Liverpool FC Forum

by **48-1119859832** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:05 pm

England are out of the World Cup because of three parties, the F.A, Sven and the players.

The F.A's handling of finding a new manager was disgraceful; it should of been sorted out after the World Cup. It wouldn't of surprised me if Sven sabptaged England's best chance, not that I can blame him if that's what he did. England might well of got Phil Scolari had they waited until after the World Cup, but the F.A don't seem to be able to do anything right.

Sven could and should take most of the blame, after he took a huge gamble on the players he took and it didn't pay off. He took a 17 year old whose never played on the top level, he took two injured players and a target man as his 4 strikers and it backfired greatly, Jermaine Defoe and Dean Ashton must be seething at the teeth with the decision to be left out. Sven's negative tactics were also to blame. England were so defensive and sat back so much that they forgot how to be creative up top. He refused to drop players like Beckham, Lampard and Owen and all the other media hyped, Sven favourized players. The fact that he also had to change from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 during the tournement didn't help things, in fact it made it worse.

And then theres the players. The midfield lack direction, creativity, the strikers were injured or had toe punts hoofed up to them instead of having mixed and short passes as well as thru balls into their feet. The defence at times look shaky and generally England played poor football and when it came to the crunch they were nowhere to be found. The players went missing against Portugal. Ppl blame Ronaldo for Rooney's red card and whilst I agree Ronaldo shouldn't of been such a little worm and influence the refs decision to send Rooney off but it did look like he set out to stamp on Carvalho's groinal area. Therefore he deserved to be sent off.

I'm sure Ace Ventura will pick apart my post and say that Portugal cheated, which they did and England lost cause of the heat, which is a factor but it's an excuse, the reason why England went out was because they were incapable of creating sufficent chances in front of goals and they played for penalties and they lost.

Better luck next time England, and it looks like I got my prediction right, England 0-0 Portugal and England to bow out on penalties.

by **Ace Ventura** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:44 pm

To be fair to you your prediction was right.

And alot of your post is right as well, i have made excuses for previous tournament exits but not this time.
I totally agree the selection of the strikers in the squad was ridiculous. When it was first anounced we were all shocked but thought Sven must know something we dont regarding Walcott. We all would of gambled with Owen and Rooney but it was the omission of another striker that has been the major mistake. At the start of the tournament i thought Hargreaves was the player that shouldnt of gone, but the in the knockout stages the lad played well and deserves credit.
The player that should never have gone and that makes no sense is Jenas, we had plenty of cover in that area and he should of been the player that missed out for Defoe or Bent.
We were then unfortunate with the injury to Owen, because of the managers poor squad selection we were left with the option of playing Rooney on his own up front or partnering him with Crouch and dropping one of Svens undroppable's, so the team and tactics were obvious.
Rooney who is never a lone forward with the misfiring and selfish Lampard the main support, we all hoped that the football would improve rather than believed and it never.
Rooney was isolated, grew frustrated and ended up getting sent off.
Portugal imo where no better and i seriously believe with better management and the right squad we could have gone close.
We again lost on penalties but this tournament were that poor that didnt deserve to go any further and wont have won many/if any neutral fans support.
Lets hope that Mclaren surprises us and has more imagination and guts than his predecessor, if not then despite having some of the best players and often one of the most talented squads we will always fall well short.
Oasis we are still much better than Mexico though

by **48-1119859832** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:55 pm

Bloody hell, you actually agreed with me one something, that must be my most sensible post yet then. :laugh:

Obviously anyone would of taken Owen and Rooney if they had a realistic chance of featuring. Owen on his day can grab a goal out of nothing and can have a quiet game and then score and Rooney's just a fantastic player. So I can't blame Sven for that to be honest.

Portugal were poor as well, that's why I said it was a game neither team deserved to win, neither Portugal or England really looked like they wanted to win.

I'm unsure about McClaren but we shall see, and yes for this World Cup England were the better side, but you heard the name Giovanni Dos Santos here first. He'll be a big player in a few years time.
(Oh and Salcido & Pardo have both signed for Stuttgart)

by **Ace Ventura** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:16 pm

0asis wrote:but you heard the name Giovanni Dos Santos here first. He'll be a big player in a few years time.

But Crouch will always be bigger

by **Big Niall** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:18 pm

If I was England manager I'd do the following

AS every club (nearly) plays 4-4-2 I'd play that system EVERY game.

No payer would play in a position which he doesn't for his club. SG would not be centre midfield as doesn't play there for LFC at the moment. This would mean a few players who aren't that great getting into the team but an average player in his natural position is better than another player out of position.

IN friendlies- make no more than 3 subs and start with my strongest team - use B internationals for other canditates.

End Beckhams international career so Lennon/SWP and SG would compete on the right unless SG gets to play centre for LFC.

Realise the best players don't necessarily make the best combination. YOu all raved about Lampard and SG as "world class" but they were poor, SG below expectation and Lampard in bad form but even when Lampard in good form - still a poor combination - see Euro 2004.

by **Bman** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:59 pm

Before we get back to pre-season with Liverpool I can't help but wonder why this England team did not reach the semi's at the very least. Most 'Johnny foreigner's ' say the English fail to lay blame at the hands of there players and look elsewhere for an excuse. Well cue ' Johnny foreigner' now as I'm well within your sights.
First and foremost I am a Liverpool fan like the rest and I can appreciate that some or most Liverpool fans couldnt give a to$$ about England. I am English aswell as a Liverpool fan and love my country like the next patriot. But in recent times, or say the last five years or so it has become more and more painful to watch England squander opportunity after opportunity. The F.A made the biggest boo boo of all time in my opinion, when asking Sven to take charge. Well thats how its turned out, in the begining no one was to know what was to be. So he was given the chance, as apparent as it was because English football lacked the technical attributes aswell as tactical vision. Sven was supposed to be the missing link when appointed, he was what England needed a tactical Swede who plyed his trade in Italy.

