I'm tired of it now, always under-acheiving, getting pasted by second rate teams, clawing draws against tiny nations.

Time for a change, and nothing short of non-qualification will bring it. And I'd rather it be the Euro's so they may have a shot at sorting it for the World Cup!

Cheers

Edited by LaSarthe+Back on Thursday 18th October 00:03

[mckln335]

Its not exactly the group of death either, with Russia, Croatia and possibly Israel the only 3 teams to be aware of. Not in a month of sundays should we have drawn with Macedonia, if we had beaten them, we would not be in this current predicament. Not only do we have to now rely on another team to stop Russia taking all 3 points (because Andorra wont), we also have to beat Croatia, albeit at home, who we lost 2-0 to last time round. Its a tall order, but it IS possible. Barry has been outstanding for the last 3 games since being called up. Gerrard has been below par for the last couple. From what i heard of yesterdays match, Lescott was poor which will do wonders for his future prospects as that was his debut. England have to beat Croatia no matter what, and hope Israel can do the biz against Russia, or we are royally ed

[B16 RTT]

Wacky Racer said:

Fittster said:

Hmm, time for a new manager.

That bloke at Man City looks pretty good.

Sven's going nowhere.....



(Except to the top of the Premiership).....

So he is moving clubs then? Make up your mind!!

[Negative Creep]

I'm almost glad we aren't going to qualify. Hopefully this will mean the entire system gets shaken up; not just the manager but the FA, academies and grass roots. For a start we need to be rid not only of our useless manager but those clowns at the FA on huge salaries who've never kicked a ball in their lives. I'm fed up with the media labeling our players as lion-hearted heroes after one game then as a bunch of clueless donkeys the next. I'm fed up with players who are superb for their clubs turning up and putting in half-arsed performances every time they pull on the national shirt. Isn't playing for your country something that every schoolboy dreams of?


The answer isn't getting rid of foreigners either, such views are extremely short sighted. Cast our mind back to the early 90's when the Premiership/Division 1 was largely British, we weren't exactly a world beating side were we? Hmmmmmm, Carlton Palmer anyone?

[BJG1]

Pay young talent from foriegn countries massive amounts of money not to play for their national sides, then after 5 years of living here, they're eligible to play for england if they take up British Citizenship, think about it, if we paid Ronaldo enough when he first came here, he could play for England this year...

[dj1uk3]

Ferg said:

....after that tinkering with the formation, McLaren will accept that he can't shoehorn Lampard in and just treat him as back up for Gerrard.

yep i agree, the only reason gerrard is pushed out to the wide positions is because lamps can't play there and the only reason why gerrard has to defend is because lamps can't, lamps can't pass forward, take the ball past players, sprint, tackle.... but he can shoot, but its getting to that final third that is a problem when lampard is in the team.
Lampard holds gerrard back!!!

[derestrictor]

Negative Creep said:

The answer isn't getting rid of foreigners either...Cast our mind back to the early 90's when the Premiership/Division 1 was largely British, we weren't exactly a world beating side were we? Hmmmmmm, Carlton Palmer anyone?

Well actually, it is, or capping numbers at least.

Are you telling me England 1986 or 1990 weren't vastly superior to this lot?

Trevor Brooking is spot on: overcommercialism is screwing the national team. You may not like that notion but the results speak for themselves.

[Negative Creep]

derestrictor said:

Negative Creep said:

The answer isn't getting rid of foreigners either...Cast our mind back to the early 90's when the Premiership/Division 1 was largely British, we weren't exactly a world beating side were we? Hmmmmmm, Carlton Palmer anyone?

Well actually, it is, or capping numbers at least.

Are you telling me England 1986 or 1990 weren't vastly superior to this lot?

Trevor Brooking is spot on: overcommercialism is screwing the national team. You may not like that notion but the results speak for themselves.

I disagree. If we put a cap on foreign players, then they would just move to other leagues. If all the good foreigners go, then the good English ones will follow them leaving our league lagging behind. The influx of foreign players has not coincided with a decline of our national side. After all, Italy, Germany, Spain or France seem to be doing ok as they not only have foreign players, but a system to bring through talented youth.If you take our individual players and see how the likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney etc perform for their clubs then our team should be doing far better than the 86 or 90 sides.

I would agree over commercialisation is a problem. The media must take the blame as well, hyping up players to stupid extremes then leaping on them when it goes wrong. Is it any wonder no foreign manager wants to manage England after the way the gutter press treated Sven and called for an English manager (yeah, thats working out great)?

[Marki]

So the "Special One" has apparently mentioned he would be interested in the job of managing the National team

[central]

Marki said:

So the "Special One" has apparently mentioned he would be interested in the job of managing the National team

Will he get snubbed in the same way Brian Clough did?

[Marki]

central said:

Marki said:

So the "Special One" has apparently mentioned he would be interested in the job of managing the National team

Will he get snubbed in the same way Brian Clough did?

I recon he would be good for the national team , and at least the press conferences would be amusing instead of having to listen to that pompus red faced ginger

[Wacky Racer]

Marki said:

I reckon he would be good for the national team , and at least the press conferences would be amusing instead of having to listen to that pompus red faced ginger

[CommanderJameson]

I would imagine that the FA and Steve McLaren, not to mention the overpaid underperforming drama queens that laughingly call themselves "The England Football Team" will be praying that England's rugby team don't win tomorrow. Defending champions in the final, versus some of the highest-paid footballers in the world who are on the verge of going out at the same stage as the likes of Faeroe Islands and Lichtenstein.

If Vickery lifts that cup, and I dearly hope he does, then the shambles that is English international football will be exposed for what it is - a load of players who can't be arsed, managed by a man who can't manage.

What annoyed me about McLaren's reaction on Wednesday night was that he didn't look that bothered. I get the impression that if the impossible chain of eventsthat is required doesn't pan out, he'll just shrug and blurt out the usual mouthful of clichés about it's a funny old game, we gave it 110%, etc.

[Wacky Racer]

CommanderJameson said:

What annoyed me about McLaren's reaction on Wednesday night was that he didn't look that bothered. I get the impression that if the impossible chain of eventsthat is required doesn't pan out, he'll just shrug and blurt out the usual mouthful of clichés about it's a funny old game, we gave it 110%, etc.

You forgot it was a game of two halves.....