Capello did exactly the same thing as Hodgson: great in the qualifiers, but terrible in the tournament. He had a good fluid team, but in the World Cup he switched to the stiffest 4-4-2 with Gerrard on the left wing (!), his squad was like if he was deliberately looking for the oldest and slowest team in the tournament: he left all the players with a bit of speed and or technique at home, including Walcott and Adam Johnson, who was in the form of his life at the time. Still Capello is to be respected for his past achievements, but Hodgson has been a laughing stock ever since.
Sven had centrebacks coming out of his arse and 3 or 4 world class midfielders also not forgeting a bol d'or winning striker. oh and Wayne Rooney.
I think we played a similar system to qualifying but it didn’t work because our main player was severely unfit. Meaning the system fell in on itself. Also we lost important CB’s and our main hold up target man didn’t work. I doubt Adam Johnson or Walcott are changing much. Again that squad wasn’t good enough. Didn’t have a confirmed keeper, injuries at CB, players out of form and real lack of quality in too many areas.
And Midfield Gerrad,Lampard,Scoles Beckham. Hargraves,Carrick. I'm sure I've missed someone. The only thing we were missing was a left sided midfielder.
I didn't say a different manager had won the tournament, that time England was already on the way down. But it still shouldn't have ended in an embarrassment. Also don't think Walcott was a world beater, but still he had that hat-trick in Zagreb, but Capello left him home and took Shaun Wright-Phillips instead. Can we imagine something similar about Southgate? Luckily no.
I still get angry about Lampards ghost goal. It could have been a totally different game if we went in at halftime at 2-2.
Capello was good I. Qualifying but awful at the wc stale 442 no movement or pace, awful we had the players for years to play a 433 or a 4231 but always stuck with 2 up top
Sven had far superior squad depth in my opinion. More world class CBs and CMs than he knew what to do with.
Hargreaves on came around towards the end for one tournament. Nobody competently covered for Beckham. Carrick underwhelmed in his appearances and never cemented a role. This is why we always ended up with the awful Gerrard/Lampard combo because nobody stepped up. I don’t think we had sufficient cover because even our starters underwhelmed too often.
I would only agree on CB. Maybe CM when Hargreaves came along. The rest of the squad was really lacking.
Our central midfield "depth" right now though is Kalvin Phillips who's played 55 minutes of premier league football all season, Conor Gallagher who's if we're being charitable a squad player at his club, and to some extent Mason Mount who's spent the vast majority of his Chelsea career not actually playing as a proper midfielder. Even of our starting central midfielders, Bellingham is not yet round the level of '06 Lampard and Gerrard, and thoguh I like Declan Rice he's absolutely nowhere near that conversation. Carrick and Hargreaves from back then would walk into our current starting 11, yet alone squad.
I was talking about whether Sven himself had specific CM depth to be successful. Rather than comparing it to Southgate’s situation. CM has obviously been Southgate’s biggest problem in depth/quality. Before that I was generally talking about depth as a whole squad. There are forwards and attackers that don’t even make our squads that would be options getting game time under Sven or Capello. We didn’t have many options at all that could impact offensively in those eras. Keeper was always an issue and fullback replacements. CM was better in those eras but hardly exceptional or long lasting either.
Completely disagree. Give Me pickford over Robinson any day. Give me Bellingham over Lampard or Gerrard. Give me kane over Rooney or Owen. This is a better spine. Gerrard and Lampard were vastly overrated for England.
Rice would walk into the England 06 side. Lampard and Gerrard flattered to deceive In most England games. Carrick was criminally underused. He was the player we miss now. Rice is better than Hargreaves. The squad strength under sven is nowhere near the level we have now. We relied on player like vassell lennon to come off the bench. We now have the likes of foden Grealish rashford to potentially come in. Sancho can't even get in the squad
You’d pick bladdy Rice ahead of Gerard / Lampard / Scholes / Beckham !!! Behave Rice wouldn’t have made that squad
Your hatred of Rice clouds your judgment. Him sitting with Gerrard or lampard in front would have been far more effective than Gerrard and lampard together. Rice is world class
There’s been a discussion around Bellingham and how much football he’s played at his age, so I looked at other players and compared their minutes at the same age. Bellingham has started 158 senior games at 19 — David Beckham and Paul Scholes hadn’t started 10 yet pic.twitter.com/COIcvqSy5y— luke (@louorns) March 27, 2023
At what … running around and pointing to who the players on the ball should pass to ( they normally ignore his suggestion which is telling in itself ) Bellingham is amazing but I just don’t get the fuss surrounding Rice
Have u not watched him. Against Italy he broke up the play. Made crucial tackles and interceptions. Brings the ball out. I think u are the only one who doesn't appreciate him
France beat Ireland by a hard-fought one-nil. Is half the fans there calling for Deschamps to resign?
A few amendments I'd like to make to my post after the Ukraine game. After watching maddison again i was too harsh on his performances. It reminded me of griezzmann against England at the world cup. Finding those pickets of space. Also too harsh on southgate's who is definitely learning.