The England thread

[britneyspearsisgod]

Bobby Robson is a good guy... but he's never been an overtly successful manager. Although Barcelona did win the UEFA Cup with him, so he has use. I like him. Newcastle treat him poorly.

AS for the game... yeah, we played with an urgency and fire we hadn't seen in ages. But then, who were we playing? Ukraine? No offense, because their clubs do well in Europe considering... but England never had the competiton. There were few times when Ukraine had chances at goal and any other team better than them could have taken us up on that. We still have tactical weaknesses, as well as players that can't do what we need them to do.

Saying that, Beckham was back on acceptable form, Wright-Phillips stepped up to the plate and delivered a fucking sweet goal, and Owen looked a little happier. Everyone looked okay.

Tonight was just a little PR exercise. Wait until we struggle against Austria and Poland. Then it'll come. It'll ALL come.

[lanky316]

Bobby Robson is a legend mate.

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[RawIsWar]

Yeah they are but Gazza and George turned to drugs and drinking whatever it was, Bobby hasn't

I think Bobby as been a great manager of all time

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I wouldn't exactly say George Best was MAD :ohwell:

[fineintent]

I wouldn't exactly say George Best was MAD  :ohwell:

[britneyspearsisgod]

I think Bobby as been a great manager of all time

[RawIsWar]

He is a very good manager, Jose Mourinho is good aswell, he as had alot of success.

Arsene Wenger is 1 manager that is just plain class

[britneyspearsisgod]

Wenger is #1, you are definitely correct. If I could get that man as England manager, I would do it in a heart beat. If only he was English - we'd have more of a chance.

[RawIsWar]

Yeah, Eriksson isnt that bad but he should be sacked right now, his affairs have really put a bad reputation on the FA and England right now.

[britneyspearsisgod]

It's not so much his repuation - he hasn't done fuck all. We should have won the World Cup in 2002 and we should have won Euro2004 - they were our best chances to win a tournament in YEARS. And we threw it all away because of his denseness. Fuck Erikkson man. He is shit. Look at Lazio - he nearly ran them into the ground.

[fineintent]

I agree BSIG.

I don't want Eriksson out because he fucks around, hell if we won Euro 2004 he could nail whoever the hell he likes. But we didn't. Not because of refereeing or penalty taking, but because we playing lifeless, unadventurous, route 1 football. We scored, then smashed the ball forwards to two of the shortest strikers at the tornament. What happened to actually playing a passing game, one of our strengths, and not forcing Vassel, Owen and Rooney to try and head a ball that is probally about a foot higher than them.

I watched all the games in a pub, and despite the free flowing beer and carnival atmosphere found myself bored stiff by England's rigid, defensive style of play. Sure, you can do it against Switzerland but against the Frances and Portugals hammering the ball upfield won't work. Sky Sports news keeps citing Sven's record - only defeated twice in competitive matches. We lost when it mattered, to the big countries in the quarter finals, at least Venables reached the semis. Of course we're going to beat the Croatias, the Switzerlands, the Slovakias - we should do, we fall apart against good teams.

I think, at the risk of sounding xenophobic, we need an English manager. Someone who feels the pride and emotion us fans do when watching your county, someone who knows how much it means. But fuck the FA, they haven't groomed a new manager. Sure Curbishley, McClaren and Big Sam are all good managers but are untested at the top. We'll probally end up bringing Keegan or Hoddle back.

Edited August 23, 2004 by fineintent

[britneyspearsisgod]

I wouldn't trust McClaren. He's worked with Eriksson. He's going to do the same thing Eriksson has done - put too much faith in the players he continually plays. There's having a faith in who you pick, and there's blind faith in people who can't do the job. And McClaren will do the same.

Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley could do it, and they'd do a fine job I think. At the very least, they'd restore pride and passion into the team. Too few of the players TRULY want it anymore. I'm sure they all love putting that shirt on, but few truly feel proud to wear it.

I'm not bothered about the manager being English exactly, because Greece won Euro2004 with a German manager. It's the technical ability and how much of a damn the manager gives that matters. If we can get someone who can utilize England to the best of their abilites, and someone who cares enough to give us some passion, then he can be a Martian for all I care. England have the ability, so I know we can do it.

[J-Rod]

The problem with Sven is that he does't have the guts to take off big players that are playing bad like Beckham for example. Whenever Beckham was playing shite at Euro 2004 he wouldn't even think of taking him off. That's his downfall.

Look at the Portugal manager. He had the balls to take off Figo against England and it worked. That is the difference between a good manager and a great manager right there.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

It's not so much his repuation - he hasn't done fuck all. We should have won the World Cup in 2002 and we should have won Euro2004 - they were our best chances to win a tournament in YEARS. And we threw it all away because of his denseness. Fuck Erikkson man. He is shit. Look at Lazio - he nearly ran them into the ground.

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[britneyspearsisgod]

Nearly? He fucking did run Lazio into the ground.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Nearly? He fucking did run Lazio into the ground.

They're still alive though, aren't they? They survived. Barely.

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[fineintent]

I think we should win tonight. What I'm worried about is the quality of the football, we need to start playing well because let's face it Euro 2004's performances were about as exciting as watching Sven do the dishes before having sex.

Here's hoping for the midfield, if Gerrard is out:

Cole---Lampard---Beckham---Wright-Phillips

I think it'll be 3-1, with Austria scoring first.

[Cortez]

Well Steven Gerad is in and Bridge stays in midfield ahead of Joe Cole, I think it will be an entertaining match and we should have no problems beating Austria. I was hoping that Wright-Phillips would have started but he will probally make some apperance.

[stokeriño]

Gerrard fit for England

Steven Gerrard passed a fitness test on his groin injury and was named in England's starting line-up for the World Cup qualifier in Austria.

Gerrard was rated only "50-50" by coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, but recovered to take his place in the side.

He will partner Frank Lampard in central midfield, with Chelsea's Wayne Bridge filling the left-flank role.

Alan Smith partners Michael Owen in attack with new Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney out injured.

Gerrard was a major doubt after breaking down in training on Thursday.

Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson insisted he would not take risks with Gerrard, but will be delighted he is available.

Former Arsenal keeper Alex Manninger is in line to start the match.

First-choice stopper Andreas Schranz injured his right ankle in training on Thursday and will miss the game at the Ernst-Happel Stadion in Vienna.

Austria coach Hans Krankl says he knows his team for the 47,000 sell-out - but will reveal it just before kick-off.

Markus Kiesenebner, Gernot Sick or Joachim Standfest are in line to replace the suspended Markus Schopp and the injured Roland Kirchler on the right side of midfield.

Well Gerrard being in is good news. I don't think I've seen Wayne Bridge play in midfield before, but he's always been excellent at making runs and crosses as left back, so it's logical sense (plus he played damned well on the left wing in my Champ Man game too ).

The full starting line up has been named as thus:

GK David James

DR Gary Neville

DL Ashley Cole

DC John Terry

DC Ledley King

MR David Beckham

ML Wayne Bridge

MC Steven Gerrard

MC Frank Lampard

FC Alan Smith

FC Michael Owen

Subs:

Robinson

Carragher

Dyer

J. Cole

Wright-Phillips

Defoe

Vassell

[Herr Matzat]

England better wins so we don´t have to suffer from you guys whining for weeks about how you have been robbed, like after every game england lost