The truth is there are probably half a dozen better people than McSven... there always have been. TBH we've probably got 2-3 British ones who are better than him including fellas like O'Neill who has already said he'd like the job. The problem is the FA won't ask them.
They should offer the job to that bloke who has Manchester City all the way up to 3rd in the EPL....The one who should never have lost the job in the first place.
The one who couldn't keep his dick in his pants? The one who started the midfield clusterfcuk? The one who was past his use by date?
Thats the one....the one who qualified for every major tournament....who battered the Germans,Hammered the Argies.....and shagged everything in sight.
Sure we qualified. Germany was 2001. Argentina was 2002 and that was hardly a hammering. Didn't do a lot after that........ Let's see. Also lost to Norn Iron. Fcuked up 2 QFS with inept tactical decisions........
Beat the Argies twice IIRC...not practicing PK's, failing to spot a Sheik and inappropriate shagging did Sven in.....although why the fcuk some tabloid would even go down the "fake sheik" route is beyond comprehension...
Who gives a toss about friendlies? Jammy last minute winner when the Argies had subbed off theor most effective players. The fact is that Sven had no idea how to coach in a knock out tournament. He was fine for the mini league of qualifying and group stages when you could get away with the odd draw or loss.
McClaren makes Sven look like gold. Seriously though anything short of a World Cup win or Euro championship isn't good enough for the England fans. It's down to the players...
Ain't no "friendlies" where the Argies are concerned....and there is NO WAY McClaren was an upgrade over Sven.
and the lager louts will follow because he has 'passion' and not an inkling of tactical knowledge it seems if he or shearer are appointed in any kind of manager/assisstant manager set up u can write off '10
Still doesn't change the fact that he didn't win a knock out game in 3 tries. Where did I say that Mclaren was an upgrade? The problem was the idiots in the press who demanded an English manager and the FA bowing down to them instead of getting the best man available. No doubt there will now be a groundswell of opinion for Shearer or some other idiot who shows passion but has no tactical knowledge whatsoever.
Didn't win a knockout game in 3 tries? QFs of WC '02 (Beating Denmark in the knockout stage) QFs of Euro 2004 (losing in PKs to the host) QFs of WC '06 (Beating Ecuador in the knockout stage and ultimately losing on PKs) I personally don't disagree it was time for Sven to go despite this, it was clear that he was perplexed by the midfield situation and was going to struggle to phase out Beckham as the team had become ridiculously reliant on him for inspiration by the 2006 tournament. This cycle should have been a time for rebirth for England, a time for new inspiration and leadership to arrise. I have long been a "Gerrard over Lampard" supporter, but Gerrard had plenty of opportunities, without Lampard on his hip, to grab leadership of the midfield and really become the creative force flowing forward but failed to do so. I personally am now of the opinion that it might be time to focus on Lennon/Joe Cole as the influential forces in midfield for the next cycle and drop both Lampard and Gerrard all together to go with a Hargreaves and Barry/Carrick partnership in the middle. There is much to be said for the continuity of Croatia's squad. They may not be the most talented lot, but they know how to play together and they know each others' strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, England often look as if they are playing together for the first time in big matches due to the tinkering with formations (4-3-3 in both matches against the best team in the group) and personnel (the only certain in midfield for much of this campaign was Joe Cole out left). Hopefully the new manager will be able to identify the Best XI to lead the team into South Africa early in the campaign and let them grow together as a cohesive squad. Something we haven't seen from England since Euro 2004.
I am a complete idiot. I meant couldn't win a QF game in 3 tries. The first half decent team we came up against we went into a defensive shell. We beat Croatia handily in 2004, what has happened in the last 3 years? Any Croats explain how their side has changed since then? Also, anyone know the last time we lost home and away to the same team in a qualifying campaign?
B Rock and others keep talking about England midfield. England's midfield produced 2 goals, which should be good enough to get a result. What... are England required to score 3 goals every time to win a game? The offense was there, the defense was nonexistant. The back four were an embarrassment. 3 goals given up at Wembley. Disgrace.
Huh? "Produced two goals"? Are you drunk or did you simply not watch the game? The first goal was a (honestly dodgy) penalty decision on a horrible ball from the left that went right to into Pletikosa's hands. The second goal was the ONLY piece of good service delivered all game and came from a player not deemed fit to start and finished on Crouch's only real chance all game. The fact is that England's midfield was shit. They didn't create anything all game, absolutley nothing despite Croatia leaving at least two players in attack throughout the game. We certainly can't blame this one on the bunker. In fact, all you need to know about England's midfield is that after Croatia went ahead in the 75th, the consensus decision was to hoof the ball forward and pray for a good/lucky bounce to create a chance. There was never a bit of confidence that Gerrard, Lampard, or Cole would be able to create something out of midfield. I'm stunned someone could defend the midfield performance after tonight, it was men against boys from the get go and I don't know if Lampard touched the ball more then 5 times tonight (including his PK!)
Don't fool yourself look at the scoreline. If Terry, Ferdinand, Cole, and Neville were back there it would have been 2-0 not 3-2.
The Sun is reporting that McLaren has already been sacked. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article492787.ece I wonder if any of the FA board will have the decency to fall on their swords themselves.
Just about every media outlet in England is reporting that the meeting that's due to begin in about 2 hours' time is basically a formality, with one item on the agenda: The immediate dismissal of Steve McClaren. The question is who they name, if anyone, as caretaker, or if they just leave the position vacant and let the questions follow to South Africa for the World Cup qualifying draw this weekend. For the record, since this will be a dismissal, McClaren is due an additional £2.5 million from the FA in compensation.
Quick question to you English fans out there, why did McClaren get the job in the first place? Also why did the FA gave him a long contract to begin with, would it not be better to have him coach threw the end of the qualifiers and leave a clause in the contract? It seems like a big waste of money.