I'm a follower of the Mexican NT and I didn't know just what to make of the fact that Sven had been hired by the FMF. I knew he had been criticized for his work with England but didn't know why. Naturally, the Mexican press hyped him up like no other. It was seen as a revolution if you will. But I kept my feet on the ground and waited for the results. So far I'm not impressed. Here's a rant I posted in another thread: Did he do these things with England? Pick the wrong players, make the wrong substitutions, not switch tactics, play unconvincingly, etc? If not, what did he do wrong with England to receive so much heat? The thing is he is still adored in Mexico by both the press and the fans, if he was Mexican he would have been lynched by now.
Tactically Sven never developed a plan B. His plan A was solid if not spectacular, but if any key player was injured or suspended, which always happens at tournaments, then the team was f**ked. In terms of motivation he started off well by bringing some calm to the team, but he never looked like he could motivate players and when they needed some passion and a spark from the coach he just couldn't bring it. Always the team would start fairly well in the 1st half then in the 2nd half would fall apart and hang on to games. Overall he was an average manager, not as bad as McLaren but definitely not a top level one like Scolari or Capello. We've seen more good football under Capello in a year than under Sven in 5 years. His time at Man City was similar, decent start but then fell to pieces and didn't have a plan B or enough motivation from the bench to pull things around.
-He wins derby games. I dont doubt for a second he will win the games versus USA. -His tactics are a mix of early 90s italian catanaccio and scandinavian.He loves to sit on a lead and defend deep ,which leads to heart attacks among fans. -he isnt a gambler by nature .he doesnt take risks. When he does take risks it explodes in spectacular fashion (witness his selection of theo walcott for the 2006 world cup)
He did lose the Northern Ireland away game. Although all the other derbies he won comfortably. I think he is the type of manager that will bring the calmness Mexico seem to lose when they play the yanks. With that in the team and the massive gulf in technical ability, I would be very surprised if Mexico do not get at least 4 points from 6 against them.
In his whole career with other teams he has won the derby games. Whether it be Lazio or man city. Mexico might struggle to play svens brand of football though. They havent really got any hard physical players as far as I can see.
He described his style as being simple, mostly utilizing one touch passing and long balls. Traditionally though, we tend to focus more on possession. I don't consider the US to be a rival but I wont get into that, we haven't played them yet. We have however played some important qualifiers and he has yet to win away from home against Jamaica, a loss, and an already eliminated Canada, a draw. In the games he has played he hasn't changed his tactics or his formation. He is also reluctant to start Ochoa, a young GK in outstanding form despite the fact that our veteran GK Sanchez has choked on every goal hes been scored on. And yet hes starting Dos Santos and Vela despite being 19 each.
I agree with sendorange too. Although I wouldn't say he was an average manager. He was good but not the type of manager that England needed in certain areas. He also got way too close to the players and that had a negative effect on the team and squad as a whole.
The worst thing about Sven is his imploring of "sitting on a lead" way too early in a match. We would be playing well, go up by a goal, and Sven would throw Rooney or whomever to the wolves by himself, basically 4-5-1, and it would almost always bite us in the arse.
Sven was fine especially early on after the Keegan fiasco. Beat Germany like a bad step child and twice beat Argentina. Had a great qualifying record and had the team seriously practiced penalties (went out in 2 major tournamnets in the 1/4 finals on pk's) would have gone down as one of the best English managers in some time. His downfall was his often conservative tactics, his naievity about the ruthlessness of the English tabloid press and a penchant for shagging anything that moved. He'll do fine for Mexico IMO
Yeah average is a bit harsh, soured by how poor the quality of football was in 2006. We did mostly get results under him when it mattered outside of PKs. The 5-1 elevates him to good. Watching that clip reminds me what an amazing game it was to watch.
i think eriksson did a good job, i was generally happy with our results when he was manager. if only he'd made the squad practice penalties he would probably have got us to at least one semi final. the football was pretty frustrating a lot of the time (david, knock it over the top long for michael), but it was effective for the most part in terms of results. his substitutions were sometimes pretty baffling, but then that has to be compared to keegan bringing on extra strikers when we were 2-0 up and mcsven just generally being inept.
I liked Sven but his substitutions were atrocious rather than baffling. It's amazing how someone so successful could have such a major blind spot.
Results wise Sven did a great job. He was only sacked because the tabloid press stitched him up. His got England to 3 consecutive tournament QFs - a level of consistency no other European country was able to match during that timeframe. Sven's England qualified for every tournament and were denied a place in the semi-finals twice by penalty shootouts (once to the hosts) and by an excellent Brazil side. He far surpassed the accomplishments of the managers who immediately preceded him and succeeded him. As a club manager he has won 19 honours so far. He also boned Ulrika. He therefore deserves our respect.
We're in the same predicament, except we only manage to get out of our group. Naturally we're looking to get past that. We also have trouble with penalty shoot outs.
England showed both a dramatic improvement when Sven arrived, and a pretty drastic fall after he left. You could argue that was a mere coincidence but the same thing happened regarding Sven's stints at Lazio and to a lesser extent, Benfica. Sven is obviously way above average. Sven's first year as England manager (nevermind 5 )was also more impressive than Capello's first-year. That's not entirely Capello's fault as his first 8-9 months didn't involve playing any meaningful matches, but it is what it is.
he was a good manager with n plan b that has already been mentioned he folds to tabloid pressure too imo
ulrika is nothing special at all. Whats so good about that? he stayed 2 years too long. Shouldve stepped down in 2004 and made way for scolari.
Well, you need to take your number and wait until its called. Got to warn you though. I mean, its not really that good. More like whistles in the wind.
Svenny Hill has awful teeth..But I like him he done well for England and Man City. I can't believe City shItcanned him..