England - only 1 world class player

Sterling looked very good. The rest don't look good enough and the manager, well, what a load of tosh.

But what about the skipper?
Surely you must think he's world class?

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that overweight, overpaid, blackmailing granny shagger. He's world class at the above.

He was exceptionally wank tonight I thought for a £300k week man

He doesn't deserve to be in the Utd. team let alone be captain. Ditto for England.

Didn't watch it....England are shit, I said that yesterday.

My lad watched it and said Rooney was awful, Sturridge hasn't heard of the word 'pass' and Sterling was brilliant.

Still don't care.

I had nothing better to do, so watched most of it and it was shambolic. In the 2nd half, until we scored the goal, Norway threatened to take a deserved lead. They had a few decent chances.

Once they realised that we weren't very good, and were there for the taking, we struggled.

Only 40,000 bothered to go to the game.

The FA don't care anyway. Why should we?

Shows how far we have to go....Norway, at home 1-0, by a penalty. Switzerland will batter us on Monday night.

I'm still pissed off we have International fixtures, 3 weeks into the PL season....all for what? A 1-0 win against Norway in a friendly? Why do we need a 2 week break and a friendly? Play the game mid-week between PL matches....players are just returning from pre-season, training with their teams, then have to change to fit into some old codgers tactics for a friendly....and for a week!!

Agree, the FA are fuckwits. Let's hope the crowds do stay away...and the money dries up. International fixtures should be played around the country at other grounds, so other kids can see the national team.

Sturridge would be better if he was a team player, i thought Sterling was good, not brilliant. Rooney was crap, as were Wilshire, Henderson and Ox. The back 4 looked ok, but they weren't really tested and Hart was ok too. Welbeck looked half decent when he came on.

As regards "world class"...i'd have to say none of um are.

Overall, it was a crap game that was summed up by a penalty winning the game.

Sterling has the ability to become world class, but the rest of them, no. Shrek took the penalty well, but that's about all he did. I still can't fathom how someone who's failed to put in a decent shift for the national side since 2006 can qualify as captain.

If 40,000 is the biggest crowd we can muster, there's no reason not to go on a road trip. They could play matches at Anfield, ours, the swamp, Hillsborough, Villa Park, St James' Park, SoL... Hell, they might even fill Boundary Park!!

It's a no brainer for me.....Wembley is a stadium that will be rarely filled, unless it hosts a Cup semi/final.

Imagine if they played at St James' Park? Full.

Villa Park? Full.

Swamp or Etihad? Full

The atmosphere would be miles better. Just read - "the highlight was the Mexican wave"

It's a no-brainer to everyone.....except the FA

When Wembley was being rebuilt, they played a match against Greece at the swamp. It was packed. They should do this for all friendlies, host them at different grounds, drop the admission price and fill the place.

Why would you want to inflict that shit on kids around the country? They should be made to play behind closed doors.
If they were playing in my back garden I wouldn't even open the curtains to watch them.
Hodgson is so deluded that he blamed the low attendance on the opposition. Arrogant twat.
And now that he's made Shrek captain he can't drop him! Genius Roy, absolute genius.
England. Not interested one iota

I hope we become like Scotland, NI and Wales failing to qualify for any international tournaments. The truth is slowly beginning to dawn on England fans that we are rubbish and nowhere near as good as we thought we were, or the media thought we should be.
I would rather forego Internationals and their breaks foisted onto us by the FA and enjoy proper football.
Why should we be forced to endure this?

I don't think we have bad players, just poor mentality.

The FA can't dump Wembley now. They've got all those corporate seats sold on the basis of home internationals, FA cup semis (what a shit idea that was), etc. They'd have to refund those people if they moved matches away from Wembley. Money is all that matters to the FA.

Like I said....couldn't give a shit about International matches.

Even got bored stiff trying to watch the World Cup. That turned into a bore-fest and I had to turn off after 4 or 5 matches....think I ended up watching 7 matches in total in 2 months.

Nothing beats the PL. It's that simple.

How about, all tournament qualifying games be played at Wembley and all friendlies played at PL grounds....would that not please everyone?

Germany, France and Spain play at grounds around the country to enable all fans to feel included, the FA are greedy fuckwits with their own selfish money orientated agenda just like FIFA and UEFA really.

