England at World Cup 2014

Didn't they hire a psychologist for the WC?

Doesn't seem to have helped much. Even players like Joe Hart who are usually cocky, looked extremely nervous.
 
AllezLesDiables said:
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
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But Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Müller, Götze are (Badstuber would also be in there without his long injury) and also build the backbone of the german team. That's the difference to ManCity or Chelsea. Spain's success was also built on the Barca core of spanish players.
 
any slightest showing of good play within a english youngster and he is pushed towards his first international cap

look what germany did,look what spain did, they dont rush "talent" through, you may say they have a great first team but they still make sure players like ozil go through the ranks and win the junior tournaments,its very important,england need to learn
 
This moronic media circus never ceases to amaze me.

'There's too much pressure on them' (Lukaku)

'Blah de blah de pressure di blah' innit (Ferdinand)

'Wow, None of us saw this coming!!!!! (Jim 'loud voice' White) Eg

'We thought Costa Rica would be the whipping boys!'

What utter booshit Mr Hand man, the above definitely came 'straight out of a comic book'

It was nothing to do with luck, heat, pressure and everything to do with lack of skill/talent and Inept Strategy/Management.

Inept Management -

1)Why on earth would you introduce players in the build up to the tournament, integrate them into the team and then not play them. Eg Lallana. Giving him 20 mins when the world cup is already gone is just pure stupidty. One of the few players in this England squad capable of that skill elusive to most English players - keeping the ball and being comfortable in possession. FFS!!! This world cup was supposed to be one of hope and development, yet by playing those on past reputation it ended up being 'groundhog day' again! I've seen England fail before, so if you play the same players who know failure because they have failed many times before, then you must be a moron if you are surprised that failed at this world cup too!

2)Rooney -'The Main Man' - Why is it necessary for everyone to agree that 'He's the go to man', or ' I grew up watching him....blah di blah' The England players competing with Rooney for his position should be doing just that. It should be cut throat. Support your team mates, but if they should all know, irrespective of who you are, if you don't perform you are out. Hodgson, by telling the World he was the main man, told the world he didn't trust his other players. It indirectly told Sturridge, Sterling, Lallana, and Barkley, that they could not be trusted to lead this England team without Rooney. Which, of course is complete bullshit. Even, if this were somehow true, why for the love of god would you announce it to all your rivals, basically telling them you're going to play him as the no. '10' allowing them to prepare for this. doh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over rated Players

I will only mention two, as they are supposed to be the leading lights and carriers of this England Team;

1) Wayne Rooney
We are all accused of piling to much pressure on him. 'oh, poor Roo, he's a scapegoat' - what utter tripe! If Hodgson builds him up to be the knight in shining armour then he better fxxking deliver when it counts. Look at Suarez, injured, operation 1 month ago, 1st game back and match winner. End of discussion.

2) Steven Gerrard
It's literally got to the stage I cannot look at his screwy face without getting serious nausea. 'Captain Marvel, Lion of England!' Are you fookin serious???? He has been very good in the past but the signs have been there in the Premiership this last year that he is nowhere near good enough to control a football match the way Hodgson thinks he could. Gerrard as a 'Regista' - are you fxxking joking?

The above is just the icing on this shitcake. Hodgson should be sacked, and if it were up to me, I'd sack him 5 mins before the Costa Rica game, because his biggest crime for me, was betraying the young players he told were the future of England and turning this trip into what they will remember as a horrendous nightmare, risking their further development in the future.
 
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Ash_G said:
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.
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They wouldn't be against it but I'm not sure it's a big priority when even the lowlier premier league clubs are getting enough tv revenues to import decent players. It would also involve a huge amount of work on the part of the FA - again I'm skeptical whether anyone there possesses the drive and vision to implement such an overhaul. It's encouraging that Stack points out above that smaller pitches are now being used as opposed to the fullish size mud baths I played on as kid but I have to question whether things will truly change this time when we have known since the Hungary 6-3 game in 1953 that we have problems.
 
MoskvaRed said:
They wouldn't be against it but I'm not sure it's a big priority when even the lowlier premier league clubs are getting enough tv revenues to import decent players. It would also involve a huge amount of work on the part of the FA - again I'm skeptical whether anyone there possesses the drive and vision to implement such an overhaul. It's encouraging that Stack points out above that smaller pitches are now being used as opposed to the fullish size mud baths I played on as kid but I have to question whether things will truly change this time when we have known since the Hungary 6-3 game in 1953 that we have problems.
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Well you've got to hope I guess. I mean it's certainly true that we're slow on the uptake. You only have to look at how we continually make the same mistakes in our approaches for England games.

But in terms of the clubs I really don't see why they'd be against it. Like I said they'd all want top British players because from a youth level there's less worry about them not settling in outside of football, British players don't tend to move abroad so there's less threat of them going to a Real, they're usually a big hit with the fans and they'll attract a lot of attention nationally and lead to increased marketing opportunities.

