Other football

[Jim MM]

Credit where it's due, that's an impressive achievement but Hodgson is still a cunt.

[Jairzinho]

Switzerland were the second best team in the group.

[chrisbonnie]

Credit to Hodgson and England. But the group was diabolical.

 

But still, a 100% win rate is never easy.

[Tony Moanero]

England are shite.

[PestiRed]

Hungary looking quite good for the 'best of third place' spot which would be great as they are bound to lose a qualifier if they have to play one. Only Turkey can stop them by beating Iceland whilst also being dependent on Latvia losing to Kazakhstan.

 

Be great here in the summer if they get to their first tournament in 30 years

[an tha]

Credit to Hodgson and England. But the group was diabolical.

 

But still, a 100% win rate is never easy.

Against countries with populations a fraction of London and one less than the capacity of Anfield it isn't that hard for one of the wealthiest football nations on the planet.

 

The owl will prove his utter shiteness again as soon as England come up against decent opposition at the European Championship.

[El Rojo]

Would be a crying shame if the English press went into traditional Three Lions overdrive on the back of the qualifying record and the potential of Barkley and Sterling.

 

Second round exit to Iceland.

[Russ Atmosphere]

The old cunt will turn up to the tournament not knowing his first eleven. He'll stick whichever players the papers say to pick, in whatever formation the papers say to play. They'll play half as good as the sum of their parts and lose to the first half-decent team they face, or Northern Ireland.

[Jim MM]

Yes but he'll be able to point to an impressive W11 D1 L2 in his last fourteen competitive matches.

[Harry Squatter]

England will just bottle it anyway and Rooney won't score a tournament goal.

[Grinch]

The old cunt will turn up to the tournament not knowing his first eleven. He'll stick whichever players the papers say to pick, in whatever formation the papers say to play. They'll play half as good as the sum of their parts and lose to the first half-decent team they face, or Northern Ireland.

 

This has been happening for years no matter who the England manager is.   Truth is their players are as average as can be and that's as far as they deserve to go.

[Original202]

International football is weird. This is one of most ordinary England teams I can remember with a dreadful manager yet Hodgson's record reads P45 W27 D13 L5. On the face of it, that's an impressive record.

 

But when you look at the qualification campaigns and the tournaments it means you're actually only playing a top team once or twice every few years - including the odd low paced friendly.

 

Hodgson's opponents have been:

 

Belgium

Brazil (x2)

Chile

Costa Rica

Denmark

Ecuador

Estonia (x2)

France

Germany

Honduras

Ireland (x2)

Italy (x4)

Lithuania (x2)

Moldova (x2)

Montenegro (x2)

Norway (x2)

Peru

Poland (x2)

San Marino (x4)

Scotland (x2)

Slovenia (x2)

Sweden (x2)

Switzerland (x2)

Ukraine (x3)

Uruguay

 

And everyone knows England's record under him in tournaments. It'll be the same next summer so while it's great to win 10 out of 10 qualifiers it doesn't mean a great deal but the FA won't have any appetite for changing the manager with a 60% win rate.

[A_S]

I believe the term is 'flat-track bullies'. 

[Dr Nowt]

Some of the snippets being reported from this Allardyce book are tremendous, I'm starting to think he had the big_sam ghost-write it for him.

 

Sam Allardyce has revealed that a lack of PowerPoint facilities at the FA thwarted his hopes of becoming England manager in 2006.

 

Sven-Goran Eriksson was relieved of his position in the wake of a frustrating World Cup campaign and the then Bolton manager was keen to be given an opportunity to work at international level.

 

Although Allardyce initially thought the FA would install a foreign coach to succeed the Swede he decided to attend an interview for the vacant position.

 

"I was sure the FA would go out and get another foreigner.

 

"But it became apparent they were positively encouraging English candidates to throw their hats into the ring.

 

"The longer I thought about it, the more I felt I should get it".

 

"I wanted to do a real knock-your-socks-off interview for the FA, so I put together a PowerPoint which looked at every single detail.

 

"There was nothing missing. Nobody but nobody was going to beat it.

 

"But then Brian Barwick, the chief executive, told me there were no PowerPoint facilities at the interview venue, so I had to print off hard copies for the panel.

 

"So much for the progressive FA."

[Joe Strummer]

He is hilarious. Also said Rafa did nothing to win the CL in 05, it was all Gerrard.

[The Golden Eel]

There's potentially going to be a lot of Liverpool players at the Euros this summer.

 

Clyne

Milner

Henderson

Sturridge

Lallana

Ings - maybe

Mignolet

Benteke

Origi

Lovren 

Skrtel

Moreno - maybe

Sakho

Can - maybe

Allen

Bogdan - maybe

Reus

Hummels

 

 

Luckily Serbia didn't make it so Markovic should be fresh for his new club. 

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Luckily Serbia didn't make it so Markovic should be fresh for his new club. 

 

I know your only taking the piss, but I still have hopes for Markovic under a good manager.

[RazorBack]

I think that the man to bring something decent out of England is Ancelotti. And maybe Mourinho. 

[Original202]

Djibril Cisse: Ex-Liverpool striker held in sex tape investigation

 

Former Liverpool and France striker Djibril Cisse, 34, has been arrested by police as part of a sex tape extortion investigation.

 

French police confirmed they are investigating an alleged attempt to bribe another international footballer.

Cisse is one of four people held as part of the inquiry, confirmed French prosecutors.

 

The ex-Sunderland and QPR forward was questioned because he knew the others involved, according to Reuters.

The alleged victim has not been identified by the authorities "out of respect for their private life", reported Associated Press.

 

Cisse joined Liverpool in 2004 and scored 24 goals in 79 appearances for the Merseyside club before leaving in 2007.

 

He then returned to the Premier League with Sunderland in 2008, netting 11 goals during a season-long loan, before joining QPR in January 2012, for whom he scored 10 goals in an 18-month spell.

 

Cisse, who was released by Ligue 1 side Bastia in the summer, also scored nine times for France in 41 appearances.

 

 

---

 

Minor point but it annoys me how the BBC run with the 'former Liverpool striker' line and have a picture of him in a Liverpool kit. He played for us for just 2 seasons. There was another similar news report recently about a former player, can't remember who but I think it was a young player who played 2 or 3 games and the headline was leading with "Ex-Liverpool star in alleged incident".

[navbasi]

Mathieu Valbuena is allegedly the player that was being blackmailed.

[magicrat]

Credit to Hodgson and England. But the group was diabolical.

 

But still, a 100% win rate is never easy.

 

It's the pinnacle of his career. He's cemented his place in the annals of qualifying history

[Gym Beglin]

England played well, in patches, last night.

 

However, it was basically a friendly against Bishop Stortford, on an indoor pitch.

 

Never again will there be a midfield 3 comprising of Shelvey, Barkley and Lallana.

 

That said, I am in love with Barkley, he's a £50m player waiting to happen.

[PestiRed]

A famous qualifying campaign against the mighty Swiss who learnt everything they know from a famous manager

[Lightforce]

Former Liverpool and France striker Djibril Cisse, 34, has been arrested by police as part of a sex tape extortion investigation.

Mathieu Valbuena is allegedly the player that was being blackmailed.

 

It's probably an amateur midget porn video with a guy that looks like Valbuena.

[The Maca]

I'm currently renting a farmhouse from mrs cisse .....

I'm not the lord of frodsham though