England vs. Australia Match Thread

[Liverpool_SC]

Not really trying to be a troll - but the irony is undeniable:

The English Premier League and Football Association - providing the best possible environment for hundreds of foreign internationals so they can whoop it up on a plain vanilla England team.

It is becoming increasingly true that it is the foreign players who are exerting their influence on the EPL. And the English players are having a hard time keeping up with the development of the World Game even as its practitioners are on the same teams that they play on and play against week in and week out.

I wonder if Sven Goren Ericsson even has a response. Are the players really so bad that they can get outplayed by Australia, Macedonia et al? It is starting to happen pretty consistantly. The scary thing is that some of the teams that didn't even qualify for the World Cup - Australia, Wales, Czech Republic (who blanked France today), Finland are as good as they are. England may find it harder to qualify for the European Championships and the next World Cup then their run in World Cup '02 - Group of Death and all.

[jumhed]

Jesus H Christ!

What a pile of shite!

Englands last three perfomances have been shameful. Macedonia, Slovakia, and now Australia. If I could think of a decent replacement I'd want SGE out now. He's turning England into the Liverpool of international football. I mean, selecting David James as first choice goalie. The man is a sack!

I am deeply ashamed. People paid £32 to watch that drivel. No wonder there's violence at games. The first XI were awful.

[Motterman]

I don't see how you can fire a manager for a bad performance in a friendly.

Remember that he was under pressure to rest all the "stars" of the big club teams too.

[ERIMUS]

Eriksson sacked now!

[kasai]

HAHAHAHA.... England lost....

They make mass substitutions at halftime to make it look like they do not care, but in reality they were embarrased by the starter's performances.

Congratulations to the Aussies for a very nice victory.

[fidlerre]

Originally posted by kasai
HAHAHAHA.... England lost....

They make mass substitutions at halftime to make it look like they do not care, but in reality they were embarrased by the starter's performances.

Congratulations to the Aussies for a very nice victory.

troll.

it was said when the roster was announced that they would make a whole-sale change at the half and field an whole new 'younger' team of the future...

regardless, both teams got pounded. yikes.

[Liverpool_SC]

Originally posted by Motterman
I don't see how you can fire a manager for a bad performance in a friendly.

Remember that he was under pressure to rest all the "stars" of the big club teams too.

Make sure you keep your finger by that quote key:

England's "star"ters - 0 - 2 in 45 minutes

England's future - 1 - 1 in 45 minutes (against Socceroos without Kewell on the field)

I guess England's club managers are not going to have to worry about Internationals much in the future, as it is likely that the players SGE or his successor are going to need are bit players on their teams (Upson, Jeffers, Rooney etc). All of the stars in the EPL are going to be Australian, French, Scandinavian, etc at this rate.

Think about the form of England's top players this year: Scholes, Beckham, Owen, Butt, Heskey, Ferdinand, Campball, Mills, Seaman, Gerrard, Cole, Sinclair(!) . . .

Have any of them had excellent campaigns? Are any of them improving or having career years? I know that the World Cup drained players, but for crying out loud. Danny Murphy has probably had the best year (relative to his ability) of any of the England players. Danny Murphy. As much as I like Spud, that has got to hurt.

All of them should have gotten red cards and sat out games if it meant they would come back with the form of Henry.

[Zola Magic]

Go, Aussies!! :D

[ERIMUS]

I like the aussies because Schwarzer & Vidmar played

[Levante]

Originally posted by kasai
HAHAHAHA.... England lost....



Uruguay

[Prenn]

Sven out.

I am ************ing sick of his clueless brand of football, he should be able to do much more than he does with the players he has at his disposal. He should go, now, and let the new man have the Liechtenstein 'warmup'.

The only reason he's still in the job is because we beat Germany 5-1 and Argentina 1-0. All well and good but when we play like ************ in the rest of the games it's not a price worth playing. Since we beat Germany we've had very little to cheer about and frankly I think he's rode his luck on far more than one occasion.

Awful, ************ing awful. Congrats to the Aussies for their win, they deserved it.

[Prenn]

Originally posted by Liverpool_SC
Make sure you keep your finger by that quote key:

England's "star"ters - 0 - 2 in 45 minutes

England's future - 1 - 1 in 45 minutes (against Socceroos without Kewell on the field)

I guess England's club managers are not going to have to worry about Internationals much in the future, as it is likely that the players SGE or his successor are going to need are bit players on their teams (Upson, Jeffers, Rooney etc). All of the stars in the EPL are going to be Australian, French, Scandinavian, etc at this rate.

Think about the form of England's top players this year: Scholes, Beckham, Owen, Butt, Heskey, Ferdinand, Campball, Mills, Seaman, Gerrard, Cole, Sinclair(!) . . .

