There are things we can improve about the way our game is run. The England manager has to deal with what he has. Fortunately, most international teams are no great shakes!. Maybe the issue with the FA is they try to be too clever. Maybe Alan Shearer would be the best England manager. We probably wont know but he knows international football, and the experience he doesn't have doesn't matter! What the job needs is not the same as what is needed to manage Man Utd!!! We will see how Big Sam goes. I hope he tries to find a style and doesn't keep chopping and changing for the sake of it. When we beat Germany this year - in our next game against Holland we played a different side when we needed to follow on and gain some continuity. When we beat Wales, we needed to find the continuity from the second half performance and take it to the Slovakia game. IMO, Hodgson was a fool trying to be clever!
The core problem isn't the manager, it is the lack of talent for the underlying player pool. Given the talent a poor manager doesn't get us out of the group stage for the WC, a good manager and we make the round of 16 but lose unless we get a lucky draw
At least we are probably no longer going to be made mugs out of at major tournaments.
Ex players under his wing speak highly of him, I'd say perhaps that's a tad irrelevant though in this day and age.
Way over 10 years ago now but he turned a nobody Bolton side into a team that no one wanted to play against in the premier league. It was a hard fixture for anybody.
He is a tactician. That's what he knows. Having average but top flight players at his disposal is what he knows...and unfortunately that is kind of what England is.
The core problem isn't the manager, it is the lack of talent for the underlying player pool. Given the talent a poor manager doesn't get us out of the group stage for the WC, a good manager and we make the round of 16 but lose unless we get a lucky draw
Well said mate, couldn't agree more.
We have this obsession with the manager, but what we should really be asking ourselves, is why aren't we producing quality players?
If you look at how many quality players were left out of the England squad in 2016 (about three or four), and compare that to 1990 (when from Arsenal alone, the likes of Tony Adams, David Rocastle, Paul Davis, Nigel Winterburn, Paul Merson, Lee Dixon, Michael Thomas) were all left out, it goes to show just how shallow our talent pool has become.
Unfortunately we will now all go on the treadmill of qualifying from an easy WC Group, and then it will all start again, where our lack of quality is exposed by the first good side we face.
I mean he made the most sense of the four candidates, but it just shows how poorly run the FA is that Howe, Allardyce, Bruce, and somehow Jurgen Klinsmann were the four candidates. A lot of American soccer lovers would have loved for him to get the job. His selections are at times puzzling and his tactics range from unclear to nonexistent.
I think the players who play under some of the best managers in the world--those at City, Chelsea, and now Liverpool, will look at his tactics and methods and chortle. He's not the tactical dinosaur some people, including myself, at times make him out to be. But I don't think he's fit for purpose.
Out of work managers I would have ahead of him: Bielsa Blanc Hiddink Pellegrinni Bielsa Van Gaal Rudi Garcia Tim Sherwood--no just kidding that'd be ridiculous for anyone to hire him to manage.
Mate Id be devastated if we had any of them.
Tried a top foreign coach, didn't work.
Need someone who aint gonna take any shit in the changing room, not be afraid to drop players if under performing and havea game plan where players know their jobs.
Players should be frightened of their place and the manager.
But not all foreign managers are the same. And Big Sam has his favorites too. I'm really looking forward to Defoe knocking it down for Kevin Nolan to score.
I think England have some excellent young players, with a handful more coming through at U-19 and U-21 levels now. Think they're going to waste two years with Allardyce in charge.
Last season at Sunderland he did play four or even five U21 players in their last game ie once they were safe iirc. He probably would have given their youngsters more chances had Sunderland not been in a relegation battle for almost the entire season.
There are things we can improve about the way our game is run. The England manager has to deal with what he has. Fortunately, most international teams are no great shakes!. Maybe the issue with the FA is they try to be too clever. Maybe Alan Shearer would be the best England manager. We probably wont know but he knows international football, and the experience he doesn't have doesn't matter! What the job needs is not the same as what is needed to manage Man Utd!!! We will see how Big Sam goes. I hope he tries to find a style and doesn't keep chopping and changing for the sake of it. When we beat Germany this year - in our next game against Holland we played a different side when we needed to follow on and gain some continuity. When we beat Wales, we needed to find the continuity from the second half performance and take it to the Slovakia game. IMO, Hodgson was a fool trying to be clever!
