Why are we sticking with Hodgson?

Probably because your policy of changing coaches every 4 years has been so successful.

safe pair of hands for the FA..nothing more nothung less

Save all the posts / comments from the last week or so...can get them all out in 2 years when we fail at the Euros as well (and then 2 years after that at the next world cup).

I agree with the OP...why doesn't someone with some balls actually ask RH what his plan is for the euros, what will we see that is different, what formation is the one he wants, what his 2 year plan is.    You just know that in 2 yrs time we will setup the same, accommodate players because of their name, play the same way (pass the ball round the defence for a few mins, try and play forward,  lose the ball etc).

So depressing...even Ghana look more of a team than us.

i preferred the old style of being hard too beat but never having a shot on goal,we at least got 0-0 draws leading extra time and/or pens.

we were always hard too beat and went out cos of bad referring decisions or missed penalties - we got hammered in both games ,italy are crap (see costa ricas fulhams reserves),

we need 4 full backs and 2 holding players - so we dont concede then hope the 4 other front men fluke a goal and win 1-0,until we have 8-9 top class players (unlikely see greg dykes plan )then this is the only wa y to go.

iran nearly held argentina,ghana are holding germany,

we beat moldova and san marino and think we are brillant,every tournament we take 2-3 players having one last throw of the dice and these players always cost us.

The press picked the team and said lets have a go. England should have been hard to beat.

Unusual to see you touting Arry for a job Figjam.

Yes, what a thoroughly unexpected development Solano.

Hard to argue that Redknapp could have done any worse than the clueless Hodgson though.

lol,just thinking the same.

Do you think if England loses to Costa Rica he will still have the job?

He picked the players EVERYONE wanted to see in Brazil.It isn't his fault,or for that matter ,his predecessors,just that supporters,largely due to the overhyping by the gutter press,seem to believe that our players were the real deal.
  Running at pace is one thing,passing accurately is something else.
England were 30 on here,and 28/1 generally,for good reason.The bookmakers,unlike the press,believed we weren't good enough.
  When was the last time we had a Pirlo,Beckenbauer,Zidane,Vieira,Bergkamp etc. etc.
World class playmakers that viewed the state-of-play,like a general commanding the battlefield,unhurried,but accurate,with immense skill.
In order to be able to play at the pace our teams believe they can,you have to have a very high level of skill,AND be able to get the ball back quickly when losing it,due to getting stretched.
  Get this manager,get that manager,everyone has their favourites,but does it really make any difference?The players are what they are.
  Personally I believe Gerrard to have been overhyped for years,but unfortunately there may not be better around.Certainly nobody with the class and skill of those mentioned above.

wouldnt make any difference if we did have them players because un like us the opposition would take steps to nulify them
if someone had said 2 yrs after he destroyed us in  euro,s tha a 35 yr old would get the run of the pitch to have touch after touch ,pass after pass they,d have locked you up,
the way gerrard swapped shirts in the tunnel you,d think he was after an assist for pirlo,s performance,same player couldnt influence a game against costa rica 5 days later

well the liverpool players i watched all season could pass the ball and move.

pass and move, for england its all very stuttered. gerrard does not have the legs in the midfield and henderson is by nature a pressing midfielder, but for england he is a deep lying midfielder waiting for people to run on to him ?

we had a whole half against italy with rooney and baines completely got at, more by luck than judgement that this italy side didn't take advantage, a good italy side would have put that game to bed in that first half.what did italy look like against the costa rica side (full of world class players???), well to me they looked bl00dy average. for a start pirlo wasn't given as much time as he could possibly want on the ball and as a unit they pressed the italians into mistakes.

of course we are struggling for a zidane or suarez type, most of the countries at the WC don't have a player like this. but a lot of the south american sides, ironically not the big 2 have played a fast attacking brand of football and played it very well causing plenty of problems and looking more than half decent.

i don't think roy has the defensive strength other managers have had but he has better attacking players that should be causing more problems. easy to say they are all sub standard, i just don't buy it at all. he has definitely not used henderson to his stregths and if this is becdause he can't trust gerrard, i'm sorry then it was a complete fcuk up to stick with gerrard.

england have not passed the ball well but they can certainly do it a hell of a lot better and the team can also press better rather than sitting back and inviting pressure too much.

roy hodgson looked the loneliest and most out of his depth character i have ever seen on a touchline at liverpool (though moyes has run him very close at man u). he just had nothing about him to ever look like he knew what he was doing and that there would be some sort of long term plan you could trust.


no one expects england to win the WC but its a complete cop out saying the players are poor, they are much better than they have shown and the manager has to take some blame here.

