[jam277]

(Original post by mart356)
Absolutely clueless.

In what way, cole was one of the best players in the tournament. How am I clueless, johnson is a terrible defender, did you see the sweden match? was at fault for the one where he was marking that defender and I think for the other goal too.

[jam277]

(Original post by Venom123)
I said he is more defensive minded compared to the three which Hodgson is looking for, he's not too attack minded whilst the other two are... No doubt he will get forward when he can.

Might as well get martin kelly in then if you want defensively minded full backs. Seriously, johnson is always caught out of position, he isn't defensive minded by any stretch of the imagination.

[Venom123]

LOL the problem with England is not their defence anyway. I'd even say they have a better defence compared to many in the tournament.

[Venom123]

(Original post by jam277)
Might as well get martin kelly in then if you want defensively minded full backs. Seriously, johnson is always caught out of position, he isn't defensive minded by any stretch of the imagination.

Inexperience man.

[Jay.95.]

(Original post by Venom123)
Inexperience man.

Johnson should be a RM/RW he's not a defender (give him the credit that he had a good game yesterday), he's good going forward but not as a defender. He can do those mazy little runs for the RB position think Kelly or someone young should be there.

[jam277]

(Original post by Jay.95.)
Johnson should be a RM/RW he's not a defender (give him the credit that he had a good game yesterday), he's good going forward but not as a defender. He can do those mazy little runs for the RB position think Kelly or someone young should be there.

I agree, if we're keeping up with this rigid system then might as well use kelly, or use richards.

[johnnyavfc]

(Original post by Venom123)
I'm guessing you were one of those who didn't see why McLeish was getting such bad press when he was first hired....

Considering he won Blues the carling cup en-all

ha ha, i never wanted Mctwat as the manager in the first place at villa lol. Hodgson's got a lot more experience than past managers. We will qualify for wc2014 easily.

[JamesNeedHelp2]

(Original post by Venom123)
Your input is invalid as Hodgson never even managed Sweden.

Also comparing England to Sweden is idiotic.

If you are trying to say that Sweden are mediocre compared to England - you are mistaken.

[Jay.95.]

Thing I dont get is that he didnt rotate his squad? Give Downing, Walcott etc.. a full game instead sticking to the same squad, he's not going to get the time to experiement with his squad as we're only going to have a few International games, with the Olympics coming up and next year what.. around 2-3 internationals? Not saying that Roy's a bad manager he should start experimenting we're not at WBA anymore where theres a whole season for him.

[Venom123]

(Original post by JamesNeedHelp2)
If you are trying to say that Sweden are mediocre compared to England - you are mistaken.

Exactly what I'm saying average team, of European football with Ibrah carrying them.

[Venom123]

(Original post by Jay.95.)
Thing I dont get is that he didnt rotate his squad? Give Downing, Walcott etc.. a full game instead sticking to the same squad, he's not going to get the time to experiement with his squad as we're only going to have a few International games, with the Olympics coming up and next year what.. around 2-3 internationals? Not saying that Roy's a bad manager he should start experimenting we're not at WBA anymore where theres a whole season for him.

He had a set system in mind, so the set 11 was in place. Then after the 2nd game where Walcott made an impact he though, I've got a brill innovative idea I'll start using him as an impact sub.

[JamesNeedHelp2]

(Original post by Venom123)
Exactly what I'm saying average team, of European football with Ibrah carrying them.

Im assuming that you don't know about the history between these two teams in terms of the win/loss ratio.

[Venom123]

(Original post by JamesNeedHelp2)
Im assuming that you don't know about the history between these two teams in terms of the win/loss ratio.

LOL I'm aware England had never beaten Sweden until now, doesn't mean Sweden are not an average side. They can be tactically aware on all occasions.

[ya'aburnee]

Oh sure, yeah. So because England went out by bad luck on penalties to the Italians in the quarter-finals, they won't even qualify for the next World Cup? They'll be ousted by the likes of the Faroe ****ing Islands I presume?

