England at World Cup 2014

Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I like the idea of the better teams qualifying instead of the bigger names. I don't think we didn't get through because of the "tough" group, I think it was because we're not good enough.
Better teams qualifying? That's actually my point and why I'm against four teams in a group system.

Do you think any of Honduras, Ecuador or Switzerland is a better team than Uruguay or Italy. But you know one team other than France will qualify from the group c because they were less poor than the other, which is unfair on better teams in tougher groups.
 
To anyone who is tired of following England, tired of Hodgson, sick of Stevie G, annoyed by Joe Hart, let down by Rooney, fed up with the Sunday papers, you are all welcome to adopt the USA as your new national team.

We won't consider you plastic fans, or glory hunters. The more, the merrier.
 
There needs to be a quota on the amount of foreign players in the league
 
To anyone who is tired of following England, tired of Hodgson, sick of Stevie G, annoyed by Joe Hart, let down by Rooney, fed up with the Sunday papers, you are all welcome to adopt the USA as your new national team.

We won't consider you plastic fans, or glory hunters. The more, the merrier.

:lol:
 
Better teams qualifying? That's actually my point and why I'm against four teams in a group system.

Do you think any of Honduras, Ecuador or Switzerland is a better team than Uruguay or Italy. But you know one team other than France will qualify from the group c because they were less poor than the other, which is unfair on better teams in tougher groups.

This is just another way of you saying you think certain teams with bigger reputations should be simply entitled to make the latter stages.

Doesn't work that way bub, and it would be incredibly boring.
 
Just because England lost out in the group stages, some of you want to make changes to the whole format?

If some of the non traditional teams are able to qualify past the current so called better teams, then should the questions be asked of these "better" teams and not the format or the team qualifying instead!
 
Dunphy saying England should have brought Terry.
Would he have made a difference? What do people think?
 
Dunphy saying England should have brought Terry.
Would he have made a difference? What do people think?

Probably. Then again, he was playing and involved when they conceded that ridiculous opening Klose goal against Germany so his past WC performances don't suggest much improvement.
 
We just need to get a bit of perspective. Expecting England to win the world cup this year is a bit like expecting Burnley to win the Premier League next season just because they've been English champions in the distant past.

England need something akin to a planetary alignment to win the world cup:-

-Premier league operating with very few foreign players
-Youth soccer to be run by UEFA B coaches, not parents and playing futsal until age 13
-A golden generation of true world class English players emerging at the same time
-Change in press attitudes
-Change in public expectations
-Team built around being a team, not an assembled bunch of un-drop-able, overpaid stars whose apparent ability is flattered by their position in the premier league
-cool temperate location of tournament
-etc. etc.
 
Can we stop this 'less foreign players' nonsense? I thought it was just crap spoken by racists in pubs.

It's a completely nonsense argument and doesn't stack up to evidence whatsoever.
 
Can anybody name an english player that has come through over the years that has had technical ability on the same level of the likes of Iniesta,Messi, Ronaldinho etc....because i cant nams one
 
I don't think anyone was seriously expecting them to win the world cup. Just simply to at the very least get out of the group and have a go. This squad imo isn't so bad that it couldn't have done that but the tactics once again were off focusing too much on trying to include as many of the best players without thinking of balance as usual and then a lot of players let themselves down.
 
Can we stop this 'less foreign players' nonsense? I thought it was just crap spoken by racists in pubs.

It's a completely nonsense argument and doesn't stack up to evidence whatsoever.
Well it does
Less english players getting a chance etc
Do you see the spanish and german league filled with foreign players?
 
I know that it's a bit late now and seems a bit petty but is it just me that thinks it's so unfair how France, Europe's lowest ranked team at that moment in time, took Italy's seed and thus got an easy group despite having just qualified.
 
There needs to be a quota on the amount of foreign players in the league
The real question is why are there so many foreign players in the EPL. The answer is because there arent enough home based players good enough to keep the foreign player numbers lower. So the next question is why arent the home based players good enough. That is where the solution lies. Foreign players arent the problem, they are just an indicator of where the problem lies.
 
Dunphy saying England should have brought Terry.
Would he have made a difference? What do people think?
would have bought leadership and organisation to the side...would have had a grip on the def/central MF by telling them where they should be. Would it had made a difference to the results...hard to tell...but Italy anduUruguay would have had to work a lot harder to get their goals
 
To think that this was what most people thought would happen in this group. Karma, sigh ...

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The real question is why are there so many foreign players in the EPL. The answer is because there arent enough home based players good enough to keep the foreign player numbers lower. So the nyeabext question is why arent the home based players good enough. That is where the solution lies. Foreign players arent the problem, they are just an indicator of where the problem lies.
Smart analysis
So true
 
Well it does
Less english players getting a chance etc
Do you see the spanish and german league filled with foreign players?

