The England Football Team Thread

Thoughts, opinions, team, manager/coach.

Anyone want to contribute?

You don't have to support England, but it might help to understand international football.



Bud

reply to post by budski


Well, just watched the match and initial impressions were we appeared slightly confused in the first half.
Obviously Capello is waisting no time in trying to impose his style and personality on the team.

I strongly disagree with his appointment but he's here now so we have to support him and give him a chance.
But already I think it's apparent there won't be any end to end Keeganesque football played under his leadership!

I was considering Paris next month but think I will save my money.
Berlin in November is a definate though.

Disjointed strangers to the system.

I don't think it's a coincidence that joe cole and SWP (when he came on)played well in that system - they play that way at chelsea.

Give it some time, I'm sure it'll come together.
Capello is a world class coach. and seems to be instilling a proper attitude.

4-3-3 is the future.

I'm also glad that he picked players on form rather than reputation - apart from wes brown.

MUFC defenders play behind the best attacking team in england and it's a mistake to think that scared opposition equals a good defender.

Nice to see upson, bentley and jenas get a chance - I thought they all played pretty well.

Reasonable start - lets hope it's the start of something better.

reply to post by budski


Jenas looks a different player since Ramos went to Spurs.
He is finally starting to look like the player he potentially can be.

Bentley is going to be a fixture in the side for years to come and whilst I am still not convinced about SWP he does seem to be doing it at the moment.

Barry works hard but Hargreaves is a class above in the holding role.

I think it's too early to comment on Upson, I just wish Woodgate could go more than a couple of games without being injured. He and Ferdinand or Terry would be formidable.

I think Rooney is truly world class but the lone striker role is not his best position, to be seen at his best he should be playing just behind the striker, as Cantona did for Man Utd.

I would also prefer to see Richards at right back and the constant ignoring of Green even as a squad member baffles me.
What was Calamity doing right near the end? :shk: Gee, he scares the hell out of me.

All in all, we did ok; Paris will be a much harder test.

Oh, how could I forget, Joe Cole, truly coming of age.
At the top of his game at present.



[edit on 6-2-2008 by Freeborn]

Well... We won and that's an improvement!

To be honest I was a bit pissed about Becks not getting his 100th cap. Then they can forget about him, but I can also see it from Capello's side and it's his team now. Ho Hum.

I hope he keeps Stevie G as captain. I've only had the chance to watch highlights, so it all looked pretty good. I'm sure Capello is going to need a few more games in charge and more training sessions with the squad.

At least the rein of the McClown is over.

Funny old game!

MonKey

New day, now giving Paris serious consideration.
Only down side is not got a ticket so only option will be to watch it in a Parisian bar and pay about £7 a pint :shk:

But to be in Paris when we beat The Frogs, what could be better???

Oh, that's right, being in Berlin in November when we beat Germany!

[edit on 7-2-2008 by Freeborn]

It's the first time in ages i've seen England do better in the second half than in the first. although it was still messy, but we won.

When do they play France?.

Scheduled England games for 2008.
Paris is a maybe.
Andorra would be good but I'm scheduled to be in Crete that week and Croatia maybe too close to that.
Belarus is a distinct possibility and if Germany match is an away fixture then it will be a definate.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed 26 Mar
Friendly, Stade de France

FRANCE
v
ENGLAND

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat 6 Sep
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

ANDORRA
v
ENGLAND

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed 10 Sep
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

CROATIA
v
ENGLAND

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat 11 Oct
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

ENGLAND
v
KAZAKHSTAN

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed 15 Oct
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

BELARUS
v
ENGLAND

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still to be confirmed is Germany V England, November 19th.
Venue to be agreed strong rumour is away in Berlin.

i am sick and tired of david beckham being # on to be honest

capello wants him to prove his worth, just like he DID at madrid

lest we forget what was said and done to beckham at madrid they said he would never play again

and he was a big part of them winning la liga

THIERRY HENRY said himself when the # went down at madrid when he signed the pre contract with LA Galaxy that beckham never lost his quality, just fitness

www.youtube.com...

beckham will win his 100th cap and will fight his place back into englands side once more, how the fairytale ends who knows

it will either be genius or madness (if he's a genius)

the ultimate professional without his wife

she robbed him of some great football

madrids training and circus never helped anyone there at all including beckham

it's not like at his age his legs are totally gone either

why he would move to hollywood after winning his place back at REAL #ING MADRID of all clubs and helping them win the first title since he has been there is beyond me

but maybe not his wife and her spice girl reunion (simon cowell is still their manager?)

