World Cup 2014 thread

[Cuthbert]

Happy with the draw but not happy with the set up. It's the same old, same old for England. Still playing shit on a stick football. It's frustrating when you believe the players are there as well. Lambert aside, they're being picked on name and nothing else, not by quality or form which is how it should be.

I would like to see something like:

Barkley-Wilshere-McEachran

Zaha-Sturridge-Welbeck

We then have players like Walcott, Delph, Sterling, Redmond, The Ox, Lingard, Chalobah, Berahino, Westwood, Ince and Powell to come in. Could replace Welbeck with The Ox and keep swapping Zaha and The Ox around. They can also track back to make a 4-5-1.

It annoys me when people say we shouldn't be starting these young players if they haven't achieved anything with their clubs. They shouldn't have to achieve anything if they are good enough. I believe they are, besides, with players like McEachran for example, Chelsea are better than England, so why should he be expected to achieve something with them before getting into an inferior team? Club football is king.

I think the current squad is mediocre but I don't think we produce mediocre players. We could be an exciting young footballing side if only these players were given the chance and a manager had some bottle. These are all good, skilled footballers who can play. Imagine Pep in charge of that team. The bolded players could arguably start, Delph has real tenacity and skill, excellent range of passing, he is looking like a fine footballer now. The Ox can play anywhere in the midfield. I rate McEachran very highly, he is extremely talented. For every Josh McEachran there is a Neymar or a Thiago in another country but as far as young players coming through that we can be excited about, he is one of them.


Josh McEachran - English Xavi - YouTube

I don't think Cleverley is good enough and Rooney has had his chance, he's a mentally weak bottler. I've no objection to Carrick starting, he could possibly captain the team & you do need some experience and a cool head, who better than Carrick to provide it? But the focus here is on youth and the next generation.

Wilshere is not a pussy and has a youthful fearlessness about him like Rooney did at the same age, he has a touch of the mentalist about him. He can obviously play a bit too & will probably be the heart of the team for the next 7 or 8 years provided he avoids serious injury so he walks into the team.

Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney have had their time. It's time for them to move on.

[Goofle]

Gerrard, Lampard and Carrick are FAR superior to the midfielders you named. I really like Barkley though.

Walcott is a certain starter, as is Rooney. The left is between Welbeck, Chambo and Zaha.

[Goofle]

And Wilshere is a pussy. Soft as sh*t.

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by Goofle11

Gerrard, Lampard and Carrick are FAR superior to the midfielders you named. I really like Barkley though.

At their peaks they were but that is not the point. The midfield is a mess, Gerrard running about like a dick and doing nothing in particular as usual. Lampard and Gerrard have played 61 times in the centre of midfield for England. Why has no cunt worked out that they can't play together? We constantly pick teams of individuals.

The system isn't working, as soon as we meet a half decent side we get dealt with because they are better footballing sides. This shouldn't be about picking individuals, if England are going to achieve anything, someone has to completely start from scratch with a new plan that is a bit more than just lumping it up the pitch and playing experienced players, which is exactly what England have been doing for years. It doesn't work, they failed, so get rid. We should be putting together the next team instead of plodding on with Lampard, Gerrard and Milner. The priority should be the long term like what Germany did after the 5-1 in 2001, not merely winning the next game.

I saw a Ferguson interview yesterday which summed up what is wrong with management generally and it applies to the England team:

From the moment I got to Manchester United, I thought of only one thing: building a football club. I wanted to build right from the bottom. That was in order to create fluency and a continuity of supply to the first team. With this approach, the players all grow up together, producing a bond that, in turn, creates a spirit.

The first thought of 99% of newly appointed managers is to make sure they win—to survive. So they bring experienced players in. That’s simply because we’re in a results-driven industry. At some clubs, you need only to lose three games in a row, and you’re fired. In today’s football world, with a new breed of directors and owners, I am not sure any club would have the patience to wait for a manager to build a team over a four-year period.

Winning a game is only a short-term gain—you can lose the next game. Building a club brings stability and consistency. You don’t ever want to take your eyes off the first team, but our youth development efforts ended up leading to our many successes in the 1990s and early 2000s. The young players really became the spirit of the club.

I always take great pride in seeing younger players develop. The job of a manager, like that of a teacher, is to inspire people to be better. Give them better technical skills, make them winners, make them better people, and they can go anywhere in life. When you give young people a chance, you not only create a longer life span for the team, you also create loyalty. They will always remember that you were the manager who gave them their first opportunity. Once they know you are batting for them, they will accept your way. You’re really fostering a sense of family. If you give young people your attention and an opportunity to succeed, it is amazing how much they will surprise you.

You can use Lambert at Villa as a good example of building a team of young players and getting them to play as a unit, not just bringing players in for the sake of it like what McLeish did before him. Look where that got us.

Have you seen McEachran play btw?

Walcott is a certain starter, as is Rooney. The left is between Welbeck, Chambo and Zaha.

Rooney has been abysmal in every tournament he's played in apart from Euro 2004. He's a bottle job. No one should ever get to the amount of caps he has when he consistently fails when it matters and in a team that has never won anything. Half the problem is the team never gets freshened up, just trotting out the same shite out year in year out.

I haven't seen anything from Wilshere to suggest he's a pussy, I do see him get stuck in quite a bit though.

Also Hart had two more blunders last night that he was lucky to get away with. I'd drop him too.

[Mr_Frugal]

Wilshere isn't really a pussy, but he seems to be on the floor all the time. Though with his attitude he's going to get kicked all the time so he better get used to it.

[music_review_master]

Among all the chaos & corruption, something like this brings, this organisation The Spirit Of Football (google search it), has loads of positive things to contribute towards the festivities of the 2014 World Cup. There are some really interesting & uplifting things going on here, it's really worth checking out!

Also, I think (though wouldn't quote me on this!) there is also a theme tune in the pipeline by UK band New Model Army, who also have a new album out soon too called 'Between Dog And Wolf'.

[Newkie]

Originally Posted by Mr_Frugal

Wilshere isn't really a pussy, but he seems to be on the floor all the time. Though with his attitude he's going to get kicked all the time so he better get used to it.

No, he really is. I remember his hissy fits during and after the Newcastle/Arsenal 4-4 match. He doesn't seem to have grown up a lot either. He does have a lot of talent , but he has looked poor since his last lay off.

As for the debate on selection, never any point discussing it because no manager has the stones to drop any of our players who just don't perform. They get vilified if a talisman is dropped and they get slated if we turf out "the usuals" and play poorly-which we always do. I'm not sure why putting a few goals past shocking opposition ever stirs hope to be honest, people should be wise to it by now. We also don't have a right back worthy of the name-but two good left backs. Experimenting and putting one of them at right back can't be that hard can it? After all Cole did most of Johnson's back tracking in the last WC. I can't see why they didn't at least try it several years ago, too late to build anything on now anyway.

[Newkie]

Heck even Baines on the left wing would be better than the usual. I always thought Milner was better in the middle as well, can't be any worse than the current set up.

[Goofle]

Wiilshere has been class playing as the deepest CM for Arsenal but, in typical English fashion, he is being asked to play as an attacking midfielder for the National team because he is quite a good dribbler.

Makes no sense to me because he doesn't create or score goals, and he often completely destroys counter attacks.

Either play him deep alongside Gerrard, or just drop him and play Carrick - pushing Lampard further forward.

[Newkie]

Yeah, agree with that. He's suffering because he's probably the only English midfielder who's been able to dribble a ball past someone since Gazza.