The Next England Squad

Haha, about right.

Flumps needed a deflection there

Hodgson wanted a point. Would've preferred he wanted all three. Gonna be 2 nervy final games. The only wins we've got in group so far are 2 each vs Moldova & San Marino, now we gotta beat Poland and Montenegro back-to-back.

One good thing is that the way fixtures are if we beat Montenegro we at least go into final game guaranteed of at least 2nd.

We'll drop points in atleast 1 of the last 2 games, both Montenegro and Poland still have a chance of qualifying and will fancy their chances.

SAN MARINO SCORED A GOAL TONIGHT!

Unbelievable how happy Royston and Dixon are with that. If England carry on like this at the world cup they won't make it out of the group stages.

He's a terrible manager so what can you expect really

The very epitome of mediocrity

It's the same old delusion that it'll all magically come together in the key matches after having had no sign of doing so before. i.e. 'doesn't matter how we qualify, the players will step it up at the tournament'. Then we scrape through the group with unconvincing draws and 1-0s & it'll be, 'it's all about peaking at the right time in the tournament'. Then play just as underwhelming in the ko game & lose on penalties.

COTR wrote:He's a terrible manager so what can you expect really

The very epitome of mediocrity

What coach would turn that mob into a good side? Capello couldn't do it.

He's not playing 4-4-2 like all Liverpool fans said he would. That's something.

I cant believe England have so many troubles again with qualifying, that group is even easier then the one Holland has, hell I think Holland has one of the hardest groups on paper..says a lot.

we did it guys

England win 0-0

If Hodgson can keep this up for another 5-7 years he is certain to go down as the worst England manager of all time

The only thing an England manager has to do, is convince Joe Public that they could do a better job than him.

Big fat tick in that box Roy

Even David Moyes wouldn't put Ashley Young on the pitch if he had all of England to choose from. Who is advising this guy? It can only be Graham Taylor or someone who has recently woken up from a 4 year coma.

Jack Wilshere  Go on Roy, give him another 10 caps, maybe he'll get better. We can wait. 

He's my 9th England manager and even Steve McUmbrella doesn't come close. You can make excuses all day about the pool of players he has to choose from, but poor judgement is poor judgement and this guy has dragged Liverpool and England to mediocrity in recent years. I for one wonder what else he's capable of.

Well that was crap. Always given managers a chance Hodgson will do the same as last time in the Euros.  The English are all about not losing face down to the very last breath in a sentence.

To many tactics and not letting the players play grassroots footy that they only know. Rip the heart out of the team before having a fighting chance.

They cannot play like the better sides around but at least let them have a go.

Jack Wilshire is fine if a team like Spain play through the middle once the game is spread he becomes useless does he have strict orders to stay in one position there is zero fight in him.

Serious Hoddle was the last coach that let the team play this defensive shit sucks.

It was boring and uninspiring, but in all honesty have we been any different under previous managers going back as far as Hoddle (98)?

I'll give you that at least there were some stand out performances under previous incumbents during their tenure (Eriksson and the 5-1 routing of the Krauts, Mclaren and the 3-0 smashing of the Russians, Capello and the 4-1 and 5-1 hammering of the Croats), but in all honesty no one really remembers these qualifying games. Especially ones in September when the likes of Wilshere and co are clearly running off early season lethargy.

Not making excuses, simply that Hodgson typifies this current England. If it were a colour it would be beige. Completely 'meh'. No one is going to come in and radicalise the system as a long as the likes of Gerrard/Lampard/Rooney continue to 'do it' at club level but not country. I could sit here and tell you that Andros Townsend is easily good enough to start given that performance tonight, but no doubt as soon as he swaps his Spurs shirt for the England one, he'll suddenly look like he's running in treacle and possess the delicate touch of Ian Huntley.

