The Official English National Football Team Thread

[Woodmansee]

Agree. He might be a good manager, just not for England imo.

[GillsMan]

Tell me why good players, that beat better teams in qualifying, performed so bad then? If its not something off the pitch. Stop avoiding the question Gills

Er, no, you tell me why you think it was something off the pitch. Tell me:

a) why you think something off the pitch happened

b) why you think that something off the pitch would affect PROFESSIONAL players on it.

It's not for me to disprove your assertions - it's for you to argue them.

[robbert_o154]

All the biggest nations (Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Holland + others) have picked managers that have never managed before. Maybe a English Icon is better than this experience you speak of?

But did that actually work for any of those nations? Klinsmann had a good and vitally important assistant in Low, similar for Maradona and Bilardo (plus it's too early to call his tenure a success yet), Dunga just crashed out in the quarter-finals and the less said about Marco van Basten, the better.

[GillsMan]

Fabio won't achieve anything with England, he's out of his comfort zone and frankly out of his depth.

Out of his depth.

[Woodmansee]

Er, no, you tell me why you think it was something off the pitch. Tell me:

a) why you think something off the pitch happened

b) why you think that something off the pitch would affect PROFESSIONAL players on it.

It's not for me to disprove your assertions - it's for you to argue them.

A. Because they played so bad during the world cup, and played so good before it.

B. Doesn't matter players are human.

[GillsMan]

A. Because they played so bad during the world cup, and played so good before it.

B. Doesn't matter players are human.

A. That's the only logical assumption you can come up with? Because it sounds to me that you're simply believing what the red tops have been writing. With pretty much nothing to back it up. Could it not have something to do with confidence, or desire, or effort, or just bad form, or tactical ignorance, or lack of footballing intelligence, or an inability to deal with an international game when not playing alongside the brilliant foreign players they play with at club level, or the fact that, since youth level, they've been told "if in doubt, kick it out", and other such pearls of wisdom which, ultimately, they fall back to when the chips are down, etc, etc? There's a million other reasons other than the BS written in the Sun.

B. I played football with a guy who was an utter, utter ****. Couldn't stand him and the feeling was mutual. But he was one of the better footballers on our team and he set up my only goal of the season and I'd never hesitate to pass to him. And while we are most certainly human, we're not professional players. So if we can do it, so can the professional players of England.

[Svenc]

The team showed no passion, and put in the worst performance from any England team at a world cup

In all fairness to the man, the only reason the 2006 campaign isn't seen in similar fashion if you ask me is that England went out on a comparably "high note" with their best performance by far against Portugal, rather than a beating against their biggest rivals. Else they looked exactly as flat four years ago as in this World Cup, no matter if they were playing Paraguay, Trinidad&Tobago or Ecuador. Three different managers and the outcome is always kind of similar, maybe there is something else to it, but I'm really not qualified to judge - and as has been pointed out there's plenty of analysis floating all around the media, as there was in 2006. All I have seen as someone watching from further away is an English World Cup side I know very well, even if I still expected them to do somewhat better than this. Cheer up lads, a football association as big as the FA can and will do better some day.

[Woodmansee]

A. That's the only logical assumption you can come up with? Because it sounds to me that you're simply believing what the red tops have been writing. With pretty much nothing to back it up. Could it not have something to do with confidence, or desire, or effort, or just bad form, or tactical ignorance, or lack of footballing intelligence, or an inability to deal with an international game when not playing alongside the brilliant foreign players they play with at club level, or the fact that, since youth level, they've been told "if in doubt, kick it out", and other such pearls of wisdom which, ultimately, they fall back to when the chips are down, etc, etc? There's a million other reasons other than the BS written in the Sun.

B. I played football with a guy who was an utter, utter ****. Couldn't stand him and the feeling was mutual. But he was one of the better footballers on our team and he set up my only goal of the season and I'd never hesitate to pass to him. And while we are most certainly human, we're not professional players. So if we can do it. So can the professional players of England.

