Everyone and his dog is going to be suggesting what went wrong and how to fix it, so I thought it was worth resurrecting this thread so that we can all have a go at some armchair management.
Everyone and his dog is going to be suggesting what went wrong and how to fix it, so I thought it was worth resurrecting this thread so that we can all have a go at some armchair management.
Here’s my list.
(1) Don’t play players out of position. If we have two players that cover the same bit of the park, pick one for a particular game and leave the other one on the bench. If either of them can’t take that – tough.
(2) If something isn’t working, change it!
(3) I don’t think WAGs, drugs and rock’n'roll is a good formula, but neither is expecting the likes of Rooney to train in the morning, have lunch and then twiddle his thumbs for the rest of the day. These guys aren’t the types that’ll relish the spare time and catch up with a chapter or two of War And Peace.
(4) Are these players as good as we / they think they are, or just fortunate to be playing in teams where the supply is good etc.?
(5) Heskey? HESKEY????
Awful awful awful. That’s the worst performance from an England team in a major tournament I can ever remember. I kept expecting us to come good throughout the tournament but we never did. We were a total shambles.
So my list
(1) too many players who are deficient technically, who can’t take a pass, control it and pass it onto the next player
(2) expectations far too high. All these players are highly paid superstars in the Premier league, hence we must be the greatest team in the world. WRONG
(3) complete failure to play as a team epitomised by Gerard’s 3 woeful shots on goal in the space of a few minutes, and masterfully demonstrated in Clarence Seedorf’s analysis
(4) inability to adapt to any sort of tactical plan – I am the bigshot at my club and this is what I do attitude
(5) total lack of balance between defence and attack
The wally with a brolly night when we were completely outclassed by Croatia should have been a warning. The manager is NOT the problem, it is the players. I would keep Gerard, Rooney, Cole, Milner and Hart from the current setup, retire the rest of the ’superstars’ and make up the rest of the team with youngsters who have the necessary technical skills with the objective of developing a new team for the longer term. I would also encourage some of our younger players to go out and try their luck abroad.
Finally we should be setting up proper academies for the kids, and bringing up players in the right way – been a lot of years since the bulldog spirit hasn;t been enough
And this morning, luck (?) has it that I am working in Glasgow. As I entered the meeting room they played the German national anthem, and I have heard it each time I left and came back into the meeting room too !
And one final point and one clarification.
Let’s disabuse the theory that the reason England lost was because of the disallowed goal. That is nonesense. The reason England lost is because they were a pile of sh1t and they were played off the park by a much better team.
And the clarification, when I talk about fastracking younger players with the necessary technical teams into the first team, I don’t mean players who are on the fringes. I mean players who can pass, control the ball, slow things down, not do everything at 100 miles an hour. And I really don’t care if they aren’t even playing in their first teams yet. i mean players like Rodwell, Wilshire and others in academies who will grow into first team players by the time of the next world cup. That’s the extent I’m talking about changing the England setup.
France, Italy, England – overpaid, over-hyped and old – but at least France and Italy are has-beens, our lot are not-even-nearly-men.
Manager has to take some blame, but a fish rots from its head and thats the FA. I hate the expression “root and branch” but I suspect this trees too diseased to fix and should literally be chopped down.
Sack the board would be the cry if England were a club.
But I predict we will all go back to the glory and entertainment of the Premier League and paper over the long term problems. Until in 2 years time when our optimism and enthusiasm is once again smashed by the reality of our systemic failure to nurture football talent in this country.
@ double bubble, do you think the country will stand for no change ?
Already it is becoming harder for fans to identify with international players. If we go back to the glory of the premier league and don’t do anything, pretty soon people won’t be going to international games any more and a lot of the players will be too scared to represent their country.
@ double bubble, do you think the country will stand for no change ?
I’m not sure we have any choice. DB is right, the FA carry a lot of the blame for this, but there’s no incentive from anyone who can make changes to actually do so.
Is the FA funded by the taxpayer? Maybe we should suggest to Boy George that it should be closed down to save money and run by some amateur enthusiasts instead. It could hardly be any worse.
Another comment …
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with foreign managers per se, but when I listen to Capello in interviews I do start to wonder.
Granted, his English is better than my Italian (I can order a beer and that’s it) but in the post-match interview he couldn’t string a coherent sentence together. How can he coach a team if he can’t communicate with them?
And the clarification, when I talk about fastracking younger players with the necessary technical teams into the first team, I don’t mean players who are on the fringes. I mean players who can pass, control the ball, slow things down, not do everything at 100 miles an hour. And I really don’t care if they aren’t even playing in their first teams yet.
OK, I know I’m biased, but I’d replace John Terry with a player like Steven Taylor like a shot. He captained the U21s, after all.
I’ll leave it to Geekboy to suggest who should be dropped to make way for Andy Carroll.
@ mingey
Much as I am reluctant to blame England’s poor performances on a good manager, I have to agree with you, Capello’s post match interview was apalling.
The priority before was on an expensive manager who will win tournaments.
The priority now should be on a cheaper home grown manager, who will pick a group of players with the right skills, drop the primadonnas and build a team for the future. How’s this for a post world cup team
Hart
Onouha Dawson Jagielka Cole
Gerrard, Rodwell, Milner, Walcott, Wilshire
Rooney
formation 4-5-1
Manager : Hodgson
Tonight’s Evening Standard is even suggesting that Beckham could be the next England manager. It shows how bad it’s got that this is almost a compelling argument.
I’m sure it would fit in very well with his brand values.
That’s just what we need. We’ve had the WAG culture and the overhyped, overrated, egotistical, prima-donna player, now our solution is to do the same with the manager ????