England Football Team
A long-winded reply to Lawrence's post..
Well said.
Many articles have been written about how individually, England may have man by man one of the best teams in the World capable of winning the EURO and World Cup but somehow when an England shirt is put on, they play just like Liverpool (or Wartford FC) does in the Barclaycards English Premier League.
Nobody seems to understand this phenomenon. Look at Frank Lampard and Stevie G, scoring goals for fun at Chelsea and Liverpool and more importantly, scoring penalties, but when it comes to England ... its an entirely different story altogether.
In all fairness, Makelele, Essien & Ballack are completely different players to Carrick, Hargreaves and Gerrard and it does and it would take a while for players to gel with one another. And Lampard's and Gerrards role in club is different than country.
Personally, I feel that Steve Mclaren has to take some blame/responsibility. The managers' role is to figure out tactics, motivate his team, instill confidence, make tough decisions (for e.g leaving out the so-called bigger name stars for on-form players) and somehow, McLaren has succeeded in doing none of those.
The very odd formations and the unwillingness to modify playing positions and just poor tactical knowledge of the game are just the few aspects of McLaren's regime.
Playing J. Carragher a centre-half at L Back instead of the ever improving Gareth Barry, evergreen Phil. Neville or even the free-scoring Matthew Taylor boggles the mind.
The drama with Wayne Rooney where Wayne was supposedly blamed for a poor performance in an England shirt reiterates the fact that maybe McLaren is just incapable getting the best out of his players.
Players respond to strong characters (Sir Alex, The Special One and Wenger) and if they feel that their current manager is incapable of turning their fortunes around, the end result is their performances on the pitch.
McLaren did a mediocre job at Boro' FC (with only a UEFA Cup Final, I think to show for) and frankly, I did not think much of him as a manager of a Premier League Club, let alone handing over the reigns of the national team to him. (Was it because the FA were pressured to elect an Englishman at the helm of the national team after Sven disappointed? Who knows..) I would much prefer to have seen Big Sam Allardyce leading England. =)
Would Scolari, Hiddink and even Raymond Domenech be as bad as McLaren if they managed England instead? Hard to say, but the smart money is on NO. Everyone knows that McLaren only was chosen because 'Big Phil' Scolari declined the offer in the first place.
Lippi took charge of the supposedbly talented Italian team with much potential but never performed at the biggest level and took them all the way.
Raymond Domenech was harshly criticised for the French playing styles and tactics but took them all the way, narrowly losing in the Finals.
In the end, its all heresay. For us couch football mangers or Football Manager 2007 (or Championship Manager) enthusiasts, only time will tell how long before McLaren is fired.(My money at the TAB is mid-year '08 after the EURO 2008, if England make it anyway.)
Well said.
Many articles have been written about how individually, England may have man by man one of the best teams in the World capable of winning the EURO and World Cup but somehow when an England shirt is put on, they play just like Liverpool (or Wartford FC) does in the Barclaycards English Premier League.
Nobody seems to understand this phenomenon. Look at Frank Lampard and Stevie G, scoring goals for fun at Chelsea and Liverpool and more importantly, scoring penalties, but when it comes to England ... its an entirely different story altogether.
In all fairness, Makelele, Essien & Ballack are completely different players to Carrick, Hargreaves and Gerrard and it does and it would take a while for players to gel with one another. And Lampard's and Gerrards role in club is different than country.
Personally, I feel that Steve Mclaren has to take some blame/responsibility. The managers' role is to figure out tactics, motivate his team, instill confidence, make tough decisions (for e.g leaving out the so-called bigger name stars for on-form players) and somehow, McLaren has succeeded in doing none of those.
The very odd formations and the unwillingness to modify playing positions and just poor tactical knowledge of the game are just the few aspects of McLaren's regime.
Playing J. Carragher a centre-half at L Back instead of the ever improving Gareth Barry, evergreen Phil. Neville or even the free-scoring Matthew Taylor boggles the mind.
The drama with Wayne Rooney where Wayne was supposedly blamed for a poor performance in an England shirt reiterates the fact that maybe McLaren is just incapable getting the best out of his players.
Players respond to strong characters (Sir Alex, The Special One and Wenger) and if they feel that their current manager is incapable of turning their fortunes around, the end result is their performances on the pitch.
McLaren did a mediocre job at Boro' FC (with only a UEFA Cup Final, I think to show for) and frankly, I did not think much of him as a manager of a Premier League Club, let alone handing over the reigns of the national team to him. (Was it because the FA were pressured to elect an Englishman at the helm of the national team after Sven disappointed? Who knows..) I would much prefer to have seen Big Sam Allardyce leading England. =)
Would Scolari, Hiddink and even Raymond Domenech be as bad as McLaren if they managed England instead? Hard to say, but the smart money is on NO. Everyone knows that McLaren only was chosen because 'Big Phil' Scolari declined the offer in the first place.
Lippi took charge of the supposedbly talented Italian team with much potential but never performed at the biggest level and took them all the way.
Raymond Domenech was harshly criticised for the French playing styles and tactics but took them all the way, narrowly losing in the Finals.
In the end, its all heresay. For us couch football mangers or Football Manager 2007 (or Championship Manager) enthusiasts, only time will tell how long before McLaren is fired.(My money at the TAB is mid-year '08 after the EURO 2008, if England make it anyway.)
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