see you next tuesday beckham, i mean victoria beckham isn't a brand, or a big name, the spice girls are

david beckham has a longer shelf life than her when it comes to popularity and she and simon cowell know that



[edit on 17-2-2008 by OSSkyWatcher]

Originally posted by OSSkyWatcher
i am sick and tired of david beckham being # on to be honest

capello wants him to prove his worth, just like he DID at madrid

lest we forget what was said and done to beckham at madrid they said he would never play again

and he was a big part of them winning la liga

THIERRY HENRY said himself when the # went down at madrid when he signed the pre contract with LA Galaxy that beckham never lost his quality, just fitness

www.youtube.com...

beckham will win his 100th cap and will fight his place back into englands side once more, how the fairytale ends who knows

it will either be genius or madness (if he's a genius)

the ultimate professional without his wife

she robbed him of some great football

madrids training and circus never helped anyone there at all including beckham

it's not like at his age his legs are totally gone either

why he would move to hollywood after winning his place back at REAL #ING MADRID of all clubs and helping them win the first title since he has been there is beyond me

but maybe not his wife and her spice girl reunion (simon cowell is still their manager?)

see you next tuesday beckham, i mean victoria beckham isn't a brand, or a big name, the spice girls are

david beckham has a longer shelf life than her when it comes to popularity and she and simon cowell know that



[edit on 17-2-2008 by OSSkyWatcher]

i keep reading on the bbc stories about "england doesn't have any talent to draw from"

well look at bentley, micah richards, defoe is still young, ashley young, agbonglahor, porritt from borough, jack hobbs at pool, welbeck at man utd is supposed to be special, everton has a 15/16 year old jose baxter who was a better prospect at 14 than rooney according to an everton coach, shaun wright phillips career was effed up at chelsea, cattermole are borough, scott sinclair, a few of the man city youngsters

wtf does the english press always # on the national team in general?

england has tonnes of class players, and you will see that with capello because the media won't pick his team ever

england has a solid 40-50 players playing club football in the last season and current season who could have gotten a call up, last year nevin nolan was great at bolton scored goals and was playing great, robert green this year has been great at times, carrick played a lot in man utds midfield quietly and they won the title again

i can't understand how england lacks quality players at any level, the english media is sick

Hell, Rooney's only 22 himself.
Expectations of him are immense.
Most other footballers are just breaking into the first team at that age, Rooney already has 38 International Caps and we are years away from seeing the best of him.

Some predictions....

Originally posted by Freeborn
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed 26 Mar
Friendly, Stade de France

FRANCE 1
v
ENGLAND 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat 6 Sep
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

ANDORRA 0
v
ENGLAND 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed 10 Sep
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

CROATIA 2
v
ENGLAND 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat 11 Oct
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

ENGLAND 6
v
KAZAKHSTAN 0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed 15 Oct
World Cup 2010 Qualifier

BELARUS 1
v
ENGLAND 3


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Freeborn
Hell, Rooney's only 22 himself.
Expectations of him are immense.
Most other footballers are just breaking into the first team at that age, Rooney already has 38 International Caps and we are years away from seeing the best of him.

yeah immense doesn't begin to explain the weight he must feel at times from all sides (man utd, england, media, sponsors)

he was injured at man utd before the 2006 world cup and was basically tossed into the squad and they played him no matter what basically during the WC

and after the WC in 2006 he wasn't doing well at all at man utd and he was probably still injured and sore


wayne has matured though but it seems that in englands squad, and in man utds at times wayne seems to lose a bit of something


who do you all think should be england captain?

personally i think gerrard just because he can score more often, i think john terry drives the team on and i think his defensive "in the right place at the right time" qualities are 2nd to none and that can be a great boost to the team

but nobody drives his team on in the world right now or in the last few years like steven gerrard

reply to post by OSSkyWatcher


Gerrard should be captain, without doubt.
I just hope that Capello learns from other people's mistakes and doesn't play Gerrard with Lampard.
Lampard is a quality player, but Gerrard is true World Class and it has proven time and time again they can't play together, for whatever reason.

Terry is definately a very good Centre Half who does read the game very well, but he has to due to his lack of pace.
That's what let's him down at times and teams with quality quick, nippy forwards have worked him out.

