Posted October 17, 2007 Absolutely gutted with that. All that hard work in the previous games and we go and play like that. To be honest we were doing ok for 60 minutes. 1-0 up and playing ok then in the space of 4 minutes we just fell apart and then never seemed to get it together, absolutely terrible. Can't believe it. Can't see Israel getting anything from the Russia game to be honest.. sigh. One last thing....Crouch has got to be the most pointless tall guy ever. He has all that height but doesnt know how to use his head. God damn. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 To be honest at the start of the qualifying season I never even thought England would have any chance by this stage. Anyway, half hour in and Scotland seems to be disappointingly passive against Georgia so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 To be honest at the start of the qualifying season I never even thought England have any chance by this stage. When the group was announced I thought we'd be top of the group by now. Our group is far from tough, we should be able to beat the teams. But for some reason our players don't perform when they should, too much club before country. And before I get "easy for a gooner you've got no England players", our boys play for their respective national teams. And I hope they play just as well for them as they do for us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 It's out of his England's hands, Croatia just need a point from their last two games and Russia have Israel and Andorra and have to win both games. Double checked the tables and fixtures and that's about right Russia and Croatia both have a game in hand left. England are such a huge letdown and having a manager who doesn't know what he's doing is not much help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 We shouldn't have even been in this posistion really. I knew that draw with Macedonia would come back and haunt us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Haha, England are shite. No injuries for Gerrard and Crouch, that's the main thing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 the terrible miss by gerrard was the turning point. if he had scored, we'd all be celebrating now. i wish mclaren would fuck off with stuart downing, get back to middlesborough. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 the terrible miss by gerrard was the turning point.if he had scored, we'd all be celebrating now. i wish mclaren would fuck off with stuart downing, get back to middlesborough. yeah I agree that and then the penalty turned the match...I'm not convinced that it was even a penalty...when rooney started tugging it was outside the area and the player dived into the area... anyway gutted we aren't gonna qualify...i expect russia will beat israel and andorra aren't gonna provide any sort of shock... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Wow what a bad day for England and Scotland I'm looking forward to watching the highlights later but from what i've heard we were generally really poor I expect Russia to get full points against the other two aswell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Was never a pen, not that we deserved a point. Barry the only person in midfield to actualy try much like Saturday. Barry will be the player dropped from midfield for Fat Frank though guaranteed. We probably played better then we did on Saturday actualy, just goes to show how woeful Estonia are. Oh well at least McClaren wont stay in the job. Lets try actualy giving the job to somebody good rather ZOMG MUST BE ENGLISH this time round. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Again England struggled to keep the ball. when your winning away you need to control the ball and england cannot do it. Technically the players are not good enough and people need to accept that. England look good on set pieces and that is about it!! Russia will win in israel nd England will not qualify. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Again England struggled to keep the ball. when your winning away you need to control the ball and england cannot do it. Aren't you English yourself... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Aren't you English yourself... well i was born here but do not support england. half scottish and support the scots. I do not care about where people are born and who they support. doesnt bother me if someone born in england supports argentina. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 For the amount whining you people use to do, I'm impressed no one has complained about the penalty (and this time you would be right, it wasn't a penalty). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 For the amount whining you people use to do, I'm impressed no one has complained about the penalty (and this time you would be right, it wasn't a penalty). I did...it clearly wasn't a penalty, rooney tugged the player outside the area who made a mess of it...and went into the area... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 For the amount whining you people use to do, I'm impressed no one has complained about the penalty (and this time you would be right, it wasn't a penalty). I did. 101010101010 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 Notes to some of the small minded international football supporters in another country: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gAVQEn-cqWg Dammit, and I was hoping we could avoid football related stuff on this topic lol Damnit, and I was hoping we could avoid Rugby related stuff on this topic lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 17, 2007 As much as you must be hurting England supporters, imagine how us in the Republic feel.... held 1-1 at home to Cyprus who beat us 5-2 last year. They should have won too. Finnan's goal was little consolation for a campaign that has yet again yielded nothing, but jesus christ denying the cypriots who played us off the pitch was a travesty. Staunton must go... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2007 Scotland were absolutely shocking tonight. Diabolical. Georgia absolutely deserved to win. Not one Scottish player had a good game. Fletcher was terrible, as per usual. Don't know why he's in the team. Yeah, we had a lot of injuries (4 (or 5?) first team players), but we really can't use that as an excuse as they had loads of injuries too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2007 You know the papers will lay into the England team tomorrow, and they'll be unfairly comparing them to the England Rugby Team. They'll get letters from wankers like this: "Rugby players are hard-men who play passionately for their country, not like these overpaid prima-donnas we call 'football superstars'." And sure enough, that's what the papers seem to be doing today. I agree though, I think that our boys show far more passion than the England football team at the moment. Big football mate of mine watched the semi final with us last week and commented that it was good to see English sportsmen actually singing/belting out the national anthem with a bit of passion and pride, rather than the footballers sort of staring blankly mumbling along, some trying to remember the words, others no doubt wondering how they'll be spending their new £10K that week. Obviously there are exceptions. England may well lose on Saturday, the odds say so anyway, but at least they'll come back heroes for getting that far when everyone had written them off. And you can believe they would have gone down fighting and not backing down an inch until the final whistle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2007 Former England international Paul Parker delivers a few home truths about the rotten state of the national team after Wednesday's defeat to Russia Steve McClaren won't be sacked unless England fail to qualify for Euro 2008, and even though I don't like him, that is the right decision. If we somehow get through, it wouldn't be wise to go into a tournament with another manager, although I can't see England getting far with the current situation. The harsh reality is we are not good enough. When things go wrong all we get is spin and beaming teeth. But smiles are not going to help us face up to our failings, and will only perpetuate the myth that we are a top international side. It might be helpful if we don't qualify. Then we can stop papering over the cracks and start afresh with a new manager, take the opportunity to mix the side up a little bit, maybe change the formation to make the team more adaptable. McClaren was very keen to show he was different from Sven-Goran Eriksson but he doesn't seem to have brought in many new ideas. England were unfortunate with a poor penalty decision, but if you sit back on your lead you invite pressure. If Russia have the ball around the box there is always a chance they will get lucky. The same with the second goal. It wasn't great goalkeeping by Paul Robinson but if you let your opponent take pot shots from the edge of the area these things can happen. The manager seems to select whoever the media like at that moment in time, hence the selection of Gareth Barry and Joleon Lescott for the most recent games. Lescott had a poor game but there is no point blaming the player when he is just shoved in and expected to perform. For a game in a hostile environment in Russia, an experienced head like Phil Neville would have been a much better bet at left-back. Not a big guy who has only played a handful of games on the left and is really a central defender at heart. You don't feel McClaren is picking a team to win a game, but rather one that the press are going to find acceptable. Successful coaches aren't afraid to ruffle a few feathers. We need someone who isn't scared of taking chances, and is confident in stating his intentions when he gets the job. Juergen Klinsmann made himself very unpopular in Germany before the last World Cup because he did the job his way and made some unusual decisions like basing himself in the USA. But in the end he was judged on the results during the tournament and he ended up a hero. As nice as it would be to have an Englishman in charge of our national team, the bravest coaches seem to be foreigners like Klinsmann, Jose Mourinho and Luiz Felipe Scolari. Sam Allardyce probably has the most imagination of any homegrown manager. England are becoming a second-rate football nation. We might keep on saying we've got the best league in the world, but that is mainly because of the great foreign players that all these millions are bringing in. Steven Gerrard is the only player we have who is unquestionably world class. Wayne Rooney has his moments but needs to improve his consistency, while most of the rest are decent players made to look better by their foreign team-mates at club level. Quite simply our players are not as good as they think they are. When you lose to Croatia and draw against Macedonia and Israel the evidence is there, yet still we don't face up to our failings. That unrealistic level of expectancy is still there. England's players do not realise the hard work and sacrifice needed to succeed at international level. I once played on for England despite having a hamstring strain because I didn't want to come off even if that meant making it worse. Today's squad would have half an eye on the next Champions League game and would come straight off. Compare that with a Croatian team that earn less money and play for lower-profile clubs - they would die for each other on the pitch and it is no wonder they are so much better collectively. Nobody seems willing to realise this, especially the players. If we get lucky and qualify, they will all be sounding off about winning Euro 2008 and ending 42 years of hurt. But there is a reason why it is so long since we have won anything. We need to have English players getting regular football, young players coming through and developing. But with the money and the immediate demands of success in the Premier League it is much easier to spend five million on a foreign player than nurture a teenager. As much money as the Premier League has generated, it is damaging the England team. Our players are not good enough, and when you couple that with a manager who is tactically poor and cannot seem to motivate his players, you can see why we are in this mess. Paul Parker was talking to Alex Chick / Eurosport Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2007 Interesting little statistic this: Leeds United are currently averaging a higher gate than Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Reading, Blackburn, Fulham, Bolton, Portsmouth, Wigan and all 24 Championship clubs. Not bad for a 3rd division side eh? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2007 elland road is a much bigger than most of the stadiums of the premiership teams that you mentioned and i believe it is a bigger stadium than all of the championship ones, including hillsborough i believe. also, leeds is quite a big city and it's a city with only one major football team so it figures that they would have high attendances at matches. i can bet you there are barely any leeds fans at away matches though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
