The England thread

[therockbox]

On a bright note, Carragher and Brown (esp. Carra though) played well, even though they didn't have to do much. Not bad for a "shyte defender", 'ey?

Le Saux summed up Sven perfectly though. He's not picking formations to win games, he's picking them to accomodate everyone - even if it means playing players out of position.

Also, the debuts for Downing and AJ were a token gesture. 30 fucking minutes, out of position? Give me a break.

[supergrass]

Just wanted to add, for Sven to turn around in that interview and basically say Andy Johnson should just be grateful he played is pathetic. Yes he will be happy to play - if you happened to play him in a position he's played. You take one of the top scoring English centre-forwards and put him wide on the right. Of course he's not going to turn around and say 'no thanks', but he didn't look too happy to me.

Sven has his team, it's not going to change. He's prattling on about winter breaks, finishing the season early. Truth is we lost in the World Cup particularly (and European Championships to some extent) because his tactics were and are shit. The players had no clue where they were playing, he had no idea, as far as I can tell Sven was watching a different game.

Carragher did play well tonight. I like him, he doesn't muck around with the ball when in trouble, he's happy to just play it upfield and move up the pitch.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

The only person who made that came remotely enjoyable was Beckham. Gerrard played some great balls too and that guy for Holland (Black guy) played pretty damn well too. Other than that, utter shit game. Wright Phillips was playing shit. Is it because he's shit? No. It's because he doesn't know whether he is coming or going. He switched places about five times, it was pathetic. Same goes for Johnson, fuck playing him on the right. Johnson should have gone on that pitch and said fuck it, I'm playing where I want. If Sven doesn't like that, then fuck him.

I don't always knock Sven because he isn't a terrible manager when it comes to some big games. Just today he was shite as a manager. I'm so glad I don't support England, the manager can be such a disgrace at times and make a great team look like shit.

All my feelings go to Wright Phillps today as well. He was so unlucky with the two good chances he had and taking him off was a bad decision and wont do his confidence well at all.

Overall typical England if you ask me. I'll give them that it was a friendly and they were missing some players, but still that's no excuse for the stuff the manager tried today. On a side note, that Holland team looked really good at times and I really like that guy playing at Right back or where ever he played.

[therockbox]

The only person who made that came remotely enjoyable was Beckham

[Guest Ringmaster]

Sven has his team, it's not going to change. He's prattling on about winter breaks, finishing the season early. Truth is we lost in the World Cup particularly (and European Championships to some extent) because his tactics were and are shit. The players had no clue where they were playing, he had no idea, as far as I can tell Sven was watching a different game.

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[Thomas]

Too many people here liked to jump to conclusions and are related to Rupert Lowe. One bad result, lets sack him.

I don't get it. His record as England coach is pretty good if you ask me, and people like him don't get to where they are today by being rubbish. I admit, today seemed extremely pointless, playing debutants out of position. But I can't ..... I dunno, I trust Sven. We're doing well.

[Summers]

I've wanted him sacked for ages, actually.

[supergrass]

My problem with Sven isn't just stemming from tonight's game but from the last 2 major competitions England have failed in.

Ringmaster hit the nail on the head when he mentioned England like to score and then just sit back and defend. Take our match against Portugal for example in Euro 2004. We took an early, and from that moment on decided to just sit back and wait for Portugal to attack and score. At no point was I aware of Sven trying to correct that, he seemed to believe we could hold a lead for 80 minutes sitting back, rather than get us to play a bit higher up the pitch or commit at least a little more to attacking ourselves.

Take the World Cup. Fair enough Brazil are a great side, but with 10 men for a considerable chunk of the game England didn't even threaten them.

Sven has a fairly decent plan A, but when that goes wrong he doesn't know what to do. His tactics have been proven to be off at crucial points. Tonight really has been the final straw (again). The formation didn't work, plain and simple. Wright-Phillips had no idea where he was playing, Beckham looked confused about it too (as did Downing, Johnson, Hargreaves, the list goes on). Nobody seemed to want to help Cole defend on the left. Sven should have admitted it, he tried something, it didn't work.

