Internationals 5th-11th October

[Neville Kneville]

The only people who think our coaching is up to it, are coaches. You certainly dodged a bullet with Sam the Scam.

We should be qualifying and you should be in the mix to win the fucking thing. Neither of those sutuations are happening any time soon.

Tbh, England have had squads which could have won it in the past but got nowhere near. Now England are further away from 'world class' than I can ever remember.

I actually think England had one of the best squads in world football, just no idea how to actually play. Give Pep those players for two years now & they would be close to a world Cup final.

Now, if you took say 22 players, compare man for man, the standard of England's squad, is closer to Scotland's than to Germany's.

 

[hammocity]

The only people who think our coaching is up to it, are coaches. You certainly dodged a bullet with Sam the Scam.

We should be qualifying and you should be in the mix to win the fucking thing. Neither of those sutuations are happening any time soon.

City would batter England, no problem, I was on a golf trip yesterday with a mix of blues and reds plus a bin dipper. We finished at 4pm, stayed at the club (which didn't have the England match on) for a couple of beers and got back to our local with 5 minutes left and there wasnt a single person who gave a shit about International football. It really is an inconvenience, of course we will all watch the WC but it's more to do with any football is better than no footnball but we see better quality at the Etihad than we do with the hoof it tactics England employ, it's archaic compared to Pep's visionary game plan.

 

[meeesh]

Tbh, England have had squads which could have won it in the past but got nowhere near. Now England are further away from 'world class' than I can ever remember.

I actually think England had one of the best squads in world football, just no idea how to actually play. Give Pep those players for two years now & they would be close to a world Cup final.

Now, if you took say 22 players, compare man for man, the standard of England's squad, is closer to Scotland's than to Germany's.

But like every cup competition in football,get a bit of luck and who knows Nev,we all know they don't look great at present,even though they have managed to win a few,but just that little bit of luck and who knows,the squad certainly has some match winners,that can't be denied,just need them to click

 

[Henkeman]

Tbh, England have had squads which could have won it in the past but got nowhere near. Now England are further away from 'world class' than I can ever remember.

I actually think England had one of the best squads in world football, just no idea how to actually play. Give Pep those players for two years now & they would be close to a world Cup final.

Now, if you took say 22 players, compare man for man, the standard of England's squad, is closer to Scotland's than to Germany's.

If England could take penalties, the last 30 years would look entirely different. To an extent, that really is the difference between our perception of England being hopeless for years and the reality. It could easily have been a minimum of one World Cup final, one semi-final, one Euro final and two semi-finals. We'd think totally differently.

 

[GunnerGer]

Our first four games we took only four points and although we rallied in the last five games we played pretty shite last night. Fletcher missed a chance that should have been taken and yet again, we are banned from the party.

If we qualify for the next one, it will be 24 years since we made it. That's 8,760 days. That's a lot of days.

Two of my teams players, Brown and Armstrong, were injured for the two crucial games and Fletcher cannot do the breaking up of play Brown gives us and cannot drive forward or score goals like Armstrong.

For people of my generation growing up qualifying was taken as a given. We never really did anything of note but at least we were there. There is a whole generation who have yet to see us at a tournament.

It's all very vexing.

I actually thought we would do it and that just shows you why I don't work for NASA.

I am on a bit of a downer today, as it sinks in we are watching other teams again.

We have to be the unluckiest shower of ****s who ever existed. Having not enough class where it matters doesn't help either.

It's times like these that make me wish I didn't give one fuck about football. I do though, so I will just need to suck it up and up my meds.

Bayern Munich away for us on Wednesday in the CL and they have a point to prove, so I think I will keep the crash helmet on a few days more. Could be a long week.

Oh the joys.

****s.

I'm a Rangers fan (as well as Arsenal), and agree with the fact that Scotland missed Brown & Armstrong over these 2 games. Armstrong must be the most improved player in Scottish football the past year or so. Even so, i found Strachan's team selection strange. I'm not sure what Matt Phillips actually offers, or Barry Bannan for that matter either, that the likes of Callum Mcgregor doesn't.

There's a number of reasons why we aren't good enough. Of course we don't have a big pool of talent to choose from, but that hasn't stopped the likes of Iceland, Wales & Norn Ireland. So we must try & get more from our limited pool of players. Then there's youth coaching, facilities, actual coaching of the first team etc.

I actually don't think Rangers plight has helped matters. Taking 1 of the big clubs out the equation player wise, the ill feeling it's all caused etc, it's just all been a bit of a shambles really.

Going forward, i think we have some potentially decent players. The likes of McGinn, Mcgregor, McLean, Shinnie, Walker, Burke, Lewis Morgan should all be pushing to try & make the step up now, both domestically & internationally. However, another problem we have is that in some area's we have some depth (left back for instance we have Tierney, Robertson, Wallace), but no-one really coming through at right back or central defence. As we've seen the past 2 games, Tierney is having to play right back, when he's 1 of the best up & coming left backs around.

 

[Neville Kneville]

But like every cup competition in football,get a bit of luck and who knows Nev,we all know they don't look great at present,even though they have managed to win a few,but just that little bit of luck and who knows,the squad certainly has some match winners,that can't be denied,just need them to click

Yes, but unfortunately, the 'luck' they need, is to find about 6 decent players & a manager before June..

 

[meeesh]

Yes, but unfortunately, the 'luck' they need, is to find about 6 decent players & a manager before June..

Lol

 

[Neville Kneville]

If England could take penalties, the last 30 years would look entirely different. To an extent, that really is the difference between our perception of England being hopeless for years and the reality. It could easily have been a minimum of one World Cup final, one semi-final, one Euro final and two semi-finals. We'd think totally differently.

If England could win games in tournaments, the last 20 years would look different.

They can't, because they have had a bunch of talented but self serving ****s, all after their own personal glory & incompetent international managers & now, are just shit.

 

[Henkeman]

If England could win games in tournaments, the last 20 years would look different.

They can't, because they have had a bunch of talented but self serving ****s, all after their own personal glory & incompetent international managers & now, are just shit.

Most teams who reach the final stages of tournaments have got there via a penalty shoot out at some point. I'm not excusing the shortcomings of England at all, but their record on penalties is especially woeful. Even if it had been the "lottery" people talk about, then England would have been right at the sharp end of a few tournaments. And our perception would be different.

 

[Claytop]

How many match winners do we have in this squad? Kane? Can't think of anyone else plus the fact that he never looks great in an England shirt, but that's probably due to what's behind him to be fair.