What are England's problems?

How the hell does this continue to go on?

Every two-four years we find ourselves being pulverised by media and fan debate over this hopeless football team. Every serious and well constructed opinion on the future of the national game is seemingly dismissed at hand by the men who CAN make a difference, the Football Association. But, as us Liverpool fans know, this is a pathetic money driven and money obsessed organisation who laughably pay the national football team manager extortionate wages to deliver sweet f**k all. The size of the wages being paid out to England manager’s past and present, is indicative of the moronic sensibilities that infest HQ at Wembley. In their minds, only one man can make a difference, the England manager.

Now don’t think for one moment that I am undermining the role of the England manager and that the position is meaningless in the grander scheme of other ill things. Getting the right national team manager in is an important building block in the construction of an excellent football team that can leave a lasting legacy on the national game.  It is the manager’s job to implement an identity within the national team, something England have not had for years and years.  That manager, as we’ve seen this week (and as we saw during 6 miserable months in the second half of 2010) clearly is NOT Roy Hodgson.

But where does that identity come from? Well, for starters the FA could look no further than Merseyside and Liverpool FC in particular. Here we’ve got a young British manager who’s instinctively knows the setup of the English game having learnt his trade at all levels in the country. Here we’ve got a young British manager who has got Liverpool playing some of the most exhilarating and progressive football seen in a long time who incorporated within that play a plentiful supply of Englishman (and a Welshman) who contribute to such football. Why not use Liverpool as a template in the same way that the Dutch used the Ajax team of the late 60s or the way the Spaniards used the Barcelona side of the past few years? But of course, is that likely to happen? The FA ignored the play Liverpool exhibited in the 70s and 80s when we were winning trophy after trophy – why would they take notice of Liverpool now?

A lack of a wider identity and the lack of a manager who has the guts or the know how to say ‘this is how it will be’ is just a part of the wider problem as there continues to be a massive infrastructure problem.  The need to proliferate the numbers of top grade UEFA coaches in England is well documented but still falls on deaf ears. That said the coaching system in place right now still relies on strictness and inflexibility refusing to allow players to express themselves and develop intuition and their maturity. In turn I’m sure that leads to a football culture in England that reflects the cerebral qualities of an ITV2 documentary.

In contrast you look at World Cup winning nations of the past, the likes of Spain, Italy and France, and they are jammed pack of mature, deep, intelligent and thoughtful individuals – players who have clearly been given the chance in their youth to think for themselves rather than being told to stick to a strict and rigid training regime (this ‘strict and rigid regime’ is not an attempt to instil attractive football, but rather long ball, functional and aimless play), offering no chance for a young player to blossom. Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps, Andrea Pirlo, Xavi Hernandez – they read and played like a footballing Mensa. Two of those, Blanc, Deschamps, have gone on to become excellent managers in their own right. Such cranial ineptness has infested the managerial sphere, where the likes of Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and Steve Bruce are praised for their remedial, insipid and inexpressive style of football. But of course, these guys do ‘outstanding’ jobs for doing unremarkable feats as keeping average teams in the top tier so in that respect we should praise them. And yet, the three of them have done nothing to merit even a footnote in the annals of English footballing history. Perhaps if the FA, the English media and even the English fans would stop rewarding such mediocrity, take a step back and approach the development of the national team in a holistic and definite manner then England could have a starting point in eradicating their joke status on the world stage and actually become decent.

I think in this instance FMS the FA simply have the wrong man in charge.

Sometimes England's players have been over hyped and over rated but I really think Hodge picked a very exciting young squad this time and in the hands of a proper coach they could have done quite well.

The FA seem to want to put down a blueprint for the future but strangely appoint a dinosour of a coach to try and implement it.

I think in this instance FMS the FA simply have the wrong man in charge.

Sometimes England's players have been over hyped and over rated but I really think Hodge picked a very exciting young squad this time and in the hands of a proper coach they could have done quite well.

The FA seem to want to put down a blueprint for the future but strangely appoint a dinosour of a coach to try and implement it.

I would say this England squad ranks only second to the falsely titled Golden Generation that emerged in the late 90s but it's important that, on this occasion, it isn't squandered. They've already squandered the first opportunity at this World Cup. There seems to be no suggestion that the FA will dare go down the correct route as evidenced by the majority of managerial appointments they've made in the last 30 years and further emphasised by Greg Dyke's ridiculous guarantee to Roy Hodgson.

