Euro2012

I could understand England taking Jordan along for a spit-roast or just to show her tits to the players at halftime, but to bring her on for Parker was just stupid.

Still theres always Wimbledon. Andy Murray has two attempts at winning there this year

So who has Fletcher been casting his eye over for when we start playing this free flowing football? Pirlo and Cassano looked good, along with half the Spanish side, and if Arshavin is still surplus to requirements at Arsenal he could do a job for us.

Might mean Feeney dropping to the bench but we could use him as an impact sub I suppose.

What about Barrentelli?

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we dont care, LOVE ENGLAND!

England are a 3rd rate team who should have never made it past the group stages. There is nowhere near enough quality to compete on a serious international level. All those poor deluded fools who travelled should have known England were in the finals just to make up the numbers. 3rd rate team for a now sadly 3rd rate nation.

You're right Freathy, not only do they lack the skills they also lack courage and the passion that should come with representing your country.

Overpaid and overrated prima donnas that have more concern for how their hair looks than the football they claim to be able to play.

Despite the billions of pounds pumped into the premier league in the last 20 years, the technical ability of the English players is getting worse.

Thank God we are not playing the Germans next. They would have ripped us a new asshole.

I am sure nothing will change in the deluded premier league though. It's the best league in the world (or so Sky Sports tells us).

Frank Bullitt wrote:

Despite the billions of pounds pumped into the premier league in the last 20 years, the technical ability of the English players is getting worse.

Thank God we are not playing the Germans next. They would have ripped us a new asshole.

I am sure nothing will change in the deluded premier league though. It's the best league in the world (or so Sky Sports tells us).

It's the most exciting to watch and most of the players are foreign. Apart from Arsenal, the Prem doesn't do 'keep ball'.

Can't doubt the technical ability, it is crap. I think this English team gave it all they had though, I wont doubt them that.

Dissapointing finale but they got further than I expected.

I suppose I had to say that as a row broke out in the pub. Overpaid prima donnas. Maybe. Who's to blame, the players gaining these contracts or the shit officials whom distribute the cash?

Back on topic, England were done by fitter Italians. I can't blame the players this time, I did feel they wanted it, just weren't good enough.

What has the most significance to an England player, winning for his country or having a Lamborghini parked in the drive?

When you have Sky pumping billions into the game it attracts the greedy, not the passionate.

Frank Bullitt wrote:

Despite the billions of pounds pumped into the premier league in the last 20 years, the technical ability of the English players is getting worse.

Thank God we are not playing the Germans next. They would have ripped us a new asshole.

I am sure nothing will change in the deluded premier league though. It's the best league in the world (or so Sky Sports tells us).

The first point is interesting. We were sold the 'fact' that the influx of foreign players would only enhance the ability of home grown talent by learing from the best the world had to offer. That to get in Premier League side they would have to be the creme de la creme of English talent. Of course what every forgot is that it also turned out easier because of all the money swishing around to buy off the peg fully formed players (or even entice the best youngster and stick them in their academies) cheaper from the Contitnent and Africa.

I think it has always been telling how many Englsih players have gone abroad or are even wanted abroad, you could probably count them on one hand.

How much hope is now placed on the likes of Jack Wilshere who's reputation has been enhanced by merely not being at these Euros.

GOB wrote:

What has the most significance to an England player, winning for his country or having a Lamborghini parked in the drive?

When you have Sky pumping billions into the game it attracts the greedy, not the passionate.

For a long time I've agreed with this and would agree players didn't give a flying.

I saw something different this tournament. We genuinely weren't good enough. Forget the money players are being paid, European opponents who also play in the Prem are being paid hideous amounts. The facts are we're crap at grass roots. Instead of focussing our energies on the overpaid, let's have a mank at where the money should be going.

We were poor, and no way were we good enough to win the tournament but Italy are shit as well, Germany will tear them a new one, if Italy were any good they would have buried us.

Dougie wrote:

Frank Bullitt wrote:

Despite the billions of pounds pumped into the premier league in the last 20 years, the technical ability of the English players is getting worse.

Thank God we are not playing the Germans next. They would have ripped us a new asshole.

I am sure nothing will change in the deluded premier league though. It's the best league in the world (or so Sky Sports tells us).

The first point is interesting. We were sold the 'fact' that the influx of foreign players would only enhance the ability of home grown talent by learing from the best the world had to offer. That to get in Premier League side they would have to be the creme de la creme of English talent. Of course what every forgot is that it also turned out easier because of all the money swishing around to buy off the peg fully formed players (or even entice the best youngster and stick them in their academies) cheaper from the Contitnent and Africa.

I think it has always been telling how many Englsih players have gone abroad or are even wanted abroad, you could probably count them on one hand.

How much hope is now placed on the likes of Jack Wilshere who's reputation has been enhanced by merely not being at these Euros.

Indeed so.Although much praise is heaped on people like Wenger,Mourhinho etc for their contibution to the english game,it has to be said that they have actually done very little to enhance the standards of the England team as far as providing high class international players is concerned,Wenger has been manager of Arsenal for 16 years now and during that time,i can only think of Gibbs and Wilshere [there may be more,not sure] who have come through the Arsenal youth system to be anywhere near international class.For a major London club,that is simply not good enough and the excuse that young english players are taught the wrong way from an early age doesn't wash-clubs these days have ample opportunity to develop and nurture young players virtually from the cradle and Arsenal,Chelsea etc just don't seem to be very good at it.Or they don't really care and pay lip service to it and,as FB says earlier, they are happy to import ready made players,either for the first team or at lower levels.I don't know what can be done about it-the sea change needed would probably need to take place in the minds of the managers themselves and while the self serving,greed infested Premier league continues to dominate,i can't really see it happening.Depressing-here's to another last 16/QF and more mediocrity in 2014.

