Sven Goran Eriksson appreciation thread

SGE for president

Only ever lost 1 qualifying game and always won his group, even if we didn't thrash the minnows. I'd have settled for that at the beginning of the campaign.

good at qualifying, $h!t at knockouts. better than mclaren, worse than scolari. etc.

Remember not 1,5 year ago! England would go all the way!! And Sven brought them pretty far if you compare it with now! Sven is awesome

Better than his backwards half brother, we'll see about his cousin next time.

He's probably laughing his ass off right now. His CV will show that he actually improved England

Nah, he made some serious blunders IMO.

debaser wrote:good at qualifying, $h!t at knockouts. better than mclaren, worse than scolari. etc.

Great club manager, good international manager, worst world cup squad selection I've ever seen. But at least his team qualified...

Sven was statistically ok, but made serious f@ck ups as manager, McClarens failure does nothing to change this. Good club manager though.

mongrel hawk wrote:

For what? Giving us a Gerrard-Lampard combo?
Making Scholes retire?
Making Mclaren his assitant so it was easier to make him the next manager?
f@ck sven a gutless coward just like Mclaren

I can imaqine that the second most successful england manager of all time would get no credit coz he is not english and does not have the "spirit".

It does not matter that england were not looking anywhere like qualifying for international competitions before he took over, and england did not qualify after he left. And he took england to 3 consecutive QFs in major competitions, and made them look like contenders, even achieve a top 5 FIFA ranking for the first time in history

Fact is that Sven is a MUCH better manager than anyone english. I have said this after WC2006, and everyone piled on me saying that Mclaren/Sam/etc are better than Sven....

Well, all I will say is... in yer face, mate!

L r d wrote:

mongrel hawk wrote:

For what? Giving us a Gerrard-Lampard combo?
Making Scholes retire?
Making Mclaren his assitant so it was easier to make him the next manager?
f@ck sven a gutless coward just like Mclaren

Speaking of "spirit and passion", I don't think Mclaren standing with an umbrella counts, does it?


(I'm just joking...just like the Sven situation, I think anyone criticising Mclaren for the umbrella thing being a lack of passion, is silly)

There was a lack of PGD though!! Before there was even a ball kicked you could see what's wrong with England today..Amercian football lines that were clearly visible on the HOLY Wembley grass

And then the difference between the coaches, Redface only sat with his Umbrella ella ellla drinking like 10 litres of water. While Bilic was getting mental even though he was already quealified!

Sinterklaas,Fey kent hem wrote:There was a lack of PGD though!! Before there was even a ball kicked you could see what's wrong with England today..Amercian football lines that were clearly visible on the HOLY Wembley grass

And then the difference between the coaches, Redface only sat with his Umbrella ella ellla drinking like 10 litres of water. While Bilic was getting mental even though he was already quealified!

Mclaren also takes pretty extensive notes. Must give credit for his ability to multi-task.

bluenine wrote:I can imaqine that the second most successful england manager of all time would get no credit coz he is not english and does not have the "spirit".

It does not matter that england were not looking anywhere like qualifying for international competitions before he took over, and england did not qualify after he left. And he took england to 3 consecutive QFs in major competitions, and made them look like contenders, even achieve a top 5 FIFA ranking for the first time in history

Fact is that Sven is a MUCH better manager than anyone english. I have said this after WC2006, and everyone piled on me saying that Mclaren/Sam/etc are better than Sven....

Well, all I will say is... in yer face, mate!

L r d wrote:

mongrel hawk wrote:

For what? Giving us a Gerrard-Lampard combo?
Making Scholes retire?
Making Mclaren his assitant so it was easier to make him the next manager?
f@ck sven a gutless coward just like Mclaren

Nothing would be in my face. I never had a problem with him until 2006. He made the quarter finals.....not such a hard task, paraguay trinadad and ecuador he managed to beat. Despite the fact England were playing horrible due to a horrible duo in midfield he didn't change it and England went out, just like today....the exact same duo.

The English manager and spirit is more of a media thing, but Mclaren hardly shows that and i doubt anyone rated him over Sven. He got credit for what he did, and he got critism for what he done. Deserved both ways. He was not successful, he won nothing. despite promises to do so.

Because people can see the flaws in him, it doesn't mean they want a certain spirit or an english manager. Sven made many mistakes. Mclaren is just an awful manager.

To be fair to Sven, Ricardo's just really good at penalties...

Were England to have gotten past Portugal at the last two tourneys who knows what they would've done.

