Sven is rubbish

[snarl]

Enough said.

[Obfleur]

Maybe English (national team) footy just isn't better than this?

EDIT: Maybe they should win over N. Ireland - but not as easy as people want to think.

[Brendocon]

England team's made up of Premiership players and people who wouldn't cut it in the Championship.

Welsh team's made up of Premiership and Championship players.

Nirish team's made up of Premiership and Championship players.

It's a bit like Charlton winning against Liverpool. No, scratch that - Liverpool used to win things on a regular basis. England are Middlesbrough. Or Southampton. Before we went down.

Saints actually have a better record over the past 40 years than England. We won a major trophy once (FA Cup in 1976) and have been runners up twice (league in I think 84; FA Cup in 2003). Whereas England haven't made a final since winning the World Cup.

w00t?

England have some of their best flair players for ages, so why every time I watch them can I only think of George Graham?

[snarl]

England have some of their best flair players for ages, so why every time I watch them can I only think of George Graham?

This is exactly why the man should [composite word including 'f*ck'] off.

[Brendocon]

"Lampard is a good player. I want to play him. Gerrard is a good player. I want to play him. I will get in trouble if I don't play them together, despite them blatantly not working together well.

"Shaun Wright-Phillips is fast. I want to play him. But David Beckham plays on the right, and I want to jizz all over his face, so I cannot leave him out.

"I do not have any left sided midfielders. Except maybe Joe Cole, Stuart Downing, Wayne Bridge. I tried Alan Thompson for five minutes but he didn't gel with the other players at the first time of asking so he obviously isn't worthwhile.

"I cannot risk trying somebody new, so I will start with Wayne Rooney on the left and play Owen up front, letting Rooney drift inside. This will give the illusion of actually having a left sided player and will let me get away with playing three in the middle.

"I am a tactical genius. Now, to work out how many minutes from the end I should bring on Owen Hargreaves. He is pretty and he will set the Canadian mafia on me if he doesn't get five minutes today.

"Now, where is Faria?"

[Best First]

I actually laughed out loud when NI scored - what a joke, we were pathetic.

and why does he awlasy leave Lampard on and take Gerrard off, when Gerrard is clearly in far superior form?

It was hilarious how actively destructive Hargreaves was when he came on.

What a c***.

It is exactly like watching ****ing boro. Then again ihave said this for years.

edit:

haha - check out he bbc ratings:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 211348.stm

Hargreaves gets a 5? right!

Ok, what would you have done at half time?

[Impactor returns 2.0]

England have world class players for every postion - work it out sven.

I tell you what the four main problems are.

1. Lampard and gerrard are essentially the same player - cant have em both

2. Becks isnt a holding player, his range of passing might be great, but he will always hoof it over Gerrards and Lampards head, eliminating them from play.

3. Rooney might be the best thing since Pele, he could play anywhere, but in front of goal is clearly best for him.....

4. Sven needs to get a grip of HIS team and stop bending over for Becks.

So now we have to beat Austria and Poland - I dont see it happening, and we wont be going to the world cup. we have some of the best players in the world. sort it out!

Oh and Hargreves, why does he keep playing this prat?

[Brendocon]

The official Brend first choice XI (barring injuries or whatever; based on recent form).



Robinson

G Neville -- Terry -- Ferdinand -- A Cole

Beckham -- Lampard -- Carrick -- Bridge

Rooney -- Defoe



Subs:

Gerrard
Owen
J Cole
Campbell
Wright-Phillips
Crouch
[whatever cack goalie]


Sven seems obsessed with giving second-rate/unproven midfielders time that could easily go to good players. Jenas, Hargreaves, Richardson. All too mediocre IMO.

[snarl]

I like this because it is so crap:

[Brendocon]

I don't recognise the middle one.

I hope Souness never gets sacked. He is great value.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

yeah souness is good for oppostion points - good value!

[divebomb]

Watching England play last night showed how little these players care for their own country. I think if the team consisted of more players that actually gave a s**t they would win more matches. Look at scotland as well,

german manager = players not giving a toss = loads of defeats

Look at england

Swedish manager + Premiership wages + svens 4.5m a year = players not giving a toss

there are many players in the leagues who would kill to play for england.

[Obfleur]

England have world class players for every postion

I'll probably get killed for saying this...
But yes, England has some great footy players. Of course they should be able to beat N. Ireland.
But if you look at the footy results the last couple of years you'll see that English players havent succeded at all.
The last time England (national team) did anything worth mentioning was 1966. Since then it's been nothing.

And I am no expert, but if you look at Liverpools squad that won the Champ. League they had two (or was it three?) english players in their squad (and people from Holland, Finland, Spain, etc).
Milan had six players from Italy.

Chelsea, who reached the semifinal, had three (or is it four?) English players in their squad.

Juventus reached the quarter final, and they have at least seven italian players.
Inter, quarter finals, four Italian players (and **** loads of players from Argentina and Brazil).