Nothing is going to change for at least another 5-10 years, we all know this. The National Team has been hung out to dry, an afterthought as they built up the PL behemoth. The thing is, no one really gives a shit when their clubs are so much more exciting. A 10 year broken love affair with the English team will do us all good in the long run, be rid of the hype, become more humble. Let the Germans be the ones rubbing each other off in public. We're better off being miserable pessimistic fuckers anyway, it's what makes England great after all

Easy to point out gerrard/lampard/rooney, but the worst player on the pitch was wilshire and then his replacement young. I don't say drop wilshire (although I would for young) because the talent is there, but people calling for changes to the team need to think if there is anyone better. If you dropped gerrard and lampard you have wilshire, cleverly and who? (rodwell, livermore etc.). If you want to give experience to young players while they fail to qualify for the world cup, then fair enough, but wouldn't they learn more at the world cup? What are they going to learn under Hodgson in the first place? I am all for dropping rooney to the bench, because lambert is a better team player, but after lambert there is maybe sturridge, then who? There is a lack of decent quality alternatives everywhere.

As for Hodgson, he's always been a good fit for a small club that is supposed to defend in numbers, keep things solid etc and he's turned England, who do actually have players who can play like a mid-table team into a team that plays likes it's in a relegation battle. Obviously it's not pretty to watch. It's pretty clear he'll do the same at the world cup if England get there.

England's best players last night: cahill, cole, gerrard
England's best player a few days ago: lambert, welbeck, gerrard

Yet so many posts about dropping gerrard  

I'd like Kimbo to name the players that are better than gerrard, because he doesn't have to be great to be "one of England's best players" he only has to be better than the other England players. There's only maybe only welbeck who even comes close on current form, ashley cole is solid but offers nothing going forward, to say he's been better than gerrard is a joke. So even if Kimbo could somehow justify putting Gerrard third, that still makes him "one of England's best players".

England played a 4-1-4-1 formation and it was the front 5 that failed to deliver last night. The back 5 (including gerrard) was pretty solid and Ukraine had 1 shot on gaol the whole night, a header from a corner. Defensively England did a good job, except for walker. Now everyone thinks Glen Johnson is a pretty solid right back

It's funny how England are still in a position that they have no left midfielder, after more than 10 years of playing various players there? I didn't mind milner there last night (I appreciated the effort), but they could possibly have tried baines, defensively as solid as milner but more likely to create something, or townsend for a more attacking option. England need to stop playing Young, I still remember various people on here telling us he was England's best player, still at least we're not  as bad as Kimbo's Newcastle forum

will.i.glenn wrote:we did it guys

England win 0-0

If Hodgson can keep this up for another 5-7 years he is certain to go down as the worst England manager of all time

The only thing an England manager has to do, is convince Joe Public that they could do a better job than him.

Big fat tick in that box Roy

Even David Moyes wouldn't put Ashley Young on the pitch if he had all of England to choose from. Who is advising this guy? It can only be Graham Taylor or someone who has recently woken up from a 4 year coma.

Jack Wilshere  Go on Roy, give him another 10 caps, maybe he'll get better. We can wait. 

He's my 9th England manager and even Steve McUmbrella doesn't come close. You can make excuses all day about the pool of players he has to choose from, but poor judgement is poor judgement and this guy has dragged Liverpool and England to mediocrity in recent years. I for one wonder what else he's capable of.

Were Liverpool (based on the 09-10 season) and England anything but mediocre when he took over?

S4P wrote:

will.i.glenn wrote:we did it guys

England win 0-0

If Hodgson can keep this up for another 5-7 years he is certain to go down as the worst England manager of all time

The only thing an England manager has to do, is convince Joe Public that they could do a better job than him.

Big fat tick in that box Roy

Even David Moyes wouldn't put Ashley Young on the pitch if he had all of England to choose from. Who is advising this guy? It can only be Graham Taylor or someone who has recently woken up from a 4 year coma.

Jack Wilshere  Go on Roy, give him another 10 caps, maybe he'll get better. We can wait. 

He's my 9th England manager and even Steve McUmbrella doesn't come close. You can make excuses all day about the pool of players he has to choose from, but poor judgement is poor judgement and this guy has dragged Liverpool and England to mediocrity in recent years. I for one wonder what else he's capable of.

Were Liverpool (based on the 09-10 season) and England anything but mediocre when he took over?

