England Squad

[VladimirIlyich]

Does this include the under 17s and the under 20s? It’s mad how many experts there are on junior football around the world who aren’t just reeling off 20 year old cliches about British footballers and coaches.

The problem with talented English players(apart from the too much money too soon) is that once they step up to their respective leagues it becomes less about their technique and more about their strength and athleticism. Apart from 4 or 5 clubs in the PL the rest are alehouse teams a lot of the time while not just South American kids but most other European kids will enter leagues where they will continue to play almost the same way but simply at a higher standard. Its much easier to adapt to those conditions than the English ones.

[The Guest]

Just because a player isn't great in England doesn't mean they're shit. Living away from a home language and culture is difficult. If anyone's full of shit it's you. England export fuck all players as they'll pick up massive wages for being average in England.

 

You live in a weird bubble where Spain don't dominate European competitions and everything the great England team does is undermined by the occasional bad coaching decision. So much hubris. You'll be continually disappointed with those unrealistic expectations.

You’re absolutely all over the place now. It’s hard to follow what your point is when you move the goal posts and don’t answer any of the points where you’ve had your pants pulled down.

 

What unreal expectations are they? I’ve said repeatedly they will go out against the first decent team they meet because of having a poor manager in charge. It’s not the odd tactical mistake. Picking the wrong players in a formation that doesn’t work has a pretty big impact on a game against a good team. The players England currently have aren’t as good as what we have had in the recent past but this is fuck all to do with coaching being shit here and brilliant everywhere else.

 

The big national sides go through peaks and troughs in terms of quality of players. The golden age generation was full of top players but they were wasted by bad managers. This side could still beat some of those big teams if it played to it’s strengths and over achieved a bit like the Liverpool team. That won’t happen again because they’ve got a manager playing Kyle Walker at centre half. It’s not really hard to understand.

[Pidge]

The great thing about international football is how it brings people together.

[Jairzinho]

The great thing about international football is how it brings people together to have a massive fight in the local square.

 

Agreed.

[Hades]

The Guest reminds me of those people that were comparing Rooney and Messi before the 2010 World Cup. The pedal to the floor jingoism is admirable in a way.

[WhiskeyJar]

Three goalies is too cautious.

Mandatory. Even you take an outfield player he will still play as a goalkeeper.

[The Guest]

The Guest reminds me of those people that were comparing Rooney and Messi before the 2010 World Cup. The pedal to the floor jingoism is admirable in a way.

I remind you of people you invented in your own head? And this is because I think England have had good players over the years but have struggled to get past teams who also have good players (sometimes better) in the later stages of tournaments because they had managers who were crap and didn’t give them their best chance by making bad decisions?

 

You remind me of one of those hypocrite type guys who claim to be liberal but hate all Muslims.

[VladimirIlyich]

I remind you of people you invented in your own head? And this is because I think England have had good players over the years but have struggled to get past teams who also have good players (sometimes better) in the later stages of tournaments because they had managers who were crap and didn’t give them their best chance by making bad decisions?

 

You remind me of one of those hypocrite type guys who claim to be liberal but hate all Muslims.

England have had world class players over the years but far too few to make a decent team out of. The huge percentage of overseas players in its top division will continue to encourage this state of affairs and they will continue to disappoint the media while usually achieving about what they should do in the real world.

The debate on coaching etc is a whole different debate.

[Jairzinho]

I don't think the amount of foreign players here is the problem. The fact no English players (or managers for that matter) go abroad is a much bigger problem.

 

That and for certain positions we simply don't produce any decent players.

[aRdja]

I don't think the amount of foreign players here is the problem. The fact no English players (or managers for that matter) go abroad is a much bigger problem.

 

That and for certain positions we simply don't produce any decent players.

I think the high number of very good foreign players is one of the reasons why PL is great.

[magicrat]

England have had world class players over the years but far too few to make a decent team out of. The huge percentage of overseas players in its top division will continue to encourage this state of affairs and they will continue to disappoint the media while usually achieving about what they should do in the real world.

The debate on coaching etc is a whole different debate.

 

There's more to it than that . Wales can reach the semis of the EC with a collection of nobody's plus Allen and Ramsay . A lot is to do with the pressure and weight of expectation from the press and millions of armchair Ingurland fans. I reckon most of the players are shitting it in case they make a mistake not going out and expressing themselves . The managers are the same down to the point where we get knobheads like Woy and Jabba appointed because the perception is they will be solid not risk takers,  Under the right conditions England probably have decent enough players to make an impact at the WC. Southgate is a better bet than his predecessors but the expectation will rise exponentially if  they get to the knockout stages. 

[Jose Jones]

Might have missed Wales’ most important player there magicrat. But a fair point on the pressure on the players.

There hasn’t been a good English manager in the last 30 years, which is another problem.

