England 2008 Qualifying

[Arfie]

Good luck to Scotland against Italy

With "lower quality" players than England have got, they have the chance to qualify from the "group of death" and they deserve it It goes to show what can be done with an astute manager (or two) and players that may not be "world class" but have passion and belief and a desire to play as a team for their country rather than for themselves and another lucrative sponsorship deal.

Arfie

 

[Arfie]

That's it SACK THE USELESS **** NOW!!!!!

Having himself spoken about needing experienced players, with all the first choice defenders out, he chooses a rookie goalkeeper. As good as Carson is and will be, he hasn't played in a high profile match, for crying out loud he spent last season at Charlton and before that at Sheffield Wednesday. GENIUS!!!!

If playing Crouch up on his own, you need a good crosser of the ball, so Beckham had to play, not forgetting we need experience, 98 caps anyone? Ironically SWP was probably the best England player in the first half, but the difference showed when Becks came on and set Crouch up.

There was no passion from the players, no teamwork and that is all down to the manager, whether is is nto inspiring them or is picking the wrong players, it's his job and his job to win tournaments, not being in tournaments is an instant dismissal as far as I'm concerned.

McLaren, do the right thing, like Kevin Keegan you clearly are not up to the job, be a man and resign NOW!

Arfie

 

[blue acara]

Pathetic performance and a terrible result. England didn't deserve to go through. We have the talented players but not the talented team. A lot of this is the management.

McLaren resign!

England got outplayed by Croatia, beaten by Russia we are crap!

 

[STD]

That was horrible

The best team won

Hang the manager to encourage the next one

 

[Arfie]

Hang the manager to encourage the next one

I like that Idea

He hasn't even got the honour to resign, so as the FA move slower than a slug, he'll get a nice free trip to Durban.

Arfie

 

[Underwurlde]

Stop paying them.

Stop paying them & we'll end up with a team of players who want to play for thier country and not for themselves. Now wouldn't that be refreshing. Once we have this team, concentrate on making it a team. Oh, and encourage ball possesion that starts with a defence that STOPS HOOFING THE DAMN BALL ALL OVER THE STADIUM AS SOON AS THE BALL LANDS AT THEIR FEET.

Useless, overpaid bunch of premaddonas.

Andy

 

[BigC]

Nows the time to install Mourinho
England are crying out for a guy that has the finger on the pulse of what football should be like. Not these silly make do types.
and I still say foreign players are the ruination of our game and limits should be set.

 

[Squid]

What is the difference between Lewis Hamilton and the England football team.....??




Lewis still has his Maclaren........ sorry..

 

[Arfie]

Stop paying them.

Stop paying them & we'll end up with a team of players who want to play for thier country and not for themselves.

Sorry Andy, but that is absolute rubbish!

Do you really think that players who earn 3-4 even 5 MILLION pound per year in club wages alone with additional sponsorship on top are in the slightest bit bothered about the "paltry" money they get from the FA?

Besides they have already pledged their international wages to charity for the next 3 years http/uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/i...832743320070609 so not paying them seems to make no difference. Maybe making them pay for the honour of playing for England would be the answer?

A decent manager will get the players up for it, a bad one will instill apathy. Read Fowlers autobiography about how people like Dalglish, Keegan and Pearce made him feel like he could beat the world and Houllier and Sven made him feel useless and how it affected his confidence and performances.

Arfie

 

[Underwurlde]

Ahh, Arfie, thanks for that. I can be an ignoramus sometimes....

I watch these games (England) for the last 20 years... there's no dynamizim / no structure in our game. We get ripped apart all the time. Yes we have individual stars, talent aplenty... but no Goddamned TEAM. Ceratinly have plenty of excuses though!

Andy

 

[Erised]

FA Statement

Quote:
"At a meeting this morning, The FA Board unanimously decided to terminate the contract of England Head Coach Steve McClaren with immediate effect."

Well, I guess that was really to be expected. I'm just glad that Holland got lucky enough to go through, God knows we didn't deserve it.
Dutch news is reporting that Stuart Pearce will be taking over from McClaren, but not sure how much of that is true.

 

[blue acara]

Well im glad they got rid of McLaren but 2 million payout? #### they should have made a note in his contract that if he didn't qualify for the euro 2008 then the contract would be terminated, with no payout! 2 Million for being crap is just bs, makes me angry.

As someone on the news said-Its the selectors that are really to blame, McLaren never had the skill or personality that a top manager needs.

I just hope that they install a good manager soon, be he foreign or not. A group needs inspiration, someone they like and respect-I doubt McLaren had any of these things.

Long balls to Crouch just don't cut it in the top game!

The England team need to spend more time together as a team and playing more games, some fundamental changes need to happen IMO. We should have qualified, even with a poor manager.

I hope Beckham gets his 100 caps.

 

[Underwurlde]

Agreed! Absolutely DISGUSTING.

Long ball game has been Englands basis of play for years.... Trouble is, this tactic looses us possession, that results in an attack, our defensive 'strategy' is to the hoof the ball back in panic (should we happen win the ball back)... all ready for another attack from the oppisition.

Compare that to other TEAMs.. they build up the attack, keep possetion even when under defensive pressure, pick out a weak spot or wait for a mistake & then strike. Trick is, if you havn't got the damn ball, how are you going to stick it in the back of the bloody net?!?!

See if what I say is not true. Watch the next match or a recording & see if you don't go nut with frustration watching it happen!

Andy