UEFA EURO 2016 Qualifiers and International Friendlies ** spoilers ** [3rd - 9th September 2014]

Del Bosque with a relatively odd line up for Spain's first post Xavi/Xabi games. Cazorla wide, despite the fact that he's been woeful when played wide. Garcia as the other wide forward. Midfield of Biscuits with koke and Fabregas either side is much more sensible... and should have been used in the build up to and during the world cup.

Defence, not bad, Azpil, Carvajal at fullback over Juanfran or Alba, Ramos and Jose(bilbao) as CB's. De Gea in goal... they dropped Casillas finally though to make up for it they put two goalkeepers called Casillas on the bench :p

Will be interesting to see what they do but to me it looked like Bosque inherited a winning team and system and couldn't change or improve it to save his life. Can't believe he still has his job when one of the highest quality squads and did so poorly.
 
Fulax said:
Could be worse: Holland have got Kuyt out wide again.

10 minutes in, they're 2-0 behind and down to 10 men.
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Yup

LVG got the Kuyt thing completely wrong, the second they started playing him they lost all service and Robben/RVP went from dominating to starved of the ball. Possession is useless in and of itself, that **** made every Holland game later in the competition boring as hell, give ball to Kuyt... pass backwards. Or give ball to Kuyt, cuts inside and then attempts to cross, attempt meaning put it 10 yards wide of the goal and too high for anyone to get a touch on before going out. Nothing else.

Saw the red and penalty but not really paying attention to that game at all, just that every time I flick my eyes over that game it seems like Italy are inches from scoring.


Awful tackle on Witsel in the Belgium australia game, should have been a red frankly, wasn't even a card because it was a friendly, studs in challenge just above the knee, was lucky to get back up from it. Referee was an idiot.
 
McBain said:
The joke with Hodgson is, he keeps saying he thinks we played well? I mean, if he thinks we played well last night, what hope have we got.
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The scary thing is that I believe him when he says it. The guy is completely oblivious to the world around him and can't understand why people think the team played poorly. It was the exact same thing at Liverpool.

He's a dinosaur. He played and began his managing career, and then continued it at predominantly smaller clubs, where there wasn't the media attention he's under now (and at Liverpool). He's used to going about his business quietly, just keeping his head above water, picking up the occasional win and draw every 3 games with nobody noticing or caring how the team are playing or whether any thing is being built towards.

He failed at Blackburn with a very capable squad, he was frighteningly bad at Liverpool and he's failing again with England. This guy cannot manage a side that has any meaningful expectations.

And on the attendances point. Attendances at Anfield during Hodgson's reign at Liverpool were the lowest in memory. There was even a game against Bolton (post take-over so the old owners had nothing to do with it) where 5,000 seats went unsold (bearing in mind we sell-out nearly every game) and 4,000 season ticket holders didn't show up either.
 
BaZ87 said:
The scary thing is that I believe him when he says it. The guy is completely oblivious to the world around him and can't understand why people think the team played poorly. It was the exact same thing at Liverpool.

He's a dinosaur. He played and began his managing career, and then continued it at predominantly smaller clubs, where there wasn't the media attention he's under now (and at Liverpool). He's used to going about his business quietly, just keeping his head above water, picking up the occasional win and draw every 3 games with nobody noticing or caring how the team are playing or whether any thing is being built towards.

He failed at Blackburn with a very capable squad, he was frighteningly bad at Liverpool and he's failing again with England. This guy cannot manage a side that has any meaningful expectations.

And on the attendances point. Attendances at Anfield during Hodgson's reign at Liverpool were the lowest in memory. There was even a game against Bolton (post take-over so the old owners had nothing to do with it) where 5,000 seats went unsold (bearing in mind we sell-out nearly every game) and 4,000 season ticket holders didn't show up either.
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According to Hodgson in the Metro today, the reason attendances at Wembley are low is due to the sub standard opposition :p

Manager Roy Hodgson said: "We'll find it hard to bring attendances back because the opponents we're playing won't excite the public."
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As you say, I don't even think he's on the wind up, he's genuinely deluded.
 
