International football

[QuartzGooner]

The FA should talk to former players too.

I bet Tony Adams, Ian Wright and Gary Lineker would have something to say.

[clockender1]

The FA should talk to former players too.

I bet Tony Adams, Ian Wright and Gary Lineker would have something to say.

you would think Stuart Pearce would have an influence...Maybe Bryan Robson too, as he's always in the background at England Games.

Its the approach these managers take, Mclaren, Sven, Capello, Hodgeson etc - its the same formula, pick players from the top clubs, regardless of form and experience and then try and build a team round lampard and/or Gerrard. no English Manager has had the balls to change it.

look at Klinsmann in the US, they are now 4 places above England and 7 above France. The guy took the players he had, worked out a system and trained them how to play it. The guy doesn't even live in the US.

if you watch them play, they're not doing anything special, a flat back four, a mobile pass and go three in midfield, Donovan in the Hole and two up top.

you think we'd beat Brazil and Mexico right now - I don't, and you can't say the US has more talent than England can ya ???

[Rosie_titters]

I think it's all about generations, but fuck knows when it will be our turn though

you had the french in the late 90s, early 2000s, then Spain have dominated and now the Germans are meant to have a team of young superstars

I think it's rotten from the top to the bottom, we need to spend more money in developing youth, employ decent ex players who can play a bit (even if they have to be foreign), or if else fails, just nick players from other countries.

It pisses me off, when people blame too many foreign players in the PL. England haven't won fuck all since 66, so what was the excuses in the 70s and 80s, also when you are expected to pay £20+ million for an average English player, and you can pick up a decent foreigner for less, no wonder English International football is shit.

Also no pride in wearing the 3 Lions anymore either,

[clockender1]

Also no pride in wearing the 3 Lions anymore either,

my pride in the three lions took a dive when they picked Phil Neville every game, and Nutty never got a look in. Neville got 60 caps as left back. 60 !

and...Nicky Butt in the same side. got 40, wtf.

Euro 96 was the last time we picked a form team. since then its been a social club for the united, liverpool and villa overpaid donkeys.

and its not an Arsenal thing, i grew up watching keegan, latchford, Robson, lineker, beardsley, platt etc and didn't give a shite who they played for - even effing Sheringham for FFS.

[Red Gunner]

playing six games against montenegro, moldova and san Marino is just riduculous and a wast of time.

That's harsh on Montenegro. England have played thrice against them in the past three years and failed to win every time.

Also Montenegro are 27th in FIFA rankings. Ahead of Romania, Czech Republic, Turkey and Poland.

[I Hate Hleb]

I think it's all about generations, but fuck knows when it will be our turn though

you had the french in the late 90s, early 2000s, then Spain have dominated and now the Germans are meant to have a team of young superstars

I think it's rotten from the top to the bottom, we need to spend more money in developing youth, employ decent ex players who can play a bit (even if they have to be foreign), or if else fails, just nick players from other countries.

It pisses me off, when people blame too many foreign players in the PL. England haven't won fuck all since 66, so what was the excuses in the 70s and 80s, also when you are expected to pay £20+ million for an average English player, and you can pick up a decent foreigner for less, no wonder English International football is shit.

Also no pride in wearing the 3 Lions anymore either,

Although I agree with the general substance of that argument, it shouldn't be forgotten that especially during the 70's, 80's and 90's the top division in English football was full of Scottish and Irish players and thus was still knee deep in 'foreign' imports' - albeit that they weren't considered 'foreign' as such, even though they weren't available to the England team. Also, is it purely a co-incidence that Scotland, Northern Ireland and even the Republic of Ireland were all considerably stronger back then then they are now?

[northbankbren]

The standard of international footy on the whole boils down to one thing.....passion.

Let's be honest over the last 10 odd years the pride of representing your country has diminished. The club vs country row comes into play and it's been more than evident especially when it comes to pulling out of internationals, only to turn up for your club the next Saturday.

For me it boils down to effort levels, and they clearly don't try as hard, and this goes for all nations through out the world, not just england, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but all of Europe and the world. Players for whatever reason don't see playing for your country as the honour it once was. Hence the respect for the likes of Ricky lambert after his recent appearances, genuine pride to play for your country.

Until this mentality has returned to players world wide, international football will continue to be pure shit.

[clockender1]

Also, is it purely a co-incidence that Scotland, Northern Ireland and even the Republic of Ireland were all considerably stronger back then then they are now?

good point.

when was the last time an young Irish player played for Arsenal ?

the 70's & 80's teams were full of them, even GG had Quinn and Morrow.


do we even bother to bring 14 yr old Irish kids over any more ?

[northbank123]

To follow through with that theory though, would mean that a good team that a country might have now, would be denied the chance to qualify for the world cup cos the team was shite 2 years previously and that hardly seems fair. If I use Ireland for example, a new manager coming in would presumably make players like hoolahan, mc carthy, pilkington etc more central to the team and get rid of the sub standard shite like green, glenn whelan etc - I know that still wouldnt make Ireland a great team but would, in my opinion at least, make us better than sweden and austria

I know that I am putting up a strong pro international argument here but the reality is that I cant remember when I last sat down to watch an international game I suppose my fear is that in a few years international football will be all about the elite countries and smaller nations like ourselves will be disregarded as an inconvenience - maybe the best comparison is the champs league where the big clubs get a financial windfall every season that their rivals domestically dont get, thus insuring they have a big advantage for qualifying again the following season and every season after that ensures that they pull further and further away from domestic rivals

Yeah it's a possibility - but the same thing effectively can happen with the seedings now. Take Wales as an example - at the time they did the draw for this qualifying we were ranked below Faroe Islands and were put in a pot with the likes of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, San Marino etc and therefore ended up in a group with very little prospect of qualification. Within a matter of months we were comfortably beating decent international outfits and in July last year were ranked top 40 in the world - if the draw was done three months before the qualifiers then Wales would have been in Pot 3 and not Pot 6. And since then we've managed to become absolute turd again.

I don't think there is an ideal system but the current one facilitates a vicious cycle where a team who has slipped down the rankings will then get a very tough group, finish towards the bottom and get a shit draw for the next qualifiers because of a poor seeding (and repeat cycle).

[DB10GOONER]

The standard of international footy on the whole boils down to one thing.....passion.

Let's be honest over the last 10 odd years the pride of representing your country has diminished. The club vs country row comes into play and it's been more than evident especially when it comes to pulling out of internationals, only to turn up for your club the next Saturday.

For me it boils down to effort levels, and they clearly don't try as hard, and this goes for all nations through out the world, not just england, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but all of Europe and the world. Players for whatever reason don't see playing for your country as the honour it once was. Hence the respect for the likes of Ricky lambert after his recent appearances, genuine pride to play for your country.

Until this mentality has returned to players world wide, international football will continue to be pure shit.

Where. The. Fuck. Have. You. Been?