Have any of them had excellent campaigns? Are any of them improving or having career years? I know that the World Cup drained players, but for crying out loud. Danny Murphy has probably had the best year (relative to his ability) of any of the England players. Danny Murphy. As much as I like Spud, that has got to hurt.

All of them should have gotten red cards and sat out games if it meant they would come back with the form of Henry.

Piss off troll, and while you're at it get a new user name and stop ************ing supporting Liverpool. You don't deserve to list that team given your clear hatred of all things English. You're an Aussie? No? ************ off, you've no business being here you've no right to 'gloat'.

[ERIMUS]

All credit to Australia they played really well and i thought Kewell was excellent.I want Sven out though i mean he keeps playing players on past reputation e.g Owen (Not on form at the moment) James (Never should play for England again)

[Serie Zed]

Anyone who needs a primer on England's self-deluding belief about their place in the football world only need read this...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030212/80/dt3tj.html

Hint: the gap between the two sides is not that large and England are probably not deserved favorites in Oz.

[lanman]

I've been calling for Eriksson's head for over a year now (and was opposed to his appointment initially), and this only serves to prove that while he might be a good (not great) club manager, his style of management is not suited to the international game. He is almost totally inflexible in his approach, and seems to me to be tactically naive and unwilling to take risks (even when losing in the quarter finals of the World Cup against 10 men)
Not only that but he is a total hypocrite - saying a year or so ago that certain players (Bowyer being one) were left out on issues of form. He then goes and selects James and Owen (amongst others) in the squad, and picking the likes of Upson and Konchesky over Terry and Barry.
Credit to Australia - they played well and exploited the lack of interest from the "star" England players, who obviously would rather have had the week off to prepare for the FA Cup and Europe next week rather than play in a meaningless friendly.

[*Leeds 4 LiFe*]

As an Australian, im extremelly proud.
We have been deprived of good results in Football for a long time. Hell, the Iran qualifiers back in 1997 still hurt like it was yesterday. Today was very sweet indeed.

Ohh I dream of Harry Kewell! He is truly electric. Left Moneybags Rio in his wake! (Yes Im a Leeds fan so I can still be bitter about him!)

Enjoyable game. Rooney will be a star.

Bad luck to the Poms, well done Aussies.

cheers..

[Liverpool_SC]

Originally posted by Prenn
Piss off troll, and while you're at it get a new user name and stop ************ing supporting Liverpool. You don't deserve to list that team given your clear hatred of all things English. You're not an Aussie? No? ************ off, you've no business being here you've no right to 'gloat'.

Don't be so touchy. Besides, you must know that many English club supporters (esp. in the Northeast) don't give a flip about the national team. Many Liverpool fans are happy if England does well, but only if it means their players don't get worn out. To be honest, it is only very recently that Liverpool has had many of its stars in the England setup, Kevin Keegan aside - and he wasn't with Liverpool during his best national team years. My favorite Liverpool players (apart from Emile Heskey) are not even English. To expect me to have the same loyalty to England simply because I cheer have for an English club is not really logical.

I do like Liverpool and I am not suggesting here that Owen, Heskey, Gerrard or any of the other England players are lousy. But I think it is honest to say that they are not in the form of their lives right now. And I think it is also fair to say that the improvement of the Premier League relative to other European leagues over the last several years has not been the result of a huge influx of domestic talent.

I really don't have any burning desire to see Aussies or any other particular nationality (except US players, since that is my nation, though I am not particularly cheering for Brian McBride for obvious reasons) succeed in the EPL - I was simply thinking out loud about how poorly the top-notch England players have played this year, relatively speaking. It may be that the World Cup did take a lot out of them. After all, the top-quality English players who were not in the team (Shearer, Murphy, Beattie and many others) have had stellar seasons. Playing in an Asian Summer does not provide optimal conditions for EPL players.

If most British posters are going to go on endlessly about Liverpool's terrible form and boring style - it is not surprising that a Liverpool fan might call a spade a spade when he sees the same style and substance in the England team.

Liverpool will be back, but right now their England players are among the most underperforming. They need a break to clear their minds, because they are "hitting a wall" mentally.

[Jayhawk]

I'm an England fan, but you know what would be a real kick in the balls? If England should somehow beat Oz in cricket, and then watch all the England fans, in an effort to save a bit of face, pretend to give a ************.
An unfortunate result for this Aglophiliac American, but by all accounts a well-deserved, ignominious defeat. It is good, in all honesty, to see the Aussies ascendant in football. Now if only we could sign some talented Australians to MLS...

[*Leeds 4 LiFe*]

Originally posted by Levante
Uruguay

Kasai isn't an Aussie so that isn't relative to him.

[Liverpool_SC]

Originally posted by *Leeds 4 LiFe*
Kasai isn't an Aussie so that isn't relative to him.

Yeah - those Iran fans are really snug with Australia fans after the memorable qualifying play-off.