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> What point was that? That it was the players and not Eriksson's
> fault? So the players decided to curb a naturally attacking midfield
> and sit behind the ball?
It wouldn't have mattered if we played attacking football. To be honest, I don't think it would have mattered if we'd fielded the entire 18-man squad! We couldn't even get the bloody ball off them half the time. Defending too deep, not pressing the opposition.
These are professional players, and should be able to play to whatever tactics the manager decides upon. Whatever formation or tactics you're asked to play, it all begins with winning and keeping the ball. From there you should be able to have at least some success. We just can't do it.
With all due respect to the teams of Wales, Northern Ireland and Austria, these are teams which - if we're half as good as some people think - we should be rolling over. And that's regardless of what formation we use, which tactics we use, or who's in charge.
If you want to put the blame squarely on the manager's shoulders, fine. But I somehow doubt that Sven's words as they left the dressing room were, "Remember lads, don't pressure them or risk doing anything that might win us the ball." Whatever he said, that's certainly how the players seemed to interpret it.
> you've come on here and said you prefer watching fake Big Brother
> football and then proceed to attack the England players despite
> the fact most of them are on raging form for their clubs.
That surely only bolsters my argument? As Graham Le Saux (I think it was) said tonight - these players are "on fire" for their clubs. But that's irrelevant when they rarely perform to the same level in an England shirt. For that reason alone, they deserve to get some stick, and we should all be questioning their right to wear the shirt.
Those who regularly fail to perform should not be picked. "Ah, but selection is down to the manager," you say. Well, it should be, but it's not, is it? If Sven (or anyone else) doesn't pick Owen/Gerrard/Lampard/Ferdinand/Terry/Beckham/whoever (delete as appropriate), he still gets jumped on by the press and fans, saying he's got it wrong. The manager is never right, whoever he is.
"Yeah, cool, Taylor's England manager! Success here we come!" Later... "Flippin' turnip! Get rid of him!"
"Yeah, cool, Venables is England coach! Success here we come!" Later... "Venables is s#?t, get rid of him."
"Yeah, cool, Keegan's the man! Attacking football! Success here we come!" Later... "No furkin defence, he's rubbish, get rid of him!"
"Yeah, cool, Sven's the new top man! Some continental flair! Success here we come!" Later... "He's got it all wrong... bloody foreigner... get rid of him!"
With the mix of players and managers we've had, and the variety of tactics, formations and styles those have brought about, we should have at least reached a final or two. But 1966 aside, we've only twice (I think) gone further than a quarter final. So either English players aren't as good as we'd like to think, or the others are significantly better.
Tonight we were, once again, crap. I know it, you know it, the crowd knew it after 10 minutes, and so did the entire BBC commentary team, current and former players included.
So you tell me: what is it about pulling on an England shirt that has so regularly managed to turn our best players into a bunch of inept misfits?
> You've watched, what, half of an edition of Match of the Day this
> season? By mistake?
No, I've just watched enough of England's football team to have given up hope.
If you can honestly draw anything truly positive from England's last 3 or 4 games, I'll eat my hat. Or at least I would if I wore one.
After today's abysmal showing, I stand by my original thoughts - that tomorrow's Celebs v Legends game will be far more entertaining.
> If you can honestly draw anything truly positive from
> England's last 3 or 4 games, I'll eat my hat.
Alright then, I'll give you a positive. From those games we've got 6 points which have practically guaranteed World Cup qualification.
Oh, and Holland are winning 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, so bar some sort of miracle we have qualified.
Well, they hadn't before euro 2004, because i can't remember what nationality the Greek manager was...