Awful FA, awful manager, awful backroom staff and one of the worst defences it has ever seen combined with a useless fat tosser called Rooney and a player in Welbeck who makes Carlton Palmer look good.

Awful FA, awful manager, awful backroom staff and one of the worst defences it has ever seen combined with a useless fat tosser called Rooney and a player in Welbeck who makes Carlton Palmer look good.

I second this!

Didn't think they'd get out the group, over-expectation seem to rule the roost.  Hodgson doesn't engender hope, the FA are a joke, on many levels.  One of the worst of these, for me, is what they charge for their accredited coaching courses, in comparison to the rest of UEFA affiliated countries.  Of course the general overrating of England players doesn't help.

Didn't think they'd get out the group, over-expectation seem to rule the roost.  Hodgson doesn't engender hope, the FA are a joke, on many levels.  One of the worst of these, for me, is what they charge for their accredited coaching courses, in comparison to the rest of UEFA affiliated countries.  Of course the general overrating of England players doesn't help.

I hear that complaint A LOT - 'It costs too much'. A fair excuse but unforgivable from the FA's point of view who, rather than subsidise grassroots coaching, would spend extortionately on the England manager's wages and white elephants in the form of new Wembley and St George's Park.

I hear that complaint A LOT - 'It costs too much'. A fair excuse but unforgivable from the FA's point of view who, rather than subsidise grassroots coaching, would rather spend extortionately on the England manager's wages and white elephants in the form of new Wembley and St George's Park.

Made all the worse when the FA bleat about the lack of grassroots coaches, as in their recent discussion papers on the subject.

Made all the worse when the FA bleat about the lack of grassroots coaches, as in their recent discussion papers on the subject.

It's an appalling joke the FA Commission. The excuses spewed out by Danny Mills with regards to England's failings on 5 Live was laughable. He blamed the continuing decline of English footballers banging on about how there's only about 35% (or something close to that) playing their trade in the top division yet still ignorant of the fact that when England had 60%+ players in the top division in 1993 they failed to f**king qualify for the World Cup! Pathetic!

Hodgson STAYS! FA chief Dyke says England boss will remain until 2016

 


 

Starts with Roy, ends in Hodgson.

I don't necessarily blame Hodgson for England's failure (again) at this level.  Let's face it many more highly regarded England managers before him have ended up with fairly similar outcomes.

But you have to wonder whose CV and videos of team styles were actually looked at when he was appointed.  Look at the top sides in the country and they generally mostly play a style of football that is alien to Hodgson, so it is hardly surprising that he is unable to get the best out of the players in the squad.  Most players in the squad come from teams that play attractive, passing and attacking football - but this is not Hodgson's way.

It surely rests on the shoulders of those who decided that he was the best man for the job, that his footballing blueprint was the way forward for England with the talents that are available.  Apart from his ill fated time at our helm, I have no particular problem with Hodgson as a manager - I don't think he is the worst manager around by a long way, he has normally (with the obvious exceptions) got the job done with what was available, but I would not want to watch his team play every week. 

One thing his time with us surely proved though, is that he is not the man for a big job, with big expectations - and the FA take full responsibility for this.  He is hardly likely to say that he doesn't think he can do the job when offered it - who would.  Most quarters gave us stick when he was sacked by us, the people that now surely realise why he was sacked and that if England want to move forward he needs to be sacked again.

I watch Uruguay play and I see a team with a plan to win. Not great football but they have style and they stick to it. Same with Italy, always play the same. Brazil on the other hand are not playing like Brazil and it shows. England unfortunately have no identity. They do not play calm possession based football well. English should play a high tempo game and force the opposition to make it open. If the opposition clam up, then sling it in the box. I don't think England play like they should and the reason for this is the FA. They control the football and they are not football men (or women). They are establishment stooges. England should have gone for Harry Redknapp over Roy Hodgson. I mean Redknapp is not ideal but Hodgson is nothing. Why on earth would any team with aspirations choose Roy Hodgson?

start at the bottom and work you way up

start at the bottom and work you way up

I watched Roy when Suarez scored no.2  and he looked like a concussed mole who had been exposed to a spotlight whilst suffering an extreme case of appendicitis. I am in awe of the FA.

