England Team Thread

[Nu-Eclipse]

Rooney is the only player who is anywhere near the level of the best players in the world.

Hmmm. Goal aside, he was quite poor.

I'd easily take Robert Lewandowski over him, or any of our other centre-forwards.

[nakamura]

Yeah he wasn't great but the guy is a cut above most of the others in the squad if not all. Rooney is pure class, world class in fact. he constantly highlights the lack of vision and ability of others.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Poland have some exciting players but there are a lot of average ones in there too.

Always seems to be the case with us. I do think this batch is one of the more promising ones, with a lot of players playing outside of Poland. Lewandowski & Blaszczykowski especially are top notch.

What I did notice yesterday, was the ease with which we went past the English full backs. In fact, the whole defense was pretty poor. How many times were Cole & Johnson made to look mediocre? We could have easily won the match by 3 or 4 goals if the final ball was a little better.

And what's with the English way of playing? Pass it around the back a few times, then back to the keeper who hoofs it up field?

You English need to realise that you're nowhere near as good as you think you are. One 5-0 against San Marino does not the next world cup winners make. That's why I support the country of my parents, not the country of my birth. We know we'll never be world cup winners. We know not to get carried away. We aren't overpaid, overrated, arrogant, self righteous, pompous twats who think everything should be given to them.

England will never win anything playing the way they do. There is no point keeping the ball if all you'll do is eventually hoof it away. We sat back, invited the pressure and countered. We were able to do that, because for all your posession, hardly any of it was in our final third. Once you get past the half way line, it looks like you run out of ideas.

Compare that with our players and there is a huge difference. We may not have the ability, but we were much more creative/inventive and posed more of a threat on the occasions we did get forward.

Maybe this new academy will help, but I can't see much changing for a long time.

[vanpeebles]

Always seems to be the case with us.
You English need to realise that you're nowhere near as good as you think you are.

LOL I thought you tried to lose your Polish tag? Or is it only when it suits?

[EJG1980]

You English need to realise that you're nowhere near as good as you think you are.

This seems to be said a lot, but I don't actually know any English person who thinks England are a great side, and that's been the case for many years. The majority of the time I see the England team being overhyped and overrated it's the press that's doing it.

I do think though, even with our current crop of average players, we would be much better off trying to play positive attacking football rather than taking a safety first approach that invites our opponents on to us. I don't think the players are good enough to make that approach cause a huge difference to our results, but I'd much rather watch us having a go and coming up short than watch us play really cautiously and coming up short.

[nakamura]

What part of Andy is not english then?

[Nu-Eclipse]

Rooney is the only player who is anywhere near the level of the best players in the world.

Rooney is pure class, world class in fact. he constantly highlights the lack of vision and ability of others.

Wayne Rooney has only scored 1 goal in the last 3 major tournaments that England have participated in (World Cup 2006, World Cup 2010 & Euro 2012). That isn't world class form in the slightest.

Very good on his day? Yes. World Class? Not for me, I'm afraid.

[Team Andromeda]

This seems to be said a lot, but I don't actually know any English person who thinks England are a great side, and that's been the case for many years. The majority of the time I see the England team being overhyped and overrated it's the press that's doing it.

That's been England trouble for years; England aren't a world beating side and aren't that brilliant with next to no world class players (maybe Cole, Hart and Gerrard on their day) and a draw out in Poland is a good result (but the press and media think we should wlak over teams like that) . I only wish England would play the Premership style of football and use that to our advantage, instead of trying play the passing game.. something which England can't do and will win sweet F-all if they continue to try and play it .

England Ruby won the World Cup by playing to English strengths , not trying to play Australia or the all Blacks at their own game;We should use the Premiership speed and in your face style of football to our advantage imo . We're never going to beat the Spanish or Germans for style or passing at the end of the day .

[Kieran76]

. I only wish England would play the Premership style of football and use that to our advantage, instead of trying play the passing game.. something which England can't do and will win sweet F-all if they continue to try and play it .

I 100% agree with this, the slow build play that we have had ever since Venables left has been miserable to watch.

[Nu-Eclipse]

England Ruby won the World Cup by playing to English strengths , not trying to play Australia or the all Blacks at their own game;We should use the Premiership speed and in your face style of football to our advantage imo . We're never going to beat the Spanish or Germans for style or passing at the end of the day .

i'm sorry, but it's been proven time and time and time again (SGE, McClaren, Keegan, Taylor) that trying to play "The Premier League way" on the international stage simply doesn't work when you come up against players who are just as physically fit and able but have superior tactical awareness and technical skills on the ball.

I 100% agree with this, the slow build play that we have had ever since Venables left has been miserable to watch.

Venables' Euro 96 side was the exception and not the rule - home advantage probably helped considerably, especially as Spain outplayed England in the quarter-finals (and probably should've won as they had 2 goals wrongly ruled offside) and Germany outplayed England in the semis.

[EJG1980]

I think another problem is that the majority of the best players who play "the Premier League style" are foreign anyway.

It might be a style that's employed by English teams, but the cutting edge for those teams is (usually) provided by the more technically gifted and skilful foreign players, not English players. The English teams who have contested the CL final since 1999:

1999 - Man Utd - 4 English starters
2005 - Liverpool - 2 English starters
2006 - Arsenal - 2 English starters
2007 - Liverpool - 3 English starters
2008 - Man Utd - 6 English starters, Chelsea - 4 English starters
2009 - Man Utd - 3 English starters
2011 - Man Utd - 3 English starters
2012 - Chelsea - 4 English starters

Whatever style the national teams chooses to play, the bigger problem is the lack of technically sound and skilful English players.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

What exactly is the 'Premier League way' anyway? Hodgson's England so far have been as 'English' as you like: a flat 4-4-2 with wingers (most of the time) and box-to-box midfielders and it doesn't seem to have produced any upturn in results.

[Team Andromeda]

What exactly is the 'Premier League way' anyway? Hodgson's England so far have been as 'English' as you like: a flat 4-4-2 with wingers (most of the time) and box-to-box midfielders and it doesn't seem to have produced any upturn in results.

More direct, much faster pace

i'm sorry, but it's been proven time and time and time again

I'm sorry but the passing game hasn't produced any results - mind you England just aren't that really good at the end of the day . And the likes of McClaren never really played the direct fast flowing style of Prem football imo

[nakamura]

Wayne Rooney has only scored 1 goal in the last 3 major tournaments that England have participated in (World Cup 2006, World Cup 2010 & Euro 2012). That isn't world class form in the slightest.

Very good on his day? Yes. World Class? Not for me, I'm afraid.

Lol. Because goals are what it is all about.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

More direct, much faster pace

Which (successful) Premier League teams play in this manner though? Most of our best players certainly don't play in 'direct' teams.

It is a lot harder to impose a quick pace in international football as teams are less likely to cheaply cede possession back to you when you lose it. To do so, you would also have to press high up the pitch to win the ball back, which is very difficult to do in an effective manner in international football as the coaches don't have enough time with the players to drill them in such a system. England also lack quick central defenders, so we'd be easy pickings over the top if we played a high line.