2007 English Premier League

[Telrem]

I can't believe you guys are cutting Sven any slack. He is a terrible manager.

The only think i will give him any credit for is winning the UEFA Cup with Gothenburg.

He won the Portugese league with Benfica? - Big deal they are the best supported club in Portugal!

He won Seria A with Lazio? - After spending monstrous amounts of money on players (Nedved, Nesta, Staam, Veron etc etc etc.) and he still didnt have any impact in Europe.

He had indifferent spells in charge of Roma and Sampadoria too which none of you seem to remember.

And lets not forget his shambolic reign as manager of England. He should of been sacked for bringing the FA into disripute after all his off field antics never mind the fact his team played shite football and underachieved at two world cups and one european championship!

Rant over.

Sorry but I just really dislike the man!

As far as Ronaldinho is concerned I can't imagine him playing for anyone other than Barcelona now. He gets to play the kind of football he likes and probably enjoys the weather lol. Would he really want to move to London to play Robot football with Chelsea for a few extra million pounds a year?

[Akileese]

In fairness, England is just as bad off with McClaren. Sure they whooped Israel today, but if they can't beat Israel in front of damn near 90k at Wembley with their backs against the wall, then they're not going to win at all. Now as long as they can take care of Russia on Wednesday, they'll be set.

[slitz]

Originally Posted by Telrem

And lets not forget his shambolic reign as manager of England. He should of been sacked for bringing the FA into disripute after all his off field antics never mind the fact his team played shite football and underachieved at two world cups and one european championship!

And England is the most overrated nation in the world when it comes to national football. The only ones that don't see it are the brits themselves.
Every single time they qualify for WC/EC they go for the gold, but the rest of europe doesn't qualify them as gold material.

[Gwen Rockpounder]

Originally Posted by Telrem

I can't believe you guys are cutting Sven any slack. He is a terrible manager.

The only think i will give him any credit for is winning the UEFA Cup with Gothenburg.

He won the Portugese league with Benfica? - Big deal they are the best supported club in Portugal!

He won Seria A with Lazio? - After spending monstrous amounts of money on players (Nedved, Nesta, Staam, Veron etc etc etc.) and he still didnt have any impact in Europe.

He had indifferent spells in charge of Roma and Sampadoria too which none of you seem to remember.

And lets not forget his shambolic reign as manager of England. He should of been sacked for bringing the FA into disripute after all his off field antics never mind the fact his team played shite football and underachieved at two world cups and one european championship!

Rant over.

Sorry but I just really dislike the man!

This.

also...

Originally Posted by Slitz

And England is the most overrated nation in the world when it comes to national football. The only ones that don't see it are the brits themselves.
Every single time they qualify for WC/EC they go for the gold, but the rest of europe doesn't qualify them as gold material.

For what they actually achieve when they get to the finals etc, you are probably right. If you looked at the players at their disposal at various tournaments though its almost a criminal waste of talent that they have got bugger all out of them. The only really poor England team in my era is what poor old Turnip Taylor inherited. As much as he maybe wasnt very good anyway, he had to choose rubbish like Sinton, Palmer and Curle etc.

Closest in my lifetime of watching football being the WC Semi 1990 and lazy "worst waste of talent in history" bastard Gascoigne missing against the Germans (yet again!) in the Euro 98 semi final. They just don't ever seem capable of playing as a team, or at least no manager in that time has got them to do it.

Here's where I may draw some mockery but I dont give a monkeys, they should have given the job to Big Sam this time round, he wouldnt have taken any shit from any of the players. he wouldnt have dropped Beckham etc just to try and make a pathetic point.

Edit : Spulling

[Akileese]

You're not the first person I've heard say that dude. I know about 5 of my friends from England said they want Allardyce to have the job. Could they possibly go after him once WC qualifying gets going? There's no way McClaren makes it past Euro 2008 unless they somehow win the whole thing and even them I think they may give him the Fabio Capello treatment.

[Telrem]

And England is the most overrated nation in the world when it comes to national football. The only ones that don't see it are the brits themselves.

How are they overrated? The only people who expect England to win the World Cup are the English.

They do have the players to win major championships though, just not the team. Too many egos and not enough disciplin from their managers.

