England Team Thread

[Number45]

I'm not so sure. He has time on his side now, and he must surely realise we need to do something? Seems to me he has an opportunity to rid the squad of some of the disruptive influences (Pretty much all of the senior players if recent news is to be believed. ).

[Kongster]

Quite simply LOL!

[Kongster]

Good goal by Gerrard to level matters.

[prinnysquad]

Young uns and subs invigorating things a bit here.

[merf]

I'd expect any team he puts out to beat Hungary at home in a friendly, I'd also take them to beat Hungary home or away in a qualifier.

The problem is if we faced that same team in a WC game all our players would suddenly go red, tense up and put in a stinker of a performance.

[abigsmurf]

Pretty much the same old story. Not amazing performance against a not amazing team which was won by a single player having a couple of great moments.

Capello also continues to show how utterly inept he is at man management giving David Beckham the lowest profile 'retirement' possible. Few really expected him to be part of the England squad but he's a well regarded player who's still very popular, the decent thing would've been to allow him one last friendly so fans could say goodbye. At the very least let him be the one to announce retirement

[VR46]

Or at least tell him face to face rather than announce he's too old on national TV (if that's really how it happened), ouch.

[abigsmurf]

It's possible we're just not hearing the good things he does when working with the players but he seems to make stupid decisions on a regular basis when it comes to actually working with the players.

That Capello index, not announcing the squad to players until a couple of hours before a game (just what incredibly tense, under pressure players need to relax!), his refusal to back Rob Green after a single blunder, effectively ending his England career in disgrace.

tactics and team selection are only part of a manager's job

[hudson]

England don't need Rooney or Lampard. They just need Stevie running around. No need to waste time passing to Rooney if he's not on thy pitch. Lampard cancels himself out. Get Joe 'Messi' Cole in there too.

[abigsmurf]

Need to stop making massive accommodations to single players and just work on getting a squad that works well together.

There's no way Gerrard will pull off goals like that as much as England would need him too if he became the focus of the side.

[hudson]

That's what he's like at club level when he knows he has to contribute in the goal department. It's easy for him. He just goes "biff boff baff" and it's in.

[fallenangle]

It was very noticeable that when Rooney and Lampard went off suddenly the whole pitch seemed to free up and allowed Gerrard to do his thing.

I hate the one up configuration but it seems clear that it was working a hell of a lot better with Zamora as the front man rather than with Rooney. Helped having a lot of younger guys desperate to prove their worth getting into the box to support the attack too even if their final ball (Gibbs?) was far from perfect.

But this was yet another game where I felt the manager had no refined plan. You would think that after the WC he might actually know his best team but that's not the impression I had. He was just bringing on players hoping that something would click. It did but it was more by luck than judgement.

[prinnysquad]

not announcing the squad to players until a couple of hours before a game (just what incredibly tense, under pressure players need to relax!),

This is his biggest, stupidest mistake. People need time to sort their head out before anything, be it a football match or a job interview. They need time to mentally prepare, go through superstitions, relax, and whatever else helps. Being on tenderhooks up until 2 hours before a match, then getting no time to prepare, is a huge, fatheaded blunder. Cloughie used to let players go for a drink the night before a huge game, to build up team spirit and relax, everyone knowing who was playing. I'm not wholly advocating anything like this in today's modern game, but it's indicative of the type of management that Muppet Show is lacking - the ability to let players grow as a group and relax/prepare before a game. Everyone always looks so stressed under him.

[merf]

even stuart pearce isn't allowed to scream and jump up and down in an undignified manner any more.

[mr_sockochris]

This is his biggest, stupidest mistake. People need time to sort their head out before anything, be it a football match or a job interview. They need time to mentally prepare, go through superstitions, relax, and whatever else helps. Being on tenderhooks up until 2 hours before a match, then getting no time to prepare, is a huge, fatheaded blunder.

Although I totally agree with you, Sir Alf Ramsey didn't announce his team until 2hrs before a game so I think there must be some merit to it.