Zatman Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Id be no fan of Smalling but who do you bring in to replace him? Michael Dawson, Michael Turner, Wes Brown? their isnt a lot of english talent available in many positions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-T Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Michael Dawson would surely be a better option since he actually plays at centre-half every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted November 20, 2013 Moderator Share Posted November 20, 2013 We've established with the Delph v Cleverley discussion that it doesn't matter if you play there every week and are doing well. It only matters what Woy thinks and whether you are a Man Utd player or not So I think Smalling is obviously the outstanding candidate. Or maybe Phil Jones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 We've established with the Delph v Cleverley discussion that it doesn't matter if you play there every week and are doing well. It only matters what Woy thinks and whether you are a Man Utd player or not So I think Smalling is obviously the outstanding candidate. Or maybe Phil Jones. Or Kagawa with an English grandad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Id be no fan of Smalling but who do you bring in to replace him? Michael Dawson, Michael Turner, Wes Brown? their isnt a lot of english talent available in many positions I agree, which shows the lack of quality we have. We are possibly good enough to get to the group stages but anything beyond is a miracle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 with the world cup the groups will probably be easier than qualifying. could be group of england, switzerland, algeria and iran for example. think england should be aiming for quarter finals as a successful world cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 20, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted November 20, 2013 They're so DULL, aren't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 the last one was shocking, teams desperate not to lose rather than trying to win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 There seems to be a tendency (especially from people who aren't English) to over-simplify the problems with England. Most England fans (myself included) accept that there isn't a particularly great pool of players at the moment but that doesn't mean the manager is beyond criticism. Certainly the way we set up is one of the biggest problems. Hodgson may not have a great set of players at his disposal (although let's face it they're not bad in the grand scheme of things) but does he really have to set the team up to play so negatively? Look at us last season. We may not have had a great squad but at least we had a go at teams. Hodgson to me is just a slightly more talented and less extreme version of McDoom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 There seems to be a tendency (especially from people who aren't English) to over-simplify the problems with England. Most England fans (myself included) accept that there isn't a particularly great pool of players at the moment but that doesn't mean the manager is beyond criticism. Certainly the way we set up is one of the biggest problems. Hodgson may not have a great set of players at his disposal (although let's face it they're not bad in the grand scheme of things) but does he really have to set the team up to play so negatively? Look at us last season. We may not have had a great squad but at least we had a go at teams. Hodgson to me is just a slightly more talented and less extreme version of McDoom. Yep, I would agree with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I think Hodgson has tried to be more positive the last few games and that might work against Montenegro and Poland but not against the better lesser sides. I'll think he'll go back to a more defensive mindset in the world cup. We've been exposed at the centre of our defence primarily because of the lack of a holding midfield player. He has to sort out what his best side is! I honestly don't think any other manager would have done better with this crop of players. We are still talking about Gerrard, Cole and Lampard when all are slightly past there best. The only criticism I have of Hodgson is sticking with the old guard during the qualification campaign. Really Lampard, Gerrard and Cole should have been phased out by now. Cole played well yesterday but there were times when his lack of pace looked a real issue. On the other side Walker got unfair criticism because he gave the ball away too often but if he did it was because of the lack of options in midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 There seems to be a tendency (especially from people who aren't English) to over-simplify the problems with England. Most England fans (myself included) accept that there isn't a particularly great pool of players at the moment but that doesn't mean the manager is beyond criticism. Certainly the way we set up is one of the biggest problems. Hodgson may not have a great set of players at his disposal (although let's face it they're not bad in the grand scheme of things) but does he really have to set the team up to play so negatively? Look at us last season. We may not have had a great squad but at least we had a go at teams. Hodgson to me is just a slightly more talented and less extreme version of McDoom. Did you not think the Poland and Montengero were fun to watch at least. I'm no great lover of the England team but they were two must wins and Hodgson played a front four and really went for it. Two games I actually enjoyed watching England in. Of course the problem is the standard of teams at the world cup are generally a little bit better than the two mentioned above From what we've seen over the last two friendlies the simple truth is the top teams just have the measure of England and this world cup is going to be a major struggle whatever the tactics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I think Hodgson has tried to be more positive the last few games and that might work against Montenegro and Poland but not against the better lesser sides. I'll think he'll go back to a more defensive mindset in the world cup. We've