I don't see them bringing through players who aren't good enough to be given a chance. That's the bigger problem, the quality of the players at 16 when they're ready to get a chance in the first team. If there were enough players coming through in England of that quality then they'd get a chance no doubt. It's not like for example the united management want to field Januzaj over an equivalent quality British player. They'd love to have a young British star.
 
This is just another way of you saying you think certain teams with bigger reputations should be simply entitled to make the latter stages.

Doesn't work that way bub, and it would be incredibly boring.
The World Cup needs to be more competitive and tougher to win, either by reducing the number of teams participating in it or by having more teams in a group. That's what my point is.
 
The real question is why are there so many foreign players in the EPL. The answer is because there arent enough home based players good enough to keep the foreign player numbers lower. So the next question is why arent the home based players good enough. That is where the solution lies. Foreign players arent the problem, they are just an indicator of where the problem lies.

Quite right. But solving that requires a major structural overhaul of the English game from young age groups upwards. As long as the money keeps rolling into the premier league circus, it's hard to see where the impetus will come from to drive through the reforms (certainly the biannual flop by the national team isn't sufficient impetus as it has been going on for years), particularly given the yes men and time servers who staff the FA.
 
The real question is why are there so many foreign players in the EPL. The answer is because there arent enough home based players good enough to keep the foreign player numbers lower. So the next question is why arent the home based players good enough. That is where the solution lies. Foreign players arent the problem, they are just an indicator of where the problem lies.
very true
 
Quite right. But solving that requires a major structural overhaul of the English game from young age groups upwards. As long as the money keeps rolling into the premier league circus, it's hard to see where the impetus will come from to drive through the reforms (certainly the biannual flop by the national team isn't sufficient impetus as it has been going on for years), particularly given the yes men and time servers who staff the FA.
Well the good news is that down at junior level in the last couple of years those changes have started to happen. A more concerted push to keep the kids playing on appropriate sized pitches with small numbers in teams relative to their age and development needs.
 
Dunphy saying England should have brought Terry.
Would he have made a difference? What do people think?

I'd rather go out in the group stage without John Terry than go out in the quarters with him.

It's been nice knowing I don't ever have to cheer him on again now he's retired from international duty.
 
Can we stop this 'less foreign players' nonsense? I thought it was just crap spoken by racists in pubs.

It's a completely nonsense argument and doesn't stack up to evidence whatsoever.

This completely. The success of the England team has nothing to do with the number of foreign players in the Premier League. The problem has been the total and utter mismanagement of the squad since 2000. Look at the teams we had between 2000-2006 and tell me they couldn't have got close to winning a World Cup. We now have a situation where our 'golden generation' has come to the end. The most practical way of combating this would be to pick the best team, not the best individuals. Look how hard teams such as Chile or Costa Rica work with far less resources. We should have gone into this World Cup with 3 of the back four Chelsea players and Baines/Shaw as RB. The decline of Gerrard had already happened yet he is Captain ffs. We should have realised this long before and adjusted our system/tactics accordingly.

----------------Hart---------------------
Cole------Terry-------Cahill--------Baines

----Henderson------------Wilshere

--------------Barkley--------------------
Sterling-----------------------------Sturridge

--------------Rooney-------------------------

That should have been the team which played in qualifying and so were used to playing as a unit. We don't have the players to be so open. We need a compact unit which can counter attack at speed. This may not be one of the best England teams for quality but when you are solid and work hard, quite alot is possible.
 
Well it does
Less english players getting a chance etc
Do you see the spanish and german league filled with foreign players?

Well it's not like they don't have foreign players playing key roles on the biggest teams. He'll the two supposed best players play in Spain and neither are Spanish.

Robben and Ribery aren't German
 
Embarrassing were already out. Nothing left open for the last group game now it's official, would of preferred the obligatory going out in typical English fashion on pens in the last 16 than this diabolical scenario. The Aussies have had more to shout about than us in this tournament.
 
Quite right. But solving that requires a major structural overhaul of the English game from young age groups upwards. As long as the money keeps rolling into the premier league circus, it's hard to see where the impetus will come from to drive through the reforms (certainly the biannual flop by the national team isn't sufficient impetus as it has been going on for years), particularly given the yes men and time servers who staff the FA.

Well I don't see why the top clubs would be against improving the quality of coaching from kids level upwards. They'd be against quota's saying you need x amount of British players which I think is fair enough. They shouldn't be forced to accept lower quality. More money should go towards ensuring there are adequate youth facilities, more coaches getting the top badges and assessing how the top young players are developed. I'm not sure if it's still the case but I remember Fergie saying something about how the new restrictions in terms of how far kids can travel to clubs to train mean that United for example are restricted in the players we can recruit. That's an issue because you know that not all clubs have the same facilities/coaches to bring players through and if it is the case is something that needs to be assessed as well.
 
Costa Rica showing England how it is done. They probably used the arrogance of the teams that thought they could walk all over them as motivation.