posted Jun 4, 2007

I have to agree, again, with the defender of Lampard. On Friday, Gerrard was not worthy of man of the match. Indeed, he was our worst midfielder and did not deserve the credit he was given. The idea that he tackled well is not proven. His appalling positional play meant he was forced to make several lunging tackles and when confronted by Kaka notably once in the first half was easily dummied aside by a shimmy that left him prone. He sold himself cheap, but played like a schoolboy to muster the naive enthusiasm of sections of the crowd, mostly made up of people who do not understand football (including nearly all of the media). In my view, Gerrard should be severely disciplined, and the choice is him or Beckham on the right (if we insist on playing the outmoded 4-4-2 system). The team is crying out for a proper defensive midfield player (old wing-half) and a real number 10 with a brain and technique. In fact, we are short of decent players everywhere from goalkeeper to centre-forward. I cant think of one English player who would gain a place in a Brazilian squad.

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posted Jun 4, 2007

re Crouchino: on Gerrard. Whilst it is true that the England manager has little or no standing in football management, and even less credibility, to think of Gerrard as anything better than a bag of coltish enthusiasm with a decent right foot shot is also inaccurate. His passing is woeful, his positional play poor and and his team-play non-existent. He is palpably the most overrated player in England as confirmed against Brazil and in Athens where his lack of technique and left foot saw him squander that outstanding chance against Milan. England are desperately short of good players, the whole squad is vastly overrated and there are no players, possibly Terry apart, who are of true high-class in world football terms.

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posted Jun 4, 2007

TrulyObjective1952:

If you're right and England are desperately short of good players and if on top of that there's little or no prospect of them getting a coach who is capable of turning average players into good players, and turning them into a team that can play together as a true team - a unit - instead of playing like a scratch side, then there's no hope.

I’ve already written an article saying how English football at international level needs to be reinvented. I know what Italian football is and what its strengths are and even German football, but when it comes to English football I just don’t know what it’s supposed to be any more. It’s non-descript, hit-or-miss, neither one thing or the other. And it’s definitely down to coaching.

I don’t want to go into boring technical detail but, in general terms, if you can get players to gel together as a unit, organize them into a team and put them in their best positions and have some coherent, intelligent tactics and game plans, you can work miracles, as we saw to our amazement 3 years ago when Greece won Euro 2004. It may have been a bit negative, but it was effective. The Greeks knew what they were about and every player knew what his role was and what was expected of him. (With England, it’s the opposite. Sometimes, they remind me of a scratch team who’ve never played together before.) If a coach who knows his stuff can get Greece to play the way they did with the players they’ve got (though some of them were pretty good), there's no reason why the same couldn't be done with England.

About 10-15 years ago, Greece were absolute no-hopers in any competition (they rarely qualified in any case). They weren’t transformed into the team we saw in Portugal by accident. It seems that under McClaren there’s even a danger that England might similarly end up as no-hopers and non-qualifiers.

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posted Jun 4, 2007

CNASKI:

Hmm, the fact you rated King goes to show what you know. He was completely out of his depth. He has it in him to be a good player, but I would say he is far from match-fit. Gerrard made some excellent tackles and broke the Barzilian defence on more than one occassion when he wasn't trapped in his own half to accomodate Lampard. Look it up - Lampard's number of passes, and passes complete were very low for a supposed midfielder.

CR7_Ronaldo

Emerson played actually. I don't think you can call thier team a B-Team - they are one of a growing number of nations who have 22 men in thier squad; it's only our nation who uses the rather offensive term 'B-Team' when we don't field Heat Magazine favourites. To be honest, you could discount Smith, Carra, King, Shorey, and even Beckham as being 2nd choice - to dismiss the performance on your arguement is nonsense.

TrulyObjective1952

Hmm, I guess you just don't like Gerrard, which sort of discredits your name! Positionally he was (as was Lampard) doing what was tactically decided. Neither were deployed as anchors, and it was up to them to switch when neccesary. Gerrard was much more dangerous going forward, and had the energy to track back and make 4 important tackles - something which Lampard did not do (but then shouldn't have to if our manager was in anyway capable of understanding football). I thought he did very well considering his natural game was hampered by a notably further forward Lampard (although not as forward as he usually is). You are right though, the midfield needs a true anchor, not a make-shift one - hopefully Hargreaves will be just the ticket. Shame you seemed to focus on fictional Gerrard errors, I think you might have spotted a few more interesting points.