Depends how you measure it. On a scale of 1-10, mediocre would be maybe 5-6 (7-8 being good, 3-4 being poor etc). So he could take a team like Fulham who would maybe normally be a 5 and make them a solid 6, and he would take a team like liverpool who would normally maybe be a 7 and make them a solid 6. He did it to Inter in the past, and I reckon he has the talent to take a team like barcelona who would be a 9 and make them a solid 6 as well.

On the international level, if we consider spain and germany being a 9, Italy, and france being an 8, then England could be potentially a 7, but hodgson will keep them at a solid 6, competing at the level of the ukraine.

I wouldn't say either Liverpool or England were particularly good before he took over, but they both became worse after he took charge.

To be honest it isn't Wilshere's fault that there is a distinct lack of movement in the team. He dribbles to try and create an angle but when Lamps and Gerrard have no idea of how to play in between the lines, what do you expect.

Thanks for being honest

You're welcome

Romford Pele wrote:To be honest it isn't Wilshere's fault that there is a distinct lack of movement in the team. He dribbles to try and create an angle but when Lamps and Gerrard have no idea of how to play in between the lines, what do you expect.

In England's 4-1-4-1 formation with the 3 traditional lines being defence, midfield and attack, gerrard was playing between the defence and midfield lines, while wilshire and lamapard were trying to play in between the midfield and attacking lines (together with milner and walcott). It's pretty clear where it didn't work, and it was with the latter 4 players. In any case even blaming lampard is unfair when wilshire continuously ran into the opposition and was dispossessed.

I am not making some broad statement such as Wilshire is shit, but he had a poor game. It happens and it's not the fault of anyone else, except maybe the Hodge. He is a very good player with a lot of talent, his main problem is trying to do too much, trying to make things happen (basically the same problem as Gerrard in the past). It is strange that in the modern game players who try to make things happen are hated, whereas players who keep their pass rate above 90% by continuously passing backwards (and boring the hell out of me) are loved. That's fucking football hipsters for you, retarded the lot of them.

A negative 4-5-1 with statuesque geriatrics like Milner, Lampard and Gerrard, I'd be tempted to over dribble as well. Most international teams now play a more fluid formation and fill their team with players that fit into that way of playing. Short passes, triangles, movement etc. Chances are their clubs are playing that formation too. We don’t. England stick to the straight lines, the same players and the long hopeful pass and we are supposed to shoehorn Jack into that way of playing...

Anyway, i'm tired of this same BS convo we harp on about at every Interlull. Hodgson is poor but we've been watching different variations of the same tripe for a while now. Wilshere ain't the problem. Still, I couldn't give two hoots. I'd rather people thumb him down so he can just concentrate on playing for Arsenal.

Milner is 27. That's not generally thought of as the age of a geriatric.

He plays like one.

Hmm.. He's not very good.. But he's the most energetic geriatric I've ever seen.

110% wrote:England need to stop playing Young, I still remember various people on here telling us he was England's best player

he was England's most productive player for a spell a couple of years ago (Euro 2012 qualifiers I think). obviously shouldn't be near the team right now but that's 'cause he's barely kicked a ball in 2013 due to injury.

Gabby would've been ideal to bring in on the left yesterday, it's where he plays for Villa, he's on form & pace to burn.

110% wrote:England's best players last night: cahill, cole, gerrard
England's best player a few days ago: lambert, welbeck, gerrard

Yet so many posts about dropping gerrard  

I'd like Kimbo to name the players that are better than gerrard, because he doesn't have to be great to be "one of England's best players" he only has to be better than the other England players. There's only maybe only welbeck who even comes close on current form, ashley cole is solid but offers nothing going forward, to say he's been better than gerrard is a joke. So even if Kimbo could somehow justify putting Gerrard third, that still makes him "one of England's best players".

England played a 4-1-4-1 formation and it was the front 5 that failed to deliver last night. The back 5 (including gerrard) was pretty solid and Ukraine had 1 shot on gaol the whole night, a header from a corner. Defensively England did a good job, except for walker. Now everyone thinks Glen Johnson is a pretty solid right back

It's funny how England are still in a position that they have no left midfielder, after more than 10 years of playing various players there? I didn't mind milner there last night (I appreciated the effort), but they could possibly have tried baines, defensively as solid as milner but more likely to create something, or townsend for a more attacking option. England need to stop playing Young, I still remember various people on here telling us he was England's best player, still at least we're not  as bad as Kimbo's Newcastle forum

Can a non-Liverpool fan explain this for me? Apparently ITV made Gerrard MOTM last night aswell, but as I saw it he did two things, he "dummied" a header and made a clearance, but apart from that was totally anonymous.