The death of English football in my mind.
The golden boys have moved off into their retirement mansions, and just where is the new talent coming through. Few with the rather wide qualification needs play football in this country anymore.. it's not cool and they're too tired, not that our self centered football 'industry' would give them a chance to play in the Premiership anyway.
A few of our long standing Argyle group gathered together for the first time since the Argyle away Wimbledon game last season. I really don't know who is worse these days, Argyle or England. We were lucky to beat a poor Wombles side that night, and Pirlo aside, Italy looked yet another poor team.

It's not Woy's fault, although I was very disappointed he couldn't resist the power of the big name Rooney. He should never have been on the pitch after the Ukraine game, and why Young instead of Chamberlain ?

Still, at least it puts to bed one of those old chestnuts, that success in any field of human endeavour is made by chucking money at it. I don't think English football could have more money in it's trousers if it tried. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. We invented the industrial process as well as football. We don't do either any more. OUr philosophy is bankrupt, we haven't a clue, but thank heavens George Osborne is on the case .. the messiah . ...... bigger tax breaks for the foreign club owners and hostels to house the young Wooneys who will play for nothing ... that should sort it. If it doesn't at least there'll be a nice lunch to be had.

I'm going to break rank here, and say that there is enough English talent to be highly competitive globally. Although it has to be admitted that our top teams aren't choca full of English yeoman, there have been enough English players who get to the latter stages of the Champions League (the world's highest standard of football) over the last 5 years to warrant at least some expectation of moderate success. I'd wager that there will be more over the next decade too.

However, the nation with the richest league in world football who've been playing the game for the longest resorted to lumping the ball up to the big man and then hoping a non-match fit striker would conjure something out of nothing. That's just about ok when you've had 'only' a month to prepare, but going into 2014 I'd like to see us at least attempting to play the ball about a bit.

Poor Jack Wilshere, the weight of a Nation's expectations is going to be placed firmly on his young shoulders.

Dougie wrote:

England played into Italys hands by playing Rooney, Milner and Young. Always difficult to play 11 against 8.

Milner was shite too.

I don't think Woy did too badly with what he's got, but I take umbrage at his comments post match about tired legs- Italy made several changes yet we kept Milner and Young in the side who have had dire tournaments. I would have started Carroll too.

I think the media are now realising we are not as good as they have portrayed for the last 10 years, but some of the comments fromShearer and co (especially at half time when they said the game was 50:50 ) were poor. The better pundits tend to be the foreigners- Klinsmann, Seedorf and Vieira.

The strange thing is, as mediocre as we have undoubtedly been down the years, if somehow we could learn how to take f*cking penalties under pressure, there's a fair chance we'd have actually made quite a few semi-finals and indeed finals.

If you are half-decent to begin with, then you can win the big prizes on the back of not bottling it in penalty shootouts.

It's f*cking annoying.

Even I scored a penalty once. I had let in a soft goal in a match and to encourage me (or was it a final test - score or your out ....) I was brought up to score. Easy - that bloody big space and all you had to do was to put it away from the keeper.

Soon the money-men will decide that they might as well put their money in clubs elsewhere in the world (maybe even in their own countries) and then, without the strong infrastructure in place or the hunger in our young people the game in this country will die.

I was in Spain recently and watched a load of kids on a beach being coached by some bloke. These were kids who ranged around 10 to 12 years old. They were having mini matches all over the place and it was stark to see the difference between those kids and kids I see on the park near where I live.

Kids here are taught work ethic. You have to run about and put effort in or it isn't right. We the football supporters also have a soft spot for the work horse players. Lack of apparent effort being the biggest crime a player can commit. What I watched in Spain was kids allowed to express themselves with ball skills, control and passing ability. It was so obvious that they had been doing this for quite a while and there were some decent little players there. The not so talented though also had a go at the skill things.

This is where English football falls over in my opinion. The coaching of the talented needs to start at an early age which is does abroad. Never mind the fitness levels and ability to leg it all over the pitch for 90 minutes. It is the coaching which is wrong here not the ability of the kids. If they were taught to do things with the ball and pass it from the start then we might match the rest in 20 years time. The money sloshing around should have some syphoned off and put into centres of excellence to give kids this kind of start.

Individualism is not condoned here...you have to be part of the team and conform to the requirements of the team at all times...years back it was different...Matthews,Best,Waddle etc......I think winning the world cup under Sir Alf Ramsey knocked that approach out of English football and we havn't moved on since then...and are now stuck in a time warp where working hard and high tempo football is now no longer successful.

Over 24 hours later and I'm still happy the team of last night put in a shift. They just weren't good enough.

The last 'decentish' England team I remember was Italia 90. Nobody expected much from them but unknown to us was a fantastic manager (Sir Bobby Robson), a young Gazza, David Platt, Lineker, Waddle, Stuart Pearce and others whom I can't recall right at this minute of typing. The media gave them no chance but they done us proud.

Two years later and along came the Prem with all its riches. We've been shite ever since.

If English fans care about the national team, they'll unite and change things. I suspect their allegiance is with their Prem Clubs though. Never mind.

That though is exactly my point coxside. They put a shift in but were not good enough says it all. It is no good anymore just working hard to satisfy us that they aren't shirking effort. They have to be able to do more than that and simply can't. Learning to be skillfull is paramount if they are to challenge in competitions and once competent they can also add their blend of movement and effort on top but not to the exclusion of the former. It is no good running all over the place if you can't get the ball or keep it once you have. I too was happy with the effort and they did try but the gulf in class was stark.