Its down to the manger to pick a confident team with desire and effort. If the team doesn't have that, then the manger picked the wrong players. Its better to have crap players that will give it their all, than better players that won't. Its down to Capello to figure this out. How could it be lack of footballing intelligence if they beat better teams? It would have been a problem then and it wasn't.

[Woodmansee]

You can't sit here and say it is football intelligence crap when we beat better teams. Why wasn't it a problem them? They had the intelligence but lost it.

[GillsMan]

Its down to the manger to pick a confident team with desire and effort. If the team doesn't have that, then the manger picked the wrong players. Its better to have crap players that will give it their all, than better players that won't. Its down to Capello to figure this out. How could it be lack of footballing intelligence if they beat better teams? It would have been a problem then and it wasn't.

You keep saying that he picked the wrong players. What were the options? To drop the players that had done well in qualifying and replace them with the likes of Bent, Walcott, Adam Johnson (half a season in the Premier League. Half a season), er, Gary Cahill or Ryan Shawcross? Could he have forseen Green dropping the ball, or Terry and Upson having a nightmare against Germany?

Now that Capello's seen how they've performed in the World Cup I'm sure he has a better idea. Getting rid of Capello means starting at square one. Again. Why go backwards again.

Look, regardless of the mistakes in the World Cup, Capello's record, both overall and as England manager speaks for itself. You'd be crazy to want to get rid of the best England manager (certainly in terms of win percentage) England have had in years.

And to want to replace him with Harry Redknapp??

[GillsMan]

You can't sit here and say it is football intelligence crap when we beat better teams. Why wasn't it a problem them? They had the intelligence but lost it.

Oh I certainly can. I can watch the games in the World Cup and tell you that England played with zero intelligence. Panicking when they got the ball, panicking when they didn't have the ball, forgetting their tactical shape, hoofing the ball, losing possession, all these silly errors that more intelligent (football-wise) players from other countries don't do.

Why didn't they make these mistakes against Croatia? Well, the players England have aren't rubbish. And when things are going their way in a game they can really turn it on. But when met with adversity, they panic. And that's what happened in the World Cup. They went 1-0 down against Germany from a fs goal and they reverted to type.

[Woodmansee]

He could have picked different players.

Still doesn't explain why they played so good before, but played so bad after.

I want a manager that can get us to a world cup (one thing) and do good once we get there (another thing) thats how I look at Capello, not his record as a whole like you are. It was great before, and crap after. The good doesn't out way the bad.

Yes I would like Harry, but there are many other choices.

[Woodmansee]

Oh I certainly can. I can watch the games in the World Cup and tell you that England played with zero intelligence. Panicking when they got the ball, panicking when they didn't have the ball, forgetting their tactical shape, hoofing the ball, losing possession, all these silly errors that more intelligent (football-wise) players from other countries don't do.

.

Panicking when you get the ball and intelligence is two different things. How do you know Capello didn't tell them to hoof it to Heskey? Losing possession again could be many things not just intelligence, fitness could be a different reason for one.

These players proved they don't panic during qualifying. They proved they could play without hoofing it in qualifying. And they proved they could hold possession. So why didn't they during the world cup?

[Confused Clarity]

You can't sit here and say it is football intelligence crap when we beat better teams. Why wasn't it a problem them? They had the intelligence but lost it.

Listen you knuckle dragging lager guzzling plebian, it clearly is a matter of intelligence. Who in qualifying did they face that were a better team than Germany?

How can you sit there and honestly call it "football intelligence crap" as if it's a nonsensical notion that footballers with intelligence on the field will thrive while others falter?

So many intelligent posters on here go on about how it's a minority of people who think England can win everything and that it's English GRIT & PASSION™ that will win you the World Cup and not proper football, yet here you are, spouting that very nonsense. A poster boy for the ******** hoards that is the normal English football fan. Congratulations. You've managed to undermine every intelligent Englishmans arguments on these boards since last weekend.

