England 2008 Qualifying

[Arfie]

Arfie- as for saying you dont care if England qualify, are you serious? Have some pride in your nation at least we've got a English manager now, get behind the boys

Yes I'm serious .....Kinda If not qualifying meant we got rid of him to ensure we can get a decent manager in place for the next world cup, I'd take not being at the Euro's. As I said, the best scenario for me is we still get through, but he is gone by the time the tournament kicks off. The worst case is we qualify and he doesn't have the nouse to take us past or even as far as the 1/4 finals again. Lets not forget he was part of the previous management that was doing exactly the same things.

Don't get carried away by the results Israel are dreadful and no matter what the press made out about Russia being a top team, they are ranked 24th in the world one below Scotland . We beat 2 average teams, at home, had we been in Scotlands group with France and Italy, I think we'd already be out by now. Scotland are a great example of a manager getting the best from his players despite the fact that most of them wouldn't get into the England squad let alone team, but they've beaten France TWICE

The system of play was enforced on him by the abscence of Rooney, Lampard, Hargreaves and Beckham, the entire team was more balanced because we had people who can play together even though they aren't the best players. Heskey and Owen work well together and always have, but Owen and Rooney don't. Gerrard and Barry worked together, but Gerrard and Lampard don't. We all know that he's likely to put Lampard and Hargreaves back in the middle and stuff Gerrard out right next game regardless of how well Barry and SWP played and that is why I want him gone.

Playing a 4-4-2 formation most of the English players have an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder at their clubs. Gerrard has Sissoko or Mascherano, Lampard has Essien or Makelele and that's what gets the best out of them. At Man Utd Hargreaves and Carrick sometimes play together but have the likes of Scholes attacking and tend to play in a more fluid 4-5-1 formation. Owen likes a big man to play alongside, which Rooney isn't. So when you play 2 incompatible players together, you don't get the best out of either, you are better off playing a "lesser" player who can perform to his best AND get the best out of someone else. Hargreaves OR Carrick OR Barry can play DM then Gerrard OR Lampard can play AM, leaving people like SWP or Lennon or Beckham on the right and Cole or Downing or Bentley on the left.

As for him being English, I couldn't give a monkeys I'm English, doesn't mean I'd make a great manager. I'd rather have a foreign manager who has a clue about how to win, than an English one who picks the players that sell the most merchandise for the FA. Oh and you realise that Martin O'Neill isn't English don't you so the whole "English" thing is an invalid point really!

I have pride in my nation which is why I want the change to happen before we get laughed at for underperforming in a tournament yet again.

Arfie

 

[rowdyburns21]

At the end of the day I just get behind the boys, no moaning, no wanting the manager sacked, no booing at players, we are england and the rest of the world are out to bring us down so we need to stick up for our boys, COME ON ENGLAND we dont need the non believers

 

[Arfie]

we dont need the non believers

What we don't need is blind faith in people not upto the task they are faced with.

Lets hope we scrape qualification to put in a sterling effort during Euro2008 but still end up getting knocked out in the quarter finals, then repeat it all again for the world cup.

How about doing something different for once and taking the hit now and getting a decent manager in charge so we have half a chance of getting a team ready to actually win something rather than underperforming yet again.

Arfie

 

[rowdyburns21]

Who do you reckon should be manager then?

 

[Arfie]

Well as I've said many times before out of all the names originally linked to the job when Sven left, McLaren was very much last choice for me in fact I'd rather we'd kept Sven in charge.

If we are keeping English or at the very least British, I would have preferred O'Neill, Allardyce, Curbishley or Pearce in that order. If we are forward thinking enough and will look at foreign managers, then Guus Hiddink would be my first choice, closely followed by Scolari, both men have done well at international and club level. Hiddink has won the dutch league, cup and european cup with PSV and taken both Holland and South Korea into the semi finals of the world cup. And of course Scolari has only won the world cup with Brazil and taken Portugal to the final of Euro 2004, not to mention managing them when the knocked us out of the World cup.

Out of all those candidates, only Stuart Pearce has acheived less as a manager than McLaren who's record is a league cup win and a uefa cup final along with consistantly mid table league finishes despite having large budgets.

Right now I'd take Venables taking over full charge with someone like Pearce as assistant to learn the ropes ready to take over in a few years.

The other man I think would be able to sort England out would be Mourinho a man who gets the very best out of his players and if they aren't doing their very best, he bins them. Maybe when he and Chelski are bored of each other, who knows

Arfie

 

[Arfie]

The other man I think would be able to sort England out would be Mourinho a man who gets the very best out of his players and if they aren't doing their very best, he bins them. Maybe when he and Chelski are bored of each other, who knows

Arfie

And so the next stage in my world cup winning plan is completed, Mourinho has parted company with The Rent Boys

Now to sack McLaren and install Mourinho and on to glory with England

Arfie

 

[rowdyburns21]

The other man I think would be able to sort England out would be Mourinho a man who gets the very best out of his players and if they aren't doing their very best, he bins them. Maybe when he and Chelski are bored of each other, who knows

Arfie

And so the next stage in my world cup winning plan is completed, Mourinho has parted company with The Rent Boys

Now to sack McLaren and install Mourinho and on to glory with England

Arfie

 

[BigC]

Now to sack McLaren and install Mourinho

Yeah Mourinho is free, now he's left Chelsea by mutual consent (SACKED)
Although I am not a lover of foreigners being the figurehead of the national side but in this case they (England) could do a lot worse than choosing "The Chosen One"

 

[Arfie]

I agree to a point, in fact I didn't want a foreign manager at Liverpool, but you know both Houllier and now Benitez did better than Roy Evans and Graham Souness before them and do you think I celebrated any less when we won our 5th European Cup under a Spaniard than I did the 4th under Joe Fagan an Englishman and a scouser at that? Of course not and England fans will celebrate just as much if we win the european championship or world cup under a foreigner as we would under an Englishman

Arfie

 

[Arfie]

So will he have the balls to leave Lampard out?

