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The Official England World Cup Thread


AndyFal36

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Anyone know what airport the players land at? Going to try and get a facebook group up so we can organise a mass boo when they arrive.

Don't know what we're all moaning about anyway, we've said for years we wanted to play like Spain..

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First time since 58 we've gone out in the group stages of a World Cup. Have we ever lost all three games at a major tournament?

1988 European Championships if I remember correctly. We lost to Soviet Union, Ireland & Dutch. Media & fans demanded Bobby Robson's head. FA stuck with him & two years later got to the SF of world cup.

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Its not about passion, its about movement. Movement when you don't have the ball (you press higher) then movement when you have the ball. We are SO static when we pick up the ball in our half or the middle third of the pitch, we have no movement and its so easy for teams to press and read our game.

We may have had more possession but it wasn't decent possession, it was slow and we were static. Football is simple, move more and stand closer together so you can pass short and move and go again. We are so far apart from each other waiting for a pass. The opposition just watch and take it away, its so easy for them

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Its not about passion, its about movement. Movement when you don't have the ball (you press higher) then movement when you have the ball. We are SO static when we pick up the ball in our half or the middle third of the pitch, we have no movement and its so easy for teams to press and read our game.

We may have had more possession but it wasn't decent possession, it was slow and we were static. Football is simple, move more and stand closer together so you can pass short and move and go again. We are so far apart from each other waiting for a pass. The opposition just watch and take it away, its so easy for them

nailed it :thup:

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We do have the issue of over-rating our players though. There's a reason England are 100 times better at World Cup's in FM than in real life. When was the last time we won a big tournament game in real life? Argentina in 2002?

Also because the Premier League is saturated with talented foreigners (making the English sidekicks look better in comparison)

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Mate please remove the Liverpool specs and please let it go about Roy. We know he didn't do well for Liverpool, we know Liverpool fans don't rate him, we get it. Now stop.

I dont have my Liverpool specs on bud,Roys just no good at in-game changes its plain to see,its not me who needs specsavers!

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Its not about passion, its about movement. Movement when you don't have the ball (you press higher) then movement when you have the ball. We are SO static when we pick up the ball in our half or the middle third of the pitch, we have no movement and its so easy for teams to press and read our game.

We may have had more possession but it wasn't decent possession, it was slow and we were static. Football is simple, move more and stand closer together so you can pass short and move and go again. We are so far apart from each other waiting for a pass. The opposition just watch and take it away, its so easy for them

Spot on, :thup:

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People wanting Hodgson sacked, who would you want to replace him with?

If they want to go English they will be scraping the barrel. Would be looking at Redknapp? Pullis? Pardew? :(

Pulis would be a good candidate,he knows how to take a team of no-hopers and make them competitive and win games,even if he is Welsh:)

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Sturridge

Sterling Barkley

Wilshere Milner Oxlade

Shaw Cahill Smalling Jones

Forster

Roll with that against Costa Rica I reckon, bet Woy still sticks with Gerrard, Rooney & co though.

It's the perfect chance Roy can show he has the balls to drop the 'big names' when they don't perform, we're out of the world cup so give the youngsters the match for experience. Let them show some fight, if they have it in them.

No point playing Forster when Hart is the future

Far too error prone really, may as well let Forster get some experience. Poor positioning, awful ability of catching the ball, cannot organise his defence, error prone etc.

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Sturridge

Sterling Barkley

Wilshere Milner Oxlade

Shaw Cahill Smalling Jones

Forster

Roll with that against Costa Rica I reckon, bet Woy still sticks with Gerrard, Rooney & co though.

Swap Jones for Smalling and put Johnson in at right back. Smalling isn't the future of England, but Jones is at CB if his going to nail down a position. Also Hart for Forster.

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Far too error prone really, may as well let Forster get some experience. Poor positioning, awful ability of catching the ball, cannot organise his defence, error prone etc.

Yet still the best we have. I'm not exactly happy with him but he'll be #1 for atleast the next 4 years.

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I reckon Gerrard and Lampard play, will be their last england game so they will get a send off.

