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These 20 comments are related to an article called:

The Dark Age of English Football

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posted on 8/9/14

The fa needs a overhaul.

posted on 8/9/14

Do you care about Spurs when they're crap? Or is it just your country you don't give a toss about when they're not doing very well?

comment by Kav H (U19426)

posted on 8/9/14

The talent in the England squad is actually immense. Wilshere, Ox, Sterling, Henderson, Shaw, Sturridge, Lallana, Barkley and Walcott are just some of the names who are talented enough to get the national side playing far greater football than they have done and do at the moment.

The problem at the moment is a lack of a playing system and to another extent Roy Hodgson. England have no footballing identity - we are not direct enough under Roy to play a fast and direct paced kind of game such as the likes of Germany and the players seemingly don't have the confidence to play possession style football either. I said before the world cup that Roy is not the right man to lead an attacking side with flair as that is not his natural habitat and I was right.

Premier League poses another problem as it is not like Germany or Spain (the two recent and current top dogs in world football) where the core of the playing XI are made up of one or two teams with similar systems. Spain utilised the tiki taka system of Barcelona with a few Madrid players thrown in to great effect and the core of Germany's fearful team is or was made up of mostly Bayern players who know the system and playing style as it is second nature to them. I feel England try to mix and match the best XI players too often whereas system is always king.

It's for the FA to obviously find a solution because at the moment especially under Roy who is a moron of the highest order this national team is going nowhere fast.

posted on 8/9/14

I just wish we'd play better football. I mean we're easily one of the most boring teams in the world to watch. Well judging from euros and World Cup. We seem to be one of the only teams who never seem to go out and try to win. It's almost as if the tactics are just, 'please for the love of god, just don't embarrass yourself!' We very rarely come out and have a go at the opposition. I've seen plenty of teams with less quality players than us who go out and play good football and have a go. Look at teams like Costa Rica. I know they don't win lots, but they're still more entertaining to watch. And did better than us!
We always play conservatively, if we win it's from a scrappy goal, it some sort of set play. When we lose it's always us getting broken down easily and countered.
You can pretty much right a script for how each England game will play out, and get it almost exactly right.
Additionally we often seem to be finding excuses why we won't win before we even play

comment by Buzza (U10245)

posted on 8/9/14

comment by Mex- El Tigre and Fideo! Muy Muy Bueno (U6687)
posted 4 minutes ago
Do you care about Spurs when they're crap? Or is it just your country you don't give a toss about when they're not doing very well?
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That would imply we're not crap some of the time!

In answer Mex, no I never stop supporting Spurs, but I chose to support Spurs, I never chose to support England I was born into it.

When we have suffered over 10 years of over-paid prima donnas not giving 100% for the shirt and the badge then why should I give 100% support to them.

There are very few England players who can hold their heads up and say they gave the same effort for England as they do their club sides.
If players like Rooney expect the crowd to get behind them and show passion maybe they need to learn it starts from them and their performances.

posted on 8/9/14

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

posted on 8/9/14

It's got nothing to do with passion ffs, this is the big problem with English football, if you're not running around like a headless chicken you're deemed as showing no passion and not trying, England's failures have nothing to do with lack of passion or effort, the players just aren't good enough and the manager isn't good enough

posted on 8/9/14

The Year of the Ox (U7080)

Spot on. You could forgive the manager for poor results owing to the lack of world class talent if he actually sent the team out to try and play and entertain.

The fact is England try neither. We arent up there with Germany and Spain but then we dont need to park the bus and drag out a draw or low scoring win like a Northern Ireland or Finland.

posted on 8/9/14

Did people even watch us at the World Cup? In what way did Hodgson send us out defensively, if anything we went too far the other way and left our defence exposed

posted on 8/9/14

i dont think its quite as simple as saying the players arent giving everything.

the fact is the players are out there performing a role and following tactics given out by the manager.

now i could be wrong, but im sure looking at Hodsons tactics, im sure pressing from the front isnt in his game plan.

it appears he has instructed his players to drop deep and try and hit on the break, which to be fair are dinosaur tactics.

Liverpool press from the front, in a similar way to Barcelona, Bayern and Dortmund, and all three have had relative success over the last year or two.

Liverpool players made up a large % of the England squad in the world cup, and we were still shíte, despite them having a fantastic season.

they go back to their clubs and once again win 2 out of theie first 3 games.

that suggests to me the problems start at a managerial level.

posted on 8/9/14

We should follow the example of many other nations and go for a young manager who hasn't been bogged down by years of club management and who has become as stale as his tactics.

We have tried the fans favourite, likeable chap (KK), we have tried the foreign won-it-all chap (FC) and everything in between. Now we need to go out of these boundaries and gamble on a fresh out of the playing side, hungry and not set in his ways type.