The game was lost on tactics in the end. Despite missing a DM, I thought we tackled well, and spoilt thier space - changing from an attacking and working 4-4-2 to a rather pessimistic 4-5-1 after scoring, was Sven Era ineptness. Our players are not defensive minded, and our game cannot be played this way. As soon as we dropped back (like with ANY game in recent years) the opposition were allowed space and we gave up the chase. In my mind, we should have either subbed Lampard for Carrick, or brought Smith off for Carrick and pushed Lamps into the second striker position. He has the attributes to be a forward player, and in Chelsea's 4-3-3 he plays as such.

Not bad, but doesn't hide glearing nightmares -
1) The managers in-game tactical failings
2) We haven't learned or progressed since 2004 - midfield still full of big names rather than positionally apt players, huge reliances on Beckhams deadball
3) Our strike force is woeful.

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posted Jun 4, 2007

Everybody seems to think that all that has to be done to turn England into a force capable of winning Euro 2008 and World Cup 2110 (which are presumably the aims) is a tweak here and a tweak there and a slight change of formation and hey presto! we're playing like world champions. It isn't going to happen. What is needed is a world class coach with completely new ideas and a fresh approach to playing the game. Otherwise the lack-lustre performances when it really matters are going to continue.

As for England drawing 1-1 with the 5 times World Champions, even hopeless Wales held them to 2-0 (and it wasn't a 2nd string Brazil side) and were probably much better value than that on the night. Get real. The Brazilians weren’t up for it at all. It means zip.

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posted Jun 4, 2007

I didn't see anything on Friday that suggests we have moved any further forward with beckham back. the goal came from a set piece, nothing new! We could never string more than 6 passes together, we gave the ball away loads, and they didn't seem all that eager and yet still had us running around on numerous occassions.

The simple fact is the people who deserve a chance will never get it cos the coach isn't running the team. The media and the players are! Bentley, why didn't he get a go, in fact why has it taken him this long to get in the squad. Matt Taylor at Pompey, he should be in the squad also. People who will add some creation, directness and pace to the England side, but what do we do, Bring back Beckham!

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posted Jun 4, 2007

May as well talk to a brick wall.

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posted Jun 4, 2007

>>and World Cup 2110 (which are presumably the aims)

>>May as well talk to a brick wall.

try talking about tournaments that will happen when we're alive - I find that helps

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posted Jun 4, 2007

Beckham was tossssss

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posted Jun 5, 2007

redconn:
You must know something I don’t. I didn’t realize the world was going to end before next year. At least it’ll save us the pain and anguish of watching England flop again.

I’m not sure what I want to happen with England at the moment. In a way, it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they failed to qualify for Euro 2008 so they could get a world-class coach (there must be some around) and start building a decent side that’s capable of winning something and not just drawing with Brazil in a tame friendly. On the other hand, if they do qualify, McClaren will obviously be kept on, which I don’t think would be a good thing as under him I don’t see England doing any better than they did in the World Cup.

Whatever he might have achieved at Man Utd and Middlesbrough, McClaren’s record as a coach doesn’t even begin to compare with that of someone like Alf Ramsey. Football has changed a bit since the early 60s, but it was obvious even then that a coach who could take a provincial team like Ipswich, who’d never won anything, from the old second division to actually winning the League Championship in their first season in the top flight (in 1962) must have had undeniable talent. He obviously had the ability to turn average players into exceptional players, get them to play together as a team and get the maximum out of them. It was no fluke and he did more or less the same with England, where he already had quite a few good players. That’s the kind of coach England need, not the kind who, in a desperate bid to save his own job, makes weak decisions like recalling Beckham when he has no more than a short term future in the England team. It shows he has no vision for the future and can’t see beyond the short term or even his own nose.

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