[Archived] Northern Ireland 1-0?

[waggy]

i cannot believe jonty has not been mentioned on this thread sourpuss would not know a footballer if he kicked him in the balls 17 million for owen

[philipl]

I'd also like to congratulate the Maltese on their 1-1 draw against Croatia. Bravo 

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Malta was basking in the glory of the 1-1 draw on the Victory Day (beating the Turks in 1565) yesterday. Also counting 70 people requiring stitches, three hospitalised, after the Croatin fans rioted following the equaliser. Only 500 Croatians travelled and 103 of them appeared in Court yesterday! Half their section of the stadium doesn't have any seating today.

Anyway my match report is in the other Internationals thread. Dado Prso was horribly bad.

Whilst talking about other countries, how bad are Wales? They now have the same points total as Malta. If anything, England played even worse and won against Wales than they did in losing to Northern Ireland.

I know Sparky got criticised for some of the games Wales played under him but Wales league position at the moment shows how bad the squad is.

Is SGE still the England manager by the way?

Sack him now.

As things stand at the moment, its pot luck of drawing one from Spain, Norway, Turkey, France and Slovakia for the World Cup play-off. Based on the last three "performances" the Prem can put back its fixture list to normal and the FA Cup should have replays again.

[pg]

I thank you scotty....... although its taken a performance like this to convince you.  Brazil did it for me. 

btw Daft silly beggar Hanson got it diametrically wrong too.  He said he must find a system for the players at his disposal.  Baollox!  Thats exactly where SGE is going wrong!    What he actually needs is to find the players who can play to the system of his choice (and never mind reputations) a la Sir Alf!

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There isn't necessarily anything wrong with going the other way theno ... i.e. construct a system around a stay player capable of winning games.

The Dutch used to structure their midfield so that all the action would funnel in towards Rijkard...who could then regain possession and launch another attack. Similarly, the Juventus 4-3-3 'trident' was built around Roberto Baggio.

At least, that's what I read in 'football system and tactics' written by two ex Danish national coaches.

But whether you decide on a system and plug in the best-suited players.... or build a system around star players... you have to commit to it. Sven to me seems like Souness of two seasons ago. He has no idea what his best team is... in terms of line-up and formation.

Indeed - Souness saved himself and the team when he decided to play with no wingers and build a 'daimond' formation based around Tugay.

Edited September 9, 2005 by pg

[Flopsy]

any one seen this

http://www.football365.com/opinion/story_162317.shtml

[Ronin]

Who knows, if he's willing it could happen sooner than later.

Big Sam for England

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/i...als/4229036.stm

[OscarRaven]

Who knows, if he's willing it could happen sooner than later.

Big Sam for England

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/i...als/4229036.stm

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Nah, not convinced but thats my opinion - saying that its he's an improvement on Mr. Burns.

What I would love to see is someone come in and remove that player power, the England team for my mind has become a little too clicky.....

Strike? wtf is that all about?

"Were not playing formation x,y or z" - ok F off back to ur club then.

A good man manager is needed.... [note to Fat Freddy good man management is not about managers who sulk, victimise or refuse to speak to thier players] best man manager for me is at Old Trafford. Sorry.

[Blue blood]

Sven has flattered to decieve for a long time. On all the big occassions he has bottled it. Brazil were there for the beating with 10 men - we fluff it. But it is brazil and the heat was a problem etc. and all is forgiven. Portugal - granted loosing rooney was a blow and the ref as incompetent but his defensive minded substitutions and lack of motivational skills meant it never should have come to that. My third criticism is that he sticks with players long after they are clearly not good enough. James, Heskey, Johnson and that it takes a really big embarrassment before he finally sees sense.

Where Sven has got it right is prior to the big occassion he's managed to amble through without too much of a hiccup. The worry is now that he's loosing it on the small occassions as well as the big ones. We seem to be regressing despite having the most talented squad he's ever had.

I can almost understand why he put Beckham as a holding midfielder, to allow Gerrard and lampard to get forward and do what they do best. But no one, not even Souness, would have tried playing Rooney on the left. Nor should he have played Owen who clearly isn't suited to a loan striker role on his own. In trying to get the best out of Gerrard and Lampard Sven severely limited two of his other world class players. What makes it all the more galling is that J Cole seems to have made the best of a bad job on the left, and even scored at the weekend so why was he left out?

As for Hargreves, maybe it's me but is plan B always to bring on a defensive minded midfield? It rarely ever works, but is guarented not to work when playing Mr 'I-play-on-the-continent-so-must-be good'. In Vasell, Mills, P. Neville and Butt they've all at least shown glimpses of why they were, mostly incorrectly, picked for England yet I'm still in the dark to why Hargreaves warrents a game.

Finally, the motivation seems to be non-existent. Sven doesn't seem to be ableto control Rooney when the red mist descends, nor does he seem to be able to motivate the team in any way at all. I wouldn't have thought it too difficult to sting the players proffessional pride at half time to improbve on being 0-0 with Northern Ireland.

The idea of placing Bobby Robson as coach is an excellent one, and despite the cost must be taken as this is England's best squad for some time, and should be our best chance of doing well. Sadly under Sven the same tired mistakes will keep holding us back.

[USABlue]

I would like to put out a question. Given that it is clearly evident that McClaren has designs on the England job, has anyone else given thought to the fact that McClaren may actually be doing a number on Sven. He seems slimey enough to me to pull underhanded stuff.

[Welshrover1981]

Whats with Sven bringing on Owen hargreaves all the time?

As if he is going to win the game for England

[thenodrog]

Most of you are directing all your anger at Sven and just him.

Aren't the players to blame at all. Even though it was a 4-5-1 formation, surely the players should still have performed better.

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No its neither Sven nor the players fault..... ultimately its the cupid stunts at the FA for giving him a stupidly long contract and carte blanche to do what he wants!

As for Sven all he has ever done is pick media friendly teams! He is the most pc manager I have ever known. Heskey is not international class but then again neither was he at Liverpool! He goes to Brum ends up playing far better than at Liverpool and may as well have gone to Timbuctoo for all the chance he has of ever playing again. The players know this full well, they also know that come hell or high water the billy big-times will NEVER be dropped too! Hardly condusive for running ones bollax off or running through brick walls I would suggest.

This is taken from a link on here and supports my feelings exactly.....

And Allardyce's former right-hand man at Bolton, Derby boss Phil Brown, also backed his claims to succeed Eriksson. He said: "There would be no better man to replace Eriksson. Sam would have no problems dropping big-name players.

"He has proved he can handle the superstars. He has worked with some of the best at Bolton, like Jay-Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro and Ivan Campo. He has left them all out at some time.

"Sam was always ahead of his time. He was using technology long before other managers and could give you the lowdown on every team in the league and every individual player."

I bet he'd do it for a quarter of what Sven son too! Problem is (and its a big un) .......... 'eees a bladdy norvenor innee!

[92er]

I bet he'd do it for a quarter of what Sven son too! Problem is (and its a big un) .......... 'eees a bladdy norvenor innee!

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I thought he was from the Midlands.

[thenodrog]

I bet he'd do it for a quarter of what Sven son too! Problem is (and its a big un) .......... 'eees a bladdy norvenor innee!

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I thought he was from the Midlands.

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.............and the midlands is in which direction from London 92er?

[PABBY]

BREAKING NEWS .......

Sven Goran Erikkson has been sacked!

Carlsberg don't do the sports news, but if they did, it would probably be the best sports news in the world.

[waggy]

got the lad a northern ireland shirt whilst in belfast,wants HEALY on the back,i said no brotherstone will do