Gary Neville is the obvious name.

comment by Buzza (U10245)

posted on 8/9/14

comment by Mex- El Tigre and Fideo! Muy Muy Bueno (U6687)
posted 1 minute ago
It's got nothing to do with passion ffs, this is the big problem with English football, if you're not running around like a headless chicken you're deemed as showing no passion and not trying, England's failures have nothing to do with lack of passion or effort, the players just aren't good enough and the manager isn't good enough
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Who said anything about running around like a headless chicken or this being a link to passion being showed?

IMO of course when the national side is involved a lot of it revolves around passion and pride, English players in the main don't express the passion to play for the shirt and badge, i'm not expecting miracles from them. I expected us to go out in the group stages of the world cup.
If you compare our performances against most other countries they all play with more pride and passion for their nation. They still see it as an honour, in England now it's more of an hiccup in the club seasons.

posted on 8/9/14

In what way do they play with more pride and passion? How do you quantify pride and passion on the pitch?

posted on 8/9/14

The. Brazilians singing their heart out and crying during the anthems.

Then getting beat 7-1.

A victory for pride and passion.

comment by Buzza (U10245)

posted on 8/9/14

comment by Mex- El Tigre and Fideo! Muy Muy Bueno (U6687)
posted 5 minutes ago
In what way do they play with more pride and passion? How do you quantify pride and passion on the pitch?
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You can't quantify pride and passion, it is all subjective to the person viewing it. Which I why I am expressing this as my opinion and not a fact!

If you look at the Greek team, any Baltic team, Costa Rica, Australia, USA or any South American team then most of the players will look like they want to play for their country, they want to work for their teammates and coach/manager. It's still a highlight in their careers, for me the English players don't have that fight/pride/passion for each other, the manager or the country. (Throw Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland into the list of countries above)

I haven't seen this from England since maybe 2000 - 02.

posted on 8/9/14

So what chance does this England team have? Well...Absolutely no chance at all. So what's the point?

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

See a line like this is one of the main issues with the England fans, just cause the team is not doing "well" there's no point in supporting them?

You've been blessed with competing in several major tournamants every decade, try following a national side that struggles to qualify

It's this idea that England should be winning and if they're not then it's a failure that is a serious issue for England.

comment by Bãlès (U3582)

posted on 8/9/14

I blame Woy, and the muppets that hired him.

Either they're stupid enough to think that he's doing a good job or they just don't care. If they were a club board they'd have been hounded out long ago. As it is they're riding the gravy train..

I actually feel for the players - the public slate the likes of Rooney and Gerrard but they're out there trying at least, the FA seem perfectly content with an outdated manager delivering crap football and crap results.. while apparently deluding himself and saying it's all fine.

posted on 8/9/14

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137) posted 39 minutes ago
We should follow the example of many other nations and go for a young manager who hasn't been bogged down by years of club management and who has become as stale as his tactics
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I completely agree. Steve McClaren and Roy Hodgson should never be anywhere near the role. Roy failed his last chance at a big job and McClaren has been at about 6 clubs in 6 years since he got sacked. Capello was living on past achievements as well, and we all saw how rubbish he did with Russia this year so it's not like he's gone on to better things since his stint in England.

I refuse to buy the idea that we've got useless players, as there's plenty of talent spread out in our current squad. We just need someone with confidence and a solid game plan to guide them. Guarantee Mourinho would've gotten us out of the group this WC

posted on 8/9/14

comment by Buzza (U10245)
posted 17 minutes ago
comment by Mex- El Tigre and Fideo! Muy Muy Bueno (U6687)
posted 5 minutes ago
In what way do they play with more pride and passion? How do you quantify pride and passion on the pitch?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can't quantify pride and passion, it is all subjective to the person viewing it. Which I why I am expressing this as my opinion and not a fact!

If you look at the Greek team, any Baltic team, Costa Rica, Australia, USA or any South American team then most of the players will look like they want to play for their country, they want to work for their teammates and coach/manager. It's still a highlight in their careers, for me the English players don't have that fight/pride/passion for each other, the manager or the country. (Throw Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland into the list of countries above)

I haven't seen this from England since maybe 2000 - 02.
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Good point. Watched scotland be Germany last night, the scots fans outsang the Germans, the team itself were unlucky to lose that game and were worthy of at least a draw. Every player battling as hard as they could for each other, with a tactically good manager installing passion. They nearly did it.

Then I see the England team with its club superstars that just don't really seem to have any pride in playing for the team. They earn so much money it seems playing for their country is a chore for them. They get all the adolation they need in the EPL, so why bother for England. Then theres Woy in charge.....

posted on 9/9/14


I question why, after only 3 PL, games the teams took a week-end off to accommodate International Football?

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