I don't think he'll change the side too much once he finds the best line-up. Last season at Sunderland he played virtually the same team for the last few months and that stability was one of the reasons that they stayed up.
I've posted the following thing before on here but it certainly doesn't hurt for us to read stuff like this for a second time. Alan Pardew's Palace got a draw against Sunderland and he claimed they should've won the game. But at the post match conference, Big Sam said something that we Charlton fans would 100% agree with:
Alan would say that. Alan says they have played well when they have played badly. When have you ever heard Alan say they didn't deserve to win? He always deserves to win and they don't. You know what he is like. You had him up there long enough.
He's quite a character.
It's strange to say this but he's become one of my favorite managers over the last few years. I think he's a great manager, and a very funny person. He's the kind of people that you don't always see in today's football world. He did a decent job at West Ham and I was surprised how he was treated by their fans in the end. I wanted to see him have a successful spell at Sunderland and I was glad he absolutely did. I feel sorry for Sunderland fans. They're obviously gutted that for the first time in years they found the perfect manager, such a right fit, who brought stability to their club and could take them forward but they've now lost him to the country after less than just one season.
Anyway, I wish Big Sam best of luck and will be hoping more than ever that England do well in each and every game.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
a lot of people giving him stick before hes even started the job after our recent run of national managers have done so well, hope he has the guts to drop some of the bigger names.
good choice .. but, I hope, not ten years too late .. cant wait to see his first selection .. will he have the balls to drop some of the fancy dans and bring in real tough grafters to complement the classier prospects we undoubtedly have
Think it's a good solid appointment which England need to be honest.
England have been awful at defending, been playing with no real gameplan for the past few years and very little motivation or passion. All areas which big Sam comes in and changes.
The England ship is unsteady, it needs a big character who can get the best out of the different degree of players. He has got the best out of all types of players such as those who are 35+, the best out of world class players such as Djorkaeff, handled temper tantrums like Anelka, best out of youth and most importantly all the players he has worked with have signed up to his game plan. If they don't they are done, you would imagine that would be similar to his selection policy.
I get a sense that those who think big Sam isn't good enough think England should be hiring technical managers who could match Germany, Spain, Italy etc. Forget it, England just are not that good and those managers know that. But Sam tactically knows how to win against different teams, loves playing against Arsenal for example.
Good luck to him, he needs time and resist the urge to listen to the FA's directions.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
You had players like Beckham and Owen back then who could singlehandedly win games for you. I never forget Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece in stoppage time which helped England through to the WC finals - I was watching that game live and literally jumped out of bed when the goal went in. The players you had in each position were so much better than the current lot. Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Scholes, Beckham, Owen just to name a few. They were all world class players. I always think Sven underachieved with the squad he had. Compared to those players, I have to say England look so so mediocre nowadays. None of these overrated players would have got into the sides of the early 2000's. You don't even have a free-kick specialist now. The set pieces you had in the Euros were all woefully poor. Speaking of set pieces, this is the area that Allardyce will probably be able to work on effectively.
I've never understood people thinking Ashley Cole and Gary Neville were "world class". Cole was a fairly decent defender who offered absolutely nothing going forward and got away (at Chelsea and Arsenal at least) for his sometimes poor positioning because he had very decent centre-backs covering him and referees didn't punish him for his numerous pull-backs when a winger got the wrong side of him.
Neville was another who was little more than a decent defender who had a propensity for diving in unnecessarily and claiming offside when he was the one playing everybody on. He was massively flattered by a successful partnership with Beckham.
I'm not saying either was a bad player, and they were probably the best we had at the time, but far far from world class.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
You had players like Beckham and Owen back then who could singlehandedly win games for you. I never forget Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece in stoppage time which helped England through to the WC finals - I was watching that game live and literally jumped out of bed when the goal went in. The players you had in each position were so much better than the current lot. Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Scholes, Beckham, Owen just to name a few. They were all world class players. I always think Sven underachieved with the squad he had. Compared to those players, I have to say England look so so mediocre nowadays. None of these overrated players would have got into the sides of the early 2000's. You don't even have a free-kick specialist now. The set pieces you had in the Euros were all woefully poor. Speaking of set pieces, this is the area that Allardyce will probably be able to work on effectively.
