World Cup

[DesertHound]

Rosberg - a Dane in disguise 

[Pengi]

Well did you see the Germany game the Germans were quaking in there boots, well done Ghana for sticking it up the Germans, lets hope there are more shocks in this World Cup.

PS Roy Hodgson should resign good manager or not, its a matter of principal.

Who would take over? English managers in the Premier League last year are Pulis, Bruce, Sherwood, Hughton, Pardew - doesn't exactly set the pulses racing . . .

Maybe too soon for Brendan Rogers - need to see how he copes with Champions League

[DesertHound]

I think the question should be who would want to take over. Poisoned chalice!

[Geoff]

Well did you see the Germany game the Germans were quaking in there boots, well done Ghana for sticking it up the Germans, lets hope there are more shocks in this World Cup.

PS Roy Hodgson should resign good manager or not, its a matter of principal.

Who would take over? English managers in the Premier League last year are Pulis, Bruce, Sherwood, Hughton, Pardew - doesn't exactly set the pulses racing . . .

Maybe too soon for Brendan Rogers - need to see how he copes with Champions League

Someone who can put a team together to get a result.
Which all English fans want, I am sorry for saying this but the FA are full of passed it over paid and full of themselves thinking they are doing a good job.

Harry Rednap was the fans choice but did they listen no they did not, just like our government never listen to the people just do what they think is right, the problem with British football is eveything is regimented players played out of position, no passion no Grit and no Moral Fibre.

Not enough young players coming through to get a chance of playing in the premier league, to many foreign players, we as a football nation have done this to ourselves if Ghana could hold Germany to a draw and they played until they dropped, over half of the team could not stand after the match and thats what we have to do to beat these teams.

[DesertHound]

Agree with you 100% Geoff. Like another poster said, at least we can get on with enjoying the World Cup now 

I would have liked to see Harry get it. There was most definitely an agenda against him!

Quite liked El Tel when he was in too!

I'll take the job for a few million. I'm sure I could manage to lose a few games in a row 

Dan

[scotsoft]

I feel a good stimulus would be, if they win they get paid their crazy money, if they lose they get the minimum wage for that week.

That might get their attention   

cheers John - someone who has never had any interest in football.

[Geoff]

I feel a good stimulus would be, if they win they get paid their crazy money, if they lose they get the minimum wage for that week.

That might get their attention   

cheers John - someone who has never had any interest in football.

I think what you are forgetting is that they do not need the England wage they earn more from advertisement deals, so they only do enough and cry off when under performing.

So easy to say sorry, and for hodgson to say the boys played well sorry but they did not play well if they played well they would of won so Hodgson get on your bike.

[DesertHound]

My wife's not even from the UK (or Europe) and she's baffled at how cr*p we are at our most popular sport. It's not just an "English Disease" when we bash our team for being a joke. The rest of the world agrees with us 

[dodger]

Not enough young players coming through to get a chance of playing in the premier league, to many foreign players, we as a football nation have done this to ourselves if Ghana could hold Germany to a draw and they played until they dropped, over half of the team could not stand after the match and thats what we have to do to beat these teams.

Perhaps we should employ the Ghana manager. The he could change to stupid method of played that has failed in major tournaments for at least the last 20 years. At least we would start playing attacking football again.

The only reason that there are too man foreign footballers in the leagues is due to the lack of enough good English players.

Dodger

[DesertHound]

I think it should be a max of three foreign players in every league (forget all that EU labour law nonsense) and the manager should be from said country!

I remember VfB Stuttgart having to replay Leeds (I think) in a European game - that they'd already won - since they'd fielded a fourth foreigner (back in the day when there were such rules). Needless to say, they list the replay 

[port perran]

Is it all down to the Premier League ?
I think so.
As a supporter of a Div One team, I think the Premier League is nowhere near what it's cracked up to be.
"The most exciting league in the world" - I think not. Nowhere near as exciting as Champiuonship/Div One and Two.
How many teams have won it ? Is it 5 ?
Is it usually close (except a few times)?   NO
Is it good fooball -rarely - just listen to the atmosphere at most games.
Are the players overpaid? YES.
Do the players have any perception of real life ? NO.
Do they care ? NO
And........to quote a buzz word which players/managers always quote on TV "He/They have a great work ethic" - Ask any premiership footballer what ethic means. They will look at you with a blank face !  They just roll out a commonly used phrase with no idea of it's meaning.
And.....why are they always tired ? In my days teams (inc Div One) played Good Friday/Easter Saturday and Easter Monday (3 games in 4 days). Now they can't manage 2 games in a fortnight!
And they can't play with a damaged meta tarsel (didn't have those in the 70s) or with a broken toe nail!!
Rant over !!

[DesertHound]

And they can't play with a damaged meta tarsel (didn't have those in the 70s) or with a broken toe nail!!
Rant over !!

Or if the WAGS aren't allowed to come on tour!  :'(

[Trainfish]

Is it all down to the Premier League ?
I think so.
As a supporter of a Div One team, I think the Premier League is nowhere near what it's cracked up to be.
"The most exciting league in the world" - I think not. Nowhere near as exciting as Champiuonship/Div One and Two.
How many teams have won it ? Is it 5 ?
Is it usually close (except a few times)?   NO
Is it good fooball -rarely - just listen to the atmosphere at most games.
Are the players overpaid? YES.
Do the players have any perception of real life ? NO.
Do they care ? NO
And........to quote a buzz word which players/managers always quote on TV "He/They have a great work ethic" - Ask any premiership footballer what ethic means. They will look at you with a blank face !  They just roll out a commonly used phrase with no idea of it's meaning.
And.....why are they always tired ? In my days teams (inc Div One) played Good Friday/Easter Saturday and Easter Monday (3 games in 4 days). Now they can't manage 2 games in a fortnight!
And they can't play with a damaged meta tarsel (didn't have those in the 70s) or with a broken toe nail!!
Rant over !!