Hope not,they may still be need for any qauifiers coming up though,its a must for the young ones to get starts in a proper world cup tournament

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Ok. For starters, he doesn't have a decent shot nor does he cause problems because he's an incredibly one dimensional player (run run run down the right flank, cut inside and send a ball into the stands) and if having pace is a criteria for being a wildcard or getting called up you might aswell be chucking in people like Puncheon in the hat for a callup.

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The fact people are talking about a 22yo Townsend as an alternative in attacking midfield to a 20yo Barkley, a 19yo Sterling or a completely inexperienced at this level Lallana (and rueing injuries to a 22yo Wilshere and 20yo Chamberlain) is pretty indicative of the problem; it's nice to give opportunities to youngsters and there's no doubt these lads have potential but they shouldn't be the key players in a squad realistically expecting to challenge for the latter knockout rounds. Teams just don't do that, when they play younger lads (Ozil 21, Muller 20 for Germany in 2010) they're complementary players alongside older heads (Klose 32, Podolski and Schweinsteiger 25 but both 70+ caps) and England just haven't done that. Sturridge has only established himself as a starter in the last ten months so doesn't count, it's an out of sorts Rooney and a well past-it Gerrard and they've proven incapable of providing that stability the younger boys need.

It wouldn't have been popular but England would've fared better overall if they'd have included the likes of Milner, Lennon, Carrick, and obviously Ashley Cole. You'd have players who've played a lot of football at a high level and could've provided some of the calming influence that was lacking. Sure, the youngsters now have World Cup Finals experience but it's come in the worst circumstances and they've been exposed to disappointment and failure already.

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Scored a beauty for England before and tbh I think England lacked pace. Townsend would have offered more than some others out there.
Would he really offer more pace than Sterling or Welbeck?
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Townsend isnt exactly top class but we did miss a player of his ilk against Uruguay. I don't particularly rate Walcott either but I would say the same about him too.

The criticism about Andros being one dimensional is harsh. It really annoyed me watching him being played on the right constantly as he is infinitely better on the left.

Anyway no point arguing about its and buts but I'd like to see him get a full season of premiership football playing in his correct position. You never know how good he might be.

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The debate on Townsend is the least of out worries when we've got a statue-esque central defence, poor defensive minded right-back and a central midfield that offers nothing to either the defence or attack.

We need to get the basics right before anything else. At the moment we simply can't cope defensively against any team that has a potent midfield or attack.

I hate to say it but I worry when I think about the depth of English quality available right now.

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Would he really offer more pace than Sterling or Welbeck?

He is faster than Welbeck, yes. But he offers something different to both of them and is a hassle for opponents.

Townsend isnt exactly top class but we did miss a player of his ilk against Uruguay. I don't particularly rate Walcott either but I would say the same about him too.

The criticism about Andros being one dimensional is harsh. It really annoyed me watching him being played on the right constantly as he is infinitely better on the left.

Anyway no point arguing about its and buts but I'd like to see him get a full season of premiership football playing in his correct position. You never know how good he might be.

People are really harsh on young players sometimes. I reckon he has shown his abilities, just needs to be more consistent. But definitely agree with you.

Funny thing is if I had said this about Sterling a few months ago people would have called me crazy. When Townsend was the flavour of a couple months ago I wonder what people's opinions on Sterling were. One dimensional, overrated etc... and now?

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Funny how, even when expectations are low, we absolutely destroy our players for "failing." Really do believe how harsh our media and fans are has an effect.

you knew it was coming though? the English media especially the tabloids can't help themselves and there is always somebody needed to blame instead of actually looking at the problem and trying to find a solution

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He is faster than Welbeck, yes. But he offers something different to both of them and is a hassle for opponents.

People are really harsh on young players sometimes. I reckon he has shown his abilities, just needs to be more consistent. But definitely agree with you.

Funny thing is if I had said this about Sterling a few months ago people would have called me crazy. When Townsend was the flavour of a couple months ago I wonder what people's opinions on Sterling were. One dimensional, overrated etc... and now?

Yes, people need to look at the fundamentals in players of that age and inexperience rather than focusing on the end result. I think Townsend is a real 50/50, could explode either way, in his limited time after injury under Sherwood though he looked miles off the player who was putting in man of the match performances for England and was the centre of everything at Spurs, he's had a pretty unorthodox career path so far. As said though, England don't exactly lack young attack minded players at the moment so Townsend is rather irrelevant for now.