Compared to what it could be and perhaps should be, I don't think Sven's record is all that great. He's not a bad manager by any means, but I think if there is a suitable replacement available, someone who will have the guts now to not pick players on reputation alone, the FA should consider it.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

The only person who made that came remotely enjoyable was Beckham

What exactly did Beckham do? Nothing. A freekick (that was pretty tame, it just stood out amongst shit), and miss a header?

He's so horribly overrated it's not funny.

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[therockbox]

Keep crying Beckham hater.

[TMM]

I never wanted Sven as England coach from day one. I even made a speech about it in my English class

But the thing about Beckham is, sure he is a very good player BUT he is overrated. Graeme Le Saux made a comment about how Bekcham's free-kicks/corners/crosses/passes have been so consistant in the past, and it made me laugh. He's been anything but consistant since leaving Man Utd.

Now, i'm not gonna bash the guy for last night's display because the only players who came out of that with anything at all was probably Carragher and Brown. Although I don't rate Carragher what-so-ever, what he had to do he did well. Mind you, there was nothing to do, so yeah.

Sack Sven now dammit.

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

Gary Lineker, where are you?

[botchedpiledriver]

Why has Beckham got to take ever corner/free kick/penalty. Theres other players in the team who can do just a good job, they need to vary it a bit more.

[botchedpiledriver]

James is a weakness and dont see how he is still at the premiership level, Robinson should be the English numbre 1 and Carson will be the next English goalkeeper

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[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

Don't listen to RawisWar, not only can't he write in a coherent manner, he's also really stupid.

[The Quasi Juice]

I have to say that I think Holland played a pretty good game for a team so new and young. If we had Van Nistelrooy and Robben we would have defeated England.

[The LBTN Express]

David Beckham is overated. He's underperformed in every major tournament and he needs to be taken of the time for a period of time to give him a kick up the backside to start making him play to his full potential or just have SWP replace him for good.

I honestly don't see the attraction in David Beckham, sure he can work hard and take some good free kicks and corners, but I haven't seen him do that for a while for England and to have him take every single corner and free kick is no good, it needs some variation as teams/players start to get wise to same type of in swinging or out swinging corner every time.

He's not as overated as some (Gary Neville, dont get me started on him.), but he is not as valuable to the England team as made out to be.

[botchedpiledriver]

He's not as overated as some (Gary Neville, dont get me started on him.), but he is not as valuable to the England team as made out to be.

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[fineintent]

My thoughts:

- Who knew Ray Parlour's twin brother was Dutch?

- Andy Johnson, top English goalscorer in the Premiership. Let's play him on the wing? Sounds sensible to me...

- Carragher was good maybe he'll move up the pecking order. Wes Brown is still a Man Utd reserve player who should have no place in the England squad.

- Beckham was ok (compared to the lackluster Owen and Lampard), Gerrard and Rooney were ok as well. Gerrard should be England captain by now, just look at what he does at Liverpool with a distinctly average team.

- SWP had a bad game. He's still the best right midfielder in England atm though. He'll come through soon enough.

- Downing was unlucky, he should have started - same goes for AJ. There is no point giving them half an hour, just to give them a "rewarding" cap.

- Kieron Dyer and Owen Hargreaves shouldn't be near the England squad. Neither have done anything remotely memorable for England, apart from fall over quite a lot.

My Prefered England XI:

GK: Robinson

DR: Neville

DL: Cole

DC: Ferdinand

DC: Terry

MR: Wright Phillips

ML: (?) Maybe give Beckham a run out here, as a roaming midfielder.

MC: Gerrard ©

MC: Lampard

FC: Rooney

FC: Defoe

Owen doesn't play club football, so how can you judge his form. He needs a move away this summer.

[Malenko]

Owen doesn't play club football, so how can you judge his form. He needs a move away this summer.

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