This is why I criticise him so much, it's not because he's a bad player and that there are many players that will do a better job, it's because when it comes to the media he is immune from criticism and always does a good job. There's no justification for saying he played anything other than shit last night. If we qualify for the world cup he will play in his 6th tournament, and he hasn't been more than mediocre in any of them, he's treated like he's an England legend and is going to reach 120-130 caps. I wish we had some good players that could replace the likes of Gerrard, but even if we did it wouldn't happen as he is clearly a protected species. Other players over the years have been written off on the basis of a couple of friendly games and a bunch of sub cameo's.

Kimbo wrote:

110% wrote:England's best players last night: cahill, cole, gerrard
England's best player a few days ago: lambert, welbeck, gerrard

Yet so many posts about dropping gerrard  

I'd like Kimbo to name the players that are better than gerrard, because he doesn't have to be great to be "one of England's best players" he only has to be better than the other England players. There's only maybe only welbeck who even comes close on current form, ashley cole is solid but offers nothing going forward, to say he's been better than gerrard is a joke. So even if Kimbo could somehow justify putting Gerrard third, that still makes him "one of England's best players".

England played a 4-1-4-1 formation and it was the front 5 that failed to deliver last night. The back 5 (including gerrard) was pretty solid and Ukraine had 1 shot on gaol the whole night, a header from a corner. Defensively England did a good job, except for walker. Now everyone thinks Glen Johnson is a pretty solid right back

It's funny how England are still in a position that they have no left midfielder, after more than 10 years of playing various players there? I didn't mind milner there last night (I appreciated the effort), but they could possibly have tried baines, defensively as solid as milner but more likely to create something, or townsend for a more attacking option. England need to stop playing Young, I still remember various people on here telling us he was England's best player, still at least we're not  as bad as Kimbo's Newcastle forum

Can a non-Liverpool fan explain this for me? Apparently ITV made Gerrard MOTM last night aswell, but as I saw it he did two things, he "dummied" a header and made a clearance, but apart from that was totally anonymous.

This is why I criticise him so much, it's not because he's a bad player and that there are many players that will do a better job, it's because when it comes to the media he is immune from criticism and always does a good job. There's no justification for saying he played anything other than shit last night. If we qualify for the world cup he will play in his 6th tournament, and he hasn't been more than mediocre in any of them, he's treated like he's an England legend and is going to reach 120-130 caps. I wish we had some good players that could replace the likes of Gerrard, but even if we did it wouldn't happen as he is clearly a protected species. Other players over the years have been written off on the basis of a couple of friendly games and a bunch of sub cameo's.

Media propaganda

Kimbo wrote:

110% wrote:England's best players last night: cahill, cole, gerrard
England's best player a few days ago: lambert, welbeck, gerrard

Yet so many posts about dropping gerrard  

I'd like Kimbo to name the players that are better than gerrard, because he doesn't have to be great to be "one of England's best players" he only has to be better than the other England players. There's only maybe only welbeck who even comes close on current form, ashley cole is solid but offers nothing going forward, to say he's been better than gerrard is a joke. So even if Kimbo could somehow justify putting Gerrard third, that still makes him "one of England's best players".

England played a 4-1-4-1 formation and it was the front 5 that failed to deliver last night. The back 5 (including gerrard) was pretty solid and Ukraine had 1 shot on gaol the whole night, a header from a corner. Defensively England did a good job, except for walker. Now everyone thinks Glen Johnson is a pretty solid right back

It's funny how England are still in a position that they have no left midfielder, after more than 10 years of playing various players there? I didn't mind milner there last night (I appreciated the effort), but they could possibly have tried baines, defensively as solid as milner but more likely to create something, or townsend for a more attacking option. England need to stop playing Young, I still remember various people on here telling us he was England's best player, still at least we're not  as bad as Kimbo's Newcastle forum

Can a non-Liverpool fan explain this for me? Apparently ITV made Gerrard MOTM last night aswell, but as I saw it he did two things, he "dummied" a header and made a clearance, but apart from that was totally anonymous.