[Woodmansee]

Germany, what about the group stages?

[GillsMan]

He could have picked different players.

Still doesn't explain why they played so good before, but played so bad after.

I want a manager that can get us to a world cup (one thing) and do good once we get there (another thing) thats how I look at Capello, not his record as a whole like you are. It was great before, and crap after. The good doesn't out way the bad.

Yes I would like Harry, but there are many other choices.

Actually, I think it probably does outweigh the bad. You're talking about judging 4 games instead of 28 games.

You want a manager who can get England to the World Cup and do good once they get there? Assuming "do good" is England's natural position of quarter finalists, then, what, are you going to sack each manager who fails to get England there? And England can start again? Go back to the beginning and start again.

Let the manager build the team. Let him bring through the younger players. Let him learn who can perform in the high pressure environment of a World Cup and who can't. Let the most successful (in terms of games won) England manager for quite some time make this team something different. The man's a winner. He wins things, and he's determined and, since you called for passion earlier, he's more passionate about this England team than many of the players seem to be.

[robbert_o154]

These players proved they don't panic during qualifying. They proved they could play without hoofing it in qualifying. And they proved they could hold possession. So why didn't they during the world cup?

If they could do it in qualifying but not at the World Cup, wherein exactly lies the conclusive proof that that's the manager's fault and not the players'?

[Woodmansee]

And Gregg goes on about England fans think they can win everything again. I was wondering how long it was going to be before you brought that up. Yawn fest.

[Woodmansee]

Actually, I think it probably does outweigh the bad. You're talking about judging 4 games instead of 28 games.

You want a manager who can get England to the World Cup and do good once they get there? Assuming "do good" is England's natural position of quarter finalists, then, what, are you going to sack each manager who fails to get England there? And England can start again? Go back to the beginning and start again.

Let the manager build the team. Let him bring through the younger players. Let him learn who can perform in the high pressure environment of a World Cup and who can't. Let the most successful (in terms of games won) England manager for quite some time make this team something different. The man's a winner. He wins things, and he's determined and, since you called for passion earlier, he's more passionate about this England team than many of the players seem to be.

I'll give you that about the 28 games but I still want to perform at both.

As for the start again. We're talking about picking a whole new team anyway, so whats the problem. Its pretty much start again for anyone, even Capello. Sometimes its better to start again, especially if the players don't respect or like the manager.

[Confused Clarity]

Germany, what about the group stages?

Other than Croatia, who out of your qualifying group are better than the United States? No other side is ranked higher than them. As for Algeria, only Croatia & the Ukraine are ranked higher.

Yes, England should be beating the sides in the group stage of the Finals, but it's not purely down to one single thing and it's not purely down to the manager.

[Woodmansee]

Other than Croatia, who out of your qualifying group are better than the United States? No other side is ranked higher than them. As for Algeria, only Croatia & the Ukraine are ranked higher.

Yes, England should be beating the sides in the group stage of the Finals, but it's not purely down to one single thing and it's not purely down to the manager.

Having to say 'other than Croatia' made your point invalid. Knucklehead.

[GillsMan]

I'll give you that about the 28 games but I still want to perform at both.

As for the start again. We're talking about picking a whole new team anyway, so whats the problem. Its pretty much start again for anyone, even Capello.

Right. But since Capello knows the players now, and since he has, you know, won things in his career, and since he's got a pretty damn good record as England manager I'd suggest he's infinitely more well qualified than any realistic replacements.

[Deathorglory]

I'd just like to highlight the fact that Woodmansee clearly does not know what hes talking about, and clearly is stubborn as a mule as he decides to take the view that everyone else is in fact deluded and not himself. Having just read through a couple of pages of this rubbish, I ask you simply, why are you bothering to argue with him? He's obviously not going to change no matter how many people tell him he's a moron.