Well my favourite team is A.C. Milan: i think i know Capello very well.
Many people guess that he's just interested in getting the victory, no matter HOW the team that he coaches plays: this has been true only in those cases in which he couldn't express his play due to lack of players with certain characteristics:
when he coached A.C. Milan, there was always only one team on the playground

Ac Milan - Barcellona 4-0 (Athens 1994) is the match symbol of his A.C. Milan:
90 minutes running, pressing and shooting on target.


and F.C. Barcelona was considered the strongest team in the world, at that time, lol.

Capello is Arrigo Sacchi's former apprentice: he knows how to show the most spectacular play. You can forgive the matches in which the players run only for the first half: with him as coach, one must chose between accept to run for 90 minutes, or to stay at home.
All this construction just in order to say that if Fabio Capello will have time
enough and the right players available and ready to do what he asks to do, then England will soon get both good play and results, wait and see.

Best wishes to England: i wish next world cup final would be England-Italy.

well i mean look at the managers managing england though.....the crap they took regarding tactics and stuff

that is why i think lampard and gerrard weren't playing well together, in the last 5 years what true central midfield players have even come close to the number of goals gerrard and lampard have put up? they can both run forever too, their games are both very well rounded and they score important goals

capello will never take the same heat

tactically he's with the worlds elite

and like internos says if he has the players he will play basically proper gorgeous dominant football (look at his track record, amazing, the guy could fart in front of the queen and he'd still ooze class)

also lets not forget how quickly chelsea and mourinho were there ready with 60 million pounds to break the world record for gerrard

englands midfield would be loaded if capello could ever convice scholes to come back

even without him look at gerrard, lampard, hargreaves (ferguson wanted him soooooo badly) and carrick, people will say what they want about carrick

but when he went to man utd sky sports compared his opta stats to keanos (keanos last full season) and carrick was actually better tackling (more tackles and a better success rate) and keano had the better passing

but what picture did the media paint at the time? that carrick was the elegant passer and keano the hard man (not saying carrick is hard, just that keano should be making more tackles)

in all fairness to the last premier league season...man utd did win with carrick playing many games, but chelsea would have if sheva wasn't being forced upon jose and roman spent some cash on a central defender, sheva was playing wide too at times and that wouldn't have help either (i know internos you will love sheva i am not knocking him in any way, i think eventually he will adapt and find his milan form) and i bet the roman situation doesn't help sheva at all

but carrick was still a big part of man utd winning the title and he can play up to fergusons incredibly high standards that will be just as high as capellos

look at the beckham situation at madrid and how capello handled that, beckham probably played the best football of his madrid career under capello and won his only trophy under him

if england didn't have capello they'd be royally #ed for 2010 world cup

capello actually gives them a real chance to win, he's only managed 1 game

but he's done 1 thing during that game that sven and mcloser didn't and that was not have the media get into his head, or the players

i was showing a friend eric cantona videos today and i remembered that rooney in the last month or two was at OT and tried to lob the keeper like cantona against sunderland, to have the awareness and composure and mentality to look up see the keeper off his line, think about the cantona goal and to try to emulate Le Roi (the king) like he did shows how comfortable he is during the pace of a premier league game, and at his age...it's scary to imagine what he might be like at 25-30

especially with ferguson and capello pushing him and telling him anything less than his best is never good enough

i hope theo walcott leaves the gunners

what a stupid move for him, who's his agent lol wenger bought him to shut the media up, he does have the pace to be the english henry though (lets hope he ends up playing just as well for his country as his club, henry never did)

but i don't think wenger would care if he was francis jeffers again and sells him for 1/4 what he paid originally

bbc sport had an article about england having a small talent pool, that's absurd

england easily has the strongest 2nd division in the world in the championship, and just because mcloser picked the same teams sven did doesn't mean there isn't any players to pick

what do you guys think about shaun wright phillips?

personally i think the fact mourinho bought him, and eventually started playing him proves that he is a player capable of winning in a class team and contributing

plus his step dad is a legend, he looks composed in front of goal and i am sure he is because of that

Capello's record suggests that he has the personality and tactical nous to be a success.

England have enough talented players for us to challenge the best in the world.

Whilst we are probably at our weakest I have ever known goalkeeper wise, (how Green wasn't even in the last swuad is beyond me :shk: ), we have numerous quality centre half's and some decent full backs.
We have a wealth of central midfield talent, we just have to get the blend right.
Capello has to pick the right combination for each individual match.
Horses for courses!
Carrick is a good player but Hargreaves is a very good player as he showed at the last World Cup.
It would be fantastic if Scholes were to come out of international retirement, but it' not going to happen.