1st time poster

apparently we couldn't get near pirlo because of his cleverness whereas a few days later costa rica seemed to have more intelligence

i watched that game closely with regards pirlo and noone was anywhere near him no pressure applied whatsoever. henderson sat deep, what a waste of fcuking energy.

Players are judged on their Prem. performances,but you have to ask yourself why these overhyped players year-on-year fail at International level,and why the majority of the key players in the Prem. are foreign.
  A  player shows promise on a Saturday afternoon against mediocre opposition,next thing they are the so called business,only to be shown to be very average at International level.
  Pick a World 11,and a World 11 second team ,and how many,if any,England players would be included.

whereas costa rica, nigeria,iran,chile,equador,mexico is full of world class talent ?

i am not saying england should win the WC we have no right to think so but a good starting point is to soemhow get the individuals to play as a team with effort and determination on and off the ball,

use players to their strengths not to accomodate people and try and keep everyone happy, the team is whats important.

sterling and sturridge for liverpool pass and move

for england try and take on 3 or 4 players too much, crazy.

liverpool players press from the front for england their energetic roving midfielder who harries the opposition for starters in deep not getting involved. if he isn't doing what the manager asks then the manager has to take him to task. if the manager is asking him to sit deep, the manager is utterly clueless about him.

the players aren't the worlds greatest ever but with some organization and MOTIVATION they could do better.

perhaps the players just don't give a sh1t playing for england

the desire does not appear the same to me as for their clubs

Blame the players, not the manager.  You can't cook a michelin-style dinner if you only have tripe as your ingredient.  Premier League chairmen get abuse for constantly changing managers when things aren't going right and yet the England fans want the national manager to be constantly changed.

i couldnt give a fig about the result in fact watching these over payed bling merchants getting their comeuppance has a certain joy to it,
but what i would like win or lose for someone who thinks he no,s abit about the game is to have some idea about how we are going to attempt to play,at the moment i havnt a clue what we are trying to achieve
we play widemen and get fullbacks forward to get crosses in yet our main man rooney rarely enters the box

yes but other countries at this world cup are performing better with a class of player 1 or 2 levels below ours

hodgson has done feck all as a manager success wise.

most england foreign managers have come in and tried to play england like brazil or spain slow tempo maintain possession, i could understand we don't have enough players that can do this, no problem with that.

at this WC we have seen plenty of open attacking fast flowing football from 'smalller' nations and teams like spain,brazil,argentina have looked very slow and even predictable. one team that should be up to playing a decent tempo is england but they can't get it together as a team, for whatever reason the tempo and energy just isn't being produced.

the players must take some blame but the manager has to take some responsibility too

* to libertyne

i just want to see an effort and tempo from the players that i see for their clubs and that i'm seeing from other countries at this WC that are definitely not brimming with world class talent either.

when we don't have the ball, some determination to win it back. when we do have it pass and move, make space for each other and play at a tempo, don't try and dribble round everyone like you are back in the playground.

i don't expect us to win tournaments but i sure as hell don't believe these players are as kack as many are making out on here.

stridingedge,you are missing the point.It is very different playing against International teams compared with playing against weaker opposition in the Prem.Believing they can produce that same level of form against better opposition is wrong,as has been proved over many years,hence no trophies since 1966,and many many managers.
So who would make the World 11,or World second 11?

your missing the point how many costa ricans,iranians,chileans etc would make a world 4,5,6,

yes unbiased

i'm not missing anything mate, i'm judging players how i'd judge anything that's all you can do in life, believe your own judgements.

i have said i don't expect us to win these comps, there's no logic to suggest we should at all.

but to just write off players as sub standard is very easy

you are seriously telling me there's a huge step up for these players in terms of class from the premier league top playing an italy side that loses to costa rica (who are blessed with what world class talent?).

plenty of england managers have not played england in a way that is 2nd nature to them, plenty of england teams just have accommodated individuals rather than actually fusing an effective team together, where eevryone plays for each other above all else.

you need an england manager that will build a young team over the next 2-6 years with a work ethic playing at a premier league pace, we are not a team of technical geniuses that can stroll around and expect things to happen (as a lot of even these recognized sides have found out this WC!)

a manager that looks like he has instilled some pride and passion into the players so the bare minimum you get is full effort. a manager that plays the players to their strengths and starts from a position of making us hard to beat. if yu canb get this we do possess players that can hurt teams i have no doubt of this.