The biggest problem I can see, and you've all mentioned this is the English media. It's far to prone to hyping it's players. If you believed everything that's said by the Britt press you'd have to believe England are without question unstopable with the trophy room full of WC/EC medals...

Criticism is good, but not if it's only directed at the manager... sometimes you have to admit you just don't have anyone better to play for you and go with what you got...despite their flaws. Portugal play Nuno Gomes don't they? (If only he could re-capture that Euro2000 form.. )

Who on this forum said McLaren was better than Sven?

& because McLaren is a useless manager does not suddenly make Sven's England record look spectacular.

He still made similar mistakes like playing Gerrard and Lampard and even worse Owen and Vassell vs Portugal in 2004.

Spankeltoe wrote:Who on this forum said McLaren was better than Sven?

& because McLaren is a useless manager does not suddenly make Sven's England record look spectacular.

He still made similar mistakes like playing Gerrard and Lampard and even worse Owen and Vassell vs Portugal in 2004.

You lost on penalties against a great team (Portugal).

In 2002 you lost against Brazil the WC.

You can't blame Sven for that.

Luso wrote:sometimes you have to admit you just don't have anyone better to play for you and go with what you got...despite

Christmas of Days Gone By wrote:

Spankeltoe wrote:Who on this forum said McLaren was better than Sven?

& because McLaren is a useless manager does not suddenly make Sven's England record look spectacular.

He still made similar mistakes like playing Gerrard and Lampard and even worse Owen and Vassell vs Portugal in 2004.

You lost on penalties against a great team (Portugal).

In 2002 you lost against Brazil the WC.

You can't blame Sven for that.

Not 2002. 2004 and 2006 I can lay massive blame at his door.

2004, he tried to play with 4 offensive midfielders which completely unbalanced the midfield, Scholes on the left and Gerrard as a DM. Our midfield was walked over by France and Portugal. Then when Rooney gets injured he brings on Vassell another midget to play with Owen, leaving us no outball at all.

2006, he spent the whole of the group stages playing the same central midfield, plus he left us with no alternative strikers so when Owen got injured we had nothing (Rooney was unfit from the start).

the next coach will also play with gerrard and lampard

maybe they play not good, but no manager in the world can drop this two

they are the same for england like ballack and frings for germany

ok retard and flumps have not the same quality to our two giants, but england has no better players in midfield, i think with the right system from an good coach this two can play on the same pitch in the same team,

No, they can't. Every possible system has been tried for the two of them, 4-4-2 with them in central midfield, 4-4-2 with Gerrard on the right and 4-3-3 with Hargreaves or Barry behind them.

None of these work. One has to be dropped.

I really wouldn't mind if both were.

L r d wrote:

mongrel hawk wrote:

For what? Giving us a Gerrard-Lampard combo?
Making Scholes retire?
Making Mclaren his assitant so it was easier to make him the next manager?
f@ck sven a gutless coward just like Mclaren

Sven was consistant and got us to tournaments, but he was coward and made stupid decisions.

Scholes was our best midfield player and he played him LM and put Lampard and Gerrard in the middle, Scholes performances dropped and he decided to retire.

Sven took only 1 fit striker to the world cup and a rookie who hadnt played a single game for Arsenal. I dont think any manager in the world would make such a stupid decision.

Just because Mclaren is $h!t it doesnt make Sven better, it's like feeling smug becuase your mates got AIDS and you only have cancer.

Sinterklaas,Fey kent hem wrote:There was a lack of PGD though!! Before there was even a ball kicked you could see what's wrong with England today..Amercian football lines that were clearly visible on the HOLY Wembley grass

And then the difference between the coaches, Redface only sat with his Umbrella ella ellla drinking like 10 litres of water. While Bilic was getting mental even though he was already quealified!

You're on fire today.

Luso wrote:
The biggest problem I can see, and you've all mentioned this is the English media. It's far to prone to hyping it's players. If you believed everything that's said by the Britt press you'd have to believe England are without question unstopable with the trophy room full of WC/EC medals...

Criticism is good, but not if it's only directed at the manager... sometimes you have to admit you just don't have anyone better to play for you and go with what you got...despite their flaws.

I dunno, we certainly had better line ups available to us than the one McDonalds picked last night. But there are problems with the quality of English players and the number of them that are actually worthy of top level international football.

Portugal play Nuno Gomes don't they? (If only he could re-capture that Euro2000 form.. )

Not a wonderful position for Portugal historically, centreforward. Not saying you've never had great players in that position, but as a country you are most consistent at producing great wingers and creative forwards, not men to lead the line.

