3 consecutive quarterfinals in 3 major competitions is top eight in the world. Against Germany Beckham shouldn't have played. He isn't 100% fit and SWP has been sensational with Chelsea and Bentley should be preferred as well. Joe Cole should have occupied the opposite flank for the entire game. Micah Richards was more of a threat and spent more time up the right than Beckham. And lets not forget that this manager has no standing with any of the clubs. He needs them to support him so he's their doormat. No Hargreaves, Johnson, Bent, or Gerrard. All "injured". All of them played 90 minutes in the premier league on Saturday.
Sorry, but what kind of moron puts England ahead of Germany? How many times do they have to outperform you (going on 40 years + now), before you give them the respect they deserve. I'd publish the list of WC/Euro finishing, but its so embarrasing one-sided for Germany- its not even funny. It is simply mindboggling what you wrote. Sincerely. Maybe the English players believe it too? (would explain Germany utter dominance since I was born)
Your talking about the past, i'm talking about the present monkey boy. Theres no doubting Germany outperforms England throughout history (and don't think we don't know that) but if these 2 teams met today in a real competition I think you'd have to say that England would be the bookies favourites despite what I think. I think they'd be fave against all but the other of my so called elite teams. Whilst you make a good point I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one (if you'd have read that post out aloud in England you'd have been lynch mobbed before you got to the end.... probably at the point when you said England were no better than Greece, they used to hang people for saying things like that in this country many years ago )
You know, if you use that "mouse" thing, you can click on the threads in the USMNT forum to read comments on the SWE-US game today.
Michael Owen showed he could do for England what Dempsey does for USA and Fulham: miss open nets. Who is the dude who says England is in the same class as Brazil and Italy? Come on. Brazil is WAY better than England. Italy is WAY better than Italy. France and Argentina are better than England. Germany is probably better too. As for Beckham, he had some nice passes today. He wasn't England's best player but he was hardly the worst. Judging by the fact that they boo Frank Lampard, I believe that the English know nothing about football. I mean English people think Wayne Rooney is the best striker in the world, Gerrard is the best midfielder in the world and that England are in the same class as Brazil and Italy. If all that is true why can't they win anything, ever?????? Italy wins tournaments, Brazil wins tournaments, France wins tournaments, Argentina at least gets to finals of tournaments.......England wins nothing. Ever.
There is no way England can be considered an elite nation. Nowhere near as much success as Brazil, Germany, Italy, France or Argentina recently. The last World Cup was a disappointment. They did a fine job playing defense, but elite teams have to score goals which they could not. Since then they have regresses even further. They're not even the best team in the UK right now. Northern Ireland could probably at least tie England based on current form. England's problem has been a shortcoming in technique. Either way you look at it, players from Holland, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil (I'd add a few more countries, but I don't want to offend any Englishmen) are better developped technically. English are good at many things like playing physical, defending, set pieces, long shots but they lack creativity and finesse to break other teams down. There is no English Zidane, Ronaldinho, Messi, C. Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic or Henry.
I think the best way I can describe how it is for an England fan is... Say the world took up playing NFL tomorrow and they decided a few years down the line that they would hold a NFL world bowl or something. After so many years the American team had only won it once, how would that stand with the american public? You have THE best league in the world with a good portion of the worlds best players, including a couple of your domestic players yet you only manage to win it once? But how can this be? We invented the sport and taught the world how to play it, the players are the highest paid around, they have the most hardened supporters, the best coaching, you couldn't give them anymore. This is how it is with us. We almost expect them to win all the time yet it doesn't happen. If anything the team does us a great disservice by not producing any trophies. With every competition its like they are always on the verge of greatness, but something seems to go wrong and we can't figure why so we blame the players and/or the manager, who else can you blame? Being the England manager is probably 1 of the most stressful jobs in the game. When things go wrong the fans and the press really go to town. You'd have to have skin 5 inches thick. No matter what We still believe! Thats just how hopelessly addicted we are to the sport in this country. He's like THE most overrated player in the world, he couldn't get into England, i don't care how crazy Steve Mclaren is, hes not that crazy. Larsson wouldn't be bad tho.
According to alot of English people that post on message boards, Gerrard is better than all those players combined. But Frank Lampard sucks according to these same people. p.s. the one player who is creative, Joe Cole, is often injured but when he does play the fans boo him too.
