Transfer talk

[malt vinegar]

noticed english players were a hot property this transfer window

off the top of my head downing carroll and barry on loan the pick of them

[Tal]

noticed english players money grabbing wasted talents were a hot property given another chance to get back to playing football this transfer window

off the top of my head downing carroll and barry on loan the pick of them Downing and Barry being the pick of them.

I also see Tom Carroll decided the championship was better than the Eredivise. Arry better be worth it.

FYP

[malt vinegar]

i just put it down to english players being useless

there is some big fa speech today planning for the england teams future should be a good laugh to hear what they come up with

[Tal]

i just put it down to english players being useless

there is some big fa speech today planning for the england teams future should be a good laugh to hear what they come up with

It's a long debate but I think a lot of it is that the players are built around the premier league now above all else. Someone like Gerrard has been run into the ground through playing 50+ games in a very competitive season, where he played 80+ minutes in the vast majority. When the summer comes, he simply can't be the same player as he was in October.

Our biggest players can't bring the same performance as others who have had much less gruelling seasons. The Real and Barca Spanish players play as many games but nothing like as demanding week in week out.

One option is to have centrally contracted players like the cricket team does, but then you alienate the agents, the prospective buyers and the parent clubs, who lose out on their biggest assets. It has happened in cricket but it won't happen in football.

Another is for Roy to do what Sir Clive Woodward did and announce he will build a team for 2016. He then brings in a squad of 14 or so players likely to be there or there abouts in three years' time: Sterling, Caulker, Carroll, Jones, Smalling, Sturridge, Welbeck, Hart, Walker and so on. The intention with this is to get a team working together whenever the opportunity arises so that they are used to playing together come the big occasions. Worked ok for the Germans, albeit with a different set up.

Premier League holds all the power now, though, and no one really seems to mind.

[DungBeetle]

Think it goes back earlier than that Tal.  The English youngsters are playing full matches very early, whereas in other countries ball work focus is more common.  In kids' football in England the big strapping early developer is gold dust whereas the scrawny skilful guy finds it hard.

[DungBeetle]

Anyway - realistically most people rank success for their clubs above success for the international side, so nobody would really care that much if England didn't qualify for Brazil imo.  Although Hodgson would have displayed utter incompetetence if it happened in this group.

[Tal]

Anyway - realistically most people rank success for their clubs above success for the international side, so nobody would really care that much if England didn't qualify for Brazil imo.  Although Hodgson would have displayed utter incompetetence if it happened in this group.

Waaaay too strong for me. He'd have failed in his primary objective, but it doesn't make him a bad manager. The England job is a poisoned chalice. He's not my favourite manager but he's been brought in partly to oversee St George's Park and everything that comes with it. This team cannot win the world cup. Quarter finals would be an achievement worthy of more praise than it would get.

[malt vinegar]

the premier league wont budge an inch on anything but surely the fa has some power in the championship and below they should give more tv money for the more english qualified players in the team or point deductions for not hitting quotas. worst case it gets a load of foreign players qualified for england and pick them it doesnt bother cricket rugby etc

ive never bought the excuse the premier league is too competitive for english players to perform when tournaments come round - it doesnt affect the foreign players who play over here and theres loads of games the best teams just walk through to easy wins same as abroad. or the excuse of too many games, if there is too many games scrap the league cup - league and fa cup the first teams dont play anyway. half the england team probably arent first choice for there clubs either

england are going to struggle to get 2nd place in qualifying then they still have to get through a play off - supporters have always gone club over country but the country loves a tournament most sport fans would be gutted if they didnt qualify and we would have to hear all the excuses and plans to fix it that have been trotted out for 25 years again.

[DungBeetle]

Anyway - realistically most people rank success for their clubs above success for the international side, so nobody would really care that much if England didn't qualify for Brazil imo.  Although Hodgson would have displayed utter incompetetence if it happened in this group.

Waaaay too strong for me. He'd have failed in his primary objective, but it doesn't make him a bad manager. The England job is a poisoned chalice. He's not my favourite manager but he's been brought in partly to oversee St George's Park and everything that comes with it. This team cannot win the world cup. Quarter finals would be an achievement worthy of more praise than it would get.

Quarter finals would indeed be a good achievement.  But we are talking about potentially finishing third in a qualifying group behind Ukraine and Macedonia.  Massive difference.  Whatever you think of Hodgson, that would be epic failure.

[tikay]

i just put it down to english players being useless

there is some big fa speech today planning for the england teams future should be a good laugh to hear what they come up with

Malty,

They may not be as good as we'd like, but they are not useless

[DungBeetle]

Not useless, but you'd be able to take the salary received by any English player in the squad, and get a player from any other country who would be a significant upgrade for the same pay I think in every position.  They are over-paid and pampered by their clubs since the age of 16, and this contributes to their woeful performances for the national team imo. 

I used to like Joe Hart, but the last 18 months I've thought he should concentrate less on dandruff adverts and more on practising the simple goalkeeping act of catching a lofted cross or even a corner.