Deluded Hodgson

[Herr Tubthumper]

No, he is right.

International football has to change if it wants to be number 1 again, who wants to see England Vs Norway?

This break is completely pointless and rubs the whole of Europe up the wrong way, the seasons have just started, the window has just shut and we have just had a fantastic world cup - why do we need more, I imagine the players are sick of it as well.

I agree the qualifying games could start later. They don't need to start so soon after the previous tournament. But, as for opposition England will pretty much always be stuck with lesser European nations in real games so I'm not sure what Roy's point is. Is he suggesting England organize a raft of glamour friendlies every season? If England repeatedly perform badly they'll lose their seeding so the qualifying group will feature a big-gun but I'm not sure this is what Roy wants.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I agree the qualifying games could start later. They don't need to start so soon after the previous tournament. But, as for opposition England will pretty much always be stuck with lesser European nations in real games so I'm not sure what Roy's point is. Is he suggesting England organize a raft of glamour friendlies every season? If England repeatedly perform badly they'll lose their seeding so the qualifying group will feature a big-gun but I'm not sure this is what Roy wants.

Do we have to play games? I know you are forced to have these breaks, but is playing a friendly a must?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I agree.
The problem is the fans level of expectation for Rooney. There is always anticipation
that he can carry the whole side through tournaments and he can't.

But Rooney brings this on himself with his cocky swagger and nonsense he spouts before tournaments. Contrast this to the more humble considered musings of members of the German team.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Do we have to play games? I know you are forced to have these breaks, but is playing a friendly a must?

When the FA have a huge mortgage to pay I guess they are a must. That aside I doubt FIFA/UEFA force you to have a friendly.

 

[Rich Suvner]

I feel like I'm done with England now. I came very close to jacking it all in after the Algeria match in WC2010. It wasn't so much the poor performance as Rooney's contemptuous dismissal of the supporters afterwards. It may have hurt his precious ego but he had precisely no empathy with frustrated supporters who might have saved up for their trip over a year or more.

Fast forward to 2014 and we have the unedifying spectacle of tumbling out of the competition at the earliest possible opportunity.

It isn't the performances as such. We really don't have a squad capable of making an impression on the world stage but so what? I supported Brighton all those years down in the basement with no prospect of success and had some of my most rewarding times following the team. What does for me is the sense of entitlement that simply oozes out of the England camp. Many of these people have probably been told that they were wonderful since they were 10 and cannot comprehend the world of the people that turn up to validate them every Saturday.

It just feels like watching a different species to me now. Enough. No more. 100% Albion.

WC2010 rid me of any real enthusiasm for England. I watch now when it suits, but with little enthusiasm, passion or belief.

 

[keaton]

I agree the qualifying games could start later. They don't need to start so soon after the previous tournament. But, as for opposition England will pretty much always be stuck with lesser European nations in real games so I'm not sure what Roy's point is. Is he suggesting England organize a raft of glamour friendlies every season? If England repeatedly perform badly they'll lose their seeding so the qualifying group will feature a big-gun but I'm not sure this is what Roy wants.

Wasn't he just explaining why he thinks comparatively few people turned up?

 

[Scoffers]

I cannot figure out if it's bad management by Roy and his team for the abject failure at the WC and previous Euros or whether we just don't have the talent, pure and simple. I guess it's a bit of both.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

When the FA have a huge mortgage to pay I guess they are a must. That aside I doubt FIFA/UEFA force you to have a friendly.

We would really benefit from just training as a unit.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

We would really benefit from just training as a unit.

Agree. The benefit a lot of other nations have is that a high number of their team play their club football together at a big club or clubs. Look at Spain and Germany. Due to the best English teams being dominated by foreigners the England team is largely made up of players who don't regularly play together. Strangers playing together; this must surely hinder success?

 

[essbee]

Agree. The benefit a lot of other nations have is that a high number of their team play their club football together at a big club or clubs. Look at Spain and Germany. Due to the best English teams being dominated by foreigners the England team is largely made up of players who don't regularly play together. Strangers playing together; this must surely hinder success?

