Total and absolute Over reaction

[Kinky Gerbil]

on current form the team should have defoe robinson wp king and possible cole in it

 

[Yorkie]

I used to be a Sven fan, but if he is so utterly inflexible as to play players on form or ability, why is he there? We need to be winning matches, so why is Bridge on the left wing, especially with SW-P storming the premiership at the moment? We have an utter donkey in goal and a young, confident, in-form keeper on the bench - WTF!?

Robinson, Wright-Phillips, Defoe in, or Sven out.

I agree with that. Those who think Sven did nothing wrong perhaps can explain to me what the heck happened when Gerrard indicated to the bench that Bridge was injured and wanted to be subbed?

What did Sven do? He subbed GERRARD Talk about lack of communication

The first Austrian goal was a great free kick and nothing could be done about it but the style of play and the comic/tragic second equalising goal should never have been allowed to happen.

England did the same against France and Portugal - throwing away games.

I don't have a problem with Beckham. I would take Smith off and play Vassell though.

 

[Easy 10]

Dave the Gaffer is absolutely spot on.
The total over-reaction by the media to this result is as predictable as it is tedious. For fucks sake, we've picked up a point in an away tie. Yes we threw away two points, but draw away and win at home, and we will piss this group. I'll be quite happy with a draw on Wednesday as well. Of course that will spark a supposed "national outrage" that we've dared to pick up only 2 points from 2 away games, but the reality is that two draws will be a perfectly adequate return from those two games. Not GREAT, but adequate.

The way the papers are carrying on, you'd have thought we got stuffed 3-0. Yes, James is a clown (as we knew already). Yes, we should have held on comfortably against poor opposition. But we played some decent stuff and overall we were unlucky not to come away with the points. I am a big critic of Eriksson, I do not like his passive methods. His substitutions still leave a lot to be desired, and the total f***-up in taking Gerrard off is just another example of a coach who does not have his finger on the pulse during the course of a match. But overall he was not to blame for Austria clawing their way back into that game.

It doesn't matter how you qualify, just that you DO qualify, and anyone who thinks England won't top that group with room to spare has their head up their arse.

 

[Yorkie]

The problem is Easy, is that this is following on from games in Euro 2004 where we were ahead by a country mile and then lost the games.

Something is wrong somewhere and everyone is going to look for a scapegoat or three.

 

[Easy 10]

True Yorkie.
Actually, the best piece I read on the game over the weekend was by Paul McCarthy in The People. He likened England to a boxer with a "glass jaw". We can take the lead, look good for a while, but then as soon as the opposition land a blow, all the good work goes to pot, confidence drains and we fall apart, with the knockout punch looking more and more likely to come.

I was impressed with the passing and movement of the team on Saturday. We kept them pegged back for long periods and controlled the vast majority of the game. No-one could have forcasted anything other than a convincing win once Gerrard put us 2-0 up. 9 times out of 10 we would have comfortably seen that game out, but for some reason we hit panic stations once they got one back, and then they fluked another one because of James's sheer incompentence.

Its frustrating to end up with a 2-2, but it did not make it an "awful performance" by England. Play like we did for three quarters of that match and it will be more than enough to turn over anyone in this group. We just need to sort out this "glass jaw" that afflicts the team every time we let the opposition back in the game.

 

[Yorkie]

Three quarter of the game? I want us to play like it for 92 minutes of the game.

I'm still gutted we lost to the French let alone draw with the Austrians

 

[Easy 10]

Thats what I meant Yorkie - if we can maintain the performance we put in for the first 70 minutes in Austria over the full 90 minutes in our subsequent games, it will be more than enough to see us through.

 

[El Presidente]

The problem is Easy, is that this is following on from games in Euro 2004 where we were ahead by a country mile and then lost the games.

Something is wrong somewhere and everyone is going to look for a scapegoat or three.

Not sure I agree with you here. If you look at the games

1. Against France we took the lead and lost it in the last 60 seconds, but were never ahead of them by a country mile. We had a penalty to make the score 2-0 but Beckham fluffed it.

2. Against Switzerland we took the lead and kept it,

3. Against Croatia we conceded first but came back to win the match.

4. Against Portugal we took an early lead, were battered for over an hour and then conceded a deserved equaliser. Portugal then took the lead and we fought back to equalise ourselves. We then had a perfectly good goal disallowed by a poor refereeing decision that cost us the game. Beckham missed his customary penalty and we were out of the competition.

