England

[bozza]

Gone for the youngsters

Stones instead of Jägelkia
Barkley and Flanagan playing - also Lallana

Being a Everton fan I rate Stones highly and he will be England's first choice centre back in the future but to throw him in at the deep end straight away and risk him getting hammerd by the media/fans if he has a bad coupe if games could ruin the young lad.

Give him chance in a few friendlies first and test him out.

 

[Hacker Khan]

I am looking forward to Tuesdays game, .

Me too, Italy Uruguay should be a cracker. As for the England match then it has been reduced in importance in this country to somewhere between a testimonial and a kick about in the park with jumpers for goalposts. ITV should show the Italy game on ITV1.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I don't agree with goalkeepers being captain, I want a captain that is more in-field or in touch with the outfield players and can lead by example and rally the troops when needed, I didn't see any of that in England's last 2 games for anyone! As for SG, I think he should bow out gracefully, he will not be at the top of his game for 2016 or the next world cup so lets make the changes now and bed someone in that will figure more in the future, unfortunately SG won't.

Talks of Rooney being captain disappoint me, he's not the right 'character' again for me, he can disappear but more importantly he's not a motivator towards others IMO, who would I have, TBH I'm not sure, I'm not too bothered about how many caps they already have or experience per se, more a case of 'can they lift a team or any given player when needed' and will they be around for the next 5 years for an England place?

As for Lamps on Tuesday, SG has had 2 games and won't feature in the future years much, if at all, so why not, OK Frank won't either but you need an 'old head' at times still out their to support the young guns in their 1st campaign/s and he's been an excellent servant so it will no doubt be his swan song.

What about Cahill as capt ?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Personally I see giving Lampard the armband as recognition that his time is up and that this will become his last match. Nothing wrong in that as a gesture and it's a meaningless fixture now anyway. Going forward, I don't think we have any true leader. Rooney hasn't the temperament.

Lots of countries have had keepers as captain over the years (Sepp Maier - West Germany, Dino Zoff - Italy, Cassilas - Spain). We've had Shilton and Clemence do it before and as long as there is someone out on the pitch in the midst of the action running it (think Robson Adams and Platt) then who wears the armband is irrelevant.

 

[Rooter]

I'm with Homer, who wears the armband is irrelevant these days, you do need however "leaders" on the pitch.

damn, i said i wouldnt comment on any more footy threads! although comment is not about specific teams or players....

 

[FairwayDodger]

Lots of soul-searching and recriminations from fans of a team who just lost narrowly to two teams both of whom are above them in the world rankings.

Disappointing for you all, but surely not entirely unexpected?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Lots of soul-searching and recriminations from fans of a team who just lost narrowly to two teams both of whom are above them in the world rankings.

Disappointing for you all, but surely not entirely unexpected?

Not unexpected at all

Hopes were raised as the tournament approached but even the warm up games highlighted issues.

Expectations were supposed to have been downgraded but the reaction seems to go against that

 

[Birchy]

Lots of soul-searching and recriminations from fans of a team who just lost narrowly to two teams both of whom are above them in the world rankings.

Disappointing for you all, but surely not entirely unexpected?

World rankings don't mean jack, they are rollocks anyway.

We should be beating countries like Uruguay if you compare the resources available. Theres other teams with a lot less talent and resources than us that are doing better at the world cup as well.

Constantly underperforming doesn't hide the fact we should be doing a lot better. We should be one of the 3 or 4 best teams in the world but we are light years away from that level.

 

[Slab]

I think keepers as captains works well (providing the have the other necessary characteristics) I think they have more time and a better view/perspective of the field than most and has particular advantage over choosing a captain that's 'in the middle' of things

 

[Hacker Khan]

Lots of soul-searching and recriminations from fans of a team who just lost narrowly to two teams both of whom are above them in the world rankings.

Disappointing for you all, but surely not entirely unexpected?

To be honest our world ranking is a bit optimistic, as I am willing to bet that if you just did the rankings on the finals of major tournaments when it matters, instead of all qualifying games where you are up against cannon fodder some of the time, we'd be a lot lower.