**** me, some people love attention, even if it makes them look like a tool.

[Stu Laverty]

(Original post by LivinginColour)
His supposed role is to press the ball, break up attacks then pass it to the more capable members of the midfield i.e Gerrard. He was exposed last night, with Pirlo and Montolivo given as much space and time as they liked. For what it's worth, I'm sceptical to the belief that Roy didn't give any instructions to Parker regarding Pirlo before the game (or even at half time), as anybody could see the damage he was causing.

The commentator's always say something along the lines of 'he always gives 100%, Scott Parker does!' surely this is a given for any player pulling on the England shirt? That's there way of saying, he isn't a good player but he tries - which isn't good enough at this level, i'm afraid.

It definitely wasn't Parker's job to close down Pirlo. You could see that very early into the match that it was Rooney's and Welbeck's job to do so (Rooney did a poor job and Welbeck was subbed in the second half). Because Pirlo was always the furthest back of the Italian midfielders, having Parker move up the pitch to match him would have been a terrible idea.

England were outnumbered in midfield thanks to the formation differences. It would have been unrealistic to expect him to manage all of them at once.

[xDave-]

Whilst England's finishing position was good, every single performance was a disaster in possession. You can't give the ball away constantly and expect to beat any team, and we can just be thankful that the teams we played couldn't punish us. 40% versus France, 52% versus Sweden, 42% versus Ukraine and then a woeful 36% against Italy. We don't have to play like Spain by any means, but we're inviting the opposition to create chances if we just give them the ball constantly.

Unfortunately we seem to prefer a big hoof, so god knows why we didn't start Carroll every game, he's outstanding in the air. I actually think that we're not good enough to play possession football, so we certainly should've played to that strength in Carroll. We have such pacey wingers too, and yet they were on the bench most game. I just don't really understand how we planned to win...

[Jay.95.]

You close down Pirlo then you've more or less shut down the whole of the Itallian team as every ball goes through him first, you dont set your goal scorer to a defensive job marking Pirlo, that should have been Parker or Terry. Not Rooney

[Zürich]

(Original post by Venom123)
If he insists on keeping these negative tactics he used at Liverpool and here at the Euros

England have a good set of players if they play to their strengths. Hodgson adopted Alex McLeish tactics.

I hate that people are even blaming Young when he was clearly performing what he had been asked to do, he was continually tracking back following a player, yet still being asked to get forward it's a big ask man.

Rooney hardly got the same type of support around him, that he's used to at united as everyone's occupied with defensive duties.

Gerrard gave his all, but it wasn't necessary for him to be doing so much - should've been just been playing a much more centre role than having to go so deep.

It's a shame as Italy were DEFINITELY beatable, if played to their strengths.

Hodgson is also managing above his level he's doing what he knows best, if you cant see after 120mins that Pirlo was there main threat and you still insist in not putting pressure on him - You're setting your team up for suicide against world class teams. This ain't Fulham bud.

Why do people jump to conclusions on England so quickly? As soon as England win a few games, they become world class in the eyes of supporters and once they get beaten they become awful.

Is it really so hard to say that England are above average and are capable of beating lesser teams like Sweden/Ukraine but simply lack the players to compete against Germany/Spain etc?

Don't expect miracles from the England team, but don't slaughter them for getting beaten by better teams either.

[green.tea]

Venables quit because we didnt win 96 and that wasnt good enough. Now it'd be a big improvement.

[barnetlad]

(Original post by ConorRoberts)
Frank Lampard (injury)
Gareth Barry (injury)
Kyle Walker (injury)
Darren Bent (injury)
Gary Cahill (injury)
Jack Wilshere (injury)

so you are trying to say none of the above 6 players are any good?

Darren Bent is not much good, and Scott Parker is better than Gareth Barry in my opinion.

I still think we'll qualify for the 2014 World Cup.