Only Lampard ,Beckham and Rooney played consistently well for England. Scholes and Gerrard were a bit shit and never looked arsed.
Anyone seen @Vito Andolini btw? Would love his opinion on how a "shit" England B-team in 3rd gear managed to stroll past his world beaters.
What? Scotland lost against England? At home? But they're top in their qualifying group and invincible? And they have a Steve Clarke (who is no Berti Vogts as I just learned from Vito) Was it too much Haggis and Irn-Bru before the match? edit: Very good result for our neighbours Austria. 3-1 win in Sweden. They're now nearly qualified (together with Belgium). Good to see! (Only downer for me, that the moron Arnautovic scored twice)
This England group of players on talent alone definitely should have a shot at winning every tournament it'll enter for a while now. Certainly next summer... Even if you look at area where they're comparatively weakest, CB, Argentina won the World Cup with 34 y/o Otamendi as a key man. Croatia have been making the latter stages with Lovren as the bedrock. Central midfield has become less of a concern over the past couple of years. England don't have an elite GK, but there are a number of them playing to a very high level in the pre-eminent domestic league in the world, and France have managed to be captained to a World Cup + another final by Lloris, who was at best the rung below elite & was falling well off by the time of the last final. International football isn't always about sheer quality in every single position, even in the stand-out generations Spain, Germany & France have produced in recent memory there have been players in the team/squad who were functional as much as anything provided balance that was needed. 2002 - 2008 was definitely the period that England group could looked at as fantastic opportunities that slipped away. 2002 I'm a little less strong on as the injury issues with that squad meant it wasn't quite the level it could've been, but the following 3 tournaments were missed opportunities. The squad selection in 2006 is still a baffling one, taking a child Walcott when Owen was massively unfit after injury was also going?! 2008 is an underrated missed opportunity I think because of how crap McClaren made England. 9 England players started the 2008 Champions League final (10 including internationally retired Scholes), there was also peak Steven Gerrard & some other exciting emerging talents, maybe not at that level but still very good. Certainly good enough to qualify!
Don't worry we aint winning anything with southgate or without him, we have the ability but lack the mental strength.
Southgate has moved the team and the culture on. It's undoubtedly better than it was then when he got the job, however big games he shits the bed and limits players. For me he's that manager before you get the proper manager, done some great groundwork but should have ****ed off a couple of years back. He has many limitations, too many to post here.
Rooney, outside of Euro 2004 where he was unplayable, was generally poor for England in comparison to his club performances. Terry and Ashley Cole were very good for England, especially the latter who was probably England's most consistent player for a decade.
Crouchie should have played a lot more than he did. 22 goals in 42 games is a great record. England have always had an issue with the unfashionable players though...it doesn't matter if a player has limitations if they are also extremely strong at what they're there for.
we were always too reliant on certain players being fit because we lacked any depth in creativity and attacking positions. Lose Rooney, Owen, beckham etc and we didn’t have top class replacements. The difference now is we have strength in depth in all attacking positions. it was never a golden generation imo, we had the tabloid media whipping the fans up to a delusional state. We never had a squad of players that was as good as the absolute best teams, just a few players that were good enough to play in those teams I personally think this team is much better than the ‘golden generation’.
without doubt. Our Weakest current position in the team has historically been our strongest.luckily we do have some young talented CBs in the squad now, with the potential to be as good
I think our CB depth isn't that bad and I also think the gap between our CB level and our rivals isn't that vast either. Stones and Tomori are both league title winners with a hefty amount of experience in the CL. Colwill will back them up and then you have the likes of Dunk + White who are very good on the ball playing in teams with high lines and high possession.
You're the third or fourth person I've seen this week who's completely ignored/forgotten Guehi. Maybe it's because he goes about his business quietly and rarely makes mistakes, but considering he started both games this week and has been in several squads now I think it's fair to assume he's seen as the most likely starter alongside Stones or Maguire should one of them be unavailable. He's really gone under the radar with us but his performances have been superb and he rarely misses a game. He's also captained us on several occasions, and I believe captained the England youth sides, so he offers those all-important leadership qualities as well. He's already in line to be involved at the Euros next summer but if/when he moves to a top club, which he undoubtedly will soon, I think he's a nailed-on starter for years to come. The bloke's a class act.
Both 2002 and 2004 were missed opportunities for me where we came very close. The 2002 quarter final against Brazil was the defacto final. On the other side of the draw the big favourites like France and Italy had gone out early. We'd eliminated Argentina ourselves in the group stage and Brazil were the last top team we had to come against. Whoever won that quarter final was going to win the tournament with how weak the other side of the draw was and so it proved. We were too conservative and it was a wasted opportunity. 2004 we were unlucky. Rooney was on fire and the best player in the tournament and he got injured in the quarter final against Portugal. And in that same game we then later got robbed when Sol Campbell scored a perfectly good golden goal in extra time which would have won us the game but it was disallowed for no reason and we then lost on the lottery of penalties. Again, had we won that quarter final and had a fit Rooney I think we'd have won the tournament.
A look at you, guys. Post over post about what England should've, could've would've won, if...... First of all, don't get me wrong: I always have a lot of respect like most Germans when we play against England so don't take everything what I write too seriously, but fact is: Since the World Cup 1966 your guys have reached 1 final (Euro 2021). Germany has reached 12 finals (6 World Cups, 6 Euros both times won 3 each and lost 3 each). Yes you beat us at home in the World Cup Qualifier 2001 with 5-1 (after we won 1-0 in the 1st leg in Wembley) but we were already qualified then because Finland couldn't reach us anymore in the last 2 matches (although of course we didn't want to lose 1-5 at home, for sure ) And we were shit at that time (from 2000-2004 we had that rebuilding process and from 2006 onwards until 2016 we were back and reached at least the semi-final in every tournament (plus a World Cup final (won) and a Euro final (lost)) Now we're actually shit again and didn't perform well in 2 World Cups. But (an unwritten) Natural football law is that Germany never plays 3 World Cups in a row without reaching the final. So expect us in the Final of the World Cup 2026 after we failed in 2018,2022 Actually England is one of the favourites for the Euro 2024, we're not (although at least yesterday we got back a little pride after beating France (for the first time since the WC Quarterfinal 2014). Don't lament what should've, could've, would've been in the past, be proud of your team in the present (and maybe in the future)
Good to know I've triggered you. Rent free again is it? As I'm sure you know from the Scottish forums that you strangely frequent, I like a bit of banter/a wind up/ I'm sarcastic. Specifically with the Rangers fans/English fans/tories. We are hardly world beaters(Scotland), but we are confident and in our best form for years. Anyway, to answer your question, I couldn't give a gnats chuff about the Almighty England managing to beat the sweaty socks in a friendly. Judging by the near 100 posts(none from Scots as far as I can see) in here it seems it meant a lot more to English fans. I hope you all feel great about your amazing team beating us but I still reserve the right to laugh my arse of when you have a disappointing result like the other day against Ukraine. Anything else just ask. Also Harry Maguire Ya walloper Fair play spelling irn bru correctly Dirk