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you knew it was coming though? the English media especially the tabloids can't help themselves and there is always somebody needed to blame instead of actually looking at the problem and trying to find a solution

I did know it was coming and it's depressing and annoying as ****. There's issues with the current team, there's issues with grassroots, blah blah blah but not every world cup exit is an unmitigated disaster. But, like you said, there'll just be a bunch of finger pointing and negativity with no suggestions on what could improve the current team and the youth set up.

Imagine playing football when you know any slight thing wrong you're going to get absolutely slaughtered by the media and fans? Are any other teams' press as harsh as ours? And this was supposed to be us being realistic ffs :D

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Funny how, even when expectations are low, we absolutely destroy our players for "failing." Really do believe how harsh our media and fans are has an effect.

I actually feel a bit sorry for the players coming into the last game.

They have nothing to play for but if they win then the posts will be "why did they not play like this to start with, the players are a disgrace".

If they lose it will be "FFS 3 games and no points, the players are a disgrace".

The guys are on a hiding before they even kick a ball again.

I think even though a lot of media and fans played down their chances they still thought deep down they had a real crack at getting pretty far in the competition.

In truth they really would have down fantastically well to get out of that group.

Watching the BBC (which is still miles better than ITV), I was listening to their pundits after England's loss to Italy that England would easily go through as they will improve, they were also saying how bad the other 2 teams were.

There was no comment on how the other 2 teams that England still had to face could also improve, just how bad Uruguay were and how England would steamroll them, also the disrespect for Costa Rica was terrible, they hardly got a mention, only that England would beat them easily.

It reminds me so much of 4 years ago when even Gerrard was on TV saying that the game against Algeria was like a World Cup final for them (Algeria), it really makes me cringe that they can actually believe such nonsense.

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Fully agree. And any time they lose they get accused of not caring, of lacking passion. I don't see how passion had anything to do with our defeats.

An average team gets knocked out of a tough group and people immediately call for the manager's head and immediately call for half the team to never play again.

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I was watching some preview thing on Sunday and Lawrenson came out with "England will beat Uruguay and Costa Rica"

the presenter (Chapman I think) asked him why and he said "they are better" :D without any sort of pause. I feel the media downplaying has been to make sure they aren't disappointed but they were secretly hoping they'd get further so they could be hyped up for the next Euros

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Its not about passion, its about movement. Movement when you don't have the ball (you press higher) then movement when you have the ball. We are SO static when we pick up the ball in our half or the middle third of the pitch, we have no movement and its so easy for teams to press and read our game.

We may have had more possession but it wasn't decent possession, it was slow and we were static. Football is simple, move more and stand closer together so you can pass short and move and go again. We are so far apart from each other waiting for a pass. The opposition just watch and take it away, its so easy for them

As I said earlier, I do think there is a fear element. Remaining still and not being available for the ball removes yourself from taking responsibility on the ball

When I hear the players talk about 'being up for it' and 'ready' and all that rubbish I do not care. All I want them to do is MOVE and don't stand still and freaking hide! Cause I swear that is what it is. I can't believe they are unaware of the importance of movement but to stand just a bit too close to the opposition means you won't receive a pass and someone else has to take responsibilty for it

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Then we end up knocking it long or checking back as there are no options. We were a bit better with that against Italy bit it's not Italy or Uruguay it's purely we happened to play Italy first and this game was more pressure. If we'd played Costa Rica last night we'd have probably been similar tbh

It's a mentality

If I hear this 'it's not fun playing for England' rubbish again I will slap their stupid faces. It's a game of football. You know this stuff you do all the time. You're wearing a different kit, ffs. Oh the pressure, the pressure. See this ball, pass it to that guy over there now be available to receive it but we treat this whole international football experience like we're asking the work experience kid to perform open heart surgery

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Soooo, no one steps up and we go out...

Too many bang average performances (and players for that matter) and a masterclass on how to go out the world cup from hodgson is what did it. you cant blame the press for that.

Or, I am just spitballing here, maybe that is just how good you guys are.

Maybe your team is just average when it comes to the finals of competitions, let's be honest here, during the qualification process you guys had some very tight games with the Ukraine, Poland and Montenegro.

Hardly teams you would say could do well come the finals.

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