Football : World Cup 2014

England don't need bottle and guts. They need better players.

[Qtx]

With less than a third of the premier league being English players, that must limit choice quite a bit.

Players in some of the african teams are so proud to play for their country and put everything in to the game, which see's them doing well sometimes despite the skill difference. If only the rich pampered england team played with as much heart.

[Uncle Peter]

Shocking officiating again. Do FIFA have a secret quota of African teams that have to reach the knockout stages then because there was nothing wrong with Dzeko's goal

[thenry]

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

First player I would have dropped is Gerrard, he was abysmal perhaps because his body is no longer capable of playing at the required level. Unfortunately for England there's nobody else!

Thats not true. Ditching Gerrard so late would have caused issues. Sadly for England Wilshere wasn't fit. And neither was Theo fit. As a DM England have little choice but to convert a CB.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

No not really, I prefer my mick taking to be spontaneous and witty, send for the blue raja Russ, he was a wum of the highest quality.

Ah right, I'd not seen your humour connoisseur gimmick before. How about this one then?

[denphone]

Originally Posted by thenry

Thats not true. Ditching Gerrard so late would have caused issues. Sadly for England Wilshere wasn't fit. And neither was Theo fit. As a DM England have little choice but to convert a CB.

So why is it Mr Wenger came out and declared Wilshere match fit for England.

http://www1.skysports.com/FIFA-World...it-for-england

[colin25]

Originally Posted by thenry

Thats not true. Ditching Gerrard so late would have caused issues. Sadly for England Wilshere wasn't fit. And neither was Theo fit. As a DM England have little choice but to convert a CB.

Personally, I would have Gerard playing for england for a few more years,..at least 4 more. And I would equally have him playing for liverpool for at least another 6 years.

It gives me so much pleasure seeing him play for the opposition

[Arthurgray50@blu]

http://www.itv.com/news/london/story...jose-mourinho/

Even though l amnot a Chelsea fan, this is one appointment that l would agree one. Hodgson is totally useless at motivating a spoilt lot of players.

Its proved it with the sadness of going home early (l think l predicted this in an earlier comment - l said they wouldn't get out the group stage - as we are not good enough)

With Mourinho, you have a manager that is 'not' scared of the reputation of the player, and he is brilliant as a manager.

[thenry]

wow Jose! That is something that will test those that say a national coach must be of the same nationality.

---------- Post added at 19:04 ---------- Previous post was at 19:01 ----------

Originally Posted by denphone

So why is it Mr Wenger came out and declared Wilshere match fit for England.

http://www1.skysports.com/FIFA-World...it-for-england

he didn't say he's 100% fit.

[Uncle Peter]

Originally Posted by thenry

Thats not true. Ditching Gerrard so late would have caused issues. Sadly for England Wilshere wasn't fit. And neither was Theo fit. As a DM England have little choice but to convert a CB.

Therein lies the problem. Roy is not playing with a defensive midfielder. He's trying to deploy Gerrard as a "regista". Unfortunately, a regista he is not and neer will be: Gerrards passing range spans from abysmal to Hollywood with an alarming rate of randomness. To do that job you have to be consistent and have the decision making ability to choose the right pass 99% of the time. England have neither a defensive midfielder or regista type player.

The other problem in the way that England lined up is the gaping chasm behind Baines and Johnson when they attack. If you're going to play like that then you do need a defensive midfielder, a mobile one who can drop back to cover the full-back position as Mascherano used to do for Liverpool to great effect.

While Welbeck and Sterling do a reasonable job of defending in advanced positions, as wide men they are far too advanced to be of any defensive use in a transition of possession. In fact England line up more like a 4-2-1-3 than a 4-2-3-1 with and without the ball.

[iadom]

Not watched every single minute yet but has anyone scored direct from a free kick yet?

Also noted that all/most of the European teams suffered a significant drop in performance from the first game to the second. England poor, Italy poor, Germany lucky to scrape a draw against Ghana, Holland struggled to see off Australia etc.

[thenry]

Thierry Henry @ThierryHenry
Goodbye #bbcworldcup we had fun! Now back to work. @NewYorkRedBulls. See you guys soon. Hope you enjoyed.
7:41 PM - 22 Jun 2014
https://twitter.com/ThierryHenry/sta...82668184158208

---------- Post added at 21:05 ---------- Previous post was at 20:56 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

England don't need bottle and guts. They need better players.

How do you define bottle & guts? What if England had the bottle and guts to go to the WC in the same fashion as these underdogs go and embrace it all. It always seems robot like. From the press conferences to play on the field. England do not enthrall us.

[Shadow Demon UK]

Originally Posted by iadom

Also noted that all/most of the European teams suffered a significant drop in performance from the first game to the second. England poor, Italy poor, Germany lucky to scrape a draw against Ghana, Holland struggled to see off Australia etc.

You could say the same about Brazil and Argentina as well though. Its only really Chilie and France that have impressed in their second games so far.

[iadom]

And Costa Rica and Algeria.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I trust that Hodgson was watching the South Korea v Algeria game - this is how the udnerdogs play good class football.

Players probably on peanuts compared to the overrated, pampered stars of so called England a Brilliant game of football

Am l still angry, yes, l trust that the England stars wont have a break before the PL season starts, as l dont think they deserve it.