As I said though the quality of the kids isn't good enough and that's what needs to be addressed. I remember watching the class of 92 film and Scholes/Butt were talking about how much work is was just to get to one training session, but it really helped discipline them. That's part of our problem. A lot of the senior players have mentioned over the years, the players when they're 16 or so just don't have that same drive because they're already rich. So you've got a problem off there not being enough good kids coming through and of those that do make it, by a lot of accounts a fair few switch off because of how much they've earned already.
 
Anyone who thinks we failed due to not having good players is a bloody fool.

Costa Rica's goalscorer today wasn't good enough to start for a relegated Fulham side. Their star player plays for Olympiakos on loan from Arsenal. The rest play in some obscure leagues.

Its down to tactics, not player quality. The way we're set up is all wrong. That and we were a bit unlucky. We didn't deserve to lose either game.


Australia by all accounts performed better than us, led by Tim bloody Cahill. It's not the players that are terrible.
 
This has genuinely depressed me. Was ridiculously hyped up for this world cup and we're out before its even began. Won't watch any other games as am completely disinterested now.

Still believed there was hope, right up till about the 80th minute in the Italy vs Costa Rica game, when I realised England are out of the world cup in the groups. Damn.
 
Becknaldolencia said:
I think a group should consist of 8 teams with top two from each group qualifying for the quarterfinals. That should be a much more authentic system.
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But if you had bigger groups, a lot of the games will be dead rubbers. With only the top two qualifying, teams at the bottom will have nothing to play for in their last few games (particularly if they are playing each other).

Keeping groups small means every game is more likely to have some importance.
 
maybe top english players need to play abroad, not one major player plays his trade outside england,that is shocking
 
Wonder if he'll give Gerrard a WC send off or use it as a "competitive" debut of the next set up? Should obviously be the latter....but ehhhhhh

Hart
Johnson-Cahill-Jones-Shaw
Henderson-Wilshere
Welbeck-Rooney-Oxlade
Sturridge

Reckon he'll want to give time to Lampard and Milner though. Sterling and Barkley good options to have looking forward, shame about the shortness at the back, hope LVG saves the Smalling-Jones pairing, really do.

Think they should go with an effort, don't want this pussy out shit, theres still fans out there who deserve a good showing against a team who are the surprise of the tournament.
 
It's all well and good people picking a new starting XI that they think will do or would have done better than the side that Roy put out but I don't think any XI would have gotten a point playing the way they did. It's not the players for me, it's the way they're being set up to play.

Right now Olivier Giroud looks like a world beater. This is the same player that gets slated week in week out for his poor finishing in the league. The difference is France are playing pressing football. They're playing with speed and urgency and it's paying off for them. When was the last time you saw England collectively press the ball in midfield or press the opposition defenders to stop them looking up the field for a pass?
The answer is never.
I'm not so sure that we could have prevented the goals we conceeded with that kind of football but we definitely could have scored more than 2 goals.
 
Sad Chris said:
I doubt it. No need for conspiracy to knock us out. We can only blame ourselves. We screwed up, we deserve to go home.
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I think you guys doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the problem here. And an obvious one.
 
Eriksen said:
Anyone who thinks we failed due to not having good players is a bloody fool.

Costa Rica's goalscorer today wasn't good enough to start for a relegated Fulham side. Their star player plays for Olympiakos on loan from Arsenal. The rest play in some obscure leagues.

Its down to tactics, not player quality. The way we're set up is all wrong. That and we were a bit unlucky. We didn't deserve to lose either game.


Australia by all accounts performed better than us, led by Tim bloody Cahill. It's not the players that are terrible.
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Amen!!!
 
Should've hired Hannibal.
 
AlwaysRedwood said:
I think you guys doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the problem here. And an obvious one.
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This. It's self denial of the highest order. We need to be progressive......but to be this, first you must have an open mind- The mind of the typical England player ,however, couldn't be opened by Gandalf himself.
 
AlwaysRedwood said:
I think you guys doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the problem here. And an obvious one.
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Its been happening for the last 20 years or so.

We get knocked out of major tournament and the cries go out: "We need to get rid of the old guard, blood the youngsters" or "we need to invest in grass-roots football and develop better players" or "we need to switch to an English/Foreign manager (depending on who is manager at the time) who can get the best out of the players"

Its pretty fecking tedious by now. Nothing ever seems to change, and in the meantime, the talent pool of English players continues to diminish.
 
Steev said:
Its been happening for the last 20 years or so.

We get knocked out of major tournament and the cries go out: "We need to get rid of the old guard, blood the youngsters" or "we need to invest in grass-roots football and develop better players" or "we need to switch to an English/Foreign manager (depending on who is manager at the time) who can get the best out of the players"

Its pretty fecking tedious by now. Nothing ever seems to change, and in the meantime, the talent pool of English players continues to diminish.
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Nothing seems to change because no one has the will to change it.
 
tbf we didn't screw ourselves with Godin not getting sent off -_-

or the bad luck with injuries in prior tournaments.

not being able to adapt however.......no excuse for that one.
 