been exposed at the centre of our defence primarily because of the lack of a holding midfield player. He has to sort out what his best side is! I honestly don't think any other manager would have done better with this crop of players. We are still talking about Gerrard, Cole and Lampard when all are slightly past there best. The only criticism I have of Hodgson is sticking with the old guard during the qualification campaign. Really Lampard, Gerrard and Cole should have been phased out by now. Cole played well yesterday but there were times when his lack of pace looked a real issue. On the other side Walker got unfair criticism because he gave the ball away too often but if he did it was because of the lack of options in midfield. Good post. Roy Hodgson is primarily a pragmatist coach as we've seen with his club work and if he feels the best way to get out of the group is to be defensive like in euro 2012 he will go for that. At the moment that's one of the reasons I'm giving him backing. The fact is he took over 6 weeks before that tournament, lost a few key first 11 players to injury like Cahill and Lampard and yet still got that team out of what was a tricky group stage with France, Croatia and Ukraine. Compare that to the almighty struggle it was for Capello to get out of a group with U.S.A, Algeria and Slovenia. I thought quarter finals for the euros was a decent result but the reality was the poor performance against Italy and I can't see that changing much when England play decent teams next summer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I'd love to see someone like Bielsa get the job, someone who has a proper football philiosphy but the problem would be the England players would go into mutiny as they wouldn't be playing their simple 4-4-2 with everyone running in straight lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 (edited) They're so DULL, aren't they? To be honest, I can't remember the last international match I genuinely enjoyed... Germany battering England in the WC a few years ago, probably, but that was more about laughing at the neighbours than anything. Italy v Germany at the last Euros? In any case, for the apparent 'highest level', it is shit 99% of the time. Edited November 20, 2013 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Need a manager with a vision and ideas not an oap with 80's tactics, problem is we always have to appoint a name. Must be some young passionate english managers with good philosophies, were not winning **** all anytime soon anyway so why not? I am lead to believe he was called Steve McClaren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 (edited) I think Hodgson will set up England as a counter-attack team in Brazil. This will suit the climate, heat and humidity - it will be impossible fitness wise for a high-press (high-energy) European team to get very far. We will sit back and we have the players in Andros Townsend, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott and Rooney to hit teams with dangerous break-aways. All he needs to do is call up Gabby and it will be just like watching Villa. Edited November 20, 2013 by Con Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 with the world cup the groups will probably be easier than qualifying. could be group of england, switzerland, algeria and iran for example. think england should be aiming for quarter finals as a successful world cup Not sure this time, there are 6 teams from South America so England are highly likely to play one of them .I'd only back them to beat Ecuador in the group stage, maybe Colombia aswell as I think England would match up well physically against them. Then you'd have another euro team which will be tough and then one from the rest of the continents, if you're lucky that probably means Iran or Algeria, less so if it's say Ghana,U.S or mexico. With the improvement the likes of Belgium have made and big names like England, Holland and France as 2nd seeds they're going to be some really tough groups in this world cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I think Hodgson will set up England as a counter-attack team in Brazil. This will suit the climate, heat and humidity - it will be impossible fitness wise for a high-press (high-energy) European team to get very far. We will sit back and we have the players in Andros Townsend, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott and Rooney to hit teams with dangerous break-aways. All he needs to do is call up Gabby and it will be just like watching Villa. Yes to me the strength should be our pace down the right with Townsend and Walker. Playing together all season for spurs should help them develop a better understanding because i think at times Townsend chooses to ignore Walker's runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 with the world cup the groups will probably be easier than qualifying. could be group of england, switzerland, algeria and iran for example. think england should be aiming for quarter finals as a successful world cup Not sure this time, there are 6 teams from South America so England are highly likely to play one of them .I'd only back them to beat Ecuador in the group stage, maybe Colombia aswell as I think England would match up well physically against them. Then you'd have another euro team which will be tough and then one from the rest of the continents, if you're lucky that probably means Iran or Algeria, less so if it's say Ghana,U.S or mexico. With the improvement the likes of Belgium have made and big names like England, Holland and France as 2nd seeds they're going to be some really tough groups in this world cup. Yes we will face one of the seeded teams Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland or Uruguay the possibly one of these France, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Chile, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Ghana then possibly someone like the USA or Australia So we have a 1/8 chance of drawing Switzerland. Any of the other seeded teams will be very tough and we wouldn't want to draw France, Portugal or Chile would we. So we could be facing a very tough group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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