[TheHowieLama]

I think the high number of very good foreign players is one of the reasons why PL is great.

 

Of course it is.

[aRdja]

Of course it is.

And managers too obviously. Our worst managers over the past 20 years unfortunately have been British.

[The Guest]

The weight of expectation argument is also complete nonsense. It’s just another thing that “experts” Have come up with to try to sound clever and it’s now also become a cliche. You honestly think players like Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand and Lampard couldn’t handle the “weight of expectation” from a load of braindead Wigan fans.

 

The vast majority of players that have played regularly for England over the years have played for top sides playing in highly pressured situations lots of times. You honestly think these fellas give a shit about anything other than their image rights. When they go on the pitch they will not give a single fuck about somebody thinking that they should be winning the game. It won’t even enter their heads.

 

The reason England got knocked out of the Euros by a worse team is because once again they had a braindead manager making bad decisions. Playing Rooney in centre midfield because he was too scared to drop him was an accident waiting to happen. All the braindead mongs and pundits were sucking his cock after he played a couple of games against other bad teams and England got away with it. Against Iceland they got no luck (which they shouldn’t have needed anyway) against an inferior team and got done.

[Dr Nowt]

The weight of expectation argument is also complete nonsense. It’s just another thing that “experts” Have come up with to try to sound clever and it’s now also become a cliche. You honestly think players like Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand and Lampard couldn’t handle the “weight of expectation” from a load of braindead Wigan fans.

 

The vast majority of players that have played regularly for England over the years have played for top sides playing in highly pressured situations lots of times. You honestly think these fellas give a shit about anything other than their image rights. When they go on the pitch they will not give a single fuck about somebody thinking that they should be winning the game. It won’t even enter their heads.

 

The reason England got knocked out of the Euros by a worse team is because once again they had a braindead manager making bad decisions. Playing Rooney in centre midfield because he was too scared to drop him was an accident waiting to happen. All the braindead mongs and pundits were sucking his cock after he played a couple of games against other bad teams and England got away with it. Against Iceland they got no luck (which they shouldn’t have needed anyway) against an inferior team and got done.

Have you considered making some sort of presentation to the FA?

 

I’m no expert, but it does appear that they’re missing a trick.

[The Guest]

Do you disagree with any of it doc?

[Jairzinho]

I think the high number of very good foreign players is one of the reasons why PL is great.

Indeed.

[3 Stacks]

The assertion that England have repeatedly failed only because a few players have been played out of position is a bit hilarious. Not like Spain won a major tournament with Cesc Fabregas playing centre forward or anything, but carry on. 

[Jose Jones]

Why do you reckon there hasn’t been a decent English manager (not England manager) in over 30 years then Mr Guest?

[Hades]

The assertion that England have repeatedly failed only because a few players have been played out of position is a bit hilarious. Not like Spain won a major tournament with Cesc Fabregas playing centre forward or anything, but carry on.

Think it comes from inventing the sport. It's not in their control anymore so they deny that they've adapted less well than other nations. Similar mindset to the referees closing ranks. It's the new version of 'foreigners are cheating by using skills'.

[aRdja]

The assertion that England have repeatedly failed only because a few players have been played out of position is a bit hilarious. Not like Spain won a major tournament with Cesc Fabregas playing centre forward or anything, but carry on.

Playing both Gerrard and Lampard at CM was a catastrophic decision though.

 

They would’ve done a lot better in 2010 with Carrick holding, Scholes dictating tempo alongside him and Gerrard unleashed in front of them behind Rooney. Some would start Lampard in place of Gerrard of course, you could make an argument for either, but not both.

[Lee909]

When was the last time an English manager won the league? I genuinely can’t remember.

McClaren won the dutch league

Still Wilkinson with Leeds

[The Guest]

Why do you reckon there hasn’t been a decent English manager (not England manager) in over 30 years then Mr Guest?

There have been a few but the answer is opportunity mainly. The top clubs over here have generally been closed off to English/British managers. I think specifically saying English managers is being disingenuous though. People keep doing it because they know it creates a massive hole in their argument if they were to say British instead. The greatest managers of all time have been British in my opinion.

 

By this I mean, are you saying the Scottish are doing something completely different to England in terms of infrastructure set up and coaching? Are they like Spain and South America up there as well?

 

If we were to go through the other countries around Europe what you would find is that they don’t create that many great coaches themselves. In their countries though they generally give their top jobs to their compatriots and then what happens is they just win stuff regardless of their ability as a manager and are hailed a success.

 

My point here is that I can guarantee you that had Harry Redknapp, Brendan Rodgers or even Sam fucking Allardyce been given the Chelsea or Man City job at some point in their career they would be sitting here with trophies and people would be saying they were a success because of it. Instead Chelsea gave the job to AVB and City go for Pellegrini despite him not winning anything in a decade.

[TheHowieLama]

Repped for sheer perserverance