England National football team thread

[Auwais]

McGregor? Where did you get the idea he was any good from?

He's far better than any of the inexperienced alternatives, no surprise that many other of the Olympic sides have also gone for experience between the sticks.

Why would they waste an overage place to him? He isn't anywhere near ad good as Giggs, Bellamy or Richards.

Especially when this Butland seems to be going places.

Don't really see a huge need for Richards, England's very strong in defence in lower age groups.

Is he really? How much have you seen of him?

 

[Ahmad94]

If I am not mistaken, Giggs and Scholes are retired from International, or the selector have some problems, why play Ashley Young

 

[War]

Could futsal be the key to unlocking talent in England's next generation? | Football | guardian.co.uk

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Could futsal be the key to unlocking talent in England's next generation? | Football | guardian.co.uk

Reading that article gave me a warm glow inside - that is definitely the way forwards! Take note, FA - unless you want England to win FA for evermore.

 

[War]

Reading that article gave me a warm glow inside - that is definitely the way forwards! Take note, FA - unless you want England to win FA for evermore.

Ye man, very encouraging signs.

 

[War]

So that's the dickhead who's to blame for the long-ball nonsense! And that right there is the blueprint for the way forwards. Finally, although I adore the new Wembley (it's much, much, much easier to get into and out of and around than the old Wembley), I agree with the idea that all the money that went into it would've been better to put it into coaching, academies, Centres of Excellence, whatever you want to call them.

And now a couple of questions from me. The new Coaching academy opening is a good thing - but who's coaching the coaches? Spanish? Brazilians? Germans? Or the descendants of Mr Hughes? Just now I'm watching a recording of You're On Sky Sports - and they're saying that one of the reasons Andy Murray is doing so well is when he was young, he was sent to a Spanish academy - and should we do that with our footballers? My answer is no - it wouldn't be a long-term fix.

Secondly - do our kids practice penalties on a regular basis? Surely that would help a lot with the penalty curse?

One more thing - we did it again, didn't we? We all said that the young players should start more often - yet how often did Oxlaide Chamberlain start? Once, was it?

I was happy during the tournament because my team winning is a cause for happiness in my eyes, whether that's Man Utd, or because its so much rarer, England. But at no stage, did I really think we were looking anything like the real deal. France was a good start, but we can see from the rest of the tournament how mediocre they were as well. One mediocre team cancelling out another, and the much vaunted defensive organisation vanished after the first half against Sweden.

Finally, remember Terry Venables' 'Christmas Tree'? He stuck with it regardless of all the ridicule and look at the result: literally within inches, or a coat of paint, of the final of Euro 1996. Now we're back with 4-4 bloody 2.
I said it before - even when playing Fifa, if I play 4-5-1 or 5-4-1, there seem to be more options, more overlapping going on! What does that say to you?

Edit: One note of optimism for the future: as shown in Euro 2012 no one can really match England's 'thou shalt not pass' attitude, that flows through the blood of all Englishmen. Add to that technical ability, and we'd be looking pretty damn good.

Ye although Wembley is great stadium, if you think about it as the article suggests - it probably has been a waste of money along with grotesque amounts the FA payed on the manager salaries of Sven, Capello and McLaren.

Up to this day I still ca't believe for failing to take ENG to EURO 2008 - he got a multi-million pound pay out, which enabled him to take a luxury trip to Barbados.

Going back to stadium and if you look around at the other top EURO nations - Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Portugal. None of them have a specific national stadium. They rotate around the country at various venues.

So maybe in hindsight the FA probably in the late 90s should have not renovated Wembley out of their own pockets. Maybe given its historical significance to English football, they could have come up with some agreement with the London town council or the British government to let them own it - as the case is with the Stade de France or Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

If they did that, it may have benefited the current Olympics since they would not have had to waste tax dollars and build a new stadium.

4-4-2 as we both know shouldn't work for England, but i still don't think it the worst formation if you have the right persons to suite the formation to be honest.