The fact is, through qualifying, Fabio could do no wrong. Best manager we've had in god knows how long, pretty much a unanimous opinion. Now we've had a bad run of games, at an unfortunate time yes, but that happens to everyone. The Ferguson's and Mourinho's of this world have bad run sometimes, it's completely unavoidable. Also, the English teams own gigantic Spain style mental block is always going to be something no manager can crack, but the players will have to crack themselves. He made mistakes, but all the best managers make mistakes. I'm wagering some money that Woodmansee is either a Real Madrid supporter or, in fact, is Roman Abramovic.

[Woodmansee]

Knowing the players might be the problem, hence they don't like him. His past career doesn't count for much. Bigger teams have picked managers with no experience at all. I disagree he is not the man for the job imo but, I can understand you do.

[Woodmansee]

I'd just like to highlight the fact that Woodmansee clearly does not know what hes talking about, and clearly is stubborn as a mule as he decides to take the view that everyone else is in fact deluded and not himself. Having just read through a couple of pages of this rubbish, I ask you simply, why are you bothering to argue with him? He's obviously not going to change no matter how many people tell him he's a moron.

Listen mate I'm going to report for being idiot. Attack the argument not the poster, and if you can't GTFO.

[Woodmansee]

The fact is, through qualifying, Fabio could do no wrong. Best manager we've had in god knows how long, pretty much a unanimous opinion. Now we've had a bad run of games, at an unfortunate time yes, but that happens to everyone. The Ferguson's and Mourinho's of this world have bad run sometimes, it's completely unavoidable. Also, the English teams own gigantic Spain style mental block is always going to be something no manager can crack, but the players will have to crack themselves. He made mistakes, but all the best managers make mistakes. I'm wagering some money that Woodmansee is either a Real Madrid supporter or, in fact, is Roman Abramovic.

Most managers don't get second chances at the world cup, bad runs are now allowed, this is not a league over a long season, stupid. I support West Ham.

[Confused Clarity]

Having to say 'other than Croatia' made your point invalid. Knucklehead.

No it doesn't you clown.

There were 5 other teams in your qualifying group. Of those 5 teams, only 1 team is officially better than one of the two sides you drew with. Of those 5 teams, only 2 teams are better than the other side you drew with. The poor teams in your qualifying group outweight the good ones so it makes your own point invalid.

Look, you can argue this way or that way as much as you like, it's not going to change the fact that the major issue we have as a country and i'm going to talk about Great Britain here, is that we do not have a good enough coaching setup and we do not have the right infrastrucures in place to develop a large enough pool of talent to be able to compete on the national stage.

THAT is the problem and sacking Capello is not going to resolve that. Appointing Harry Redknapp is not going to solve that and blathering on about it all being nonsense is not going to solve that.

[Confused Clarity]

I support West Ham.

Explains everything.

Bar one or two people on these boards, West Ham fans continually prove themselves to be the most backwards, ******** gob*****s this country manages to produce. There's either something in the water, or a hell of a lot of inbreeding going on in the East End (It certainly explains Danny Dyer).

I really do despair when you have people this utterly moronic spouting complete and utter nonsense about a sport that they clearly have absolutely no knowledge of whatsoever. They'd be better of watching tiddlywinks, but I suspect they'd even find that too intellectually taxing.

[Woodmansee]

Greeg if you're just going to act like a kid with the name calling I won't bother with you. If you want to talk about football like adults, fine.

Now I'm going to bed, nn.

[robbert_o154]

Pot, kettle, etc. etc.

[Woodmansee]

Explains everything.

Bar one or two people on these boards, West Ham fans continually prove themselves to be the most backwards, ******** gob*****s this country manages to produce. There's either something in the water, or a hell of a lot of inbreeding going on in the East End (It certainly explains Danny Dyer).