McBain said:
To say he 'did well' everywhere else is garbage anyway.

He was **** at Blackburn, had a decent first season then got binned off the next with the club bottom of the league and ultimately we went down.

He even openly admitted his time there was a failure.

The joke with Hodgson is, he keeps saying he thinks we played well? I mean, if he thinks we played well last night, what hope have we got.
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No point calling him out, just ignores things when he's wrong :)

The answer was none anyway, never had a hope from the moment he was appointed, he did well at WBA in between the two though
 
I wonder if "woys" little outburst might make the media start to turn on him, up until now they have been very easy on him but patience is starting to wear thin, what I find frustrating the most is when we seem to be making progress he then goes and reverts back to a flat 442, I just don't think you can have two out and out forwards and two central midfielders anymore, the problem is with Rooney as captain he will always play under Hodgson, meaning Sturridge will suffer ( he kept pulling out to the right flank the other night to find space) it's always going to be square pegs in round holes to accommodate everyone because he doesn't have the balls to make the big calls, Rooney has been a favourite of mine but I think he needs a big kick up the arse, he can't keep under performing and be automatic choice, I think we're still remembering the player that used to be aggressive and run with the ball, hoping that he will play like that again but it's looking more and more like all we will see is wha we have for the last few years
 
arcon33 said:
I wonder if "woys" little outburst might make the media start to turn on him, up until now they have been very easy on him but patience is starting to wear thin, what I find frustrating the most is when we seem to be making progress he then goes and reverts back to a flat 442, I just don't think you can have two out and out forwards and two central midfielders anymore, the problem is with Rooney as captain he will always play under Hodgson, meaning Sturridge will suffer ( he kept pulling out to the right flank the other night to find space) it's always going to be square pegs in round holes to accommodate everyone because he doesn't have the balls to make the big calls, Rooney has been a favourite of mine but I think he needs a big kick up the arse, he can't keep under performing and be automatic choice, I think we're still remembering the player that used to be aggressive and run with the ball, hoping that he will play like that again but it's looking more and more like all we will see is wha we have for the last few years
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He's peaked and been on the down turn for 2-3 years. Sad. But true. That great talent has gone, ****** down the toilet with his takeaways and tabs. Can't blame the fella, he's about as intelligent as the inflatables he kicks each day.
 
shipinabottle said:
He's peaked and been on the down turn for 2-3 years. Sad. But true. That great talent has gone, ****** down the toilet with his takeaways and tabs. Can't blame the fella, he's about as intelligent as the inflatables he kicks each day.
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The thing is, (IMO of course), if he looked after himself a bit better he could still be at that level. He doesn't look anywhere like the level of fitness the top players have. He seems to be consumed with his £300k a week (or whatever as no doubt someone will pull me up on it if it's £290k a week) and doesn't need to try anymore. He needs a rollicking and a few weeks on the bench to make him hungry again but not even LVG would be brave enough.
 
Thought this article about Rooney was good:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/sep/05/wayne-rooney-england-captain

Quite what to do from here is another matter. It seems fairly clear it was a mistake to have made Rooney England captain and thereby (for reasons that remain obscure) undroppable. England play best under Roy Hodgson when they play quickly in possession but too often recently Rooney has clogged the movement ahead of him in a system where he is no longer the best No10 or the best No9. Instead he seems to present a kind of roving black hole, the dark heart of this England team around which so much hopeful effort seems to flounder, and so much angst from the periphery coalesce.
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I've been saying since World Cup 2010 that Rooney (as good a player he may have been at the time) upset the England team balance when going forward, now that he is playing badly it's just magnified.
 
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I don't believe there's a reasonable argument against it. I'd like to see him dropped and see how he handles it, for both club and country, we'd either see a good up turn in performance or a hilarious hissy fit which would hopefully dissolve his image to the marketing departments and end his pull.
 
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