I think this is very true - it might also explain why Brazil are so pants these days.

 

[Milano]

I think this is very true - it might also explain why Brazil are so pants these days.

Argentina reached the final, Holland the semis, so this is in fact rubbish.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Argentina reached the final, Holland the semis, so this is in fact rubbish.

Personally, I struggle to see how players playing together regularly cannot be beneficial.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Argentina reached the final, Holland the semis, so this is in fact rubbish.

Germany won with ease, and a large number of them play together.

 

[Danny-Boy]

Did anybody else hear "Dead Ringers" on Wednesday night, hilarious monolgue by "Woy".

Or should that be Dead Wingers?

 

[Pavilionaire]

I challenge you to give a defence for Rooney that doesn't rest on his goal tally- most are in in friendlies or 5-0s against San Marino.

How about he scored 7 goals in the 2014 World Cup qualifying group? That's one more than Sturridge and Welbeck combined.

Not only that but he scored the opening goal home and away against Montenegro and home against Poland in that campaign. These aren't bonus goals when the game is already won, these are the all-important first goal of the match. Indeed, the facts are that he is delivering more in the big games than he used to.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

How about he scored 7 goals in the 2014 World Cup qualifying group? That's one more than Sturridge and Welbeck combined.

Not only that but he scored the opening goal home and away against Montenegro and home against Poland in that campaign. These aren't bonus goals when the game is already won, these are the all-important first goal of the match. Indeed, the facts are that he is delivering more in the big games than he used to.

It's not often you see Montenegro and Poland in the same sentence as big games.

 

[Pavilionaire]

It's not often you see Montenegro and Poland in the same sentence as big games.

That's because our team now so weak so they've become big games. We're akin to Leeds in the Championship, where Middlesbrough and Sheff Wed are now big games for them.

Rooney remains Rooney, but go back 10 years to when he started and consider who else he was playing with - Gary Neville, Rio, Campbell, Scholesy, Beckham, Owen, Joe Cole in his prime. Their like for like replacements are Glen Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Wilshere, Sterling, Sturridge, Lallana.

 

[clippedgull]

Roy fights back

"There was a lot of euphoria before the World Cup," the England manager said. "We were getting 75,000 people to see us play Peru, who, with respect, were nowhere near as difficult an opponent as Norway. And now we have 40,000.

"I can't put that right because I can't turn the clock back, but what I can do is analyse what I have seen and judge that through my eyes, and not judge it because someone is going to tell me: 'Well, you only had two shots at goal' because for me, that is absolute f*****g b******s, I'm sorry."

Hodgson thinks the perception of his team will be coloured for quite some time by the poor World Cup campaign, which yielded just one point from three matches.

The national coach warned that without the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole around, England are short on experience and that the new crop of players he has introduced will take a long time to become established internationals.

"Some of these players are top-class players in the making, but the players are in the making," he said. "You can't play five or six games for England and be a regular at Liverpool for six or seven months and then be David Beckham.

"You can't be Phil Jones with all the injuries he has had and nail down a place in the Manchester United first team and then become John Terry.

"You can't be Jack Wilshere, who has lost all that football through injury and then all of a sudden be Bryan Robson. Let's be fair on all of these things. That's all I am asking.

"Allow me to be excited about what they can do and allow me to stand up and say I think my team played well at a press conference when I think they have."

 

[Acker79]

I only paid passing attention to the game. On the guardian football podcast they seemed to think England were much better after Rooney left the pitch. There were some damning statistics, but all I remember is that he was responsible for 100% of England's offsides. I don't know how many there were.

But I have been keeping track of overall info and this is the updated England with/without Rooney stats



There clearly is an issue with Rooney. I don't know if he needs to be dropped, but something needs to be addressed - supporting players, tactics, approach, whatever.

 

[Ernest]

No Sturridge Monday