***England v Germany***

[T soprano]

Roy Hodgson is getting it right.



.

Yep with a 2-0 Home defeat to Chile and a 1-0 home defeat to Germany( B team ) the signs are looking good

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'm going to stay out of this discussion from now. But one thing I will say, is you have a love a nation which has sensitive skin (which I have) male grooming products endorsed by the national football manager.

 

[beakyburn]

The only positive for me watching that England performance is that I don't have to watch them again now till March

Spot on. Walker, Cole, Cleverley, Rooney and Sturridge I thought were awful. In fact the whole back line worries me for the world cup. The centre back pairing being the biggest concern. The days of Terry, Ferdinand, Adams, Campbell and Butcher. Any free kick or corner coming in and these guys you could depend on with putting their head in where it hurts. Rooney losing his cool when things are not going his way is another concern. Getting sent off in the first group game when grumpy is something Refs will be looking for because of who he is. When we see the strength of the rest of the nations next summer I see not beyond three group games and then coming home.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Spot on. Walker, Cole, Cleverley, Rooney and Sturridge I thought were awful. In fact the whole back line worries me for the world cup. The centre back pairing being the biggest concern. The days of Terry, Ferdinand, Adams, Campbell and Butcher. Any free kick or corner coming in and these guys you could depend on with putting their head in where it hurts. Rooney losing his cool when things are not going his way is another concern. Getting sent off in the first group game when grumpy is something Refs will be looking for because of who he is. When we see the strength of the rest of the nations next summer I see not beyond three group games and then coming home.

Pretty much the same as what Terry and Ferdinand achieved then.....when their England sides actually qualified for major tournaments that is!

 

[T soprano]

To cut a long story short - we'll bumble through the group stage after a luck lustre 0-0 with Ghana and a 1-1 with Switzerland having to win 1-0 against USA in the final group game, then on to last 16 with a favourable draw we could progress to last 8 when we come up against the big guns of either Brazil, Germany or Argentina where we'll put up a plucky performances to lose either by the odd goal or lose on pens
De-ja-vu anyone

 

[Bold Seagull]

To cut a long story short - we'll bumble through the group stage after a luck lustre 0-0 with Ghana and a 1-1 with Switzerland having to win 1-0 against USA in the final group game, then on to last 16 with a favourable draw we could progress to last 8 when we come up against the big guns of either Brazil, Germany or Argentina where we'll put up a plucky performances to lose either by the odd goal or lose on pens
De-ja-vu anyone

That wouldn't be de-ja-vu, did you watch the last world cup, we were a lot worse than that! I'd snatch your hand off for an odd goal defeat/pens in the last 8! I thought I was being optimistic!!!

 

[T soprano]

That wouldn't be de-ja-vu, did you watch the last world cup, we were a lot worse than that! I'd snatch your hand off for an odd goal defeat/pens in the last 8! I thought I was being optimistic!!!

That was pretty similar to last World Cup except we got crushed 4-1 by Germany
But pretty much the same scenario as 86 90 98 02 06 usually squeeze out of the groups have a blinder in one game expectations go up then lose on pens or by odd goal in QF

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Please,don't be so downbeat....even though we were playing their B Team...I mean,we were beaten in the air in defence and we were beaten in the air in attack...oh ,our loose passing and losing the ball midfield didn't help.... other than that...we did OK...

 

[Red Side Of Sussex]

What do you expect!? We have not got the quality to beat teams like that.

Then why the hell are they so extremely well paid?
Those players who represented our country are amoungst the highest paid footballers in the world.
Is it unreasonable for the nation to expect a certain standard from such highly paid proffessionals?
The booing after the last two games comes from pure frustration.If the players earnt £50,000 a year and didn't live in a bubble where they are generally kept away from the working man then they would have more sympathy from us.

 

[nicko31]

We beat Monte and Ukraine, but meeting better sides has given us all a reality check. Thanks to the greedy Premier$ship our English lads are left on the sidelines so we just don't have the strength and depth, can't see this changing anytime soon. Shockingly without Hart we don't have a decent keeper.

We will need to be at our best to get anywhere in Brazil. Still I have as much confidence in Woy as anyone. We'll do OK until we meet a top 5 side, still yet to knock any of these out in recent history on foreign soil. Brazil, Arg, Germany, Holland...its a shocking stat we need to shake off, let alone getting to a semi, a final or winning anything

 

[Bold Seagull]

In Premier League starting XI's we have about 75 englishman starting games, or 34% English.