The warning signs were there four years ago in Japan when England crashed out of the World Cup to 10 man Brazil, I'll always remember the glum Swede sitting on the bench waiting for something to happen during that game. It never did, because he never made it happen he wouldnt force the change and have the bottle to be more adventurous. For to sit there and watch a motionless manager stare at the game and do nothing about it didnt fill me with confidence. TBH I cant remember too much of the Euro's two years later, I think we went out to Francead Gerrard of all people made a terrible back pass to allow the French to win. I think England did play quite well in that tournament and that game. Even still it was apparent Sven was unsure of his best team, he played Ledley King as a holding midfielder who for all his heart and energy wasnt adequately adapted to that position.
Also Svens tactics were similar to that of Houlliers at the time playing the long or quick ball behind the defence to let in a young Michael Owen in on goal. Even the ordinary Howard Wilkinson would of been able to apply his England team to do this, England as a team were no better off at this stage. And England werent playing the brand of football required from such a highly technical coach who was supposed to bring this missing dimension to the game. Sven himself did not no his prefered formation and with only as it seemed a 'Plan A' game plan(knock it long) England were no better in the world of football for it. The F.A made yet another coc.kup renewing his contract (Ithink) until after the 2006 WC. Paying him a staggering 25 million pounds in total tax free, He really saw them coming. Add to this his love affairs with x amount of women which was well publised, made me think most of his energy and passion were going everwhere but towards the England team.
So Germany was next up, and when the squad was announced it had ' asking for trouble all over it', yes with four strikers, two unfit one unproven and another which doesnt have prolific to his name to me spelt goal drought. Then the first game against Paraguay could be well considered one of the most dire opening group games ever. There was nothing, no co-hesion, no movement, no quality passing no keep ball. nothing. But they still won, thats the main thing I told myself and they (the players) told us it was the heat, ha. Things could only get better I thought and for some reason as most fans have, I had a hoping, sneaky suspision we'd do well. Surely not even the 'Johnny foreigners' out there could doubt we had the individual talent. Collectively though proves to be a different story, anyway stroll on T&T, couldnt believe it took the best part of eighty minutes to get the breakthrough. At the risk of sounding arrogant which I do not intensionally mean to, this game should have been a formality. The richest football nation in the world failed to breakdown a well organised T&T side. For what ever reasons they were, I could sit here and say Lampard and Gerrard dont gel, Beckhams lost his mobilty Robinson gave away possesion playing long ball all the time etc etc. The team hadnt improved from the previous one and it was becoming clear Sven hadnt used his players abilities to there full potential. Again though we won thats what counts right ? I think at this stage in the press conference Beckham or Neville had said ' we dont care how we play as long as we win'. Good footballers are sooo cliche, i could of sworn the likes of Beckham would used to say ' we want to put on a good performance aswell as wining'. But now the performance thing was well and truly out the window. Sweden next, blind me I've never seen the England defence so shaky since Maradonna ripped through them in '86. Half time, what happens in that dressing room ? I heard a commentator say
' The England players are walking out for the second half, all talking to each other. That obviously means they have no idea what Sven said at half time and are working it out for themselves.'

So we qualified for the knockout stage and were due to play one of the weaker sides left in the competiton, I'd already come to the conclusion England were stumbling through there games, but yet I still had that sneaky suspision England could go all the way. Against Equaduor England were again very ordinary, and the team selection left me baffled. Rooney up top on his own thats not going to work and it didnt. Sven opted for a five man midfield, no problem if you have the personel. But it was even more apparent Sven didnt no what he was doing. He's chopping and changing his formation round DURING a World cup for ffs, he hadnt employed that formation previously but started it now. Rooney by nature will isolate himself up top, its not his nature to hold the ball up and wait for support. He's still a young raw talent that wants to turn and take on defenders, the likes of Lampard ,J cole and Gerrard couldnt offer him the support because of this. The same said for the Portuagal match also he was iso;ated and at times his nearest team mate was fourty yards away, thats no good to man nor beast. Crouch would of played that position a lot better and did when he came on against the Portugeese. Rooney should of been played up top with Crouch another boo boo. With the Midfield as a whole the biggest disapointment for being so disfunctional I understood Sven wanting Hargreaves there, in order to get Stevie forward more. But Sven should of dropped the mis-firing glory seeking Lampard and played an extra man up front. But Svens not that brave is he, looking back at the last five years England have gone backward as a team rather than forward, and you wouldnt believe it possible with our "goldern era" of talent. Okay blame does have to go to the players who were very very dissapointing , but for me it starts at the top. And had a snowball effect from the FA right down to the players, with Sven in between. Looking back at it the F.A employed a Swede whos home brand of football is very English itself with the long ball. But then he goes to Italy and manages in a negative style of football for most of his career, it doesnt have the right formula really.

So yes to all those out there who say the English look for an excuse theres the bulk of it above. But some blame should also go to those cheating Portugeese kunts who make the beautiful game of football so unsportsman like and airy fairy. I dont hold Rooney responsible for getting sent off, that b@stard Ronaldo can take blame, (very English

I know but I couldnt care less). Rooney being honest stayed on his feet when he was being mauled by two of there players, he could of gone down like they would have and one a free-kick. That is something all those cheating continental kunts could take out of the English book, a bit of honesty. The ref sent off Rooney for the shove on twinkle toes, not for the accidental stamp on Carvalihos tomatoes.

Rant over !

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