To qualify for Euro 2004 we had to pick up a point against Turkey, a side who had never scored against us in their history. After a 0-0 draw (again where Beckham missed a penalty) the side were treated as heroes, simply because we qualified for the finals. A similar event occured against the might of Greece (when they were still crap) in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup finals. We went behind twice but the combination of a superb Beckham equaliser and Germany's inability to defeat the might of Finland allowed to to qualify and the media were all up Svens arse.

Why a 2-2 draw against another poor side is treated as the end of the world heaven only knows. If we get turned over by the Welsh at home then consider sacking the manager, but a draw away from home is not a terrible result. You only have to look at Greece, France etc over the weekend to realise it was a disappointing, but not cataclysmic, event.

 

[Easy 10]

I absolutely agree, El P.
The way the media peddle the theory that we have some kind of devine right to turn up in countries like Austria and piss all over them from a great height is utterly ludicrous. Then when England don’t come away with a two-or-three goal victory, they can come out with all the mock outrage and “disgust”. A few nuggets from that bastion of sensible, balanced reporting, The Sun. Amongst the “WORLD CUP SHAMBLES” tickertape headlines, we had

”England boss Eriksson’s future is in the balance after a shameful 2-2 draw in Austria.”
”Brooking attended the press conferences yesterday as he tried to gauge the mood after the disaster in Vienna.”

Now I’d like to see Eriksson sacked for a multitude of reasons, but a 2-2 in Austria in the first game of a World Cup qualifying campaign is not one of them. I suppose we get the press we deserve. England are either “Brave Lions, Worldbeaters, Heroes” or they are “a shambles, a joke, a disgrace”. There is rarely any middle ground where a balanced and incisive bit of reporting is given – obviously the simple public cannot understand anything less than one extreme or the other. Will we ever see a headline screaming: “ENGLAND DID ALRIGHT” ? Probably not. Instead, lets write bollocks based not on the performance, or the context, but purely on the outcome, and make it either a complete disaster or a monumental triumph.

Boring, innit ?

 

[El Presidente]

There is no doubt that elements of the press are loving it because of the fact that Sven is not English, and so want him out for merely this reason.

Because he, a single man, has slept with three women in the last five years he is berated for not focussing on the job, but his behaviour is surely far better than that of the likes of England 'stars' Lampard, Wingnut Dyer, Rooney and Ferdinand, none of whom have any respect for the women they spit roast/ shag in brothels etc etc.

Two weeks ago we beat the Ukraine 3-0 and there was hardly a peep out of the press, they are (sweeping generalisation ahoy) an embarrassing bunch of clueless parasites.

 

[Yorkie]

I don't know how the press are reacting because I don't buy a newspaper.

I am only going on what I feel about the games and the results.

 

[NMH]

no way! totally disagree! apart from the last goal, he hardly did anything else that was wrong. As Sven said "if no-one made mistakes, all games would end 0-0." David James wasnt the only person playing, there were plenty of mistakes in the defending of the moments leading up to the goal anyway.

come on, we still got a point away from home, and lets be fair we dominated the first half by MILES.

Sorry, but this was complete bolleaux cobber - James displayed the ball between his legs as if to reassure everyone "what a good boy am I", but it stands as just another example of his dodgy keeping.
My gran could've saved the second goal.
His run to the edge of the box was unpunished only because he had defenders running back and the wide attacker had his well-placed shot saved off the line practically.

Considering Austria really only had a couple of reasonable attempts and one outstanding free-kick (which even then leaves some question about James placement, and HIS responsibility in marshalling a wall!!).

He cost us the points, even though it has been rightly said;- England will probably qualify easy enough. BUT, the manner of these games suggest an ongoing problem with tactics, the captain's influence, and team selection in the goal department when we KNOW FOR CERTAIN that James is not up to the job. He 'might' just as easily have cost us ALL the points - and indeed we only had a tally of 2 goals due to a goalkeeping error at the other end, so luckily the margin was enough in our favour.

We should dominate such oppositions, yes, but we should also have them buried after such domination.

The chinks in England's armour are clear enough for all the rest of the World to see. Why do we have to see them constantly exploited at expense?

Once these players are initially chosen for England - it takes a lot for Sven to see the writing on the wall and admit that they're not consistent enough to persevere with. No more Hargreaves (finally this one seems to have been realised), James, or Heskey (Scholes had to retire before Sven picked him again - at least he had the guts to know he wasn't good enough any more!) - and defend a lead with more intelligence and tactical nouse.

 

[Dave the OAP]

With regards to the free kick, I assume everone noticed the forward pull the defender out of the wall where the scorer hit the ball.

This is something that every club does. Mcphee used to do it all of the time, and people get away with it.

James had to protect his side of the goal expecting the wall to cover the other side. Only skillful players like Beckham etc have the ability to go up and over a wall and still hit the target...what happened was that the striker had a clear shot on goal caused by the "hole" made by the guy in the wall.

