Not sure what all the whining is about. Came from behind to win and We have won 6 drawn 2 and are 5 points in front ahead of 2nd place.
lets face it apart from slovakia the rest in the group are rubbish.
You can only beat what's in front of you mate and if you're playing badly and winning that's got to be a plus.
oh come on, it's the same old same old. and when we get to the world cup, there'll be a post on here, from someone asking what our chances of winning the world cup and the answers the same, absolute zero!
why kid yourself?
I'm not kidding myself, I'm just not writing them off completely there is a difference. Who gave Greece a chance when they became European Champions, just saying like .
Hart's gotta be dropped, should've done a lot better for their goal (despite poor defending) and have to say the backups are getting better and better in the prem and he's getting worse.
We're severely lacking in talented centre halves, for the first time in decades.
Not sure what all the whining is about. Came from behind to win and We have won 6 drawn 2 and are 5 points in front ahead of 2nd place.
lets face it apart from slovakia the rest in the group are rubbish.
You can only beat what's in front of you mate and if you're playing badly and winning that's got to be a plus.
oh come on, it's the same old same old. and when we get to the world cup, there'll be a post on here, from someone asking what our chances of winning the world cup and the answers the same, absolute zero!
why kid yourself?
I'm not kidding myself, I'm just not writing them off completely there is a difference. Who gave Greece a chance when they became European Champions, just saying like .
True and of course there was Denmark and Portugal but honestly, this England team doesn't possess anyone who might have a bit of spark that could make a difference. The last player was possibly Gazza but we all know about him.
As six bag said, we had a decent team in '66 but was on home soil. The team in 70 was good but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and then maybe the teams under Venables and Robson but otherwise jack shit.
Not sure what all the whining is about. Came from behind to win and We have won 6 drawn 2 and are 5 points in front ahead of 2nd place.
lets face it apart from slovakia the rest in the group are rubbish.
You can only beat what's in front of you mate and if you're playing badly and winning that's got to be a plus.
oh come on, it's the same old same old. and when we get to the world cup, there'll be a post on here, from someone asking what our chances of winning the world cup and the answers the same, absolute zero!
why kid yourself?
I'm not kidding myself, I'm just not writing them off completely there is a difference. Who gave Greece a chance when they became European Champions, just saying like .
True and of course there was Denmark and Portugal but honestly, this England team doesn't possess anyone who might have a bit of spark that could make a difference. The last player was possibly Gazza but we all know about him.
As six bag said, we had a decent team in '66 but was on home soil. The team in 70 was good but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and then maybe the teams under Venables and Robson but otherwise jack shit.
Hang on Six Bag never said anything about the 66 team that was me! And we never had the best 11 players in the world in 66 but we had the best team Stand outs were Moore at CB and R Charlton one of the front three. There's no doubt we have disappointed in recent times which is no coincidence that this mirrors the emergence of the Premier League and influx of overseas players stifling the development of our youth.
Scotland used to be on a par with us when I was a kid, both countries having beaten one another a similar amount of times down the years but their national team suffered the same fate as ours with foreign imports and being a much smaller nation it hit them much harder.
Our under 20's have just won the World Cup so hopefully we have the makings of a decent team in a few years time but until then we have to make do with the relatively young pool of players available, some very tallented imo and playing for our top sides. They may well fail to reach the later stages in Russia as otherwise our world ranking would be higher than 13th but It's not in my nature to write them off before they've even got there especially without knowing what the final squad will be or what form they take into it. So I'm going to keep an open mind for now, as is my want .
I know we didn't have the best 11 in the world but we did have home advantage and I think that made a big difference.
But you know how it is, we seem to breeze through qualifications but then freeze in the tournament. As big Sam intended doing, bringing in a sports Psychologist, could be a good idea. Losing to Iceland a great come down, no disrespect to them but we don't have the ability to play any other way, no plan B and that's a big problem.
Glad you remain optimistic, I'm afraid I'm beyond help.
A ranking of 13 suggests England should make the first knockout round and go out. An improvement on the last world cup and as good as any tournament since 2006.
We should be working on a style that suits our attributes and hope it is effective. What we do, is look at successful sides and try to copy their approach, but it takes years to reach the point and by the time we get there football has moved on. We have an issue with the long ball game, but given our attributes, we probably ought to be developing a style which incorporates and refines this. I'm not saying playing it all the time but mixing it! Anyway that is a suggestion, we should have football brains planning how we can achieve an edge.
I watched both the NI match and England match. In one I saw a team making the most of collective spirit, playing with focus, backing each other up and passing to each other. In the other I saw a collection of individuals all trying - and generally failing - to be world beaters.
I watched both the NI match and England match. In one I saw a team making the most of collective spirit, playing with focus, backing each other up and passing to each other. In the other I saw a collection of individuals all trying - and generally failing - to be world beaters.
No prizes for guessing which way round.
Doesnt help either that nothing is expected of Northern Ireland | Ireland | Scotland | Wales so can all go out with the freedom that if they lose, every aspect of their game wont be criticized and analysed by fans and media
England on the other hand could play a friendly against Brazil or Fiji and if the result isnt the right one then down comes the criticsm, i.e. we could beat a team 14-1 now and the fans will still bemoan we didnt keep a clean sheet or score 15!!
A ranking of 13 suggests England should make the first knockout round and go out. An improvement on the last world cup and as good as any tournament since 2006.
Know what you mean. Was in Netherlands last week when they got tonked 4-0 by French. Refreshing honesty between players and media straight after - admitting they had not been good enough - then they got on with winning the next match, unlike the French!
We do put way too much pressure on England to perform instead of celebrating results and being 'all in it together'.
