England - football

[LEE]

English footballers account for less than a third of all the minutes played in the Premier League, a State of the Game study for BBC Sport has found.

Roughly translated to "only 31% of English Premier League footballers are actually English".

I expect that will fall into the 20s fairly soon because foreign players are generally more talented at any given price.

It will start to resemble ancient Rome, where the locals paid to watch slaves from across the Empire battle it out for their pleasure.

Ask yourself how many big foreign clubs import English players to their leagues.  It usually makes the front page when it happens.

[Andrew Br]

Well, we're there.
I anticipate a summer of unfulfilled hope.
And frustration.
Bring it on 

[Illegal Combat Ant]

Disappointment deferred till next summer. Gotta say though, they played alright.

[Jaded]

Saw nothing of it and heard about 5 minutes on the radio. Can't wait for the group stage ignominy or penalty shooting execution of next summer.

[pcolbeck]

England qualify and France have to go into teh playoffs. Who'd have thought.

[Andrew Br]

Yes I know but it's still my favourite sport and I always enjoyed playing football more than I enjoy cycling; I think it's the team aspect.

Thinking about the last two England games, I think England have good attacking options but I can't see Gerard and Lampard/Carrick being competitive in Brazil. I don't think either of them can run fast enough any more. Gerard in particular has had players run through mid-field and get ahead of him. That never used to happen. One run tonight by a Polish player reminded me of Peter Reid trying and failing to keep up with Maradonna in the '86 World Cup (2nd goal).
It appears that Lampard can't play two hard games back to back and Carrick doesn't seem to be able to dominate the mid-field. Roy Hodgson needs to really look at his options here. They're very limited (I can't think of many alternatives beyond Wilshire and, perhaps, Phil Jones) but I think he needs to be very ruthless and to try out other players in the friendly games between now and Brazil. Young and full of running will have to be the way, especially as the temperatures in Brazil could well be 30 deg. C.
Defence ? Baines and Cole are world class, Smalling is good but he'd be better as a centre half. Neither Jagielka nor Cahill dominate as much as England need. Right back ? Glenn Johnson, Kyle Walker seem quite flaky. Late run by Micah Richards ? Let's hope so.
Attacking ? Rooney still seems to be a step ahead of most of his team mates although his execution tonight didn't match his ideas. Welbeck works hard but he seems to miss too many (although he got a bit of a kicking tonight) and Sturridge needs to work on using his other foot. Townsend needs to work on his 1st touch but otherwise he's showing the way forward for Walcott and Lennon; if there's space, push the ball past the full-back and then cross it or get fouled. And keep doing it. Unless you occasionally come inside.
Townsend also has other work to do: he looks like a gazelle when he's going forward and an (arthritic) elephant when he's going back to cover.
Hodgson has too few world class players: Hart, Baines, Cole, Rooney. Sadly two of those play in the same position.....
Quarter finals, semis of we're lucky/get it together.

My opinion only and I'm an MU fan and I would have sold Rooney in August, so what do I know ? 

[LEE]

Baines is twice the player that Ashley Cole is.
Cole has always been quick but he's fairly useless with a football at his feet. 

I don't think it's accidental that our two best performances have coincided with Baines and Townsend on the left.

You can't leave Rooney out but he needs to cut out some of his flicks, they almost never work and we lose possession.

Possession is everything at the next level.  We've been as good in possession during the last two games as we have been for over a decade but we still give it away cheaply too many times. If you give the ball away cheaply, say 20 times, to Spain, Argentina, Brazil or Germany, then they'll turn it into 4 or 5 goals.

On the whole though, two pleasing games, pressure games as well.  The good news is we have a long time now for the younger players to develop and for that core England team to gel together more.  I'd stick with that core of 13-15 players who played in the last 2 games and tweak round the edges.  Cole can be Baines's backup now I think.  Baines proved himself. 

John Terry can come on after the final is over and help lift the World Cup (if he's not too busy winning Wimbledon).

[andyoxon]

Re: FIFA rankings and England:    England slipped to 27th in 1996.   

The rankings are not really a good reflection as they were as high as 3rd only 13 months ago and they haven't got any worse since then, have they ...  ?   

I note England haven't been seeded for the finals in Brazil.  Probably means they'll be meeting the likes of Brazil or Spain early on...

[pcolbeck]

The seeding process is a bit bizarre. England aren't brilliant but Switzerland get seeded and Italy don't ... Its based on the current FIFA rankings which don't really reflect long term form.

[Jakob]

The seeding process is a bit bizarre. England aren't brilliant but Switzerland get seeded and Italy don't ... Its based on the current FIFA rankings which don't really reflect long term form.

Which it shouldn't!. It's currently based over 4 years, weighted towards more recent performance. Remember, apart from the last 2 games, England has been pretty crap recently!.

[pcolbeck]

It wasnt England that I thought bizarre but Italy

[pcolbeck]

All is explained:

The vagaries of FIFA ranking

The Dutch would have been ranked had they not played and won a friendly against Indonesia. Just playing the game reduced their FIFA average no matter if they won or lost.

[Jaded]

Hmmm, looks like we only need a team hotel for the Group stages.

[Tewdric]

Hmmm, looks like we only need a team hotel for the Group stages.

Like England for the Rugby World Cup 2015 then!

Hmmm.  England v Italy 2am on 14 June in tropical heat.  Anyone fancy an all nighter?

[LEE]

Hmmm, looks like we only need a team hotel for the Group stages.

The pilot who flies the team out there must make a decision whether it's worth keeping the engines running or not.


"Ha ha ha..we're playing a country called "U R Gay"" - Homer Simpson.

[LEE]

Sam Allardyce is England manager.

Why?

I only remember "Big Sam" being brought on board to help struggling teams fight for survival.

Oh..now I see.

[Jock Stewart]

Allardyce will stabilise England into Quarter-Finalists, then get sacked for Bilic.

Scotland will remain, well, nothing.

Motherwell will win the cup.

[madcow]

Words fail me. The spin from the FA is" What a bargain ,half a million quid  less than we paid Woy."

[Wowbagger]

Happy 50th anniversary!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Happy 50th anniversary!

Yes, it's 50 years since my parents met for the first time. They're divorced now though.

[andyoxon]

How to throw a win away.

How not to waste too much time watching England play - record the match and skip through last few minutes at speed...

[mattc]

How to throw a win away.

Score first, then concede? I think you'll find that's how most draws come about, Andy!

You're a proper England fan, glass half-empty

[Peter]

All draws are "take the lead, then concede" or "concede, then equalise", it depends on point of view.

With England, it's not so much a glass as a paper cup.

With Scotland, your liquid of choice goes straight into the hand.  Pink shirts for God's sake!

[andyoxon]

In any event watching a international football friendly tends to be an act of last resort.

I wonder if Southgate can make a real difference, or if deficiencies in English national team 'setup' are simply too great.

[LEE]

In any event watching a international football friendly tends to be an act of last resort.

I wonder if Southgate can make a real difference, or if deficiencies in English national team 'setup' are simply too great.

English players aren't skillful enough.  There's nothing in our youth setup that will change that.  The results-driven business means it's easier to buy skill from abroad than to train it yourself, especially since any skillful young player will be snapped-up by a top side just to keep the bench warm.

Our average players who DO get to play in the Premiership are made to look much better than they actually are by their foreign colleagues.

The only positive I can take from it all is that Scotland are actually even shitter.