Football Focus

[trisonic]

It’s funny that everywhere around the World I’ve been - and I’ve been to every continent - the Premier League (or 1st Division as was) is keenly watched but no one respects England as a team.

 

Answers on a postcard, please to the FA....

 

Mind you, Brazil has been freaking boring - how many times has anyone said that?

 

Best, Pete.

[Phil Bullock]

That's because the premiership is full of everyone else's mercenary players!

 

Phil

[Dave47549]

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Edited October 2, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[cary hill]

ITV viewers complain in droves of "having to sit through Adrian Chiles between adverts"

Edited June 19, 2014 by cary hill

[BOARD OF TRADE]

I like Roy and think he's a good manager and in the Italy game apart from fat boy(who apparently plodded round the pitch further than any other player)we looked sharp and dangerous so why change the formation to accomodate someone who was clearly off the pace and everything else?.

Tonight we looked disjointed and clueless in attack,yes lardy  a**e got a three yard "tap in" but it takes a rare talent to hit the bar from from all of 6 inches!

A supertanker turns quicker than he does and as for ball control a p****d up hippo could wrong foot a defence better than him.

After the first game they should have parked him on the beach with a carton of fags,a crate of lager and a half hourly pizza delivery.

As for Joe Hart I understand he is to star in Steven Speilberg's new blockbuster,"Saving Absolutely Nothing".

[Horsetan]

Looks like Greece parked the bus.

[jonny777]

It is quite strange how before the tournament, the England management and players emphasised how they would need to keep possession of the ball for long periods of the game because that is how the quality teams play in hot and humid conditions, and yet as soon as they get on the pitch they play "hell for leather" British style football and give the ball away on a regular basis.

 

Oh well, the 2nd Test starts today. Lets hope for a few days good weather in Leeds.

[Oakydoke]

Against top opposition, a team's fortunes rest on the quality of its central midfield.

If it's weak, it doesn't matter how good the defence is, as the pressure put on them and lack of protection will eventually open up cracks.

A weak CM will also seriously blunt the forward line's potency and ability to get into the box.

England's CM has been absolutely atrocious. Gerrard and Henderson must be the worst CM England have ever put out on the pitch.

 

Although not a dazzling performance, Rooney was by far our best player last night again putting in a decent shift, but again he had to drop deeper and deeper to make up for the woeful and absent CM players and was having to double up as a midfield creative player as well as being a forward. Perversely, that had echoes of last season at Man Utd.

 

Gerard's nod on to Suarez was just the icing on the cake for an awful performance from him. Hiding from the ball, losing tackles, giving the ball away, being caught in possession and a total lack in leadership and drive barely sums it up.

It's nothing new though, he' s been poor for England for years and yet is one of the first names on the team sheet. Thankfully this will be the last we'll see of him at a major tournament.

The trouble is, who else is there with the EPL's top CM's almost all being foreign players?

Edited June 20, 2014 by Oakydoke

[stannyblade]

Time for  Gerrard,  Rooney, Lampard and Johnson to retire. How on earth they could say Rooney played well is beyond me. Oh and close the door on your way out Roy

[Michael Delamar]

I hate the England football team, I dont hate England the country, I am very patriotic, but I hate everything about the football set up as it is now, from the FA down.

Employing that cowardly, snide, bluffer. Who didnt even having the balls to back his captain afterwards. The man has never won a thing and his only thing he is good at is lowering expectations. He is tactically inept and out of his depth. He had a great chance with great players and he has played them out of position with basic tactics to shoe horn in a hugely overpaid Wayne Rooney who is well past his best, all to please the media. They used to have this problem with Beckham.

Danny Welbeck is useless too.

 

I want England to do well in the future but not before big changes, Roy to go first.

 

The hatred of him comes from when he was Liverpool's manager where we learned all about him.

 

As a Liverpool supporter.

 

Id like Steven Gerrard to retire from England, he is a brilliant player and doesnt deserve any critisism he gets from England fans who are mostly clueless anyway and not used to following top flight football. Id like him to dedicate himself to Liverpool solely now.

 

All I wanted was Liverpool's players to come home safe and well and ready for next season and for none of Hodgeson's rubbishness to rub off on them.

Jordan Henderson played well as did Raheem Stirling.

Glen Johnson I dont rate at all and havent done for a long time and hope Brendan Rogers sells him.