I really do despair when you have people this utterly moronic spouting complete and utter nonsense about a sport that they clearly have absolutely no knowledge of whatsoever. They'd be better of watching tiddlywinks, but I suspect they'd even find that too intellectually taxing.

This and you saying Messi is carried by the rest of the Argentina squad, is just about the dumbest thing I've seen posted on here. Well done, and NN!

[Confused Clarity]

This and you saying Messi is carried by the rest of the Argentina squad, is just about the dumbest thing I've seen posted on here. Well done, and NN!

Where the hell did I say Messi was being carried by the Argentina squad?

What I actually said, if you'd have been able to have the intelligence to understand it, is that Messi had only really been dominant as an attacking player in the South Korea game. In the other three games, the opposing teams had utilised systems that resulted in him being less effective for various reasons.

How is that such a ludicrous thing to say? Do you even actually watch the games in full, or do you just watch the highlights? I fail to understand how anybody can not actually get that?

[Svenc]

English GRIT & PASSION™

It's a catch-phrase innit? I've seen it flying around lots lately in British media. Reminds me a lot of Germany of old. Only that the catch-phrase at work in Germany wasn't "passion", it was "Deutsche Tugenden" (German virtues), and both passion and deutsche Tugenden likely mean the same thing. The commitment to give your all for the team and the country, to never give up even if you're 0-2 down with 15 minutes to play, to run your lungs out until the very final whistle. There was loads of talk and chit-chat about a return and further strengthening of the deutsche Tugenden that, very apparently, were the sole reason for German success before the association went into a bit of a slump during the 90s. Not youth setups that produced European and World Player of the year awards, no tactical game plan and awareness that was right up there or on tops of the ever evolving international competition. No, it was all about deutsche Tugenden, being 100% match fit, organized, and commited to the cause. When both Klinsmann and Löw arrived, they had a good laugh. For what people are advocating with either passion or deutsche Tugenden are entry level requirements for international football as it is today.

[CMOZZA]

Capello is the right man for the job imo..... I can't see anyone else coming in and doing a better job than him tbf. Plus, should we sack him and plunge the FA's debt another £12m further into the red?

He can't really do any worse than the last 5/6 games (included the friendlies because we were ****-poor in those too).

It's not as if Capello took a team that won or got to the final of a competition and then lost in the second round, he took over a team that didn't even qualify for the last competition and lost in the 2nd round to a team that has suprised most people with how good they've been. Yes we looked good in qualifying, but even in Friendlies against decent teams we were found out, if the players were unable to motivate themselves for a world cup or the pressure got them then it's not exactly Capello's fault.

Now, if the players don't like his regime or the way things were at the finals then that's another thing, he has to sit down and iron that out with the players before the Qualifying campaign for the Euro's.

It's not always the managers fault. Pretty much the same group of players have failed to perform in 2002, 2004, 2006, qualifying for Euro 2008 & now this year. And each time it's resulted in the manager getting the bullet, surely something doesn't quite add up?

[Woodmansee]

Where the hell did I say Messi was being carried by the Argentina squad?

What I actually said, if you'd have been able to have the intelligence to understand it, is that Messi had only really been dominant as an attacking player in the South Korea game. In the other three games, the opposing teams had utilised systems that resulted in him being less effective for various reasons.

How is that such a ludicrous thing to say? Do you even actually watch the games in full, or do you just watch the highlights? I fail to understand how anybody can not actually get that?

That was your words, the Argentina squad was carrying Messi. Thats all you said in the post, none of this other crap you're spurting now. Stop trying to get out of it afterwards, it was a stupid thing to say, just like the tripe in your last post here, you racist little pig.

Messi is shining so far? Really? He's been pretty much a passenger in all of Argentina's games.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=5594213&highlight=Played+scoring#post5594213

[NICK_GIFF]

Woodmansee, how old are you??