Spankeltoe wrote:

Christmas of Days Gone By wrote:

Spankeltoe wrote:Who on this forum said McLaren was better than Sven?

& because McLaren is a useless manager does not suddenly make Sven's England record look spectacular.

He still made similar mistakes like playing Gerrard and Lampard and even worse Owen and Vassell vs Portugal in 2004.

You lost on penalties against a great team (Portugal).

In 2002 you lost against Brazil the WC.

You can't blame Sven for that.

Not 2002. 2004 and 2006 I can lay massive blame at his door.

2004, he tried to play with 4 offensive midfielders which completely unbalanced the midfield, Scholes on the left and Gerrard as a DM. Our midfield was walked over by France and Portugal. Then when Rooney gets injured he brings on Vassell another midget to play with Owen, leaving us no outball at all.

2006, he spent the whole of the group stages playing the same central midfield, plus he left us with no alternative strikers so when Owen got injured we had nothing (Rooney was unfit from the start).

Italy won the WC with 3 offensive midfielders and Brazil won the WC with 4. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe it was the pressure of the press to play good football. And France and Portugal have a better midfield then England (or they had in 2004).

In 2006 it was knewn that it was his last tournament and England where favorites by some people. And again you lost on penalties with Portugal (a team with better players) + England playing 10 man.

Christmas of Days Gone By wrote:

Spankeltoe wrote:

Christmas of Days Gone By wrote:

Spankeltoe wrote:Who on this forum said McLaren was better than Sven?

& because McLaren is a useless manager does not suddenly make Sven's England record look spectacular.

He still made similar mistakes like playing Gerrard and Lampard and even worse Owen and Vassell vs Portugal in 2004.

You lost on penalties against a great team (Portugal).

In 2002 you lost against Brazil the WC.

You can't blame Sven for that.

Not 2002. 2004 and 2006 I can lay massive blame at his door.

2004, he tried to play with 4 offensive midfielders which completely unbalanced the midfield, Scholes on the left and Gerrard as a DM. Our midfield was walked over by France and Portugal. Then when Rooney gets injured he brings on Vassell another midget to play with Owen, leaving us no outball at all.

2006, he spent the whole of the group stages playing the same central midfield, plus he left us with no alternative strikers so when Owen got injured we had nothing (Rooney was unfit from the start).

Italy won the WC with 3 offensive midfielders and Brazil won the WC with 4. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe it was the pressure of the press to play good football. And France and Portugal have a better midfield then England (or they had in 2004).

In 2006 it was knewn that it was his last tournament and England where favorites by some people. And again you lost on penalties with Portugal (a team with better players) + England playing 10 man.

At least the Italian and Brazilian teams played with at least one or two specified defensive midfielders to cover for the rest.

I'm in agreement with Lrd and Parky here, just because SGE did better than McClaren does not meant he was successful. Sven started the top 4 obssession with McClaren continued.
Played unfit Beckham and allowed him to drift infield at will.
Only one fit, proven striker at the WC06.
Preferred to play Carragher and King at DM instead of the proven player like Hargreaves.
Continued with the Gerpard obssession for over 2 years.
Many more decisions which were obviously mistakes which I mentioned before.

I Don't understand i thought he wasn't a good manager just a quarter final skirt chasing manager?(i bet many of you would give anything for another quarter final appearance)

but reaching the quarter finals with these players called the Golden Generation was a great achievement in my book(by the way i hate that tag of Golden Generation i.e because Portugal were cursed with it for years only achieved once which was in Euro 2000 i think we would of won that tournament but hey thats another story)

so what happens if you do get someone like lets say Lippi and say he fails do u blame him(which would be crazy) or would you blame the players or would you finally get a reality check and realize England are not as good as some people think they are

EMPortuguese wrote:I Don't understand i thought he wasn't a good manager just a quarter final skirt chasing manager?(i bet many of you would give anything for another quarter final appearance)

but reaching the quarter finals with these players called the Golden Generation was a great achievement in my book(by the way i hate that tag of Golden Generation i.e because Portugal were cursed with it for years only achieved once which was in Euro 2000 i think we would of won that tournament but hey thats another story)

so what happens if you do get someone like lets say Lippi and say he fails do u blame him(which would be crazy) or would you blame the players or would you finally get a reality check and realize England are not as good as some people think they are

Its a far more deep rooted problem than you make it out to be there, when it started to dawn on us that the England football team in general were unable to retain possesion of the ball, sometihng like this was quite inevitable really.
I think that you're trying to make an argument which doesnt really exist to be honest. Very few people on the board here rate the England team as a unit. What players do you think are being over rated?