A ranking of 13 suggests England should make the first knockout round and go out. An improvement on the last world cup and as good as any tournament since 2006.
Know what you mean. Was in Netherlands last week when they got tonked 4-0 by French. Refreshing honesty between players and media straight after - admitting they had not been good enough - then they got on with winning the next match, unlike the French!
We do put way too much pressure on England to perform instead of celebrating results and being 'all in it together'.
Feel there is too much club rivalry from fans as well when England play, i.e. I wouldnt care if a Millwall player put on an England shirt one day I'd still support them.
Always remember one Qualifier at Wembley I went to against Kazakhstan, Ashley Cole was playing and along from me this bloke in an Arsenal shirt was constantly hurling abuse at him
The fear is always a problem, but the way we keep changing things round every time we get a new manager in is ridiculous. I didn't rate Hodgson, and he never should have got another tournament after the showing in the World Cup, but he tried to change things around a bit by bringing in young players with pace. Against Italy even though we lost you could see what the plan was. We made no progress after that because Hodgson just wasn't good enough to coach those players, and then we replace him with the literal opposite in Allardyce for one game. Now we've brought in Southgate who is double Curbishley levels of safety first. Two holding midfielders against Malta, a number 10 who runs and runs and shoots but isn't the kind of player who unlocks defences meaning that we more or less end up playing in a 4-4-2 when we're on the ball, resulting in a static midfield where we can't make the most of our pace on the wings. When Southgate inevitably fails to win anything we'll switch again, probably go for the tiki-taka-est man going, or try and lure whichever manager is playing the most fashionable tactic at the time. Whole players' England careers go by with them never actually knowing how they're going to be asked to play for England. For the most part it results in them just going out and doing their own thing; Kane will try and take on a whole defence himself while isolated on the ball, Walker will sprint up the wing to hit crosses to players who haven't made the same runs as him, and the central midfielders will pass it between themselves and out wide to feet because there's no coherent plan ahead of them.
I'd actually rather see the FA come out with a statement saying that English players are only good for long ball and demand that we play route one football every time we're on the pitch; at least then the players would turn up knowing the football they would be asked to play. This is our current philosophy in possession 'England teams aim to dominate possession intelligently, selecting the right moments to progress the play and penetrate the opposition.' Absolutely meaningless. All that tells us is regardless of the players available we'll try and keep the ball. We lack penetrative midfielders so we'll just pass the ball around forever. Super.
A ranking of 13 suggests England should make the first knockout round and go out. An improvement on the last world cup and as good as any tournament since 2006.
The rankings are bit of a nonsense anyway. Switzerland 4th?!?
FIFA have just twigged the fact that some teams are getting higher in the rankings, including Wales, by not playing a lot of friendlies like England do, just concentrating on the competitive games. They are reviewing the weighting of matches for the future - it doesn't look like it will affect this WC Finals.
Comments
We're severely lacking in talented centre halves, for the first time in decades.
As six bag said, we had a decent team in '66 but was on home soil. The team in 70 was good but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and then maybe the teams under Venables and Robson but otherwise jack shit.
Scotland used to be on a par with us when I was a kid, both countries having beaten one another a similar amount of times down the years but their national team suffered the same fate as ours with foreign imports and being a much smaller nation it hit them much harder.
Our under 20's have just won the World Cup so hopefully we have the makings of a decent team in a few years time but until then we have to make do with the relatively young pool of players available, some very tallented imo and playing for our top sides. They may well fail to reach the later stages in Russia as otherwise our world ranking would be higher than 13th but It's not in my nature to write them off before they've even got there especially without knowing what the final squad will be or what form they take into it. So I'm going to keep an open mind for now, as is my want
I know we didn't have the best 11 in the world but we did have home advantage and I think that made a big difference.
But you know how it is, we seem to breeze through qualifications but then freeze in the tournament. As big Sam intended doing, bringing in a sports Psychologist, could be a good idea. Losing to Iceland a great come down, no disrespect to them but we don't have the ability to play any other way, no plan B and that's a big problem.
Glad you remain optimistic, I'm afraid I'm beyond help.
Grim reading.
No prizes for guessing which way round.
England on the other hand could play a friendly against Brazil or Fiji and if the result isnt the right one then down comes the criticsm, i.e. we could beat a team 14-1 now and the fans will still bemoan we didnt keep a clean sheet or score 15!!
The rankings are bit of a nonsense anyway. Switzerland 4th?!?
We do put way too much pressure on England to perform instead of celebrating results and being 'all in it together'.
of it!
There was a time England had a side full to the brim of candidates.
Always remember one Qualifier at Wembley I went to against Kazakhstan, Ashley Cole was playing and along from me this bloke in an Arsenal shirt was constantly hurling abuse at him
I'd actually rather see the FA come out with a statement saying that English players are only good for long ball and demand that we play route one football every time we're on the pitch; at least then the players would turn up knowing the football they would be asked to play. This is our current philosophy in possession 'England teams aim to dominate possession intelligently, selecting the right moments to progress the play and penetrate the opposition.' Absolutely meaningless. All that tells us is regardless of the players available we'll try and keep the ball. We lack penetrative midfielders so we'll just pass the ball around forever. Super.
If Charlton do that this season, we might just finish top. I'm not asking a lot. FIFA have just twigged the fact that some teams are getting higher in the rankings, including Wales, by not playing a lot of friendlies like England do, just concentrating on the competitive games. They are reviewing the weighting of matches for the future - it doesn't look like it will affect this WC Finals.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/04/fifa-review-rankings-system-friendlies-harm-englands-world-cup/
It's the hope that kills you