That means 66% are better footballers from abroad. This should tell you why we shouldn't be expecting to be rolling over other nations in the international game.

Brazil - 93% Brazilian
Bundesliga - 76% German
La liga - 60% Spanish
Serie A - 56% Italian

Not only are their homegrown players playing at the top level in their own countries, we have their remaining top players over here getting better in our leagues!

How many English centre backs actually start in the Premier League each week? Those that do pretty much get in the England squad, we are that short on choice. It's not rocket science, but people do need to adjust their expectations of what our national team can be expected to achieve.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

How many English centre backs actually start in the Premier League each week?

What about the goalkeepers?

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

and the 6' 7" centre half who scored against us last night plays for ........Arsenal, I rest my case.....too many foreigners !

 

[Albumen]

And why are there too many foreigners? Because there's only a handful of clubs who are teaching kids at a young age that the ball is a friend, and the pass is the most important thing in the game. We're still a land of shouting thugs, who's young footballers dads shout bile at the opponent and want their kid to 'get stuck in there'.
If the home grown kids were good enough, we'd have more. Don't blame the premiership.

 

[WhingForPresident]

Sturridge doesn't fit into this England set up at all. He is so used to being spoiled with Suarez and Gerrard doing the donkey work at Liverpool and he struggles badly when he doesn't have them to feed him chances on a plate.
Cleverley is SHITHOUSE, but we already knew that. Bringing on players like Kieran Gibbs and that ****ing carthorse Rickie Lambert when we are chasing a game.. I just don't get it.
It is clear that we are further behind the rest of the world than ever before. Friendly or not, there is no excuse for being completely nullified by Chile and Germany reserves at home.
Germany must be scratching their heads wondering why they are wasting their time on some second-rate outfit that will do well to pass the second round in Brazil.

Also, Hodgson isn't the right man, but then I don't think the right man for the job actually exists. The FA were so intent on appointing an Englishman that we ended up with the only one we could get on the cheap that wouldn't cause uproar. Sod it, let's get a foreigner in and actually attempt to play some football. If we're going to lose, let's at least be entertaining, as opposed to ****ing hopeless as they were against Chile and last night. Boring boring England

 

[Papa Lazarou]

The top 10 foreign nationalities in the Prem are:

Nat Players Percentage
France 35 9.9
Spain 31 8.7
Ireland 28 7.9
Scotland 20 5.6
Netherlands 16 4.5
Brazil 14 3.9
Belgium 14 3.9
Wales 14 3.9
Argentina 10 2.8
Germany 10 2.8

 

[Bold Seagull]

And why are there too many foreigners? Because there's only a handful of clubs who are teaching kids at a young age that the ball is a friend, and the pass is the most important thing in the game. We're still a land of shouting thugs, who's young footballers dads shout bile at the opponent and want their kid to 'get stuck in there'.
If the home grown kids were good enough, we'd have more. Don't blame the premiership.

Have you not just contradicted yourself? Surely the clubs of the Premier League are the ones who could be doing more at grass roots level to teach the kids, and even teach those who teach. The Premier League has created a insular world of short term greed based on simply staying in the league. Any long term planning is second to signing ready made players to keep you up, or getting in the top 4.

How many home grown young players have the top 6 clubs bought through their ranks in recent years? It's a handful at best. We're talking our countries best 6 sides and out of say a collective squad size of about 120 players, it must be 10 or so who or English and bought through their clubs youth system.

Why would they spend millions in investing in the local youth football at all levels, when they can pick up a ready made left back from Belgium or wherever for £2m?

How can you not blame our own club sides and the greed of the Premier League that drives them!?

 

[hybrid_x]

Gerrard is rubbish - but the whole nation and football world think he is amazing.

err, about 10 years ago he was pretty good -around when lpool won the CL, but now? all our hopes in the middle on him?

no point in going to Brazil - will be made to look silly.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It is clear that we are further behind the rest of the world than ever before.

Well this simply isn't true is it. We didn't qualify for the world cup finals in '74, '78 or '94, so we're not further behind than ever before!

 

[Surf's Up]

The only players to emerge with any credit from last night were Townsend, Lallana, Hart and Jagielka - the rest were pants.