As a fellow league 1 fan I agree 100%. The Premier League has ruined the rest of the league financially through greed. Unfortunately the Premier League "fans" rarely acknowledge this and continue to spend stupid amounts on tickets and merchandise. My team Swindon had 1 season in the Premier League or Premiership or whatever it was called back in 93/94, didn't like it so went back to the proper leagues where you will see a lot more passion and playing for places. The atmosphere in the top half of the Premier League is almost non existant as the "fans" nibble away on their prawn sandwiches and don't even know who is playing for 'their' team never mind the opposing team players' names. The top teams will buy decent players from the 3 leagues below as stupidly low prices knowing those clybs have to take what is on offer just to survive.

Anyway, the Premier League and its faults etc are probably for another thread as this one is about the World Cup. It seems my post yesterday predictably ruffled a couple of feathers with some interesting responses and more negativity. I'll respond to a few points without having a go at individuals although it will be obvious who some are intended for as they made the points.
First of all, just because we invented the game doesn't mean we have a right to be the best. We are a small island in comparison to mane of the countries out there and will naturally have less players to choose from.
I don't watch enough Italian, Spanish, Brazilian league football to say whether I believe the Premier League to be the best in the world but it's not bad. Unfortunately it is full (I believe 70% was quoted on TV the other day) of foreign players who will never qualify for our national team. Yes, our players are playing alongside this 70% so they should be of a similar standard in theory but at the moment they are not. This is why as I stated before we need to start with the youngsters and bring them up through the ranks of both Premier League and International football. The only problem here (and it has been mentioned in this thread) is that everyone these days wants instant success. This doesn't just go for football either, it's the same in any other business and yes, football at this level is primarily a business.
A cap on the number of 'foreigners' in a team would be a great idea and was mooted not too long ago within UEFA I believe. Apologies if it was actually FIFA. It worked before and there's no reason why it shouldn't do now. Unfortunately we're back to the business side of things and it won't take long for cries of "restriction of trade" etc ring out.
Someone mentioned that the nation are not against the players/team but unfortunately it doesn't look like that. I still believe if people want to be negative without a constructive argument they should just keep their thoughts to themselves. As I said before, get behind the team, whether you like it or not they are representing YOUR country!
Football is the biggest spectator sport there is so yes, it will attract most media attention as it will sell more papers, attracts more viewers etc etc. Unfortunately it also attracts the negativity and I'm afraid that no matter what I say it will never change and certainly not in this country. Something brought up has been whether Hodgson should be sacked, resign, hung drawn and quartered etc. That's just laughable I'm afraid. We don't have anyone English (in my mind the England team manager MUST be English just as the players do) to take his place at the moment. Having said that, if Redknapp was appointed I'd give Jamie my full support as I believe he could do the job some time in the future.
Anyway, I think I've said enough for now. You may have guessed that I am quite passionate about MY team, MY country and also MY chosen league club. I still stand by what I said and would encourage EVERYONE to get behind THEIR teams and show them that you care and you want them to do well. At the same time let's remember, there were 32 squads in the World Cup and only 1 can win it. This means there will be many disappointed fans out there but it doesn't mean they will give up on their team. There's always Euro 2016 and the World Cup in 2018.

I need a beer! 

[DesertHound]

Couldn't agree more with your first paragraph there Trainfish, although I'll out myself now as an Arsenal fan - have been since the days of George Graham! What will become of the Premier League with all this money flowing in, I just don't know. My thoughts are that, like any sport, the further it detaches from grass-roots, it is just setting itself up for a greater fall (think unsustainable finances, unaffordable ticket prices / tv packages etc. etc. etc.) I think one day the chicken will come home to roost!

Now, onto the small matter of the World Cup. I think most of us on here are just having a bit of friendly banter 

I had to laugh about this though (and honestly please don't be offended - I'm a nice guy really!) ...

First of all, just because we invented the game doesn't mean we have a right to be the best. We are a small island in comparison to mane of the countries out there and will naturally have less players to choose from.

I believe Uruguay has a population of 7 million. There's not much in it, but I think you'll find we come up trumps against Italy on that one too.

As for getting behind the team, some of these "professionals" simply aren't worthy of it. Walking off the bus into the changing room with their ridiculously over-sized Beats headphones, killing or injuring people in their sports cars because they are speeding or eating an ice-cream, investing in offshore tax-avoiding schemes to save a few pennies on their millions, pretending to snort cocaine from the goal line (ok, that was only one certain ex-England Intl.) ... the list goes on. Hardly a great role model for the younger generation! I don't see apathy in supporting some of these buffoons as negative, indeed I see it as morally upright to hold them in such contempt.

Playing for the national team (and any high profile team for that matter) carries responsibilities. Given, the youngsters in the team should be given the benefit of the doubt, but what I've seen over the past twenty years or so beggars belief. There are professionals in this sport, and they are the ones we should commend - win or lose. Gerard and Shearer spring to mind.

Come on - we're all friends on here, it's just banter. England are cr*p, at least I think they are, along with half the nation 

I'll join you for that beer 

Dan

[Agrippa]

This is getting bigger than the Dapol v  Farish debate ! Football is a working class  sport and the people that
play it in the Premiership get huge wages and buy sports cars , get drunk,  fall out of nightclubs and get
arrested. Nature of the beast when you're a chav making tens or thousands of pounds a week.
Guys like Gerrard and Rooney would be shelfstackers if they couldn't kick  a ball.

And Gerrard's time is surely up.