International General England thread

[The Fun Factory]

 

That was so so poor. I'm not certain Lambert is international standard (even by England's low standard) but he was played in completely the wrong way. He's not pacy and doesn't seem to be brilliant at holding the ball up and get he was played up on his own. His touch was absolutely awful. Lampard was dreadful again and Milner is poor as a winger. Walcott can't pass the ball to save his life and Wilshere must be the most overrated player I've seen in a long time. 

 

I wouldn't mind if Ukraine played well but they were dreadful too. I think the most depressing thing is that I'm starting to wonder whether Harry Redknapp might have done a better job. Woeful.

 

Not saying Harry would have done any better but at least we would have played some attacking football. FA always go for the safe option. Hodgson wasn't big enough for Liverpool and he isn't big enough for England.

 

So managing Inter Milan means he  isnt big enough for managing England? I am not Hodgson's biggest fan but to say he isnt big enough for England is nonsense. His CV was far more suitable for the England job than Appy Arry.

[Electric Avenue]

Missed the game, how good/bad was it ?

[MrDuck]

As usual, England entirely incapable of simply passing the ball. Nothing ever changes.

[Genie]

An awful game of football. Even the 4-0 win last week was somehow incredibly boring and dull.

[myko]

I've never seen how some of the teams played in the earlier part of his career (e.g. Inter Milan), but as of the last handful of years Roy Hodgson has produced awful football from sides with no results.

I am not exaggerating when I say that, for me, he is a decrepit Alex McLeish.

[Shillzz]

The last 2 England games have been about as entertaining as watching your nan doing her bikini line.

 

Wilshere tries to do it all on his own every time, and usually ends up running into a brick wall.

Walcott can't pass and messes up nearly every attacking opportunity, unless he's scoring.

Milner can't beat a man, his crosses aren't particularly special either.

Gerrard's passing is always too ambitious.

Lampard plays too deep.

Lambert is distinctly average.

Walker can't defend, a problem which is exacerbated when you consider the winger infront of him.

Joe Hart is far more cocky than his actual ability should permit him to be.

 

It's all devastatingly bleak.

[BOF]

And yet ... job done.

[mjmooney]

Thought we played really really well tonight.

 

 

I'll have what he's having.

[Shillzz]

And yet ... job done.

 

D'ya think?

 

So far during this qualification campaign, we've only managed to beat San Marino and Maldova, yet we now need to beat Montenegro AND Poland?

[CardiffGreens]

Unless Poland get something from their game against Ukraine, in which case a win against Montenegro and a draw with Poland will suffice.

 

Foolproof, what could possibly go wrong...

Edited September 11, 2013 by CardiffGreens

[coda]

I can't see England getting six points, they're too nervous at Wembley. I think four is more likely but I still expect them to limp through to Brazil. Qualification is all I hope for these days.

[BOF]

And yet ... job done.

 

D'ya think?

 

So far during this qualification campaign, we've only managed to beat San Marino and Maldova, yet we now need to beat Montenegro AND Poland?

What I meant by that is you needed to go to the Ukraine and avoid defeat otherwise they'd have won the group. You did that. It's still entirely in your hands now. Yes you still have football to play. Everyone does. But you did what you set out to do.

[Voinjama]

I'm not confident England will beat Montenegro and Poland at home. I think a win and a draw from those 2 games.

 

Ukraines last 2 games are San Marino and Poland, I think they will get 6 points from them.

[Shillzz]

 

 

And yet ... job done.

 

D'ya think?

 

So far during this qualification campaign, we've only managed to beat San Marino and Maldova, yet we now need to beat Montenegro AND Poland?

 

What I meant by that is you needed to go to the Ukraine and avoid defeat otherwise they'd have won the group. You did that. It's still entirely in your hands now. Yes you still have football to play. Everyone does. But you did what you set out to do.

 

 

True enough.

 

But - I would have liked to have seen us trying to win the game rather than avoiding defeat. This must not lose policy of Hodgson's won't take us far, even if we do get to Brazil.