But in answer to your question then no, not at all surprising. It would be more of a surprise if we lost to Costa Rica with our full strength side out. But as we are treating it as a testimonial now and they will probably rest their best players and players on a yellow, then that's no guide either.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Whether he does well with small clubs or otherwise he did NOT do well with a small club like Liverpool. Despite Blackburn being a small club they have won The Premiership which is more than can be said about Liverpool!

Too obvious lad, be a bit cleverer next time,eh.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Whether he does well with small clubs or otherwise he did NOT do well with a small club like Liverpool. Despite Blackburn being a small club they have won The Premiership which is more than can be said about Liverpool!

2/10 - must do better next time

 

[Hacker Khan]

World rankings don't mean jack, they are rollocks anyway.

We should be beating countries like Uruguay if you compare the resources available. Theres other teams with a lot less talent and resources than us that are doing better at the world cup as well.

Constantly underperforming doesn't hide the fact we should be doing a lot better. We should be one of the 3 or 4 best teams in the world but we are light years away from that level.

No argument about most other teams having less resources than 'Club England'. But a lot less talent?

I think the results on the pitch in major tournaments would indicate we ain't competing on talent with most teams either. As surely, bar the odd freak result, talent comes to the top across a tournament. And we ain't anywhere near that now.

 

[FairwayDodger]

World rankings don't mean jack, they are rollocks anyway.

We should be beating countries like Uruguay if you compare the resources available. Theres other teams with a lot less talent and resources than us that are doing better at the world cup as well.

Constantly underperforming doesn't hide the fact we should be doing a lot better. We should be one of the 3 or 4 best teams in the world but we are light years away from that level.

I rest my case, until England and English fans learn to accept your current level and place in world football you are doomed to repeat the same old mistakes.

If they'd accepted that a draw against a superior Uruguayan team would have allowed a good chance of progressing with a win against Costa Rica maybe this thread would have a significantly less posts?

 

[MegaSteve]

Hopefully those picked to play will not treat it as a "meaningless fixture"...

 

[Birchy]

No argument about most other teams having less resources than 'Club England'. But less talent?

I think the results on the pitch in major tournaments would indicate we ain't competing on talent with most teams either. As surely, bar the odd freak result, talent comes to the top across a tournament. And we ain't anywhere near that now.

Talent doesn't mean nothing if its underperforming so badly like ours are.

For example do you think Costa Rica have a more talented team than England? Definitely not but they have won both matches and are going through while we are on the plane home.

 

[Birchy]

I rest my case, until England and English fans learn to accept your current level and place in world football you are doomed to repeat the same old mistakes.

If they'd accepted that a draw against a superior Uruguayan team would have allowed a good chance of progressing with a win against Costa Rica maybe this thread would have a significantly less posts?

Put your rod away :rofl:

 

[FairwayDodger]

Put your rod away :rofl:

Truth hurts?

 

[Liverbirdie]

I rest my case, until England and English fans learn to accept your current level and place in world football you are doomed to repeat the same old mistakes.

If they'd accepted that a draw against a superior Uruguayan team would have allowed a good chance of progressing with a win against Costa Rica maybe this thread would have a significantly less posts?

Agreed - Netherlands population, money, resources etc V England yet they outperform us all the time.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Talent doesn't mean nothing if its underperforming so badly like ours are.

For example do you think Costa Rica have a more talented team than England? Definitely not but they have won both matches and are going through while we are on the plane home.

Depends on how you define talent really. If you define it as the ability to pull together as a team to do what you need to do to win/shut out a match then you could argue that Costa Rica have just as much talent as England.

If you are talking about the individual skills of each player then yes England probably have more than Costa Rica (but I'd argue you'd struggle to argue that against a lot of teams in the world cup). But that means jack if you can't make a team out of it. As England prove time after time.

I'd argue that you could not ask for a whole lot more from the players than England gave against Italy. But we still lost, not because we did not live up to potential, but because we were just not good enough when it mattered.