Wednesday Nights Game.- England - Croatia *SPOILERS*

[McMav]

Qualify and keep McLaren for at least another 2 years or dont qualify and get rid of him??

I'm asking this as my bro-in-law said he would rather fail to qualify for euro 2008 and get rid of McLaren. What are your views?

Yes I'm Scottish bu My bro-in-law is English. So I'm interested in what more than one person thinks.

Clearly qualifying and still getting rid of McLaren would be my bro-in-laws perfect choice but I can see him getting canned if you qualify.

 

[FrankJH]

Qualify of course - no matter what the players will improve every competition they are in (especially the younger ones)

Martin O Neil was always my 1st choice - and still is, but McLaren can do as well if not better than Sven given the chance (but Barry and Lescott shouldnt start imo, Richards move to the middle and Wes Brown at RB, with the much more experienced Hargreaves covering the defence in 5 man midfield, experience is what counts here and having Lescott and Barry in the middle is weakening the centre enourmously)

 

[McMav]

Aye he see's McLaren as the problem just an extention of the Sven era and is pulling the team backwards.

 

[Fubsy]

In a perfect world we would qualify then bring in a much better manager for the proper tournament.

 

[Banny]

Qualify of course - no matter what the players will improve every competition they are in (especially the younger ones)

Martin O Neil was always my 1st choice - and still is, but McLaren can do as well if not better than Sven given the chance (but Barry and Lescott shouldnt start imo, Richards move to the middle and Wes Brown at RB, with the much more experienced Hargreaves covering the defence in 5 man midfield, experience is what counts here and having Lescott and Barry in the middle is weakening the centre enourmously)

Yeah Barry is that bad he got man of the match in two of the matchs and hardly gave the ball away.

 

[Gilly]

Yeah Barry is that bad he got man of the match in two of the matchs and hardly gave the ball away.

His problem is he's not defensive minded and he's not as good as Gerrard or Lampard. He played very well but as many (including me) have said, we need to pick players that suit the side. Its not his fault, he just doesn't fit into the side I'd play which is 5 across the middle (J.Cole, Lampard, Hargreaves, Gerrard, Beckham) and one up top (Crouch).

I will always want us to qualify, no matter what else we could/should do. Its a waste of a summer without us being in a big tourney.

 

[2binspired]

His problem is he's not defensive minded and he's not as good as Gerrard or Lampard.

I swear he used to play CB and LB before being moved to midfield for villa. I think he is better defensivly than gerrard and lampard. By playing all three, it would give gerrard and Lampard more freedom to attack and get into the box, and it gives the midlfield better balance.

I like your team idea, but playing crouch up front on his own, at home, just doesnt sound right to me, unless its a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1

 

[wedgie]

Qualify is priority of course.

I just fear that if we do, the powers that be will conveniently forget that under McClaren we had to rely on other results to do so.

 

[BaZ87]

I swear he used to play CB and LB before being moved to midfield for villa. I think he is better defensivly than gerrard and lampard. By playing all three, it would give gerrard and Lampard more freedom to attack and get into the box, and it gives the midlfield better balance.

Firstly he's not as good as Gerrard defensively but thats not important as he's not competing with Gerrard to get into the team, he's up against Hargreaves for the holding role and he's not as good defensively.

I like your team idea, but playing crouch up front on his own, at home, just doesnt sound right to me, unless its a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1

Didn't Gilly just give you the players for a 4-5-1?

People automatically think that by only playing 1 out and out striker you're being defensive. Playing a 4-5-1 will allowboth of Gerrard and Lampard as well as Cole and Beckham freedom to get forward and support Crouch.

 

[weringo]

McClaren refusing to back Robinson as his keeper right now on SSN, maybe Carson is going to start?

 

[Youstolemyname]

I think he should be sacked even if we qualify.

 

[FrankJH]

Yeah Barry is that bad he got man of the match in two of the matchs and hardly gave the ball away.

Against inferior opposition, not exactly a real pressure situation against a pretty decent side (who have already qualified)- even a non regularly playing Carrick is better as a DM than Barry, and OH is better than both in that position (Carrick's natural position is more Scholes than OH imo)

 

[Gilly]

I swear he used to play CB and LB before being moved to midfield for villa.