Who? England? You think the Premiership is the best league in the world? AC Milan smacked around two of your best clubs last year en route to winning Europe. And on top of that, AC Milan isn't even Italy's best team. I think Inter, AC Milan and Juventus are better than most of the Premiership and AS Roma, Parma and Lazio aren't too bad either. Then there is Spain. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia..... I may be in the minority but I rank the Premiership third behind the SerieA and La Liga.
I wouldn't say that William Regal, I mean, Steven Gerrard, is better than Ronaldhino, Henry, Messi, C. Ronaldo, etc.. I would say that he's good though.
He's great at what he does. But he's not a primary point of reference for an attacking team. The ideal CAM would be more dangerous on the dribble, have more passing vision and have better control on the long ball. If Gerrard was South American or South European, he'd be purely a holding midfielder with a lot fewer offensive responsibilities. His greatest strength, the long distance shot, could be even more dangerous from a deeper midfield role.
Well.. the EPL Is the highest paid, but Its debatable if its better than La Liga, or Serie A. Look at your group make up for god sakes, half your team is Chelsea.. What has Chelsea won outside of 2 EPL titles? They choke on the international stage, much like the English National team does... like you said, maybe its time to replace those players... of course if you replace them, I doubt the team will get any better. Its always easy to blame the manager... But the manager cant go out there and perform on the field. You said it yourself you have the best and highest paid players in the world. what else can Mclaren do but pick the best players, devise a game plan with the English strengths in mind and German weaknesses in mind. Its the team that needs to be replaced not Manager after Manager after Manager. What does it all come down to? All those great English Stars have the best foreign talent around them, which make them look better at the club stage. England is nothing special on the international stage. They don't have anyone that really steps up when the time comes and really shines.
Stevey G is what we refer to as a MIDFIELD GENERAL, which basically means he runs the midfield area. The fact that he has a great long shot is due to the fact that his place is in midfield. The other players you mentioned are more naturally attacking players who tend to play further up the pitch. I would say he'd make it into a world dream team anyday, you need a player like him to work along side a attacking player like zidane to hold the midfield whilst the attackers go to work. To suggest his longs shots are his greatest strength is, well not correct. He's a great all rounder and more importantly a great distributor. The fact that he has a great shot just shows you the class of player he is when that is not his primary function. Probably not as good overall as a Zidane in his prime, but deffinately better than Ronaldiniho is at the moment.
You've answered your own question. Mclaren is the person that picks the players, so only he can change them, here in England we KNOW he's not picking the right players, this is why we want him gone, he's just too loyal to the old boys when clearly we'd be better off giving the others an opportunity. Tottenham have just spent £15 million on Darren Bent, SWP is better than Beckham, theres so many "stars" that could play and he chooses not to.
The morning papers are out and this is what they had to say about Becks: 6 being the rating out of 10 (which i predicted in an earlier post) You can see the view on the team at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2007390169,00.html
I'll believe you. I'll believe those papers, sure. They know all about correctness and futbol. Isn't that the model for the English media? That's sarcasm your getting hit with.... now.
The source is 1 of the main national newspapers in Britain. I can guarantee you that Becks reads this particular publication. He's probably wondering if he can sue for liable right now... headless chicken lol, still its better than some of the things the rags have said about him down the years. Mind you against the British media no one stands a chance.
Beckham sent in a perfect pass to Dyer(I think) who missed an easy goal. I really hope that playing with crappy players like England has doesn't deteriorate his game for when he plays against better players in MLS.
You really have no clue do you. According to you Beckham made perfect passes everytime? I suggest you watch the match again because your Beckham rose tinted glasses are blinding your eyesight. Beckham should not have played a full 90 minutes, it was obvious that he should have been subbed at half time, his passes were going astray. As for your comment about better players in the MLS than in the PL, has got to be a joke right?
Well you are more right than you think. Real Italy is way better than yesterday's Italy, who lost 3 - 1 against Hungary. Hopefully the Italy playing against France in Euro 2008 qualifiers in a couple of weeks is the real one and not yesterday's one. Since I am OT, no Materazzi for the France game - he may be out up to 4 months for injury in yesterday's game.
This thread needs to die. It is so tangential to MLS period, much less News & Analysis, that it's not even funny.