I honestly dont know what I want to prove with this, besides that italian players seem to enjoy alot more succes in the european cups, and this may or may not translate to "Generally Italy has better footy players than England".
And if you look at all the other nationalities, you'll see that there's alot of players from France, Brazil, Argentina, Holland ,etc, that played in the quarter finals, semifinals and finals (but only a handfull English players) = english players dont ever really win anything/play in big competitions, compared to other nations.

And I can only name one english player that has moved abroad and not failed completley (Beckham).
I know that Hargreaves plays in Bayern, but I dont know how good he is, or how good the german league is so I cant say that he is a failure, nor a succes (he does play reguarly though?).
But english footy players never move abroad - and those that do seem to fail (steve Mcmanaman didnt do anything in perticular at Real did he?).
On the other hand I know that Zola played well at Chelsea - and that Vialli scored 41 goals in 64 appearances for Chelsea.
And then you have a bunch of other italians that may not play in the national team - but are considered starting players in their respective team.
And in Middlesbrough we have Mendieta (spanish), Morientes in Liverpool, etc.
But no English players, except for Becks, in the other leagues (that I know of).

Why is it that no english players move abroad? Fear of beer that'll taste bad? Fear of failure?
Or maybe the other leagues just dont want the english footy players, 'cause they just wont bring anything to the team.
Maybe England should look at itself and say "Okey, we arent as good as we think we are. Lets calm down, and not put so much pressure on ourself".
As I said; you havent done anything since 1966.

Sweden is a crap-ass footy country. Year after year we fail to qualify for the Champ. Leauge, and the UEFA Cup. Our clubs suck.
We have two big stars (Ljungberg in Arsenal, and Ibrahimovic in Juventus). And we have Henrik Larsson in Barcelona (who has to compete with Ronaldinho and the others for a place in the team).
And then we have a bunch of players who play in mediocre teams in different leagues (and we even have players from our domestic league, in our national team) - yet we manage to get good results.
Why? Great teamwork, great morale and no pressure (and I personally believe that its a great thing that we have alot of players in different leagues. The different leagues have different kind of playing styles, and this makes us able to adapt to different kinds of plays).

England should calm down and recognise that they arent as good as they think - and players should start moving abroad, even if it means that you'll have to play in Sevilla, Atalanta or some other club.

Just my personal opinion.

Oh... and you need a new manager

[divebomb]

sven just has a fetish for players that play abroad.

(england managers office)

"Must be good steve, he plays for a side I know the name of. But who is Downing? and this carrick you speak of? Do they have nice hair like owen? he truly has bayern hair. very continental, hair like a nice italian chap, perhaps he will play like an italian chap. oh I love owen hargreaves but it is a forbidden love, thats why I shall only bring him on in the second half, I like him sitting next to me. He makes me feel warm. Oh steve...."

I want to start the Ian Wright for England manager movement he was great last night on motd. whilst Lineker skirted around the issue of Sven being cr*p

[Brendocon]

You're pretty much right, Ob.

I wouldn't call Owen a failure at Real - the problem there is that reputation not form decides who starts. He had a great record there, but Ronaldo and Raul will always start ahead of him because they're Ronaldo and Raul.

Jon Woodgate plays for Real, too. In theory.

The reason none of them play abroad? English clubs are unreasonable on prices. Few Englishmen play abroad for the same reason the Premiership is full of foreign imports - Chairmen and managers over here hike the prices up to ridiculous amounts.

We know Lampard is one of the best midfielders in England, but we'll probably never know how good he really is compared to the bods in Serie A because the only time they'll play them is in the CL or the occasional international match.

But if you look at the footy results the last couple of years you'll see that English players havent succeded at all.
The last time England (national team) did anything worth mentioning was 1966. Since then it's been nothing.

Pretty much.

And I am no expert, but if you look at Liverpools squad that won the Champ. League they had two (or was it three?) english players in their squad (and people from Holland, Finland, Spain, etc).

Carragher and Gerrard are the only notables.

Chelsea, who reached the semifinal, had three (or is it four?) English players in their squad.

Terry, Lampard, Cole... uhm... Bridge was injured...

And I can only name one english player that has moved abroad and not failed completley (Beckham).

Luther Blissett did well.

Paul Ince? Can we have Ian Rush? No? Balls.

Rob Ullathorne!

English players are afraid of moving abroad. Island mentality and all that xenophobic-as-patriotism guff.

I know that Hargreaves plays in Bayern, but I dont know how good he is, or how good the german league is so I cant say that he is a failure, nor a succes (he does play reguarly though?).

Hargreaves is Canadian, though. And Welsh.

England should calm down and recognise that they arent as good as they think - and players should start moving abroad, even if it means that you'll have to play in Sevilla, Atalanta or some other club.

Like I said. England are the international equivalent of Middlesbrough, not Liverpool.

This is actually a regular discussion at the Archive - England: Over-rated Rubbish, Really

[Best First]

i think teh real thing that is missing though is playing as a unit, thats why the Danes showed us up so badly.

we have a bunch of, mostly talented, individuals, but no cohesion as a group.

This isn't helped when your managed plays half the squad out of position.

[Brendocon]

This isn't helped when your managed plays half the squad out of position.

