England vs. Holland, Friendly: Wednesday 29/02/12, 20:00 Wembley, London [R]

I am concerned that we are going to be the laughing stock of the Euro's. We lack any depth and the current crop of youngsters are poor.

Not looking forward to the tournament

 

Yeah, very decent player.

Not having much luck with people being crocked atm. Still, I suppose it means they'll all be back and fresh in the couple of months before the euros.



Yes... I am joking

 

Wilshere, Sturridge, Welbeck are not good enough for you? Or Walker, Jones or Smalling? They are still young and have had barely a season of play..I really don't understand this at all.. compared to recent years this is much better.. in the past years we have never really had a good crop come through.. we've had the likes of Milner, Agbonlahor, Shawcross, Walcott etc.. all players who will never become very good.

 

If you had a quid for every time Parker passed the ball forward in the first half.....you'd have about 3 quid....

 

Compare our youth to the young players coming up in the French, Portuguese,German,Spanish ranks.

I do not believe the current crop are that great- Which of the above listed player do you believe are going to be fantastic?

 

I think that Wilshere will definitely be fantastic.

Sturridge and Welbeck have the potential to be fantastic..
Oxlade-Chamberlain also has the potential to be fantastic, as does Cleverley and Jones - Jones is only 19 or something

Added to that potentially Mceachran, Morrison, and quite a few good right backs coming up in Walker, and Richards who has found form again

 

The fact that Parker has been awarded England player of the year, shows just how bad things have gotten

 

I don't think Wilshere will be able to stay fit to prove you correct. I suspect he is going to be one of those players whom is constantly on the mend.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has had how many games this season? Yes, he has had some solid performance in the few games he has played but so did Theo and look at him.

IMO England are just not capable of producing the kind of players that other large nations can.

I hope I am wrong but the signs seem to be there

 

Portugal are nothing at youth levels. We have consistently wrecked them at under 21 and below. Unless you want to list all their star youth players .

 

Brooking made the point in the 21 game that we do well at 16-19 levels...but lose the plot at 21 and Senior levels...although his exact words weren't that.

all comes down to 37% of players in PL being English.

SHIT

 

I'm still baffled to why he isn't getting into the squad when:

a: England are struggling for good midfielders
b: We have a few injuries in that area
c: Players should be picked on form and not limited performances 4 years ago

 

....apparently not as poor as the current group of young Dutch players...my understanding is that the Netherlands coaching staff is a bit concerned about a real lack of quality coming through..

 

... and when you saw him try in the second half you found out why

Yeah, he's maybe a decent screen for the back four, (although I'm still worried about his decision making against certain opposition with regards to tackles like I say), but he can't play there on his own. He needs someone alongside him to create something.

Actually, I just watched the 2nd half again earlier this evening and watching Milner trying to be that player just illustrates why Pearce shouldn't manage the English senior side.

Our U21 record is pretty good over the past decade or so. The idea that we're some third rate outfit that shouldn't even bother turning up coz we'll be embarrassed doesn't really stand up to examination.

We're not top rung but, let's be honest, neither were the Greeks in 2004 or the Italians in 2006. the idea that the best sides always win the tournaments is nonsense. Our problem is that we just can't seem to translate some decent players into a halfway respectable performance in the tournaments for various reasons.

As I've pointed out on here many times before, 10 English players contested the CL final in 2008 and yet we didn't even qualify for Euro 2008.

I'm not saying we should have won it but we can't even QUALIFY???

That's only by the public though, isn't it? Doesn't really mean anything.

Carrick's a good player. Might be a bit one-paced to play alongside someone like Parker though.

 

Where have you read that? When people like van Wolfswinkel can't get a call up then I'm inclined to think quite the opposite and there were 3 debutants in the Dutch squad with 18 year old Maher being the youngest one.

 

Against Spain and Sweden I could see Capello was finding a new shape and defensive solidity. Our defence was tighter than a nuns ass on christmas eve. But against the Dutch our backline didnt have the same organisation. In that 2nd half our defence had more holes than a bull dyke orgy. We cant give away goals like that .

 

The match commentators spoke about it...

 

The thing is the last WC final was won by a side with a lot of attacking flair and even THEY only managed 1 goal, (and that after almost two hours of football), against the Dutch. Yet, apparently, we think we should be able to run riot against good sides and score a shed-load?

I'm not suggesting we go for a flat back ten but there's a reason why outfits like the Italians have done well at tournament football. There's also a reason why, historically, sides like Liverpool and Clough's Forest side were successful in the CL/EC back in the back the day... because THAT'S how you win tournaments.

I think I'm right in saying that Liverpool held the record, (in the late 70's IIRC), for fewest goals conceded in the league when it was 42 games... something like 16 I believe. Forest held the record for going an entire season without a loss shortly after and BOTH sides won the CL more than once.

I just think we need to learn to play the percentages a bit more.

 

IIRC Spain won their final 4 games of the world cup by the same 1-0 score.....also seem to recall Greece winning their last four games of Euro 2004 by 1-0.....

 

Every single one of them unproven over a long run and not one of them fit to lace the boots of a Beckham, Gerrard, Owen, Rooney,

Welbeck? lmfao

 

And what did those players achieve for us? quarter finals and embarrasments at tournaments.

I think you have probably not seen Welbeck play then.. he is a far better player than any of the other strikers we have bar Rooney

 

Welb is a damn good player. Not sure why his name was mocked .

 

He is not a media favorite yet.

@ jetty, Sven had one of the best defenses in international football in the last couple of decades. Not going past the QF in 2002 or 2004 when the tournaments were won by mediocre teams was poor management.