I watched Roy when Suarez scored no.2  and he looked like a concussed mole who had been exposed to a spotlight whilst suffering an extreme case of appendicitis. I am in awe of the FA.

Didn't Roy say Luis couldn't be classed as a world class player until he did it at the world cup. any thoughts now ROy

Hodgson is the problem.

Said all along we'd be lucky to finish 5th in our group.

Start at the top and work your way down, how the F**k is a yard dog like Danny Mills and people like Trevor Brooking and Howard Wilkinson involved in anything to do with the FA.

Nothing's changed in 40 years. In this country professional football is all about making money, F**k all else. The clubs are rolling in money, the media is on it 24/7, the ex-players are all in the tent and won't say a word, the sponsors are taking over the stadiums and turning it into another branch of "corporate entertainment".

When Germany failed years ago they started from scratch but that will never happen here. With all the money in the game there should be top-class facilities from grass roots up but poor administrators and equally poor coaching gets the national side to where it is now.

Start at the top and work your way down, how the F**k is a yard dog like Danny Mills

I'd love to know how Danny Mills got that job.

The strangest decision I've seen in a while.

I'd love to know how Danny Mills got that job.

The strangest decision I've seen in a while.

Can only imagine it's because he's a little bit more coherent than Rio Ferdinand!!

Start at the top and work your way down, how the f**k is a yard dog like Danny Mills and people like Trevor Brooking and Howard Wilkinson involved in anything to do with the FA.

Nothing's changed in 40 years. In this country professional football is all about making money, f**k all else. The clubs are rolling in money, the media is on it 24/7, the ex-players are all in the tent and won't say a word, the sponsors are taking over the stadiums and turning it into another branch of "corporate entertainment".

When Germany failed years ago they started from scratch but that will never happen here. With all the money in the game there should be top-class facilities from grass roots up but poor administrators and equally poor coaching gets the national side to where it is now.

This is an organisation who persisted with the ideas of Charles Hughes for decades (right up until the 90s), a man who believed that you only needed 5 passes to score a goal and thus an emphasis on banal long ball football. A man so backwards and so enshrined within his Little Englander mentality that he even believed the Brazil team of 1970 would score more if they played less passes.

The FA conducts itself exactly like a gentleman's club - no place for young revolutionaries, they must keep to who they know - the haggard, grey dinosaur. It's no wonder Hodgson is the manager. The FA is a piss poor Dad's Army tribute act. I can almost picture the likes of Bernstein, Dyke, Brooking and Hodgson skulking around a forest in army gear accompanied by the words 'You have been watching...'

I think in this instance FMS the FA simply have the wrong man in charge.

Sometimes England's players have been over hyped and over rated but I really think Hodge picked a very exciting young squad this time and in the hands of a proper coach they could have done quite well.

The FA seem to want to put down a blueprint for the future but strangely appoint a dinosour of a coach to try and implement it.

Agree totally Si. 

I've been saying since the squad was announced that we have a really talented, creative, young and exciting group of players around at the moment but Roy just hasn't got a clue how to get the best out of them.

He doesn't know how to pick a balanced team, instead he chooses the media darlings so he doesn't get any negative press, asks them to do a job that doesn't utilise their strengths, then wonders why they look sh*t when they play.

I hope his negative sh*t, verbal and/or playing style doesn't damage their confidence.

This is an organisation who persisted with the ideas of Charles Hughes for decades (right up until the 90s), a man who believed that you only needed 5 passes to score a goal and thus an emphasis on banal long ball football. A man so backwards and so enshrined within his Little Englander mentality that he even believed the Brazil team of 1970 would score more if they played less passes.

The FA conducts itself exactly like a gentleman's club - no place for young revolutionaries, they must keep to who they know - the haggard, grey dinosaur. It's no wonder Hodgson is the manager. The FA is a piss poor Dad's Army tribute act. I can almost picture the likes of Bernstein, Dyke, Brooking and Hodgson skulking around a forest in army gear accompanied by the words 'You have been watching...'

Excellent point and it's like nothing has changed, I remember being bollocked in junior school for attempting to pass the ball from kick-off rather than launch it forward. That was the the mentality of the coaching from school level upwards - just hoof the f**ker!

It's the grey suits that want F***ing off first, as you say the FA needs younger blood in all positions that are more in tune with the modern game (that includes the manager too!)