True, but Germany, France and Spain are HUGE countries which are much more sparsely populated. So we don't have to travel many hundreds of miles on smooth, reliable, comfortable and affordable public transport to get to matches - which is probably just as well, considering our public transport is none of these things.

So really, it's no great problem to get in the car and drive a couple of hundred miles on worn out motorways, get robbed at Watford Gap services by some Dick Turpin sort selling cold coffee and warm sandwiches, before getting stuck in a five hour tailback just past Dunstable. And once there, you can buy fish and chips in a small tray for a tenner, before being bored to death for 90 minutes, then get stuck in traffic round Wembley town for hours on end while the police bugger off and leave everyone to it.

Guess you don't like doing that journey Leo?

I only ever go to that place on the train or a supporters club coach, mate. Driving into That London is a complete pain in the arse.

http://www.buryfc.co.uk/news/article/england-v-netherlands-u18s-1878342.aspx

Maybe i'll see a future "world class" player tonight....hopefully on the English side

Hodgson....losing the plot if he thinks questions can't be asked as to why England only had 2 shots on target.

Journo knives will now be sharpened for him...he's cocked up pissing them off, as they've given him a pretty easy ride after such a crap World Cup.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/england-boss-roy-hodgson-aims-4166369

He says the stat of only having two shots on target (including the penalty) is a load of bollocks?  Really??  Because, and correct me if I'm wrong here, isn't the object of the game to win by scoring goals?  And to do that, you have to have shots on goal, right??  

I've not seen the stats for the number of shots, but only one on target (I don't count penalties, they should be on target!) for 90-ish minutes is fucking awful considering we're supposed to have two of the most prolific strikers in the PL in our front line.

There's bigger problems than that, though.  The match was dour, dull, lacking in invention.  Norway are hardly an elite side, but they looked on a par with us.  This is what the PL has done to us - we've turned into Norway.  I dare say we'll beat San Marino next week, but considering your average pub team would give them a game, it's a bit like betting on the horse to win the donkey derby.

I've tried to defend Hodgson throughout the World Cup, I thought he had a tricky job trying to find the new blood and meld it with the existing experience.  But this outburst is hiding the truth that he already knows and, more to the point, knows the media have latched on to:  He's not capable of doing the job.  The outburst is the last nail for me, but the decision that made me turn was giving Rooney the captaincy.  How he can justify giving this plaudit to a player who is overweight, lazy and unwilling to be a team player is totally beyond me.  Especially since he's been beyond useless in an England shirt for the thick end of a decade.

We need a German-style makeover to this team, and now, before we go into the qualifiers:

• Sack Hodgson and replace him with a younger man.  Someone with experience in moulding youngsters and has had some success in getting an average team to over-perform.  Someone like Roberto Martinez.
  
• Ditch the dead wood once and for all.  Rooney isn't good enough to justify his inclusion.  Glen Johnson is dreadful.
  
• Also ditch those with the sense of entitlement and make them earn their places back.  You know who you are, messrs Gerrard and Hart!
  
• Find some young players who are hungry for the chance to shine.  Luke Shaw.  Adam Lallana.  Jay Rodriguez.  Raheem Sterling.  Ross Barkley.  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.  That's just off the top of my head.  I'm sure we could delve outside the usual top six and find some real gems playing for the "also ran" teams.  Like the ones who played for the USA, for example.  Barely a PL star in their 25 man squad and did WAAAAY better than we did.
  
• Forget the notion of playing a European style.  Van Gaal did that and Holland made it to the semi-final.  Mix it up a bit, give the players some licence to create, but don't try and harness them into a system that they don't know and doesn't suit their strengths.
  

Well said Leo.

Switzerland Monday Leo....

I totally agree with everything you posted.

Personally, when you say the PL is to blame for this, we all have to ask the question as to what would we prefer to see:

- A lot less foreign players in the PL - and more home grown players to improve our International team?

- Watching the likes of Aguero, Silva, Kompany grace our stadium?

For me, I couldn't give a shit about England. Since 1966, the best place we've finished is a semi-final place. So, since the real influx of foreigners in the early to mid 2000's....what was the excuse for 35 years prior to this, when the likes of Lineker, Gazza, Robson, Adams etc etc were in their pomp and played for some of the biggest foreign teams in the best leagues in Europe? We still didn't get anywhere when the majority of our clubs had mostly British players playing for them.