This is why I criticise him so much, it's not because he's a bad player and that there are many players that will do a better job, it's because when it comes to the media he is immune from criticism and always does a good job. There's no justification for saying he played anything other than shit last night. If we qualify for the world cup he will play in his 6th tournament, and he hasn't been more than mediocre in any of them, he's treated like he's an England legend and is going to reach 120-130 caps. I wish we had some good players that could replace the likes of Gerrard, but even if we did it wouldn't happen as he is clearly a protected species. Other players over the years have been written off on the basis of a couple of friendly games and a bunch of sub cameo's.

Can a fan not on a retarded Newcastle forum explain to me which 3 players were better than gerrard last night? I accept cahill, but after that cole, jagielka and gerrard were all about the same. Anyone else: hart (no), walker (hell no), wilshire (hell no), lampard (no), milner (no), lambert (no), walcott (no), young (fuck off)

So commentators sucking up to him are ridiculous but you look more ridiculous for wanting him out even though you acknowledge there is no-one better. According to your logic, writing off a player after a couple of friendly games is bad, but writing someone off after they have been england's best player all year is fine, solely on the basis that commentators have pissed you off. His performances doesn't actually matter at all. On the one hand I can relate, I get seriously pissed off listening to commentators cream themselves over xavi and iniesta passing it backwards all the fucking time. On the other hand I acknowledge that they are actually very good players, so I wouldn't try to spin that as spain would somehow be better off without them as it would be nonsense.

Romford Pele wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

110% wrote:England's best players last night: cahill, cole, gerrard
England's best player a few days ago: lambert, welbeck, gerrard

Yet so many posts about dropping gerrard  

I'd like Kimbo to name the players that are better than gerrard, because he doesn't have to be great to be "one of England's best players" he only has to be better than the other England players. There's only maybe only welbeck who even comes close on current form, ashley cole is solid but offers nothing going forward, to say he's been better than gerrard is a joke. So even if Kimbo could somehow justify putting Gerrard third, that still makes him "one of England's best players".

England played a 4-1-4-1 formation and it was the front 5 that failed to deliver last night. The back 5 (including gerrard) was pretty solid and Ukraine had 1 shot on gaol the whole night, a header from a corner. Defensively England did a good job, except for walker. Now everyone thinks Glen Johnson is a pretty solid right back

It's funny how England are still in a position that they have no left midfielder, after more than 10 years of playing various players there? I didn't mind milner there last night (I appreciated the effort), but they could possibly have tried baines, defensively as solid as milner but more likely to create something, or townsend for a more attacking option. England need to stop playing Young, I still remember various people on here telling us he was England's best player, still at least we're not  as bad as Kimbo's Newcastle forum

Can a non-Liverpool fan explain this for me? Apparently ITV made Gerrard MOTM last night aswell, but as I saw it he did two things, he "dummied" a header and made a clearance, but apart from that was totally anonymous.

This is why I criticise him so much, it's not because he's a bad player and that there are many players that will do a better job, it's because when it comes to the media he is immune from criticism and always does a good job. There's no justification for saying he played anything other than shit last night. If we qualify for the world cup he will play in his 6th tournament, and he hasn't been more than mediocre in any of them, he's treated like he's an England legend and is going to reach 120-130 caps. I wish we had some good players that could replace the likes of Gerrard, but even if we did it wouldn't happen as he is clearly a protected species. Other players over the years have been written off on the basis of a couple of friendly games and a bunch of sub cameo's.

Media propaganda

Commentators often have ridiculous views, they are paid to attract attention. Why does the average person on the street who becomes pissed off by a commentator decide that a completely opposite view is somehow less retarded than the commentator's. The England team was thoroughly average going forward last night, but defended pretty well against the form team in the group at home. Gerrard playing as the defensive midfielder deserves some credit for that at least. He made mistakes, he wasn't great, but he wasn't awful. Commentators giving him man of the match award is ridiculous, kimbo saying he should be dropped even though there is no-one better is far more ridiculous.