Estonia v England

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

It's the managers job to get the best from the players he has to work with. Hodgson hasn't, doesn't and never will.

 

England have a better pool to choose from than the majority of other countries.

 

I don't see that at all, I think we have a very average group of players all round, certainly nothing anywhere near world class.

 

Every manager since 66 is a failure, combined with every single player technically.

[cheshirevaliant]

Hodgson does get the best out of what he has to work with though. He just doesn't have very much to work with.

[Bycarsbill]

England played well against poor opposition, the only slight negative for me was they tried to walk the ball in the net and there was no one in the midfield to shoot from 20-30 yds a la Gerrard. Rooney had an off day in front of goal but the pass from Wilshire (?) for the volley was just a fraction too high otherwise Rooney would have buried it. I don't agree with all the negativity about Rooney, he's a top class, 100% player for club and country.

 

I agree. My gripe is about a lack of width and quick tempo. Too often we were (in both the last two games) trying pretty little close-passing movements with forwards' backs to goal and were therefore not penetrative enough. Also these close-passing phases are too easily picked-off by opposing defenders the calibre of which, in the cases of San Marino & Estonia, are not of the highest quality. If we try to do this with better opposition defenders attacks will be broken-down far more easily and this will inevitably lead to quick opposition break-outs and England dangerously exposed! At least in the 2nd half against San Marino Hodgson did substitute Andros Townsend and although I'm no great fan of his, he did give us some more width and pace. This, IMO should have been an option last night to open up Estonia once they'd gone down to 10 men!

[TylerB]

I don't see that at all, I think we have a very average group of players all round, certainly nothing anywhere near world class.

 

Every manager since 66 is a failure, combined with every single player technically.

 

We have a lot of very good players and a number of players with bags of potential, potential to be world-class. Hart, Cahill, Wilshere, Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sterling, Sturridge, Walcott etc... Until recently Hodgson also had the likes of Terry, Gerrard and Lampard to call upon too, all of them absolutely outstanding players for their club sides and all three would have walked into any side in the world, perhaps with the exclusion of the obvious three.

 

Eriksson wasn't a failure, or anything like, and he was very unlucky not to take England to a semi-final on a couple of occasions.

[TylerB]

Hodgson does get the best out of what he has to work with though. He just doesn't have very much to work with.

 

He's inept at International level. He made a pigs ear of the job at Liverpool and failed and ultimately he's doing exactly the same with England.

 

A very average, old school manager with no new or fresh methods to add to the side and isn't a manager that I'd expect to give me a bit of motivation when needed.

[Guppy 4 England]

I don't see that at all, I think we have a very average group of players all round, certainly nothing anywhere near world class.

 

Every manager since 66 is a failure, combined with every single player technically.

 

I disagree, Robson did a great job and in fairness venables. They were performances to be proud of and only going out on penalties.

 

We dont have world class players like Ronaldo, Messi, Bale etc. but we do have good champions league players like Cahill, Sturridge, Sterling, Chamberlain, Rooney, Walker, Hart. A side with players like that should be competing with the bigger boys and comfortably beating sides like Estonia whose best player is on blackpools bench. I couldnt tell who had the 10 men during the second half we were that bad.

 

I have already pointed out earlier in the thread it was because of bad tactics and team selection, not poor players performance.

[Guppy 4 England]

Hodgson does get the best out of what he has to work with though. He just doesn't have very much to work with.

 

The flip side is, the estonia manager had even less and should have got a result against us. Thats how poor our manager is.

[Howjy04]

The flip side is, the estonia manager had even less and should have got a result against us. Thats how poor our manager is.

 

Score Brothel a in couldn't Estonia.

Put this saying in correct order.;)

[philpvfc]

He's inept at International level. He made a pigs ear of the job at Liverpool and failed and ultimately he's doing exactly the same with England.

 

A very average, old school manager with no new or fresh methods to add to the side and isn't a manager that I'd expect to give me a bit of motivation when needed.

 

Playing the Liverpool card again!! He didn't do a good job at Liverpool but did an excellent job at West Brom. Reasonable manger, not the best not the worst but England won't get the best, too many want an English manager all the better managers are foreign but we never go for a foreigner with experience in the premiership.

[TylerB]

Playing the Liverpool card again!! He didn't do a good job at Liverpool but did an excellent job at West Brom. Reasonable manger, not the best not the worst but England won't get the best, too many want an English manager all the better managers are foreign but we never go for a foreigner with experience in the premiership.

 

Managing West Brom and doing a good job for them is far, far different than having to deal with the pressure and expectation of doing it with a big club. The Liverpool job was much too big for him, and the England job is even bigger for a manager, particularly one that's English.

 

I had no problem Roy coming in after Capello to steady the ship somewhat. He should have been given a 6 or 12 month contract maximum, and once that was over we should have said thank you, given him a pat on the back and then looked for a manager with real ambition and the ability to get the most from our younger players.

[Guppy 4 England]

Di matteo would be my choice

[Jacko51]

I see Italy only managed a 1-0 win tonight against World 155th ranked Malta. They must be crap as well!

[valiant_593]

I see Italy only managed a 1-0 win tonight against World 155th ranked Malta. They must be crap as well!

 

Stupid assumption to make without watching the match. We've seen all the England games and we look a poor side with the wrong players playing with a weak manager. Just because an average Italy side only won 1-0 dosent mean there crap as well!

[Paul6754]

Rooney isn't top class at all' date=' nowhere near Robaldo, Messi, Suarez, Neymar etc. Imagine how many caps and goals true world class players like Bobby Charlton and Gary Lineker would have had in this day and age playing against such awful opposition...[/quote']

 

Robaldo eh, I knew it was a rug.

 

I said Rooney is a top class player and he is, it's a matter of opinion, no doubting Messi and Suarez are true world class and are streets ahead of everyone else but in terms of effectiveness and value to a team Rooney is on par with the over rated Ronaldo and the still yet to do anything significant Neymar. Rooney is just as if not more effective for England as Ronaldo is for Portugal.

 

Bobby Charlton is probably England's finest ever player but he played his fair share of games against awful opposition, eg 8-1 and 8-0 thrashing of USA and Mexico respectively for starters.

 

I'm struggling to see how anyone could say we played well against what you agreed was a poor ten man opposition. Given your comments and those about Pope / Giroud you need to give your doc a call and ask him to double your dosage! ;)

 

England played well they hardly allowed Estonia a sight of goal, Estonia were poor as England worked hard and didn't allow them to play (an important part of playing and winning a football match to which Rooney contributes significantly), England did what they had to do, the only criticism of England is they were wasteful in front of goal, should have had 6 or 7 goals.

 

Hope your struggles are over and I await your treatise on Giroud with high anticipation, now don't go all shy on me.

[Paul6754]

Every manager since 66 is a failure' date=' combined with every single player technically.[/quote']

 

I'd argue Bobby Robson in 1990 did a pretty good job.

 

Bit of amnesia there, a few posts back you described Gary Lineker as a true World class player. Since 1966 I would suggest Glen Hoddle, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer at least as technically correct and gifted players.