English national football, where do we go from here?

[King Pietersen]

------------------------------Carlo Nash---------------------------------
---Neville---------Jagielka------------Hibbert---------Baines-----
---------------------------------Rodwell----------------------------------
--------Arteta------------------Gosling-------------------Osman--------
-------------------------Vaughan--------Beckford----------------------

There ya go Fabio. Get 'em picked.

 

[GIMH]

We never beat good teams at the world cup anyway, aside from Argentina in 2002 I can't remember the last time we beat a previous winner or even finalist for that matter in a world cup.

West Germany in 1966 I think, well we beat France in 1982 IIRC but that was before they were a winner

 

[paganpete101]

The overpaid lazy really thing bugs, there is no doubt they were trying, is just as an easy excuse as blaming the manager.

Yes, but they were REALLY trying as 11 seperate players - NOT as a team.

 

[wpdavid]

West Germany in 1966 I think, well we beat France in 1982 IIRC but that was before they were a winner

Czeckoslovakia in 1982 & 1970 - who had been runners up at some point in time.

 

[Nate]

------------------------------Carlo Nash---------------------------------
---Nevillie---------Jagielka------------Hibbert---------Baines-----
---------------------------------Rodwell----------------------------------
--------Arteta------------------Gosling-------------------Osman--------
-------------------------Vaughan--------Beckford----------------------

There ya go Fabio. Get 'em picked.

Haha, legend.

David Bentley and Jack Cork in imo.

 

[wpdavid]

Whilst I wouldn't ordinarily quote the Torygraph,it's hard to argue with this guy

World Cup 2010: Ten ways to save English football - Telegraph

Not that any of it will ever happen, of course.

 

[paganpete101]

Well, that makes good reading and is full of common sense - without a single dig at the Labour (ex) government!

As you say, they are all dinosaurs and will not implement any radical changes - sack the manager instead, that always does the trick .

 

[Uppercut]

I think when he starts suggesting spending more on PE in schools he's overprioritising the issue more than a tad. Also vehemently oppose the idea of trading off cup replays for a winter break.

 

[Jarquis]

David Bentley in imo.

...

 

[Lillian Thomson]

As always we will blame the manager instead of the 11 useless, overpaid, lazy ego's on the pitch!

Well the wonderful manager did manage (pun intended) to devise a system of play that left us exposed at the back, overrun in mid-field and with no width or penetration in the last third. I think you have to blame him just a tad.

 

[wpdavid]

I think when he starts suggesting spending more on PE in schools he's overprioritising the issue more than a tad. Also vehemently oppose the idea of trading off cup replays for a winter break.

Yes, I thought the first of those was one of his lesser suggestions. Given the cuts in public spending favoured elsewhere in his publication, it's naive to think that's going to be any sort of priority in the forseeable future.

Dunno about the winter break - was it this piece that commented on the number of stress fractures suffered by English players in the Spring?

An 18-team premiership would help, but I'm not holding my breath for that one either.
As would scrapping the league cup and spreading the FA cup either side of a mid-season break.

 

[Uppercut]

You can't claim endemic managerial failure after his first competitive defeat ever. Lol at England fans.

 

[paganpete101]

He does deserve some blame - but not to the extent that he will be blamed.

 

[GIMH]

LOL at Capello not having any responsibility!

He lost to Ukraine as well. Might not have been competitive for us but was still technically competitive.

Selection and tactics throughout this WC were widely flawed. I'm not quite on the sack him bandwagon but to 'LOL' at the prospect of it being his fault is ridiculous.

 

[Uppercut]

How do you know his tactics and selection were flawed? His ideas are the only ones put to the test, and you have no grounds on which to assume that your ideas would have worked better. And if he had followed your ideas, England would probably still not have won the World Cup, and everyone who disagreed would have claimed that this was because his tactics and selection was flawed. It's absurd.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Capello did make errors, there's no question about that.

Bringing the frog in a blender along, let alone playing him a few times, was poor. A number of the substitutions were nonsensical. Such as taking off Milner and bringing on Joe Cole. Then shortly after bringing Heskey on for Defoe. Baffling. He also fell into the trap of other England managers of trying to fit in players into a particular system and screwing up the balance completely in the process. How many more times do we have to suffer Gerrard floating in from the left and killing the width? He's not a right-footed equivalent of Robben ffs.

I mean just look at other teams who've done well with no-name players standing out. It's about the team not the individuals. I would quite happily have a Championship player involved if he had the temperament and could do the job. What good was Terry being a Chelsea player when he performed like a Sunday leaguer?

I'm not fussed particularly about the formation or whatever. It's about the players fitting into the formation. A lot of teams seem to be going 3 up front with a back four playing pretty conservatively. As far as England concerned they did not have the pace to cover counter attacks, nor the discipline not to over-commit. Central pair didn't have much clue about basic defending either. Changing the system to cope with all that would be rather difficult to say the least.

I hope England have a few friendlies coming up, because they really need to have a look at the next generation and where they can fit in. Unlike a lot of others I don't see what Milner did wrong. I thought Johnson was pretty good too. The only obvious choices to me are Joe Hart, Milner, Adam Johnson, Glen Johnson and Rooney. I don't follow football enough to suggest others.

 

[Jarquis]

An U25 team made up of players who have recently represented England or been in squads would be something like.

Hart
Johnson - Shawcross - Cahill - Baines
Milner - Huddlestone - ???? - Johnson
Rooney - Agbonglahor

Others are : Walcott, Young, That's it.
26 year olds. Bent, C Cole and Dawson

 

[Goughy]

I thought Johnson was pretty good too.

You were making sense until this. Im not sure what you watched. He was awful every game. Positionally he is a liability, he is clumsy and panicky and doesnt offer a great deal going forward to compensate. The worst fullback I have seen at the higher levels since Djimi Traore. Yuck.

However, he did hit 1 pass that was out of this world. Was it the Algeria game (I cant remember?) Amazing cross field ball on the half volley. Was a thing of beauty but doesnt make up for the fact his isnt where he is supposed to be and hacks at clearances.

 

[Scaly piscine]

You were making sense until this. Im not sure what you watched. He was awful every game. Positionally he is a liability, he is clumsy and panicky and doesnt offer a great deal going forward to compensate. The worst fullback I have seen at the higher levels since Djimi Traore. Yuck.

However, he did hit 1 pass that was out of this world. Was it the Algeria game (I cant remember?) Amazing cross field ball on the half volley. Was a thing of beauty but doesnt make up for the fact his isnt where he is supposed to be and hacks at clearances.

Eh? Johnson was very good coming forward and he is good on the ball which is crucial at international level. The only error of sorts I remember him making was he didn't take somebody out on the counter attack for Germany's 3rd goal. He also has the pace to get back when he comes forward to help provide width. Compare this to Terry, Carragher and Upson who were ridiculously slow and poor on the ball.

 

[social]

Dont want to get on the bash England whilst they're down band-wagon but it was disappointing to see how undisciplined some of these highly paid professionals were - they made some positional errors that guys on 10% of their salaries would be heavily criticised for committing