A truthful answer pls k thx. x

[GillsMan]

Capello is the right man for the job imo..... I can't see anyone else coming in and doing a better job than him tbf. Plus, should we sack him and plunge the FA's debt another £12m further into the red?

He can't really do any worse than the last 5/6 games (included the friendlies because we were ****-poor in those too).

It's not as if Capello took a team that won or got to the final of a competition and then lost in the second round, he took over a team that didn't even qualify for the last competition and lost in the 2nd round to a team that has suprised most people with how good they've been. Yes we looked good in qualifying, but even in Friendlies against decent teams we were found out, if the players were unable to motivate themselves for a world cup or the pressure got them then it's not exactly Capello's fault.

Now, if the players don't like his regime or the way things were at the finals then that's another thing, he has to sit down and iron that out with the players before the Qualifying campaign for the Euro's.

It's not always the managers fault. Pretty much the same group of players have failed to perform in 2002, 2004, 2006, qualifying for Euro 2008 & now this year. And each time it's resulted in the manager getting the bullet, surely something doesn't quite add up?

Good points, all well made.

[Confused Clarity]

That was your words, the Argentina squad was carrying Messi. Thats all you said in the post, none of this other crap you're spurting now. Stop trying to get out of it afterwards, it was a stupid thing to say, just like the tripe in your last post here, you racist little pig.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=5594213&highlight=Played+scoring#post5594213

I said he was a passenger. Not that he was being carried. He doesn't have to be getting carried by his team mates to be a passenger. He can be a passenger as a result of his opponents nullifying his pressence too. It's not difficult to understand if you actually have an idea about football tactics, but being a West Ham fan I do understand that's a difficult concept for you.

I also wrote on that very same page when people questioned what I meant the following:

Messi was quiet against Mexico for the majority of the game not just the second half, mainly because Marquez kept close to him and prevented him from playing. That being said, it did allow Tevez to have an almost free reign in midfield, so in that respect he was able to help the team.

Against Nigeria he was dropping deep a lot and acting as an extra midfielder which meant he was often playing with his back to goal which makes him less effective.

He was outstanding in the South Korea game though and was definitely able to show what he can do when he's allowed to play by a side.

If you're going to debate with coherent human beings, do try and actually be coherent yourself. I know it's difficult considering you West Ham fans have only just discovered the art of conversation, but it really does help other people if you take things into context and look at the whole of somebodies argument rather than a single individual post.

[skybluedave]

I wonder how Capello will freshen up the squad. Few players will leave the squad I reckon. I was happy with 442 for the WC as it worked well in the past. But nobody else played 442. Brazil and Holland much better sides yesterday were playing a 4231. I do think our players are set up more for that formation. The 442 worked best when Heskey was on a bit of form.

So it quite clear we should do a 'Germany' and start incorporating some of our successful U21 lot. But I'm not sure what Capello is like with youngsters. I remember at Madrid, Higuain and Gago signed (not by Capello, by Mijatovic) and he noticed the talent in Higuain and used him a fair few times. He also promoted Diego Lopez from Castilla to back up and he turned out pretty good. Miguel Torres got used a few times too. But hopefully the next game we will see a few new players, if it's the same old squad can't see there being a big turn out of fans.

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

What scares me is Capello being invited to stay(!) and only then pretty much saying that the squad needs to change radically (which it does!, for whatever reason). Did he not realise that before selecting his squad? Did he have to manage the 2nd best team in 3 out of 4 games against in the most part opposition who are FIFA ranked lower than us to realise this? Or did he have to get home and watch the Hanson analysis of his failures to realise his shortcoming in those matches?

For me, Capello's only defence/excuse is either that the players truned into a bunch of unprofessional clowns when they got to their "Summer Camp" (which he would not have experienced before, to be fair), or the S.African conditions didnt suit us (pre-tournament no one felt that was an issue), or the players just are not good enough. If the latter he should have had the balls to say so months ago, not pretend we had a good chance to win it while all the mug punters were spending their hard earned on FA sponsored merchandise only to break the bad news when he had no other choice (and had a nice new contract sewn up - he wouldnt have got that if he had talked our chances down in advance).