Regardless, when he plays in midfield he is deployed too far forwards. Hargreaves is better at covering the defence.

I think he is better defensivly than gerrard and lampard.

Lampard possibly, though I would put them on a par. He's not as good as Gerrard.

By playing all three, it would give gerrard and Lampard more freedom to attack and get into the box, and it gives the midlfield better balance.

And the balance would be even better with Hargreaves.

I like your team idea, but playing crouch up front on his own, at home, just doesnt sound right to me, unless its a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1

It is, with Cole, Cole, Lampard and Gerrard all getting forward. Its a very attacking side even with one up top.

Against inferior opposition, not exactly a real pressure situation

Russia away??

 

[drunkenmaster]

I swear he used to play CB and LB before being moved to midfield for villa. I think he is better defensivly than gerrard and lampard. By playing all three, it would give gerrard and Lampard more freedom to attack and get into the box, and it gives the midlfield better balance.

I like your team idea, but playing crouch up front on his own, at home, just doesnt sound right to me, unless its a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1

yes you're right, he was a left back, and has always been defensive, he's just got a very good delivery and passing aswell, which has given him a much better assist record than joe cole.

as for the post before that one of barry not fitting into that midfield. the midfield you listed, is crap. hargreaves consistantly for club and country gives the ball away, no hargreaves, barry instead and we wasted the ball far less. but joe cole lacks the pace he needs to be good in his role. robben for instance consistantly beat his man and once he did he had the pace to take it to the line or into the box and do something. joe cole has limited pace at best, when he occasionally beats a player, he then has someone move and cover him , or he turns around and wastes the effort or turns inside into traffic. englands most wasteful player by far.

england consistant problem, crap manager, fans pushing for every single technical player from the league and no balance whatsoever in the squad. we consistantly have 3 playmakers in the midfield, when basically no other club in the world has ever successfully pulled that off, and neither has england.

lampard, gerrard, joe cole, beckham are all playmakers/freerole(almost) players. chelsea didn't work with ballack trying to fit into a midfield with one to many playmakers already. deco is the man feeding the 3 front men at barca. man u have scholes mostly over the years.

the problem with england isn't one great playmaker and a couple great wingers, they ALL want and play like central midfielders. cole will 9 out of 10 times go inside, so will gerrard when he plays on the right, lampard is a born finisher and for 3 seasons has been the most prolific in his role.

barry gave us a bit more balance, but we need a manager to force players to play the role NEEDED from them, rather than the role they WANT to play just to show off and get the goals for england.

 

[el_dazza]

I want us to get through so Martin O'Neill doesn't take up the doomed job, when he can take a mid-table team further forward than a National side that's going to get slated for every performance.

 

[Column Matrix]

McClaren refusing to back Robinson as his keeper right now on SSN, maybe Carson is going to start?

The usual **** stirring from the media. I read an article in the Guardian today about how Robinson has been making loads of 'blunders' in England training, and that his place is under threat. Basically they are just hammering the pressure on him so that if he picks Robinson he was wrong to do so, and if he picks Carson he is wrong to do so as well. He can't win really, the media are out to **** everything up.

I think the real problem in football is not the players or the manager, but the FA and the Media.

 

[FrankJH]

Russia away??

Anyone in an England shirt playing half decently would have shone through (as the whole team played pretty badly) - they are mediocre at best , no where near a Spain, Portugal or Italy for example

 

[BaZ87]

Anyone in an England shirt playing half decently would have shone through (as the whole team played pretty badly) - they are mediocre at best , no where near a Spain, Portugal or Italy for example

Spain have only just qualified from an easy group on paper, as have Italy (without the easy bit but they still made it hard for them) and Portugal are still yet to qualify.

In no way am i trying to defend our performances but if you look at all the groups, Germany are the only top nation that have qualified with reletive ease (even they're 2nd in there group though). All the sides i mentioned above + ourselves and Holland and France have all made overly hard work of what should have been a straight forward campaign.

 

[Munky1080]

Macclaren isn't the problem, it's the players

 

[Gilly]

Who picks the players?
Who is responsible for motivating the players?

Thats right, McClaren.