England fans are 'deluded' - Robbie Savage

[Bold Seagull]

Being stifled by Johnny Foreigner , English talent gets farmed out to lower league teams where the standard is not so good, consequently their talent gets stunted.

What Plooks says...

Yes but that would not happen if the English talent was as good as "Johnny Foreigner" would it?

You only have to look at our U19 and U21 performances to realise our emerging talent is not even close to that coming out of Europe and beyond.

 

[grubbyhands]

I've not been deluded for about 15 years now. It's the media that seem to translate excitement and pride into divine expectation. I haven't met an English fan who thought we could get to the final let alone win it since 1990. It's a mystery why those in the media think a bit of moaning or even a lot means we think we can compete with the top 20 countries. We don't! It's the pundits that are deluded or seriously detached from ordinary supporters...but then they would be not mixing with fans anymore in their blacked out range rovers and expensive restaurants kids at private schools etc. I don't blame them, must be hard to empathise with people who earn less in a year than they did in a week.

Exactly this.

 

[TheMajor]

It's actually quite the reverse, I think alot of England fans would admit that our record has been relatively okay, given quite how remarkably sh*t we are most of the time.

Spot on - 2 defeats (plus one on penalties after ET) in our last 30 games ain't bad.

 

[drew]

I'm not deluded. I hope we win the world cup but accept that it is almost a certainty that we won't. What disappointed me with the game on Tuesday is the manner in which we continually gave the ball away. It was a great result but not a great performance, just adequate. Ricky Lambert was stuck up front on his own but the defence and midfield should have just played keep ball for long spells. We were lucky not to concede a penalty in the first minute and lucky Ukraine didn't get on proper connection on any of those balls into the box. Still, job almost done.

 

[edna krabappel]

Bob Wilis got in on the act last week at the Eng v Ire cricket, describing it as the bitterest of rivalries?!?! It's possibly the most one sided rivalry imaginable.

And even if it was a massive rivalry, cricket isn't exactly a sport where Anglo-Irish relations are at their most heated.

 

[edna krabappel]

Perhaps it's this: the media in this country build up our own players in the Premier League to the extent where they're portrayed as world class talents. They are paid on a level with world class talents.

The frustration for supporters is seeing these so-called world class talents fail to perform even the most basic of tasks, such as controlling a ball, or passing it accurately to a team mate. I don't expect England to win the World Cup, or to suddenly become Xavi & Iniesta. But I also think it's reasonable to expect the likes of Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere to be able to consistently make a five yard pass to someone wearing the same colour shirt, not to look up, lean back, and hoof it forward to whichever willing workhorse is running around up front that night. Sometimes I think the Albion pass and retain the ball better from the back than England internationals do, and that's enormously depressing in the context of an England game.

 

[Foolg]

Problem is, most people make a link between us having one of the highest, if not the highest quality domestic football league in the world, and thus assume our national team should be of the same quality. Our mid table clubs are signing the best talent from other leagues, take Osvaldo for example, leaves one of the biggest Italian clubs (Roma) and joins Southampton.

However most people are ignorant of the fact that the players making the domestic league so brilliant are mostly from overseas.

You look at the U21 squad, and it doesn't boast much for the future either. Most fans expect us to be knocked out of the last 16, or perhaps Quarter Finals, I would say that's fairly realistic.

 

[symyjym]

Robbie Savage’s guide to getting transfered, and openly says he has used many of these tactics.

Faking injury
Make up newspaper stories
Use the media
Undermine the manager
Fight with team-mates
Moan to backroom staff
Be a bad influence
Don't put the effort in
Let other clubs know you want to move

This sort of attitude doesn't help English football

Full Story

 

[Guinness Boy]

Perhaps it's this: the media in this country build up our own players in the Premier League to the extent where they're portrayed as world class talents. They are paid on a level with world class talents.

The frustration for supporters is seeing these so-called world class talents fail to perform even the most basic of tasks, such as controlling a ball, or passing it accurately to a team mate. I don't expect England to win the World Cup, or to suddenly become Xavi & Iniesta. But I also think it's reasonable to expect the likes of Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere to be able to consistently make a five yard pass to someone wearing the same colour shirt, not to look up, lean back, and hoof it forward to whichever willing workhorse is running around up front that night. Sometimes I think the Albion pass and retain the ball better from the back than England internationals do, and that's enormously depressing in the context of an England game.

...and the national team never will retain the ball against better sides all the time there are a good deal of fans like Kev the Rev and Pork Pie who think that successfully completing a 5 yard sideways pass is boring. One thing I ADORED Gus for (and still do after everything that happened) was that here was a manager trying to improve the technical ability of players in a British team. It's the same reason I now have a soft spot for Swansea. Sadly the likes of Poyet and Laudrup are always going to be on to a loser when the majority of Dads on the touchline in kids football are shouting moronic stuff like 'get stuck in' and 'get rid of it'.

Back to the point. My expectations have always been set to 'going out of the 2nd round of the finals on penalties' before. Now under Roy "Pragmatic" Hodgson they are set to 'might qualify for the finals if lucky'.

 

[Kumquat]

I actually agree with what he is saying. Although I don't know many people expecting us to be challenging to win the World Cup. Perhaps the one failing with his argument is that he mistakes media hype for fan expectations.

I've quite liked Savage ever since he wore the stripes.

Me too. I particularly liked the way when he was with us for that month's loan he did sweet FA before gracefully allowing himself to be substituted at half time against Leicester when we were 2-0 down to allow Bradley Johnson to come on and rescue the game. Legend.