I do not care what they say, if Capello could cheaply have been disposed of and if a quality replacement manager existed (cheaply!) he would not have stayed.

Another thought. I'll bet that our current crop of "not good enough" players, if Mourinho had been manager (which he wouldnt want to be at this stage), would have done better than last 16 - though the 23 man squad may have looked very, very different.

It should be noted that statistically (in the Final stages of big international competition) he has made Sven look much the better achiever. Humbling thought!

[Confused Clarity]

The thing with 4231 and why I'm personally a big proponent of it is that it offers so much flexibility.

You can easily and fluidly move to 433 with it, with the two wide players pushing further forward and the central of the 3 droping back. You can move to 451 with it, with the attacking bank of the midfielders dropping back to tighten up and you can even move to 351 with it, with the more defensive of the midfielders dropping into defence and the fullbacks becoming wingbacks.

Football is becoming more fluid and less rigid and has been for years. I've said it previously here and other places, but Toshack has been trying to get the Welsh players to understand that since he came in and the younger ones really do embrace it, England need to do the same else they'll find themselves continually in this position.

England DO have good players and so they will get results against sides and they'll likely qualify for the majority of tournaments, but unless they change and look at giving players the ability and understanding of different systems from an early age, they're always going to falter.

[buckyRover]

Woodmansee, how old are you??

A truthful answer pls k thx. x

I was willing to stick my neck on the line and hazard a guess that he isn't an educated person.

[Confused Clarity]

Yes, I'd agree with bucky. I don't disbelieve his age in his proifle. I really do think he's that old, it's just that he's a knuckle dragging, boneheaded neanderthal who is ill equipped to be able to engage with normal human beings.

[gaga_4_parma]

When I said Holland was better then England...

i'd like to see how you attempt to argue that the dutch team are comfortably better than england

:D:D....

Oh dear!

[skybluedave]

England>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Italy

[Razzler]

Pleased Capello is staying, no need to comment on the last 3 pages, it's all been said and eh? and then said again

Euro Quals right on us, sooner than you think really and we start off tricky. Can't be messing or continuing the lethagy, friendly with Hungary and the squad selected will now take on nnnnggg proportions in the media as to "he's not changed a thing" "he's changed EVERYTHING" and whichever reaction is appropriate in the tabloids the next day depending on the result.

Will be interesting how he freshens things up, probably the end of the road for a few, especially fringe players like King and Heskey (although hardly fringe tbf). I really would like to like Michael Carrick and I'd welcome a 4-2-3-1 but let's see what happens

[gaga_4_parma]

England>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Italy

Indeed!

I would like you to point out though where I said Italy be would be anything but ****!

I love re-quoting posts from this thread...everyone says they never expected England to do well but really the posts don't actually reflect that mentality...quite the opposite they're written with fingers crossed, certain positivity and luck in mind...

[Jamos5000]

Looking forward to the rebuilding that's going to be taking place during the Qualifiers. Hope we really crush Wales as well

[gaga_4_parma]

I really would like to like Michael Carrick and I'd welcome a 4-2-3-1 but let's see what happens

With what players? England hasn't even got a single creative enough player to make a 4-2-3-1 work...let alone the 2-3 needed and which most teams have when they use that system.

As they say..."It's nice to want things..."

Oh and 4-4-2 is not the problem...

[skybluedave]

Carrick would be better in a 4231 though. Alongside a Hargreaves/Barry. That's what i'd like to see. With Gerrard/Lampard in the hole. Whoever out wide. Lennon/Milner on the right. Joe Cole/Johnson on the left.

Or if Carrick struggles, Milner in there instead.

I heard Carragher is going to retire (again) along with King and Heskey. No big suprises. A few more might go too IMO. Ferdinand and James.