And also shuffles the team around every five minutes in friendlies.

He used to take the piss when he was allowed unlimited substitutions, really.

I mean how can a newly capped player form any cohesive link with the existing regulars when they're only on the pitch with one of them, and that's just for two minutes?

"Andy Johnson does not fit the system."

No, Andy Johnson doesn't fit the system of playing wide right with half the B team. But hey, try him in his actual position, being supplied by the first choice midfield? No? [composite word including 'f*ck'] off, then.

[divebomb]

Basically, Sven will not be sacked for being tactically inept because the FA cannot afford the compensation. although I rate mcalaren, I think he is almost as much to blame. He was the one ordering the players about on the pitch so must take some blame. I think that , like last night showed it doesn't matter who your players are as long as they have the passion. Two weeks ago I watched quinn of northern ireland play not very well against Torquay for Peterborough. Last night he was a handful for Rio Ferdinand, thats the difference. Quinn plays in league 2, when he gets an opportunity to play for his country he played with his heart on his sleeve. Do you think Stuart Pearce as captain of his country come out and say the rubbish beckham has been spouting since last night.

If a striker in form like defoe can't get a game ahead of a striker that hasn't played competively this season something is wrong!

Ian Wright for England Manager!!!

[Impactor returns 2.0]

I think England were **** hot in Euro 96 actually, we looked bloody amazing. it was ANOTHER penlty shoot out, and ANOTHER tourne were close to winning.

again u could say that we were then beaten by Brazil the other year, and we took them to the wire, but the heat killed our game and Sven didnt know what to do.

Portugal came next, losing Rooney was harsh, but played a great game against them. and again we could have won the whole thing.

U see england have the players. we just dont have a manager

[Best First]

or the players.

from my friend at the FA:

"Brilliant - there's some nutter with a megaphone outside the building saying "sack the Swede" over and over.
Someone had placed a large P45 for Sven by our door too! "

[Hound]

I think the lack of bite we have in midfield is worrying, and we insist on playing wide when no one seems capable of putting a good cross in, and when they do, we have Rooney and Owen waiting in the middle for it, and they are blocked out by a big defender.

I'd like to see someone like Scott Parker given a go in midfield, he can actually play the holding role, allowing Gerrard or Lampard to make the runs forward they are famous for.

[Best First]

RENAMED AND SHAMED

When Northern Ireland Nil submitted an application to have their
demeaning Fiver sobriquet changed by deed poll this morning, we were
happy to oblige. After all, it was their (now) routine win in Windsor
Park last night that had the Belfast air blue with calls for change
of another kind - most notably of a managerial nature in the Soho
Square offices of England's FA.

But with abject Ingerland humiliated, echoes of "Sack the Swede" still
ringing around the land and the nation's tabloids screaming for
Sven's head on a spike, the Swede in question surprised nobody by
insisting he would not be stepping down from the job that nets him
GBP5m-per-year plus perks (car, secretary, etc), despite seeming
incapable of even managing mice in a cheese-eating competition.

"I-I-I-I-I'm, eh, not going to, eh, resign. I'm going to try and make
it right in October by winning two games and then we will qualify,"
stuttered Sven, before explaining why his team of superstars (value:
GBP211m) had been beaten out the gate by Northern Ireland One-Nil
(value: GBP8m) ranked eleventy-million-and-a-hundred places below
them in the world order. "We lost our patience and spirit. We didn't
find it at half-time or in the second half and that's why we lost the
game."

As Sven ducked under the physio's table to continue searching for his
team's backbone, it was left to Michael Owen to simper unconvincingly
in his stead. "We feel the hurt collectively and we all said we don't
want this feeling again," he mused, seemingly oblivious to the fact
that, as a NUCC player, he's likely to experience it twice a week
from now on.

And as Celts everywhere wept with laughter, Owen argued that last
night's shambles was actually the public's fault, as they were wrong
to expect a comfortable win for England. "Football has changed a lot.
It's not a case of going to Northern Ireland One-Nil and winning 5-0.
You're winning 1-0 or 2-0," he explained, to the general bewilderment
of those of us labouring under the delusion that England had actually
lost.

genius...

[Impactor returns 2.0]

it was left to Michael Owen to simper unconvincingly
in his stead. "We feel the hurt collectively and we all said we don't
want this feeling again," he mused, seemingly oblivious to the fact
that, as a NUCC player, he's likely to experience it twice a week
from now on.

[Ozz]

Jon Woodgate plays for Real, too. In theory.

Last month I heard that he's ready to play, but Luxemburgo doesn't want to bring him into serious football right away, so he send him to play with Real's fourteen yeard olds.

So now we have to beat Austria and Poland - I dont see it happening, and we wont be going to the world cup.

Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that. I can see it. Besides, finishing on second place would still mean play-offs for England, so you'd still have chances. Then again, you could get to play Spain...

[Best First]

Yeah, but when it comes to international football they are even more of a liability than we are

[Brendocon]

I still haven't forgiven Spain for making it out of the group stage at the last World Cup.

I lost a tenner on that.