I still say it was not his fault.

 

[Tooting Gull]

The reaction to the result has been slightly over the top, but that's all. It was a bad result. Letting in two goals to Austria in three minutes, who are a very average side, is unacceptable.

We have been let off the hook a bit by Wales only drawing, otherwise it could have been more costly. But Sven would have been looking to win in Vienna and get a draw in Poland, beating the Poles at home. That strategy is now out the window.

Heightened scrutiny is what you get, and expect, when you are under pressure, and we underachieved in Portugal. We could/should have won that tournament, there were no outstanding teams.

And while Beckham is likely to do something amazing soon, he could have no complaints about being dropped, he's been playing shite for ages.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Can't see how the free kick was his fault. Watch it again, nobody in the f***ing wall jumps. They all seem to be standing there thinking that he's never going to get it over them even though they are all less the 6 feet tall.

The blame should lie mostly with James but the Austrians were allowed back into the game far too easily and when the going got tough yet again the midfield disapperead and let the side down.

Oh how I'd kill for Scholes to have been playing.

 

[Digweeds Trousers]

Personally I'd like to see Sven in charge for the next 10 years as we pass you and becopme the best side in the Home NAtions.

 

[Easy 10]

Oh how I'd kill for Scholes to have been playing.

I am also a former lover of Scholes (if you know what I mean), and if we could have had the Scholes of 3 years ago in the team, that would have been peachy.

But that little ginger tosser can f*** right off now. He is an embarrassment to his country and a disgrace to his profession. A lily-livered, limp-wristed charlatan with as much guts and national pride as a maggot on a turd. And when England win the World Cup in 2006, his grandkids will say "grandad, why didn't YOU play in that England team ?".
And he'll say "err, cos like, I wanted to spend more time with the wife and kids, and that."

Tosser.

 

[CHAPPERS]

I am also a former lover of Scholes (if you know what I mean), and if we could have had the Scholes of 3 years ago in the team, that would have been peachy.

But that little ginger tosser can f*** right off now. He is an embarrassment to his country and a disgrace to his profession. A lily-livered, limp-wristed charlatan with as much guts and national pride as a maggot on a turd. And when England win the World Cup in 2006, his grandkids will say "grandad, why didn't YOU play in that England team ?".
And he'll say "err, cos like, I wanted to spend more time with the wife and kids, and that."

Tosser.

Aaah cool. Let's have this argument again.

Nobody on here is fit to judge Paul Scholes because:

a) You don't know the man and cannot comment on his life, what if he really does think spending more time with his wife and kids is more important to him than playing for the national side. Nobody has the right to judge another man about this.

b) He's given more to English football than you, that's for sure.

c) He wants to extend his club career by retiring so that he can live comfortably for the rest of his life unlike that wanker Shearer who did it so he can extend his career while doing punditry for Sky whenever he gets the chance.

Paul Scholes is different from most footballers, the only player in the Premiership NOT to have an agent, that says a lot if you ask me.

 

[Marshy]

Yep, Sven effectively retired Scholes in my opinion.

 

[Easy 10]

Aaah cool. Let's have this argument again.

Nobody on here is fit to judge Paul Scholes because:

a) You don't know the man and cannot comment on his life, what if he really does think spending more time with his wife and kids is more important to him than playing for the national side. Nobody has the right to judge another man about this.

I can call it as I see it and give an opinion, like anyone else. So rolling home at 1pm after training every day doesn't give him enough time with his family ? I only wish I had half the spare time footballers have. He's already a multi-millionaire and will be retired by 35, which should still give him a fair bit of quality time with the family I'd have thought. Eight or nine England games a season and a summer tournamernt every other year is hardly going to impinge much on his spare time in the great scheme of things.

b) He's given more to English football than you, that's for sure.

True, I have not yet been selected for England, whereas he has 60-odd caps, so he has the advantage there. I certainly wouldn't turn my back on my country if they ever needed an uncoordinated, overweight oaf playing in the midfield though.

c) He wants to extend his club career by retiring so that he can live comfortably for the rest of his life unlike that wanker Shearer who did it so he can extend his career while doing punditry for Sky whenever he gets the chance.

His club career would have continued for just as long, whether he played for England or not - that is just a side issue. And he will retire young and rich, he's already made up for the rest of his life. Fair enough, thats what players at the top of their profession can do. We'd all do the same in his boots. But jacking it in for England at the age of 29 just shows a weakness of character, a lack of drive, and a lack of professional pride. He has let his country down, and he has let every England fan fan down. He won't give a toss of course, but then that appears to be the nature of the man.