I personally, would rather watch the world's best players play at our club and if the kids are good enough, they'll shine through - a la Sterling, Flanagan at Liverpool.

We saw the likes of Shaw, Lallana and Rodriguez shine at Southampton...let's see how these players do with the pressure of playing for a 'big' club in the biggest games/competitions. We've not yet seen these players do it year in, year out like Ashley Cole did, or Shearer did, or Scholes...it's easy to say we have great young players in the PL, but if you look at some of our England squad, some have been included due to a good season last season....and only one so far, has continued in that vein - Stirling.

Hart - not been great last season or so far
Stones - not played for Everton this season
Cahill - pretty solid
Jones - been error prone in a back 3 for United
Baines - fairly solid
Henderson - does a job for Liverpool
Wilshire - has a mixed season last year and hasn't pushed on
Sterling - if anything, looks like he's improved
Ox - looks poor after his injury for both club and England
Rooney - has been poor for United for 3 years and 7 years for England
Sturridge - even though I can't stand the kid, pretty solid

How many of these players would get into the following teams:

Spain
Argentina
Germany
France
Italy
Holland

Out of all of them, possibly Sterling and Sturridge may get into the Holland, Italy or France team...Sterling on current form could possibly play for any of them.

But that's it....we have to be realistic, our youngsters aren't great and when they come together, it's a collection of 'possible potential' rather than a collection of in-form, excellent kids.

The manager in charge doesn't help. Out of date, non-inspirational, looking after the best of our youth - just won't improve them.

I thought Gerrard had retired from International football?

Now Gerrards gone, bring back Lampard.....he's still better than Wilshite .

Wiltshire was piss poor and did nothing until he was subbed.

Switzerland? Oh, then we're screwed

blueboy wrote:But that's it....we have to be realistic, our youngsters aren't great and when they come together, it's a collection of 'possible potential' rather than a collection of in-form, excellent kids.

True, but then so was the USA. So was Costa Rica. So were the two African sides that got through to the knockout stages. You could even argue a case for there being only a small number of properly talented players in the Dutch and Belgian sides, if you were being harsh. But look at how far they all progressed, despite the shortcomings.

Now look at the German team. Ten years ago, they were kids with a smattering of capability, but still just a collection of potential. Now they're all big names in the Bundesliga and they've all got a World Cup medal. Some of them have a CL medal to go alongside it. But in Germany, those players are allowed and encouraged to succeed. Over here, they either play a small part in a multi-national team or get parked on the bench for large parts of the season.

We need to build a team with the potential and the hunger to succeed, not one based on how many replica shirts the FA can sell.

Again, good points Leo. However, I'm not sure the kids we're seeing today, or the last 5-10 years, are that good.

When was the last time, in all honesty, you looked at an English player and thought..."wow" wish he was at City?

Sterling looks like he could go on to bigger and better things....but that was what we said about Rooney 10 years ago. He gone on to be more famous and richer, but his actual footballing potential stalled about 3 years ago.

Who else, in that England set-up, excites you and makes you wish he was with us?

TBF....none of them apart from Sterling for me.

Honestly? Sterling and Barkley are the only ones. Possibly Lallana. Other than that, no, nobody. But with the depth of midfielders we've already got, I can't see them getting much game time anyway.

Maybe we should develop our own on that spiffy facility that sits where I used to work???

Well here's hoping Leo....but many of them won't be English. They may make it, but I'll guarantee the majority won't be playing for England.

I think Shaken posted the other day - he's going to watch the England U18's tonight at Bury..and no City players in the team.....that's the future U21's, England 1st team....allegedly.

Didn't include Barkley as he didn't play the other night or much in the WC....but agree, he has bags of potential.

Switzerland Monday were fucked then was the comment. Now that shows how far we have gone backwards if we are worried about the mighty swiss.

yep.

It was a kind of tongue in cheek comment, Oz. I'm not that worried. More so after that turgid display against Norway, granted, but I don't think we'll get battered.

I was fortunate to miss the game as I was at a conference in Sydney & it was full on until I got back home yesterday afternoon.