SWP is playing his best football ever, probably because Grant is playing him regularly at Chelsea. Mourinho never really seemed to give him a chance for some reason. :shk:
However, I think Bentley is a great prospect and I also think that if James Milner has the opportunity to play with better players he will show just how good he is. Milner is only 22 and has over 200 first team appearances already, and he cross a ball with BOTH feet. (it's outrageous that these superstars who earn up to 120k a week ad can only kick a ball with 1 foot )

It pains me but our problem area is up front.
Rooney's best position isn't as an out and out striker, he's better playing just behing in the hole, (a la Cantona).
Owen looks a shadow of his former self.
let's hope that with a few more games under his belt he rekindles something.
Crouch has never let us down but......he doesn't cut it against quality opposition.
Heskey? Has had 2 or 3 good internatonals and 40 odd crap ones.
Defoe? The lad's got talent but he's hardly likely to put the fear of god into the Italian defence is he.
After this lot I am at a loss to think of any other English forwards.

I am sure Capello will be well aware of the challenge that faces him and I am certain that by the timewe start the 2010 qualifiers he will have a clear idea of how he want to manage things.

[edit on 23-2-2008 by Freeborn]

Originally posted by OSSkyWatcher

i hope theo walcott leaves the gunners

what a stupid move for him, who's his agent lol wenger bought him to shut the media up, he does have the pace to be the english henry though (lets hope he ends up playing just as well for his country as his club, henry never did)

The boy's done good today hasn't he.
At 18 years old he's got pleny of time.

agbonglahor was injured for his first cap, that was a shame

he is young too, and ashley young is also young and playing regularly under o'neil at villa

a player at villa said in the press a few monthes ago that he has to restrain himself from kicking those 2 in training because of their skill

agbonglahor is faaaaaast

and swp was getting a regular game under mourinho this season before jose left, or at least he was getting played more

bentley did well his england game, but i will ALWAYS hold it against him that he didn't play for the U 21's it's your country, you either love it or you don't there is no excuse

and milner you are right does need to play with better players, newcastle is a wreck

(poor n'zogbia today playing left back again when rooney scored, that's gotta kill his confidence, he should never be in that position to begin with)

what happened to david nugent? hopefully he will get some more games at portsmouth or go on loan for a bit

as a preston fan i'd love to see him playing regular football

and people always say rooney isn't an out and out striker, but that's just because he is so much better playing behind an out and out striker, if you think of what makes a striker good

rooney has all of that, bunches of it, i think the only thing against him is that he will work himself out of positions trying to help teammates, instead of sitting high waiting for a ball he will come back to get it, he's not the type of player to really sit back and wait for his chance

his finishing is a lot better now when it comes to having a chance and taking it though

and today he set up saha which proves how much of a team player he is, and he knows how the game should be played, he wanted saha to get a goal to help his teammate out who has had some injury problems, classy move

michael owen might not have the pace he once had and might never be what he was, at liverpool didn't he have big emile heskey playing up front with him?

heskey did get a call up before he was injured by capello didn't he?

i'd like to see what capello can do with emile because a big fast striker like him can be of use if he takes his chances when they come

crouch doesn't get enough games at pool IMO to ever hold down a regular england place

i do think he can compete with the best of them though, he is so tall, but he has some skill with the ball and can link up with his teammates

you just have to use him properly, i don't think it's good for him to lob ball after ball to his head, he needs to just be playing in a system that treats him like a sttriker, not a 6'7" long ball target

i like him though, that robot dance was great while it lasted

needum onuaha from man city is only 19, daniel sturridge, james vaughn at everton are both 18 i think, maybe vaughn is 19 now, but those 3 might have a place in the team come 2010 world cup for sure

needum is also faster than micah richards


didn't see walcott today was still sleeping when that game was on though, what a tackle though, looking at the pictures after it looked like he almost lost his foot lmao wow poor eduardo that's gotta really stink.....but good for walcott he has soooooo much pace and acceleration dunno why he was ever at the world cup in 2006 without ever playing a prem game....but he by 2010 will probably have earned his place, it's just too bad the french players and mangers mentality (VERY poor losers) will be with him



[edit on 24-2-2008 by OSSkyWatcher]