Totally agree, I also think Sven under achieved.
That squad picked itself, with emerging talent coming through and other positions with solid cover.
Strictly bias reasons, but picking a 17 year old Walcott over a goalscoring Bent, insane.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
You had players like Beckham and Owen back then who could singlehandedly win games for you. I never forget Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece in stoppage time which helped England through to the WC finals - I was watching that game live and literally jumped out of bed when the goal went in. The players you had in each position were so much better than the current lot. Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Scholes, Beckham, Owen just to name a few. They were all world class players. I always think Sven underachieved with the squad he had. Compared to those players, I have to say England look so so mediocre nowadays. None of these overrated players would have got into the sides of the early 2000's. You don't even have a free-kick specialist now. The set pieces you had in the Euros were all woefully poor. Speaking of set pieces, this is the area that Allardyce will probably be able to work on effectively.
Totally agree, I also think Sven under achieved.
That squad picked itself, with emerging talent coming through and other positions with solid cover.
Strictly bias reasons, but picking a 17 year old Walcott over a goalscoring Bent, insane.
*Sigh*....I absolutely hated Sven for that decision. I was so angry that I decided not to support England in that year's finals. I'd always rooted for your country in previous tournaments.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
You had players like Beckham and Owen back then who could singlehandedly win games for you. I never forget Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece in stoppage time which helped England through to the WC finals - I was watching that game live and literally jumped out of bed when the goal went in. The players you had in each position were so much better than the current lot. Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Scholes, Beckham, Owen just to name a few. They were all world class players. I always think Sven underachieved with the squad he had. Compared to those players, I have to say England look so so mediocre nowadays. None of these overrated players would have got into the sides of the early 2000's. You don't even have a free-kick specialist now. The set pieces you had in the Euros were all woefully poor. Speaking of set pieces, this is the area that Allardyce will probably be able to work on effectively.
Totally agree, I also think Sven under achieved.
That squad picked itself, with emerging talent coming through and other positions with solid cover.
Strictly bias reasons, but picking a 17 year old Walcott over a goalscoring Bent, insane.
*Sigh*....I absolutely hated Sven for that decision. I was so angry that I decided not to support England in that year's finals. I'd always rooted for your country in previous tournaments.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
You had players like Beckham and Owen back then who could singlehandedly win games for you. I never forget Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece in stoppage time which helped England through to the WC finals - I was watching that game live and literally jumped out of bed when the goal went in. The players you had in each position were so much better than the current lot. Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Scholes, Beckham, Owen just to name a few. They were all world class players. I always think Sven underachieved with the squad he had. Compared to those players, I have to say England look so so mediocre nowadays. None of these overrated players would have got into the sides of the early 2000's. You don't even have a free-kick specialist now. The set pieces you had in the Euros were all woefully poor. Speaking of set pieces, this is the area that Allardyce will probably be able to work on effectively.
Totally agree, I also think Sven under achieved.
That squad picked itself, with emerging talent coming through and other positions with solid cover.
Strictly bias reasons, but picking a 17 year old Walcott over a goalscoring Bent, insane.
*Sigh*....I absolutely hated Sven for that decision. I was so angry that I decided not to support England in that year's finals. I'd always rooted for your country in previous tournaments.
That was a big mistake. The issue for me was, you had to play to Bent's strengths and when he was picked he wasn't given any service.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
Can't do any worse than Erickson, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson...
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
You had players like Beckham and Owen back then who could singlehandedly win games for you. I never forget Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece in stoppage time which helped England through to the WC finals - I was watching that game live and literally jumped out of bed when the goal went in. The players you had in each position were so much better than the current lot. Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Scholes, Beckham, Owen just to name a few. They were all world class players. I always think Sven underachieved with the squad he had. Compared to those players, I have to say England look so so mediocre nowadays. None of these overrated players would have got into the sides of the early 2000's. You don't even have a free-kick specialist now. The set pieces you had in the Euros were all woefully poor. Speaking of set pieces, this is the area that Allardyce will probably be able to work on effectively.