 

Luis Suarez was superb and I hope he goes a long way in the world cup.

 

I hate the fans tagging on to things like the dambusters, that is pathetic and has nothing to do with football and I hate the English media.

 

All in all, what happened is what was predicted by many would happen. Sorry I cant get excited about England nowadays like I used to.

 

PS, this was a football manager.

[Horsetan]

^^

 

Let it all out. Sure 'twill do ye good.

 

....Luis Suarez was superb and I hope he goes a long way in the world cup.....

I hope he goes even further with Liverpool.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Horsetan

[Michael Delamar]

haha, im not normally full of hate, I love everyone, even you horsetan Im always a glass half full type of person, but that man just grates with me.

[mow]

Even Uruguay's substitute for Suarez is a Liverpool player.

 

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/team/first-team/player/sebastian-coates

Edited June 20, 2014 by mow

[cary hill]

Reflecting overnight I've concluded that going into a World Cup Finals with virtually no players with recent experience at the very highest level, i.e. the European Cup, was bound to end in tears.

 

5 Liverpool and 2 Everton players in the starting line-up and then another Everton player and 2 Southampton players used as substitutes. Then add to the mix 2 Man Utd players off the back of a very poor season, a keeper lacking any ability to organise his defence at set pieces and a central defender who looks lost at times without Terry to organise him and you have a disaster waiting to happen...........

[jonny777]

Time for  Gerrard,  Rooney, Lampard and Johnson to retire. How on earth they could say Rooney played well is beyond me. Oh and close the door on your way out Roy

 

 

I think the "Rooney was the best player on the pitch" statements are from Man Utd supporters, for whom anyone on the Old Trafford pay list deserves to be in the England team, even the tea lady. They also have a tendency to rubbish any performance from players signed to Liverpool, as a matter of tradition.

 

Personally, I didn't think that any of the players did well last night, although Sterling tried hard but his inexperience showed when up against international defenders. Sometimes, I think Rooney tries too hard and I think the Uruguay players were trying to wind him up and get him to react; but for me Welbeck had the poorest performance and Jagielka was not too far behind. Cahill was good, but Sturridge seems to blow hot and cold through the game.

 

No one seems to like Johnson, but that is because by being more attack minded he neglects his defensive duties sometimes. Without his cross, Rooney would not have been on the score-sheet. Maybe he would be better utilised as a right sided midfielder.

 

The problem with ditching Lampard, Gerrard and Henderson is; who is good enough to replace them against quality international midfielders that England will face in major tournaments?

[EddieB]

As most were saying before the tournament: we aren't good enough.  We have improved since the low ebb in South Africa, when we struggled against minor countries.  At least this time we failed against two former World Cup champions (not that Costa Rica were phased by that), and avoided the pain of penalties in the knock-out stages.

 

Before it started, I thought that only if England consistently took the game to the opposition, we'd have a fighting chance.  We don't have any superstars currently (except maybe the injured one), but we do have players up front that can seize upon half-chances and make something happen.

 

Last night I felt I was watching England playing a netball match.  By that I mean that quite often the player with the ball came to a complete stop, as if moving with the ball would be penalised.  Our game was too much stop-start and most of the team lack positional awareness - too true of the defence, but also a problem when we have the ball.  The goal came when we put together a flowing movement - which is what we could and should have done more.

 

Once again we seem to have lost passion when we need it most.  Watch the Chile team.  Their passion is expressed before kick-off singing their anthem after the music stops.  They work for each other, play off each other, create chances for each other, cover for each other.  I wouldn't say they're more talented than England, but we could learn a lot from their tactical nous and sheer passion to play for their country.  Oh yes, and a manager who doesn't appear to have overslept.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love England.  But the World Cup is about the best teams and players in the World competing at the highest level.

[Mike Kieran]

Before the tournament, I was constantly criticized for claiming that Rooney is one of the most overrated players in the game (This distinction also goes to Cristiano Ronaldo). I'm finally getting the evidence to support my claim. From the way that I see it, England's immediate future is in Sturridge and Sterling. England has opened up the game more, but they need a faster crowd to play up to win with it. England's FA has a lot of tough decisions ahead.

