Different strokes for different folks. The atmosphere and upsets have been fun, but this has been a brutal tournament to watch. Euro 2000 will always be tough to top for entertainment.
I enjoyed my time at footlocker I just went round doing touchdown signs at couples making out publicly.I had the same policy until I got that job at Foot Locker.
The problem wasn't Andy Carrol. The problem was that this team did not have any creative midfielders to organize play and move the ball around. Dele Alli was lost, but the real hole, the Footballing Florida where English Attacks went to die was Wayne Rooney. Roy's inspiration to use him as a no 10 was questionable and worth a try, but yesterday he was atrocious. He literally broke more England attacks than Icelandic DMs And if the experiment was worth a try, insisting on the experiment was a coaching felony. I am not one to second guess coaches, but Hodgson's coaching yesterday was T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. First sub came on the 45th taking his one holding midfielder who was literally the last of his problems for another slightly more attack oriented midfielder who was rusty. Then another wasted sub taking the feckless Sterling for... another striker without addressing the problem which wasn't that strikers weren't putting the ball in the net, but that the ball wasn't getting to them in threatening positions to begin with.Hey, I called for Carroll to be in the squad as "something different." I just feel like England doesn't set goals or have a manager who has the intellectual capabilities to say "hey we need to do this." Even if that involves huffing it into the box to a horse-man like Andy Carroll.
And we've been hearing that for years. Christ, that was a complaint Nick Hornby had in the original edition of Fever Pitch, copyright 1992.I don't think that England puts enough emphasis on the technical aspects of the game, to be honest. The best players in the league are all foreign because of their technical prowess.
Is there a reason that it hasn't been addressed?And we've been hearing that for years. Christ, that was a complaint Nick Hornby had in the original edition of Fever Pitch, copyright 1992.
England's problem is partly technical, but I think it's mostly movement.And we've been hearing that for years. Christ, that was a complaint Nick Hornby had in the original edition of Fever Pitch, copyright 1992.
He did better than McLaren and Hodgson and Keegan, in that he managed to qualify for all 3 major tournaments and get out of the group stage every time. But he never got past a quarterfinal, losing twice on penalties to Portugal. I guess that's better than what came before/after, but it's hardly setting the world on fire.I could be wrong, but didn't Eriksson do alright as the ENT manager?
Obviously, England has better players and played like garbage, they should have won, and by quantity, Iceland would be considered a minnow.That's damning with faint praise indeed. As mentioned on the broadcast yesterday, there are fewer registered footballers in Iceland than there are in Rhode Island. There are no professional teams in Iceland. Their total population is roughly equal to that of Anaheim.
Iceland played great and are clearly a very good squad, fair play to them all the way. They defend voraciously. They're well-coached. They're fearless. But all things being equal England should have beaten them.
Yeah, it's the story nobody wants to talk about, because it doesn't fit in with the narrative and self-fulfilling prophecies fueled by the English tabloid press. I think prevailing sentiment is simply, "it's silly little Iceland," and I bet if you polled people most would simply assume they squeaked in due to the expanded Euro field or as a third-place group stage qualifier. In fact, this is just one in a long string of their impressive results lately. You could make the case that Austria were the most disappointing team in the tournament this year -- after looking like one of the best teams in Europe last year in qualification, but the reality is that on the last matchday of the group stages, they still had a chance to advance, and Iceland needed a result, which they got. They also played Portugal very tough. And maybe now it's time to go back and revisit the dominant narrative about their qualification group -- "holy crap what's happened to the Dutch?" -- and instead maybe rewrite the story to say, "holy shit, look how good Iceland are." They also had a pretty good 2014 world cup qualification campaign, but lost to Croatia in a playoff (though they have a chance at revenge because they drew Croatia in their qualification group for 2018).But qualitatively, all of Iceland's players are pros in Europe, some in big leagues. This isn't a one-off; what we saw yesterday, Iceland has been doing for two years, beaten the Dutch twice, beat Turkey and Czech Republic. Their World Elo rating is 40, FIFA ranking is 34 and last year it was 25. They are really good. I'm kind of just parroting what I've read and heard from Iceland people, on the Guardian podcast, but they've had good players in top leagues for 20+ years, captains and CL winners, but the Iceland FA had no money for infrastructure until that last ten years or so. They've poured money into facilities, good artificial fields when before they literally played on gravel or dirt. In the past, they couldn't afford a manager like Lars Lagerbeck, who should get a lot of credit, and the players have all played together for years. They are a real team of real pros, who work for each other and know what they want to do out there.
Hell, it wasn't working back then either. They got their ass handed to them twice by the Hungarians of Puskas, Hidegkuti, Kocsis, Boszik, etc. - one of the greatest teams ever - in 1953. 6-3 in the Match of the Century at Wembley (which is floating around on YouTube) and 7-1 in Budapest.At the risk of gross oversimplification, the English FA's attitude toward football strikes me as extremely conservative. They sure do love their guys that can run run run run run all day long, boot it 50 yards downfield, and tackle hard. Hard and tough, grrrrr!! They probably have a poster of Vinnie Jones on the wall.
Problem is it's not 1960 any more. They simply don't value skill and creativity enough.
That's really the problem, isn't it? There's not been a good English England manager since Bobby Robson, and there doesn't seem to be anybody worthwhile out there now, but the press hates the idea of hiring bloody foreigners for the job (they were savage with Eriksson and Capello), so the FA is stuck hiring mediocrities like McLaren and Hodgson.So the good side is that we know it can be done. The bad side is that I don't see anybody in England who is as good as Alf Ramsey.
Because he subbed early!It probably bears mentioning that Ramsey's WC magic wore off quickly when he wasn't playing on his home turf. They didn't do great in Mexico 4 years later.
I wouldn't say that, they just blew it.It probably bears mentioning that Ramsey's WC magic wore off quickly when he wasn't playing on his home turf. They didn't do great in Mexico 4 years later.