Totally agree, I also think Sven under achieved.
That squad picked itself, with emerging talent coming through and other positions with solid cover.
Strictly bias reasons, but picking a 17 year old Walcott over a goalscoring Bent, insane.
*Sigh*....I absolutely hated Sven for that decision. I was so angry that I decided not to support England in that year's finals. I'd always rooted for your country in previous tournaments.
People always get caught up in arguing about squad selection based on a couple of players. In reality every England squad in my lifetime has 90% picked itself.
Personally I think Sven was a good manager for England. I think people overestimate how good the players available to him were. Some good to very good players but then also a lot of middling players as well to bulk out the squad.
The most annoying thing about that Sven side was the way we went out to Brazil. We matched them, even out-played them at times, and we conceded a crappy winning goal. Beckham dived in for absolutely no reason and Scholes didn't even make a cursory attempt to track his man who then made a decisive contribution to the goals. Individual mistakes that cost us the game.
People always rave about Scholes and when he was good, he was very very good, but his last 3 years for England he didn't score a single goal, didn't get as many assists as you'd want and offered absolutely nothing else to the team. He wasn't like a Gerrard or Lampard, who would put a shift in to make up for a dry spell, he was there to create and score and towards the end of his England career he continually failed to do those jobs, yet was still selected over and over again.
From memory wasn't Scholes playing on the left side a lot of the time for England?
I think my biggest criticism of Sven was trying to shoehorn all those "star" players into the same team. It just doesn't work and was also one of Roy's faults at tournaments. It also shows that we aren't able to produce enough good quality players for every position. For whatever reason we always seem to produce a load of good players at the same time in the same position. Defenders and central midfielders for Sven. Currently a lot of good attacking options. There never seems to be the right balance in the England team, partly to do with managers refusing to drop the big names and mainly because we aren't producing enough good enough players.
To be honest, I think Portugal are not a lot better than us. Hodgson made major errors in the tournament. We can't ignore this fact!
With everybody's darling Gary Neville by his side, I cant ignore that either, hes got off very lightly
Well he's lost his coaching job and he'll struggle to recoup the respect he had as a pundit after losing to Barca 7-0, and then helping to get England knocked out by Iceland. I'd say he's probably paying a bit of a price!
From memory wasn't Scholes playing on the left side a lot of the time for England?
I think my biggest criticism of Sven was trying to shoehorn all those "star" players into the same team. It just doesn't work and was also one of Roy's faults at tournaments. It also shows that we aren't able to produce enough good quality players for every position. For whatever reason we always seem to produce a load of good players at the same time in the same position. Defenders and central midfielders for Sven. Currently a lot of good attacking options. There never seems to be the right balance in the England team, partly to do with managers refusing to drop the big names and mainly because we aren't producing enough good enough players.
I wish Sven made the most of Scholes and we'd had a decent left winger. We could have gone far. But then again, Sven rarely lost a qualifier, got us to the QF every time (it was the Japan heat that really did for us against Brazil that time) and we lost with pride intact. Something that hasn't happened in a tournament since he left.
The success of Portugal, Wales and Iceland, and even the relative success of Italy (when compared to expectations) shows how important organisation and teamwork are in international football, and that's Big Sam's forte.
IMO we need someone who is patriotic for wanting England to succeed, I don't think foreigners offer this, so the likes of klinsmann shouldn't even be considered for the job nowadays. I think that allardyce is the best candidate at the moment from a mediocre list, Howe is too young and would probably be best to continue his development at club level.
Yes that's what we need. Wave a St Georges flag in their faces and we will turn into world beaters...
The way I see it, English football is a disgrace. I'm long, long past having any other view than the national team and the FA have been an embarrassment to me since I've been following them since the early 90s. In my lifetime, only euro 96 was the tournament I can say I was proud to be an England fan. Some may think that's being overly harsh, but I believe in looking at it from the facts.
