England National football team thread

[War]

BBC Sport - Football League clubs to discuss B-league plan at AGM

 

[Skater]

Despite the ridiculous omission of John Ruddy, it's still nice to see an England World Cup squad with two Norwich connections.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Despite the ridiculous omission of John Ruddy, it's still nice to see an England World Cup squad with two Norwich connections.

Who?

 

[Skater]

In my eagerness I should have said something different. The goalkeeping coach Dave Watson, on the far right of the photo, is also our goalkeeping coach but obviously not an actual squad member. Then there's Fraser Forster.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Then there's Fraser Forster.

Oh right, I never knew he played for Norwich. Why did you let such a good goalkeeper leave?

 

[Skater]

Oh right, I never knew he played for Norwich. Why did you let such a good goalkeeper leave?

He was on loan from Newcastle. We had a right duffer called Michael Theoklitos who played in the 7-1 to defeat to Colchester, then Paul Lambert brought in Forster and we ended up keeping more clean sheets than anyone else in League One that year. Lambert, being the former Celtic player, recommended him to Neil Lennon who took him to Celtic.

 

[shravi]

https://twitter.com/BoringMilner

This page is amazing

 

[War]

In my eagerness I should have said something different. The goalkeeping coach Dave Watson, on the far right of the photo, is also our goalkeeping coach but obviously not an actual squad member. Then there's Fraser Forster.

You might actually get a Norwich player in the squad if Alex Ox is ruled out of the world cup, if Hodgson looks beyond his stand-by list picks Nathan Redmond, who are the best like-for-like replacement.

 

[Skater]

You might actually get a Norwich player in the squad if Alex Ox is ruled out of the world cup, if Hodgson looks beyond his stand-by list picks Nathan Redmond, who are the best like-for-like replacement.

Good lord Redmond isn't ready to play in a World Cup yet. He hasn't learned when to pass and when to shoot yet.

 

[War]

Good lord Redmond isn't ready to play in a World Cup yet. He hasn't learned when to pass and when to shoot yet.

Not saying that he is ready or that I would pick, just saying he is the best like-for-like replacement available & he happens to be Norwich ha.

The actual better like-for-like replacements in Townsend & Walcott as you know are injured. While Lennon is out of form.

 

[War]

Rio Ferdinand: England can land a Brazil showdown... IF they get out of the group | Mail Online

The Premier League is brilliant; excitement every week, fantastically popular. But it lets us down as a national team because there is no winter break. We turn up for World Cups already disadvantaged because so many players are injured, bandaged up, drained. And that?s before a ball is kicked.
I?m talking now as somebody who has seen this and lived it. We all play with knocks at times. We all play fatigued on occasions. No big deal. No problem. It?s part and parcel of our profession.
But from inside experience of having been an England player at two World Cups, in 2002 and 2006, playing five matches at each, we were ending the group stages physically knackered, gone ? before the knockout stage even started.


Fitness is a huge factor in performance and undervalued far too often. Heavy legs and weary bodies are a real issue when the turnover of games is so quick.
No doubt some people will say, hang on, what about all the foreign players who play in the Premier League and manage to shine? Yes, some do. Carlos Tevez famously went back and forward to Argentina and did the business. Oscar, to name one Brazilian example, plays a heap of games for club and country.
But exceptional people being capable of exceptional feats does not get away from the fact that, as a group, England?s players have a uniquely long, hard, unbroken domestic season.


Germany have fewer games because the Bundesliga is only 18 teams, and they have a winter break. Spain and Italy: lower tempo leagues, and winter breaks. France? Winter break and arguably less intensity than England, where the pace and grinding physical demands do stack up.
This is not an excuse. But, as someone who knows, I?m telling you that it is one contributory factor and, at elite level, margins matter. We?re going out there with Band-Aids before we get started.

Good to see a former player stating what has been known for years now....

 

[War]

Tim Sherwood on World Cup 2014: There is young English talent out there but we need to trust them and be patient - World Cup 2014 - Football - The Independent

World Cup 2014: Forget this summer - it was always about building for Euro 2016 - Oliver Holt - Mirror Online

 

[War]

The Question: Is a messiah complex the cause of England's failings? | Jonathan Wilson | Sport | theguardian.com

 

[Skater]

The tabloids wanted 'arry Redknapp to get the job when Capello left and have never fully accepted that it didn't happen. The most disgraceful thing they did to try and unsettle the squad and cause problems for Roy Hodgson when they made a big deal out of the completely innocent 'space monkey' comment he made.

Constantly changing the manager is not going to help us at all so just let Roy stay and he may well decide to retire after Euro 2016 anyway.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

that's a brilliant article, I watch in despair as your objectively best player, rooney, is mauled in the press only for a few runs by sterling and barkley to be heralded as the future. Rooney was involved in every single goal chance england fashioned this world cup, either making the right runs or making the cross and somehow he's the one to blame.

we're already hearing the calls for hodgson to start "building a team for the future" there was mail article about how this world cup was just preperation for an assault on the european one in 2 years.

I don't think it was here I said it, maybe it was, but I mentioned one odd aspect of the english media during the qualifiers, and it was the dissatisfaction of not playing attacking, exciting football in their efficient qualification.

If you look at past world cups, the winners don't just have a few good players, they have scores of them. France - Zidane, Thuram, Trezeguet, Desailly. Brazil - Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Lucio. Italy - Cannavaro, Buffon, Nesta, Del Piero, Totti, Pirlo. Spain - Xavi, Alonso, Iniesta. No english fan surely believes they have players of that level, those are ballon d'or winner level players, many of them would walk in to world XIs of their day and a few will be talked about in years to come.

So why the dissatisfaction and bullying to play attacking football, to forfeit efficiency in the result, for entertainments sake? The only teams that can play great football and win are teams with loads of great players. If you don't have loads of great players, you aim to overachieve, and you do so by doing whatever it takes to get a result even if it's not fashionable.

It's ironic that Wilson parable football with religion and doesn't draw attention to the oft used phrase by english football fans "we need to show faith in young players." faith? for what end? Teams aren't built on the international level, they're built by picking the best players available.

of course, all this would only be completely applicable if it was the media picking the team, which they're not, a professional manager with years of experience is. It is certainly why the english media are in such a fuddle to make sense of the national team though, why expectations run away with reality and also why the manager is often under ridiculous pressure to yield to suggestions.

If a good tournament is to be achieved it's probably best to just sit back and let the manager squeeze out results, because nothing else can be done if he doesn't have the best players about. Developing those players is a whole other issue for people to scratch their heads over.