Steev said:
Its been happening for the last 20 years or so.

We get knocked out of major tournament and the cries go out: "We need to get rid of the old guard, blood the youngsters" or "we need to invest in grass-roots football and develop better players" or "we need to switch to an English/Foreign manager (depending on who is manager at the time) who can get the best out of the players"

Its pretty fecking tedious by now. Nothing ever seems to change, and in the meantime, the talent pool of English players continues to diminish.
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To me that's the most glaring thing, particularly on defense. There's also an attitude problem with the older guard. Maybe it's because they come from top 4 teams and have had so much success. Either way, it's strange. Should have the talent to go to the next round. Definitely don't have the talent to win it all.
 
As a United fan and England fan this World Cup has felt very much like a continuation of the miserable season that preceded it for us...

And I am let down, and I did have pretty low expectations (I expected a fight in the group at least and quarters at best), added to the fact that I'm not in the slightest patriotic and never buy into the whole 'play for queen and country' nonsense.

It was just like watching Moyes United - players performing way below their actual abilities due, more than anything, to the use of a completely outdated formation and most crucially, putting out a complete shell of a midfield in-front of a clearly badly drilled defence.

How any manager with a tendency toward the above lands themselves an elite football management job in this day and age is completely beyond me, and bothers me no end.

Ironically, given my low expectations, this is actually the first World Cup that's ever really hurt for me - the reason being that we actually had more spark going forward and potentially more attacking talent (overall) against all the teams in the group. With better management, and I'm including squad selection in that, we could have won this group.

Against Uruguay we dominated possession, which for a possession based team like Spain might not be telling, but for England to do so it is telling. And we dominated chances. If not for that bloody footballing tragedy on legs (Steven Gerrard) literally playing in his odious scouse team-mate, we probably would've won that match - and that's DESPITE the utterly shocking midfield and defence that Roy brought and played.

We wouldn't have lost either match if Terry and Cole had played instead of Jagielka and Baines, who were both genuinely shocking and should never be considered for anything more than backup for England from now on. And we could have comfortably won both matches if as well playing the nations best defenders (duh) we'd played a relevant midfield. And by 'relevant', I mean a midfield 3 containing the actual best midfielders in the country rather than the two that the manager knows the best.

How no pundit is talking about the spluttering husk of a midfield that was chosen by the manager is bizarre and again reminds me of how the old-boy network of pundits wouldn't even mention Moyes' bizarre tactics during the season just gone for us.

And finally, making that joke of a 'leader', Stevie effing Me captain and playing him for every minute of both those games is a sackable offence in itself. Jose Mourinho erroneously levelled the accusation at Wenger that he was a 'specialist in failure' this last season, well, Gerrard truly is just that. The guy is a walking football sorry-story and is coming off the back of a (for him) draining failed title bid where he himself comically cost his team their foothold in the race, and he's literally done the same thing for England by comically assisting the goal that puts us out. He shouldn't wear the England shirt again.

It will forever niggle at me wondering what a sensibly selected England team could've done at this World Cup with a 3 in midfield set-up, and a defence drilled on the absolute basics of defending.

Jagielka, Baines, Gerrard, and Johnson played every minute in both those matches, with Henderson playing into 80th minute of both. That is shocking.

The whole thing was like a Moyes' campaign in microcosm. Very disappointing, even with lowered expectations.
 
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Think of it this way....

One of your main coaches is Gary Neville....The same Gary Neville, who refuses to buy into the fact United's style of football needs to evolve and believes it needs to stay the same.

I mean, if thats the mindset, a coach of the national team has, then it's not that surprising
 
.Rossi said:
Think of it this way....

One of your main coaches is Gary Neville....The same Gary Neville, who refuses to buy into the fact United's style of football needs to evolve and believes it needs to stay the same.

I mean, if thats the mindset, a coach of the national team has, then it's not that surprising
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This.
 
The reality is that England, as always, were ridiculously overhyped. Yes, no one had them going to the semis but almost everyone in England seemed to believe there was enough quality to get through this group stage. Ridiculous.

Where exactly is the "quality"? On his very best day maybe Wayne Rooney, but the Wayne Rooney of today should not be confused with the Wayne Rooney of four years ago, who was then a genuine world class footballer. That, he no longer is.

We can walk through the rest of the squad and find a few glimpses of promise -- Sterling and Sturridge in particular -- but overall this squad was no match whatsoever for any of the top 8 sides in this tournament and arguably in the bottom half of the tournament.

This was a World Cup for a rebuild, not to hang on by the fingernails for has beens like Gerrard or imposters like Hart. Go young, learn from the bruises that would have been incurred from the beatings by Italy and Uruguay, get the squad into reasonably competitive shape for the next Euros and then have a battle-tested squad in place for WC 2018.

Instead, Woy has a complete mess on his lap, a humiliation of a high order.
 
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