And Beckham. The next manager (any day now, one can hope) should get on his knees and beg Becks to come back.
Would you mind telling me what is entertaining or Shakespearian about all this.
It’s fucking Orwellian if you ask me
why would Beckham be wanted back? He’s been off his game for several years now.
Too many individuals (and alot of the wrong ones at that) in the England squad, not enough team players.
His experience is still worth a lot, and there are few players who can hit a dead-ball like he can.
Beckham or Lennon. Hmmm, let me mull that one over . . . for a 100th of a second.
Indeed… Lennon appears utterly incapable of getting a decent cross into the box.
No contest, as you suggest.
Agreed, but Lennon can run and tackle unlike Becks who wasn’t known for his tackle…Rebecca Loose may think otherwise 
We can sit and point out Beckham’s weaknesses and who can do what better than him, but the bottom line is that they were never this bad in danger of not making a major tournament with him as captain. And we can say all he can do is crosses and free kicks, but one cross or free kick is all it takes to win a match sometimes- cf the 2006 World Cup. One cross by Beckham, 50 yards away right on Crouch’s foot (or was it head?) and they win one match, Beckham free kick wins another. So he was directly responsible for two of the victories- who else can say that? What more do you want out of one guy out of 11?
Lennon is a better overall player at this point- maybe, but when has he starred in a meaningful match? When has his superiority to Beckham contributed directly to a big win? He could beat Beckham in a 40 yard dash- and??
Exactly. This is one of the real problems. We have another manager, Ericsson in disguise, who likes to pick players based on their reputation and then play them out of position, and we have a team full of over-payed donkeys with no real motivation to play for their country. This is exacerbated by Premiership managers placing club before country and the spineless FA unwilling to bitch-slap upstart players/clubs. Further, the captaincy of the team has been awarded to the wrong player. Watch Gerrard in any game. He’s Jonny-on-the-spot, he’s all over the place, the game revolves around him. He can motivate players in a fashion that Terry could never hope to do.
Rooney hasn’t scored in three years of international football, yet he is still picked religiously. The substitutions came on last night and were a revelation. Dyer, Defoe, Nugent all played better in 30 minutes than the likes of Rooney, Lampard et al. have done in three years. Perhaps leaving one or two players out for a few games will increase their drive to want to get back in the team.
To be honest, without Gerrard last night, we’d have been fucked. Against a team like Andorra, we should be racking up scores like 9-0, not drawing the first half and then getting a few jammy goals in the second. Jesus.
That’s how us Scotland fans have been feeling forever.
However, it is a national disgrace for England to have such a vital footballing culture, one of the best leagues in the world, a huge pool of players to draw from and still be underperforming so badly and for so long compared to your peers Italy, France and Germany. Only the Spanish have a worse record amongst the European giants.
I think the FA should be getting all the abuse for the Scolari fuckup, inadequate grass-roots tending (although this has been addressed recently) and weak-needed capitulation to individual club power over many years, rather than all the blame dropped on poor limited McLaren’s head.
Wasn’t there some crunch game against Greece that only turned out OK because of one of his jammy free kicks?
But anyhow, if countries like Denmark and Greece can win major championships, there’s no excuse for England not being able to give a decent account of themselves. Maybe if they all made the sacrifice of cutting down to three manicures a week and trained for an extra hour instead…
Oh wait, that would never happen - no-one could expect them to suffer such hardship. :rolleyes:
Yup. Balance it out against a later crunch game that turned out anything but OK because Becks blasted a penalty about five yards above the crossbar. And another crunch game where he got sent off for the kind of petulance you’d slap a five-year-old for and England had to play half the match with ten men.
What was so great about England under Eriksson? England’s failure to progress past the quarter-finals of any major tournament ?
I watched the World Cup games and the main problem there was that Crouch or Rooney were way up front with no support. With a 1-5-4 formation, England could not possibly be expected to win.
Well we beat Germany 5-1 on their own turf, also there was…I’ll be back :dubious:
It’s great when you compare it to the situation they’re in now; I think most English fans would be happy just to qualify for '08 at the moment.
Exactly. Past failures are going to look like glory days under this regime. Hiring Jose Mourinho would set things right though.
Well, the only real way in which Spain is a giant is in money involved and amount of teams. The First and Second division have so many foreign players, it’s a wonder that a full national roster can be fielded. And many people seem to have this… complex where a guy who’s been imported (even if it’s from two villages away) is automatically considered better and more valuable than local talent, leading to less playtime.
Or at least, that’s how it sounds to someone who doesn’t care about the game but suffers endless recounts from soccer-inhaling friends and family.
I do not think Brazilians, germans or italians think it an achievement when their national team qualifies for a tournament.Why should England?
Because to them, qualifying is taken for granted.