[Genie]

I don't think it would have been too much to expect from the England national side to go to a country like Ukraine and take the game to them rather than sitting back and playing for a draw.

 

If we were away to Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina, Brazil, etc. then fair enough. Not the likes of Ukraine, we should be going into games like that looking for a win (even with a few injuries, which is not something unique to England).

Edited September 11, 2013 by Tamuff_Villa

[PaulC]

I don't think it would have been too much to expect from the England national side to go to a country like Ukraine and take the game to them rather than sitting back and playing for a draw.

 

If we were away to Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina, Brazil, etc. then fair enough. Not the likes of Ukraine, we should be going into games like that looking for a win (even with a few injuries, which is not something unique to England).

 

Yes I agree, that's Hodgson for you - boring negative manager who has killed my interest in the England team! You watch the way Belgium play and its just on another level.

Edited September 11, 2013 by PaulC

[TrentVilla]

I'm struggling to understand why anyone cares about the England team any more.

 

Those running it from the FA never do anything to try and sort out or real issues and instead make the right noises while feathering their own nests and in reality changing nothing. It is beyond laughable that the FA think part of the solution to our problems is ensuring we have an English coach.

What can Hodgson or any England manager do about the fact we have an ever decreasing pool of questionable talent to pick from? Nothing is the answer. The real problems are at the grass roots of the game, the comparison between England and Spain of the number of qualified coaches in each country really demonstrates the real issue and just how deep rooted the problems are.

 

Build the facility in Burton is a step in the right direction but I doubt it will do anything to really change the face of English football.

 

Neither will the mutterings of a former journalist given the keys to the FA sweetshop, talking about the ills of the modern game and the greed of the PL he had a hand in creating, who claims nobody could have seen the negative impact its creation would have. Yes they bloody could, people were talking about this very problem back in 1992 and saying it would have this very impact on the national side.

 

Then you have the team themselves, half the players seemingly don't give a monkeys about playing for England and most the time see it as something of an inconvenience  until an actual tournament comes around.

 

When it does they are too knackered and too pre-occupied with their club destination for the following season, their book deal, their wag or their hair plugins to actually perform.

 

Every qualification is the same, we get there in the end by hook or by crook and expectations go through the roof until we arrive somewhere and realise we are about as good as the local piss water beer served up to the real fans most of whom can't get tickets because they've all been given to McDonalds.

 

We aren't going to win anything now or in the future, we aren't going to sort out the problems in our game and in a few years time we will be picking the England squad out of the arse end of the PL or the Championship.

 

We are a second rate international team these days and those who could do something about it aren't about to so simply getting to Euro's or WC's is about the best we can hope for and should really be the expectation.

 

That is why I'm not even bothered if we qualify or not.

[BOF]

I don't think it would have been too much to expect from the England national side to go to a country like Ukraine and take the game to them rather than sitting back and playing for a draw.

If we were away to Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina, Brazil, etc. then fair enough. Not the likes of Ukraine, we should be going into games like that looking for a win (even with a few injuries, which is not something unique to England).

Hmmm.  On one hand I tentatively agree that going to a place and playing for a draw from the off isn't ideal.  Although given the situation in that group it is probably a sensible enough approach, particularly given that it worked.

 

I really don't think England are good enough at the moment to expect to go to places like the Ukraine and boss it though.  It's entirely possible that had you gone there and taken the game to the Ukraine you'd have come a cropper.  The Ukraine are no mugs and England haven't exactly been pulling up trees for the past 20 years.  I get the distinct impression that England fans still think their national side is one of the superpowers despite the results that are staring them in the face.  Until you have an embarrassment of riches in your national team and until you are realistically expecting to reach the semi-finals of world cups you will have to continue to show good footballing sides like Ukraine the respect that you showed them last night.

 

That's not to say that you can't go out to win games more often than not.  It just means you need to rein in what I see to be a superiority complex a little, because frankly it really isn't warranted.

[Milfner]

 

Thought we played really really well tonight.

 

 

I'll have what he's having.

 

 

[JoshVilla]

Doesn't really help when we don't really have a squad full of likeable characters. So many bad attitudes in there.