It will take us years to catch up and overtake and whether or not we can actually do that given the way our national game is set up is questionable. Until the FA grow some balls and accept responsibility for letting the Premier League destroy the national game, nothing will change. What they can do I don't know, but I know we have to do something.
For me the appointment of Allardyce is actually a good thing in the context of where we are as a nation now. He doesn't get the credit he deserves because of the clubs he's been associated with and the style of football he has sometimes chosen to adopt. However, he's organised, committed and passionate, and we are that bad, that we need to start somewhere, so why not go back to basics.
I hope that Allardyce gives some of them a kick up the backside. I'm not the biggest fan of rugby and it pains me to admit it, but their ethics and the way they conduct themselves is something we could learn from. I see the modern day footballer and on the whole I think they're a bunch of posers who have been given too much too soon. I know that's not the case for each one, for example I think Kane has a fantastic attitude. But the dressing room culture is too soft. They need a rocket up their backside and someone needs to bring them down a peg or 3 and tell them they're not as good as they think they are. I genuinely believe no one ever tells them this and they live in their club bubble.
You may disagree with me but it's just my attitude to work. I work in sales, if I'm not hitting the numbers there will be frank discussions as to why, but I might get chastised. It's life, you get up and you make sure you try to address it. With players like Roomey and Sterling, I don't imagine they get held to account and told, quite honestly, you've been shit, sort it out
For me if they then can't take that, then they're weak of character and should be f***** off for someone who can take it. There's no accountability, they need to step up, or we're just going to be having a similar thread post WC 2018
Comments
At least we are probably no longer going to be made mugs out of at major tournaments.
Ex players under his wing speak highly of him, I'd say perhaps that's a tad irrelevant though in this day and age.
Way over 10 years ago now but he turned a nobody Bolton side into a team that no one wanted to play against in the premier league. It was a hard fixture for anybody.
He is a tactician. That's what he knows. Having average but top flight players at his disposal is what he knows...and unfortunately that is kind of what England is.
We have this obsession with the manager, but what we should really be asking ourselves, is why aren't we producing quality players?
If you look at how many quality players were left out of the England squad in 2016 (about three or four), and compare that to 1990 (when from Arsenal alone, the likes of Tony Adams, David Rocastle, Paul Davis, Nigel Winterburn, Paul Merson, Lee Dixon, Michael Thomas) were all left out, it goes to show just how shallow our talent pool has become.
Unfortunately we will now all go on the treadmill of qualifying from an easy WC Group, and then it will all start again, where our lack of quality is exposed by the first good side we face.
I've posted the following thing before on here but it certainly doesn't hurt for us to read stuff like this for a second time. Alan Pardew's Palace got a draw against Sunderland and he claimed they should've won the game. But at the post match conference, Big Sam said something that we Charlton fans would 100% agree with:
Alan would say that. Alan says they have played well when they have played badly. When have you ever heard Alan say they didn't deserve to win? He always deserves to win and they don't. You know what he is like. You had him up there long enough.
He's quite a character.
It's strange to say this but he's become one of my favorite managers over the last few years. I think he's a great manager, and a very funny person. He's the kind of people that you don't always see in today's football world. He did a decent job at West Ham and I was surprised how he was treated by their fans in the end. I wanted to see him have a successful spell at Sunderland and I was glad he absolutely did. I feel sorry for Sunderland fans. They're obviously gutted that for the first time in years they found the perfect manager, such a right fit, who brought stability to their club and could take them forward but they've now lost him to the country after less than just one season.
Anyway, I wish Big Sam best of luck and will be hoping more than ever that England do well in each and every game.
McClaren and hodgson no, but he can do a lot worse than Sven. We reached the quarters of every tournament under Sven, we dream of reaching the quarters now!
And of course Sven won 5-1 away in Germany, likely to be the best result and performance many of us will ever see from England in our lifetimes.
Although you could argue that with the players we had in the side then, we should've done better than the quarters.
joe hart out would be my 1st move.
England have been awful at defending, been playing with no real gameplan for the past few years and very little motivation or passion. All areas which big Sam comes in and changes.
