The England v Croatia Debacle
November 22, 2007
To see midfielddynamo.com’s thoughts on the debacle that was the England v Croatia game, click here . Add your comments or details of any others below…
To see midfielddynamo.com’s thoughts on the debacle that was the England v Croatia game, click here . Add your comments or details of any others below…
November 22, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Some refreshing views on the current state of the national team MD. Whilst I totally agree that 90% of the team lack some of the basics you have to be realistic in that whoever comes in is not going to drop Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham et al. No-one, not even someone like O’Nell, would have the balls to do it.
November 22, 2007 at 4:29 pm
fdf
November 22, 2007 at 7:26 pm
“…whoever comes in is not going to drop Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham et al. No-one, not even someone like O’Nell, would have the balls to do it.”
And thererin lies the problem…
November 23, 2007 at 9:19 am
foxrocks is right, It’s ok Thompson and Barwick talking about a “root-and-branch” review of the team, sho’s going to review the duffers who make up the selection panel. We need some young, fresh, dynamic football people in there instead of the current lot.
November 23, 2007 at 9:51 am
Seasider, Foxrocks and Ken have touched on other issues of which there are many. The FA are now beyond parody. They are conducting their own ‘root and branch’ review, whatever that means. Yet they got us into this mess and they give themselves the job of sorting it out. Its crazy. Another problem is that there is noone to hold them to account. Doubtless the Premier League are unconcerned that England haven’t qualified and the Football League don’t have enough clout. Where is the PFA? Aren’t they concerned about the lack of young English players? Gordon Taylor used to be an eloquent spokesman of the game ills. Now he’s just another fat cat, trousering a huge wage bill despite having one of the smallest memberships of any union.
A crazy suggestion. Hire Capello and give him the job of undertaking the review into English football. We haven’t got a competitive game for 10 months.
November 23, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Gordon Taylor was on 5 live yesterday but the interviewers were more bothered about asking him about McLaren’s £2.5m pay-off. What I find incredible about this fiasco is that 90% of the tv pundits still think our players are technically as good as the other top teams. “Wake up!”. They’re not.
November 23, 2007 at 12:21 pm
There is of course good things to come out of our qualification failure – no penalty shoot-out heartbreak, no McLaren, no rampaging-hooligan stories, and best of all… the nation will be spared the worry of being embaressed by the WAGS.
November 23, 2007 at 8:12 pm
We should have played 4-4-2 from the start with Becks right from the start because in the 2nd half when we went 4-4-2 and put becks on we were a completely different team. Also Robbo in goal, you cant drop someone based on a few mistikes unless you change them for good, experienced, on-form goalies (david james springs to mind0. You also cant pick a goalie based on one friendly where he had little to save anyway!Mclaren deserved to be sacked, bring in mourinho hes worked wonders with porto and chelsea.
Zak Davies
Pensilva under 13s Midfielder
November 23, 2007 at 11:39 pm
To sort out the mess that is English football will take, in my eyes, at least 10 years. One of the problems lies with the English style of play and our thirst for all action, break neck speed football which doesn’t have a place in the international arena, Italy can pass the ball until the sheep come home and we can’t. They won the World Cup. Gerrard, Lampard, et al. seem determined to play the ‘glory ball’ at any given opportunity and nine times out of ten it doesn’t go anywhere near. Learn to love the ball (ref: Brian Clough) and keep hold of the damn thing. The tactics on Wednesday were laughable, what a complete joke this must have looked to the rest of the world. If you’re hell bent on playing route one football at least have a second striker to feed off the flick on’s, that’s just basic stuff.
Regarding the FA I firmly believe that Barwick should have gone before Mclaren. His decision to play an NFL game on our hallowed turf two weeks before the most important match of the year was unforgivable. We need a figurehead at the FA who knows the footballing world inside out ala Mr Beckenbauer. I guess Mr Brooking would be in pole position for this. But it is more than one man needed to head up the organisation. A committee including ex-players, managers, etc. should be in charge of these major decisions as the incompetent buffoons currently in post are ruining my international team. We need a coach that is proven at world level. I think we missed a trick with not appointing Hiddink and the mentioning of Allardyce, Curbishley and Redknapp is a sorry reminder of the lack of English talent at managerial level. Lippi, Scholari, Cappello are all names that excite me more than the current crop of English names available.
Finally the contract given to the next coach should be two years (with bonuses given for qualification, etc). These compensation packages are ridiculous.
November 25, 2007 at 1:54 am
Pulis Out
Top stuff. Difficult to disagree with anything in that lot. Capello wants the job. Who are we going to get that is better? He’s unpopular with fancy dan players, a disciplinarian and keen for the job. He’s won 9 of the last 15 championships he’s gone for. In Italy and Spain. What more could we hope for?
November 26, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Pulis: the compensation packages you mentioned are not rediculous. The FA signed an agreement with McClaren to make him the England Head Coach for X amount of time. If the FA then decide to get rid of him before the end of his contract then they will have to pay him off.
Its the FA’s fault for not putting in clauses in the contract.
The next manager should be thought about carefully and given time to get a squad of players together who actually care/want to play for England, not these overpaid players who only care about the game they have for their club at the weekend.
November 26, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Anyone who thinks we’ve progressed in the last 30 years should check out the England v Germany game from 1975 at http://www.midfielddynamo.com/matches/10_englandgermany.htm – this period was supposed to be one of our darkest hours but check out the number of chances we created against the World champions in that game and the passing game of the English players compared to that of the Croatia game. And then let anyone tell me our game has improved.
November 26, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Chreee: I think you missed my point. I do not blame Mclaren one bit for receiving compensation for a contract that was terminated early against his wishes. I place the blame squarely on the FA for such a lengthy contract. Surely the nature of international football (a major tournament every two years) lends itself to shorter contracts with big bonuses for qualifying and winning tournaments?
November 27, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Pulis: yes i agree with you here. The contracts should only be till the end of the next major tournament. Or if the FA want to have lengthy contracts put a clause in that the manager has to get them into the tournament. If he doesnt then the FA have to right to sack him without compensation.
Whether the FA could attract the big coaches remains to be seen.