Bayern Munich got to the 2009 C-League final playing 4-4-2, United and Newcastle played 4-4-2 for much of last season also. But unlike England, they two mid-fielder these three teams had (Schweinsteiger/Van Bommell - Scholes/Carrick - Cabaye/Tiote) and wingerS (Ribery/Robben - Young/Nani or Valencia - Guttierrez/Ben Arfa) to support their two striker were dynamic and didn't play as rigid and defensive as England were at World Cup 2010 and EURO 12.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Another thing about teams that play 4-4-2 - they can happily play that if the situation dictates it, but they're equally happy switching to 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 or pretty much any formation you can think of. The best teams don't choose a formation and stick with it regardless - England have got to become more flexible in that area.

Edit: The salaries of the aforementioned managers, with the possible exception of Sven, was more a waste of money than the new stadium in my opinion! I thought Sven didn't do too badly.

 

[Auwais]

Wembley is a craphole. Had a tour of the Stade de France last summer, that's what a proper national stadium should be like.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Can't agree with that at all. I've been to the new Wembley and the Old Wembley. Old Wembley felt cramped, crowded and very very umm... old. New Wembley? 95,000 people leaving the stadium and not once did I feel crowded in - didn't even feel as though I had to watch my pockets (even though I always do in crowds). Easy to enter, easy to leave and a gorgeous stadium as well.

 

[Lee1981]

I thought Sven didn't do too badly.

Agreed

Thought he did a good job, didn't get the praise I feel he deserved

And he was a gash magnet, which made me like him more!!

 

[Auwais]

I think it's been a horrible waste of time and money and it's a complete rip-off for the average fan.

The Emirates Stadium is far better. I enjoyed the Millennium Stadium as well.

Kind of miss the days when Wembley was being rebuilt and the national team would play it's matches all across England.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I think it's been a horrible waste of time and money and it's a complete rip-off for the average fan.

The Emirates Stadium is far better. I enjoyed the Millennium Stadium as well.

Kind of miss the days when Wembley was being rebuilt and the national team would play it's matches all across England.

It is definitely a rip off - but the stadium itself is one of the best around.

 

[War]

The salaries of the aforementioned managers, with the possible exception of Sven, was more a waste of money than the new stadium in my opinion! I thought Sven didn't do too badly.

Ye i'm not criticizing Sven's work he was solid for sure. Just the money the FA spent on him and Capello just to get them.

Agreed

Thought he did a good job, didn't get the praise I feel he deserved

And he was a gash magnet, which made me like him more!!

Well it depends on how you quantify this praise. Sven like Capello was excellent in qualifying campaigns but was naive tactically especially in EURO 04 and world cup 2006.

He just didn't have the balls to separate the stars i.e playing Scholes on the left in EURO 04, not dropping Beckham from the starting line-up 2006 and not making a Hargreaves a staring XI player sooner.

In W-Cup 2002 he was good though with a young team missing Neville and Gerrard and Shearer (through retirement). Getting out of that group of Death was a tough task. Only slight issue was him not picking McManaman.

 

[6ry4nj]

Reading that article gave me a warm glow inside - that is definitely the way forwards! Take note, FA - unless you want England to win FA for evermore.

Nice, pointing out the double meaning of FA!

It led me to ponder the possibility that, in accordance with the old maxim about government, that through the apathy of us the fans, England has the FA (pun intended) that it deserves.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Ye i'm not criticizing Sven's work he was solid for sure. Just the money the FA spent on him and Capello just to get them.



Well it depends on how you quantify this praise. Sven like Capello was excellent in qualifying campaigns but was naive tactically especially in EURO 04 and world cup 2006.

He just didn't have the balls to separate the stars i.e playing Scholes on the left in EURO 04, not dropping Beckham from the starting line-up 2006 and not making a Hargreaves a staring XI player sooner.

In W-Cup 2002 he was good though with a young team missing Neville and Gerrard and Shearer (through retirement). Getting out of that group of Death was a tough task. Only slight issue was him not picking McManaman.

Hmmm, yes - I'd forgotten about the Scholes thing. That was something he most certainly didn't do well. I mean, Scholesy was never going to be a winger was he? He just didn't have the pace for it - he was wasted on the left.