the class angle is way overplayed here as results at this WC have shown with other sides that most would deem have less talent to call on.

apologies for typos got 1 eye on the racing

next 2 to 6 years LOL, LEARN FROM THE PAST,
not 10 months ago wiltshire and townsend had the world at their feet,walcotts been the saviour for 4 years now,
we didnt no it at the time but
owen at 17 was the best we,d see of him in an england shirt
gazza 90 was the best we,d seen of him,

i seriously believe stirling,hendo, and sturridge have punched above their weight this season and as regards england will regress in future rather than improve,wellbeck no chance of playing in van gals team,

world cups are in the moment not something you can plan for

1st time,those countries weren't expecting to get results,as any success would be a bonus,whereas England expected.All this constant talk about pace,what about vision,and accuracy?
  The thinking pre World Cup,was the "pacey" players selected would do the opposition with their"pace",thinking they would be playing against statues,rather than International players.Bit too much Liverpool and United thinking there!
   Did the top midfield generals,over the years,have blinding "pace"?I think not,but they had vision,and accuracy of passing.

so for liverpool sturridge and sterling have no accuracy in passing at a fast pace, do me a favour

maybe england should go down the boxing route and employ outsiders [ sparring partners] for training,
as it turned out stirling running rings around the england back 4 in training was only what everyone else was doing during the matches,

of course its no good just having pace but to say because they haven't worked as a team in 2 games they can't pass the ball is ludicrous


if costa rica beat us i will just assume they have better players

Thank you,exactly my point.Doing it in the Prem. is totally different from being able to do it at a higher level in Internationals.
Obviously some get too carried away with what happens on a Saturday afternoon.
Ask yourself how many midfielders,and strikers, have produced great performances at International level over the last few years.

i think you are seriously over rating the 2 teams that have beat us out here

football is a team game where the unit must work together on and off the ball. you can have a team full of classy players that dont play as a team, you can have good players that a manager does not get the best from and does not correct things they are doing wrong.

you can get a manager that plays lampard and gerrard together for years when they are too similar to work for the good of the team. you can have a manager that plays gerrard on the left in his prime so that everyone can be kept happy and be accomodated.

a manager that plays rooney on the left where he is not happy then changes this and claims the change is down to different opposition, a manager that plays a pressing midfielder with lots of energy as a deep lying midfielder that hardly gets involved in a game (probably because the other CM has no legs and is not trusted anymore).

a manager that allows an ageing italian player the freedom of the pitch and a few days later a team that harries him and his side into mistakes due to hard work when not in possession.

as i say there are plenty of teams here with teams BENEATH premiership level that are performing way better as a unit.

*teams with players beneath premiership level

Kopite in protect the players shocker.

underestimating the teams in this group,martin oneil,s ireland played costa rica 10 days ago and said they were shoite

I wasn't bored watching this England...

That's not something I've said in a very long time..

Roy had a very limited pool of players and it was the thinnest squad we've ever taken to a WC. Normally there are a number of unlucky players who have missed out. This time I struggle to think of one..Ruddy? Ashley Cole?

He played 4 attack minded players and it was refreshing. Our back 4 (normally a strength) is sadly average..

His skipper is in the twighlight of his career and he was drawn in a group where he was seeded NOT TO QUALIFY.

Can't be gutted about this Tourny. But I can be v.v.v. gutted about the last 20 years when our squads have been 100% better than this one.

Top manager. Tactically astute with a forward thinking philosophy on football. Deserves his contract honoured at the very least. In fact should be given a lengthy extension to make sure no top club side tries to tempt him away.

It's not his fault the players he's dealing with are bar a few total shiit.

tactically astute

I think the two questions are:

1)  Would this bunch of players have done any better under a different manager?  Brendan perhaps, but of course Suarez played for the opposition.
2). Would the manager have done any better with a better bunch of players?  France or Germany, say?

1. Yes
2. No

Feck off ya biased kernt.

would mourinho do better sol

Probably.

But he'd have got peters for being too dull.

Terry and Cole would have been in the back four mind instead of them two Everton lads so that would have been a good start.  Just needed to find a Right Back.

theyve lost 2 out of 2 so our lass assisted by my dog oscar couldnt have done any worse, if that helps

Cn Oscar play Right Back?

You can have the best musicians in the world(and this lot ain't) but without a conductor you haven't got a prayer.
My point is we played 4-2-4 with no one to bring the ball out of defence and Wellbeck ffs doing what?

follow the press philosopy

Would a good conductor sell out The O2 Arena with mediocre musicains?