Never mind, hopefully us Scots can fly the flag for the UK at Euro 2008

[Grooverider]

Alladyce will not get the england managers job. He isn't proven on the big stage (Europe)

[Kiely]

I think it's a fair to say that England are overrating England though. Supporters I mean, blindly devoting their souls to the game and when the Nationals are on; its the basic expectation that we should win regardless of whatever state the team/game is in. Theres a big difference in attitudes in the cultures between England, Ireland / Scotland etc.
It's a mass hysteria, fueled by demanding and despicable media Corps who are ready to insult, mock and run tireless hate campaigns on whoever screws up a little.
Somewhere along the line it has turned into a mass of arrogance and sheer stupidity amongst the supporters, each a Premier League expert mind you, sure there is some truth to the words when they talk about POTENTIAL but it's not the point, it's their attitude which is mind boggling.
You should see the atmosphere after a National defeat in a pub for example, it's hideously tense. Where are the so called loyal supporters giving them some praise because another country played BETTER than them?
England won't win a cup unfortunately for some time, which is a damn shame because we have such a crop of talent, but theres too many factors working against them. The next generation will be interesting for sure.

[Grooverider]

England lackseveral things that only an idiot would argue:

1. cohesion
- I'm not sure why this is really, I'm just not sure premiership football translates into the world stage particularly well.
2. a solid goalkeeper
- Robinson is poor; for England AND Tottenham. David James is ancient and unreliable.
3. a world class striker
- Rooney doesn't score goals, Owen has been injured/out of form for years, the up and coming strikers (Bent, Johnson etc) are no where near worldclass.

The midfield reliance for goals is painful. You don't get excited when England attack.

[Akileese]

Cohesion is the biggest problem. Robinson isn't perfect, but he's not horrible and James is still a solid keeper regardless. As far as world class strikers, I can't argue Rooney and Owen's injury woes. I think it'll be interesting to see how they play against Russia on Wednesday. SWP had a great game.

For what it's worth, as long as they don't match up Gerrard and Lampard in the midfield ever again, I think they'll be much better off. Two great individual players, but it's like putting two lead dancers together. All they do is get in each other's way.

[Wanand]

The problem England have it not every player in the team wants to be there, they give more effort for the team that is playing their 100k a week wages then they do for their country and as a englishman it fucking kills me to see these players being picked.

If you look at the u21 championship a few months ago that was a england team who was not that good but every signle player wanted to be there and they fought for every ball they worked hard for each other and for the 3 lions badge on there chest witch as a average englishman anyone who represents the 3 lions in any sport all you want them to do is fight for it win/lose/draw just fight for it don't put in half arsed efforts that most of the english 1st team players do.

If you look at the World Cup, European Championships over the years there is always a little team that does well because they fight for it they want it, that is why spain have done nothing and why england will continue to live off the 66 win, and it is no surpise that the 2 biggest leagues in the world both of there international teams are the biggest disapointment when it comes to competitions,there players earn to much money and they get alot of pressure from there clubs to not get injured whilest playing for there countries and all this comes from the amount of money the clubs get for winning the league and being succsesfull and the FA earn to much money from it and that is why nothing is done about it and why the FA will only appoint Yes men who will not presurre the players and will pick the superstars who earn the FA the most money when they put on a england shirt, my job takes me around the world i spend alot of time in SE asia everything out there is about the english league and the english players, the club the player and the FA all earn alot of money from all the advertisment the players take part it , that is why you see bent going for 16 million, hargreves 17 million they are not worth that on football skills but as soon as a player put on a england shirt and become a 1st team regular the amount of money they make the club they play for makes up the rest of the large transfer fees. So when you have players being picked on how much money they can make the FA/Clubs you are never going to have a succsefull national team

[Grooverider]

Well; to inspire a team to fight tooth and nail for victory is also a job for the manager.

Do you think McClaren can inspire ANYONE? His only success is a string of lucky wins in the UEFA cup with boro who conincidentally suck fucking balls.

[Axire]

Ok so everyone knows Soccer is better than baseball/basketball, and Rugby is better than American Football, so is the only reason America in general isnt interested in the sports most other countrys are most involved in because they just can't compete yet on an international level?

With the money and potential talent floating around the country, you guys could potentially dominate, its sad that the sport of the world (football) is next to ignored in America :/

[Akileese]

ESPNsoccernet - Euro 2008 - Terry talks up a united England

McClaren may not be able to rally the troops, but John Terry probably could. I hope he does too. I'm so fuckin pissed I gotta work at 4. I'll only catch the 1st half

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Axire

Ok so everyone knows Soccer is better than baseball/basketball, and Rugby is better than American Football, so is the only reason America in general isnt interested in the sports most other countrys are most involved in because they just can't compete yet on an international level?

With the money and potential talent floating around the country, you guys could potentially dominate, its sad that the sport of the world (football) is next to ignored in America :/

Very good point. Americans not into rugby is puzzling. They love violence and tough sports. Rugby is such an exciting fucking sport and it's brutal as hell. Out of every sport I watch, Rugby is easily my favorite. I Prefer league to Union, but they're both fun.