 

As an Azzuri fan, I was a little nervous in the first half on Saturday night. I thought that England had outplayed the Italians, they just couldn't get it in when they had open lanes (3 times). Like Italy 4 years ago, they have to let go of players living off of their names and go with players that can win.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Mike Kieran

[rodshaw]

As a non-patriotic football lover I'm pretty impartial about the England team. As far as I can see they were no better or worse, in attack or defence, than Uruguay or Italy (the sniper performance of Suarez excepted, maybe). If both matches were played again next week the results could easily go the other way.

 

But England are a bit lightweight and they were always going to get knocked out sooner rather than later - second round or quarter final at best. Remember how low expectations are supposed to have been this time round? No-one can complain.

 

At least they haven't done as badly as Spain (yet...)

[Mike Kieran]

As most were saying before the tournament: we aren't good enough.  We have improved since the low ebb in South Africa, when we struggled against minor countries.  At least this time we failed against two former World Cup champions (not that Costa Rica were phased by that), and avoided the pain of penalties in the knock-out stages.

 

Before it started, I thought that only if England consistently took the game to the opposition, we'd have a fighting chance.  We don't have any superstars currently (except maybe the injured one), but we do have players up front that can seize upon half-chances and make something happen.

 

Last night I felt I was watching England playing a netball match.  By that I mean that quite often the player with the ball came to a complete stop, as if moving with the ball would be penalised.  Our game was too much stop-start and most of the team lack positional awareness - too true of the defence, but also a problem when we have the ball.  The goal came when we put together a flowing movement - which is what we could and should have done more.

 

Once again we seem to have lost passion when we need it most.  Watch the Chile team.  Their passion is expressed before kick-off singing their anthem after the music stops.  They work for each other, play off each other, create chances for each other, cover for each other.  I wouldn't say they're more talented than England, but we could learn a lot from their tactical nous and sheer passion to play for their country.  Oh yes, and a manager who doesn't appear to have overslept.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love England.  But the World Cup is about the best teams and players in the World competing at the highest level.

 

As mentioned in my post earlier, against Italy, England played a good first half. Like you said, when England opens up their game (in reference to the flowing movement) they are dangerous. Unfortunately, they couldn't complete the kill and they completely lacked positional awareness. Italy didn't steal a lot of passes from England, England turned it over.

[mow]

A diagram via a well known firm of bookmakers. 

 

http://blog.paddypower.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Suarez-goal-diagram.jpg

 

If Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott were fit, would Hodgson have picked them? It was a very poor performance last night, but not quite as appalling as that game against Germany in 2010.

[Joseph_Pestell]

What do we lack ?

 

That's easy

 

CHRIS PORTER

We were singing it for months.

 

In all seriousness they need to take a long hard look at themselves. Time for Rooney, Johnson and even Gerrard to retire.

 

When we were debating the squad selection, I said that Johnson would be a liability at right back. Completely failed to close down Uruguayan cross for Suarez' first goal.

[Mike Kieran]

I'm not going to lie. Italy also had a lot of luck on their side against England. I'm nervous about today's game against Costa Rica. They play much harder than I've heard people give them credit. South America's World Cup contenders used to be Argentina and Brazil - and that's it. This year, there are some good teams from the Land of Great Dancers, making for some interesting soccer.

[Rivercider]

I don't follow the Premier League closely but is it the case that in every position there are very few English qualified players getting regular game time,

(I think that only about a third of the minutes played were by English players last season? ) 

From those players we can deduct those whose international career is behind them, and some of those who were in relegated teams and not quite up to standard,

and also the inevitable injuries.

 

This surely leaves Roy, or whoever is brave enough to follow him, not much choice, and a difficult task on the football world stage.

I think in world ranking terms we are a kind of Championship standard team, and expectations will have to be lowered for some considerable time,

 

(hoping to be proved wrong though)

 

cheers

[Horsetan]

....I think in world ranking terms we are a kind of Championship standard team....

 

What, like Watford? (i.e. not good enough to gain promotion, and not useless enough to be relegated)

[trisonic]

That's because the premiership is full of everyone else's mercenary players!

 

Phil

I don’t really recall England being more successful before more overseas players were allowed (except in the sixties - where the World Cup result was at “home” and the final rather freakish, if enjoyable). That has been tried.

 

How does the time spent together as an England team compare to other countries, for example? Maybe we still play too many league matches, perhaps?

 

With a population of over 50m (?) we should have our share of talent. Costa Rica and Uruguay (just to quote two countries) have minuscule populations in comparison.

 

Best, Pete.