Barry did really well with Gerrard and there is no reason he should be dropped especially for someone only just coming back from injury. If Lampard is chosen, he will be in there purely based on being a big name. now if Barry plays and is poor or Gerrard is poor for that matter drop them and replace them with an eager Lampard who will be itching to prove he's the best

Rooney looks sahrp at the moment, but hasn't done much in an England shirt so should he play? This one I can't decide, I'm not sure he and Owen are a partnership, but I think he's looking soo good for the scum that I'd take a gamble and Owen looks pretty sharp too, then again Crouch plays well for England when given the chance to start a match, so maybe start with Crouch/Rooney with Owen on the bench ready to be unleashed if things look stale.

I really hope McLaren grows a backnbone and drops some of the glory boys and goes on to 2 more wins, the last 2 teams were pretty much forced on him and they worked, now if he has the guts to choose those teams, I'll leave off him ... a bit

Arfie

 

[fry_lover]

Boy, Steve McClaren!!!

"i couldnt have asked any more of the players"

no?

How about a win or a draw?

I watched the game, sick of the excuses, dont start harping on about the penalty, these things "come and go" in terms of decisions, its part of football

We in this position because of stuff like drawing 0-0 at home with Macedonia, not just coz of dubious penalty decisions

If we are not good enough to qualify over 12 games then that tells its own story, please dont go on about "decisions" being "against us", maybe make reference to it and say we were unfortunate in that respect, but dont cry off about it.

Steve McClaren, non event as a Middlesbro manager, non event as an England manager.

Not all his fault, perhaps not even mostly his fault, just hate seeing him on TV talking, does nothing to inspire in terms of results, does nothing to inspire in terms of what he says

 

[raptorrex]

Boy, Steve McClaren!!!

"i couldnt have asked any more of the players"

no?

How about a win or a draw?

I watched the game, sick of the excuses, dont start harping on about the penalty, these things "come and go" in terms of decisions, its part of football

We in this position because of stuff like drawing 0-0 at home with Macedonia, not just coz of dubious penalty decisions

If we are not good enough to qualify over 12 games then that tells its own story, please dont go on about "decisions" being "against us", maybe make reference to it and say we were unfortunate in that respect, but dont cry off about it.

Steve McClaren, non event as a Middlesbro manager, non event as an England manager.

Not all his fault, perhaps not even mostly his fault, just hate seeing him on TV talking, does nothing to inspire in terms of results, does nothing to inspire in terms of what he says

England have done this to me every two or four years since !970. each time i build myself up and come crashing to the floor, and each time i say, "never again". But it is my Country, something i will never give up on. just wish the power that be felt the same. so i am resigned to having my guts ripped our every couple of years, when eleven guys go out on the field wearing the three lions. its hard not to wonder if that badge means as much to those who play, as it does to those who watch!

"Psycho" will be ready in a few years. how about Mr O'neill till then. i feel Mr Mc should be binned.

 

[BigC]

As long as the foreign legion of overseas/overpaid players choke our leagues then The England team as we know it will always be mediocre. Too many foreign players IMO is the ruination of our national game. I firmly believe that a limit or cap should be adopted say 3 players per team. Yes I know there will be pros and cons to this harsh regime but until a similar scheme is adopted (sooner rather than later) then we can all shut up and put up with a mediocre national team that virtually picks itself every game.
The youngsters are not comming through only the top knotch boys stand a chance ie Rooney. Name a youngster (brit) who has really shone this past couple of years
Theo Wallcott (I think not)
I'll say it again an England manager needs to be someone the players of today can look up to and aspire to be like. If you are looking for a british manager then you'll be hard pushed to find one of that ilk.

 

[Arfie]

Firstly, I actually applaud McLaren for going with the "Team" instead of all the big names, sadly though, they just didn't perform for him. Personally, I'd bring Lampard back in for the next game and leave Gerrard on the bench as he's just not in form right now but leave Barry in place as he deserves it.

I'm not convinced that the foreigners thing is that much of an issue, top quality always comes through and while there haven't been that many in the last couple of years like Rooney, it's not the first time that's happened. If Henry hadn't been at Arsenal then Walcott may have had more games before now, or if he'd gone to a smaller team he could have "come through" and made a bigger impact. Lets be honest, if Rooney had been a manc, he probably wouldn't have had half the number of games he'd got under his belt at Everton. But there are talented youngsters around like Walcott & Gareth Bale and we only need one or 2 good players a year to come through as the spine of the team will remain pretty much unchanged for 5-6 years at a time.

The problem is that we actually do have enough talented players to win, the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Owen, Terry, Ferdinand, Joe Cole could play in almost any team, be it club or country in the world, what they lack is direction and "management". If nothing else works, I'd promote Venables to manager and bring in Psycho and Sammy Lee in as assistants to learn the ropes from the master of motivation. What Venables did when he was last in charge was get the men playing as a team and that is what we need now, cos the talent is there.

As for restricing foreign players at clubs I have mixed feelings, I would like to see more British players coming through, but the flipside to that is, Liverpool is my first passion in football and I'd rather we have the best players in the world and I don't care where they come from.

Get me appointed to the FA, I'll sort em out

Arfie

 

[BigC]

Get me appointed to the FA, I'll sort em out

You know as well as I do they do not like Mavericks like you Arfie.
They like safe puppets like McClaren who don't rock the boat and everyone can remain in their comfort zone.
They knew that Jose was getting the sack so why not pounce and get him in there as backup for Mac, then do the dirty deed and squeeze Mac out.
Skullduggery at it's best.
BigC