The England ship is unsteady, it needs a big character who can get the best out of the different degree of players. He has got the best out of all types of players such as those who are 35+, the best out of world class players such as Djorkaeff, handled temper tantrums like Anelka, best out of youth and most importantly all the players he has worked with have signed up to his game plan. If they don't they are done, you would imagine that would be similar to his selection policy.
I get a sense that those who think big Sam isn't good enough think England should be hiring technical managers who could match Germany, Spain, Italy etc. Forget it, England just are not that good and those managers know that. But Sam tactically knows how to win against different teams, loves playing against Arsenal for example.
Good luck to him, he needs time and resist the urge to listen to the FA's directions.
Back on the merry go round we go with England, world beaters when it comes to qualifications and dross when it comes to the tournaments.
Big Sam will not win a trophy as England boss.
Neville was another who was little more than a decent defender who had a propensity for diving in unnecessarily and claiming offside when he was the one playing everybody on. He was massively flattered by a successful partnership with Beckham.
I'm not saying either was a bad player, and they were probably the best we had at the time, but far far from world class.
That squad picked itself, with emerging talent coming through and other positions with solid cover.
Strictly bias reasons, but picking a 17 year old Walcott over a goalscoring Bent, insane.
That my friend is failure.
Personally I think Sven was a good manager for England. I think people overestimate how good the players available to him were. Some good to very good players but then also a lot of middling players as well to bulk out the squad.
People always rave about Scholes and when he was good, he was very very good, but his last 3 years for England he didn't score a single goal, didn't get as many assists as you'd want and offered absolutely nothing else to the team. He wasn't like a Gerrard or Lampard, who would put a shift in to make up for a dry spell, he was there to create and score and towards the end of his England career he continually failed to do those jobs, yet was still selected over and over again.
I think my biggest criticism of Sven was trying to shoehorn all those "star" players into the same team. It just doesn't work and was also one of Roy's faults at tournaments. It also shows that we aren't able to produce enough good quality players for every position. For whatever reason we always seem to produce a load of good players at the same time in the same position. Defenders and central midfielders for Sven. Currently a lot of good attacking options. There never seems to be the right balance in the England team, partly to do with managers refusing to drop the big names and mainly because we aren't producing enough good enough players.
Boots out - Rooney hart Cahill
Sterling Henderson Milner
Gives last chances to Wiltshire and smalling - Sturridge and throw the free kick and corner specialist in there to Harry Kane - just never turned up
Just rebuild give flare talent a go !!
However I bet the same old faces will be there !!!
Sam will be giving a mandate -- if he plays Hart and Rooney then you will know the tail is wagging the dog
It will take us years to catch up and overtake and whether or not we can actually do that given the way our national game is set up is questionable. Until the FA grow some balls and accept responsibility for letting the Premier League destroy the national game, nothing will change. What they can do I don't know, but I know we have to do something.
For me the appointment of Allardyce is actually a good thing in the context of where we are as a nation now. He doesn't get the credit he deserves because of the clubs he's been associated with and the style of football he has sometimes chosen to adopt. However, he's organised, committed and passionate, and we are that bad, that we need to start somewhere, so why not go back to basics.
I hope that Allardyce gives some of them a kick up the backside. I'm not the biggest fan of rugby and it pains me to admit it, but their ethics and the way they conduct themselves is something we could learn from. I see the modern day footballer and on the whole I think they're a bunch of posers who have been given too much too soon. I know that's not the case for each one, for example I think Kane has a fantastic attitude. But the dressing room culture is too soft. They need a rocket up their backside and someone needs to bring them down a peg or 3 and tell them they're not as good as they think they are. I genuinely believe no one ever tells them this and they live in their club bubble.
You may disagree with me but it's just my attitude to work. I work in sales, if I'm not hitting the numbers there will be frank discussions as to why, but I might get chastised. It's life, you get up and you make sure you try to address it. With players like Roomey and Sterling, I don't imagine they get held to account and told, quite honestly, you've been shit, sort it out
For me if they then can't take that, then they're weak of character and should be f***** off for someone who can take it. There's no accountability, they need to step up, or we're just going to be having a similar thread post WC 2018