Well done England ...

[LJBlade]

It's the reality of your life you need to get over, not anything I may have to say, Mr Desparate For Any Form Of Interaction.

You can run along now. I'm sure you'll pop up again to offer me another one of your unprompted, unsolicited opinions very soon

Could be worse though, I could be trying to pass myself off as some sort of contrarian whilst actually being the complete opposite.

At least the 'Roy Keane - Hero' thing explains the angry man persona you've got going on.

Can you imagine actually admitting to Roy Keane being your hero, how hilariously pathetic.

Cheerio

 

[Bashar Al Asaba]

Could be worse though, I could be trying to pass myself off as some sort of contrarian whilst actually being the complete opposite.

At least the 'Roy Keane - Hero' thing explains the angry man persona you've got going on.

Can you imagine actually admitting to Roy Keane being your hero, how hilariously pathetic.

Cheerio

He's godlike.

Have a wonderful day searching for people to contradict. Sad little man.

Ta ta.

 

[I should coco]

Can you imagine actually admitting to Roy Keane being your hero, how hilariously pathetic.

Ahem........

Actually I find him quite funny. He's not afraid to speak his mind, unlike most of the comfy pundits and he doesn't bother if he upsets people.

He's not 'hard' in the Chopper Harris / Eddie Colquhoun sense, but he would still put his body on the line for his team.

I read his autobiography a few years back and found it quite funny, especially in his relationship with Cloughie.

He's from poor stock, dragged himself up, made the most of his talent and is now very comfortable doing something he enjoys. Not entirely a bad life lesson for the yoof of today is it?

 

[LJBlade]

He's godlike.

Have a wonderful day searching for people to contradict. Sad little man.

Ta ta.

You seem to have taken my comments to heart, it wasn't my intention to upset you so I apologise for that. I thought we were both just having a bit of a laugh.

Have a good day

 

[DronnieBlade]

"We still fixate with big, fast, strong. Will we ever learn".

That was your original comment. The 'will we ever learn' bit implied there had been no changes but you've just admitted that changes have been made.

The 'we still fixate with big, fast, strong' shows how very little you know. It's an argument that was once correct, I'll give you that.

In that case, with the “changes” made, presumably given this context to mean changes of a “technical” nature, I am sure you will able to state with confidence a plethora of members of this current England squad that consistently demonstrate high levels of technical competency ?

UTB

 

[LJBlade]

In that case, with the “changes” made, presumably given this context to mean changes of a “technical” nature, I am sure you will able to state with confidence a plethora of members of this current England squad that consistently demonstrate high levels of technical competency ?

UTB

Did I say that any of this current England squad do consistently demonstrate high levels of technical competency? I said that changes have been made, people have learned from the past, we no longer 'fixate on big, fast, strong' but that the changes will take some time to come through

 

[Lane Ender]

Correct, was in a bar full of em in England shirt and had to endure endless renditions of 'you're going home, you're going home' all night.

I know what you mean couple of years ago I was in bar in Cork watching the England v Wales rugby and the Irish we’re supporting the Welsh with passion.
The hatred for the English was unreal.

 

[LJBlade]

In that case, with the “changes” made, presumably given this context to mean changes of a “technical” nature, I am sure you will able to state with confidence a plethora of members of this current England squad that consistently demonstrate high levels of technical competency ?

UTB

Oh and while we're at it, I'll turn your question around. Which members of the current England squad demonstrates our fixation with big, fast, strong?

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

I know what you mean couple of years ago I was in bar in Cork watching the England v Wales rugby and the Irish we’re supporting the Welsh with passion.
The hatred for the English was unreal.

Think Cork is much more 'Irish' than Dublin though.

Go anywhere outside the tourist areas and you'll struggle to be served a pint.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Did I say that any of this current England squad do consistently demonstrate high levels of technical competency? I said that changes have been made, people have learned from the past, we no longer 'fixate on big, fast, strong' but that the changes will take some time to come through

What you said was go and educate yourself about the changes SOUTHGATE had made to the current England set up.

Nothing to do with grass roots.

Seeing as you know everything there is to know on this subject, and of course linking this to my obviously limited understanding, I’ll wait till the euros or the next WC to see the fruits of what you know come through !!

UTB

 

[LJBlade]

What you said was go and educate yourself about the changes SOUTHGATE had made to the current England set up.

Nothing to do with grass roots.

Seeing as you know everything there is to know on this subject, and of course linking this to my obviously limited understanding, I’ll wait till the euros or the next WC to see the fruits of what you know come through !!

UTB

The entire England set up, not just the first team

 

[Lane Ender]

Well he wouldn't be alone.

Wasn't that Blackwell's mantra?

Jordan Stewart looked a fantastic athlete in the flesh, just a shame he was one of the worst players I've ever seen at the Lane.

Kick it high, kick it hard, kick it long!

FFS, I'm turning into Pinchy

With regard to your last paragraph don’t even say that in jest.

 

[Lane Ender]

Think Cork is much more 'Irish' than Dublin though.

Go anywhere outside the tourist areas and you'll struggle to be served a pint.

I’ve been involved in greyhound racing for many years and spend a lot of time there I know what you mean but having said that I’ve got some good friends over there.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Oh and while we're at it, I'll turn your question around. Which members of the current England squad demonstrates our fixation with big, fast, strong?

This current England squad is a product of EXACTLY the point that I am making. They are more of a product of the big, strong, fast fixation that I state rather than any technical revolution you claim to understand so well.

All decent footballers.

All good lads.

All good athletes.

But genuinely limited technical qualities.

Don’t get me wrong. Big strong fast has its place. It CAN be effective.

But when this is almost all of what a team has to offer, it should not come as a surprise to you or anyone else that understands the game at a high level that the most likely outcome, especially deep in to tournaments is that our technically superior peers will have our number, more often than not.

As was clearly evident last night.

UTB

 

[georgebernardshaw]

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

It is encouraging when you see it like that.

Plus throw in potentials like Mount, Sancho, Sessegnon

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

Well done England. But I hope the FA and the vile Premier League don't use this as another excuse to ignore the grassroots of the game.

England, English Footballers and English Football should take number 1 priority over foreign owned clubs, managed by foreign coaches with squads of mainly foreign players

If they’ve got any sense they will identify where the core players of this group came from and where they got their football grounding. I do worry about the way the academy system outside the PL is going. While ever we allow the PL teams to hoover up hundreds of kids in the hope one or two make it the more likely that real late blooming talents are lost. Brooks is an example of this who has managed to succeed despite being rejected but how many others are we losing?

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

But then....France
Pavard 22
Varane 25
Umtiti 24
Hernandez 22
Mendy 23
Pogba 25
Lemar 22
Tolisso 23
Mbappe 19
Dembele 21
Fekir 24

 

[Houston_Blade]

I've had a Scottish "friend" banging on about how England deserve everything they get due to the media bigging them up. Some of these provinces get a bit uptight about England don't they! Would anyone actually give a shit about what happens to Scotland/Wales/Ireland/NI if they qualify for the next world cup? My view would be GLTTL's and that's about it.

 

[LJBlade]

This current England squad is a product of EXACTLY the point that I am making. They are more of a product of the big, strong, fast fixation that I state rather than any technical revolution you claim to understand so well.

All decent footballers.

All good lads.

All good athletes.

But genuinely limited technical qualities.

Don’t get me wrong. Big strong fast has its place. It CAN be effective.

But when this is almost all of what a team has to offer, it should not come as a surprise to you or anyone else that understands the game at a high level that the most likely outcome, especially deep in to tournaments is that our technically superior peers will have our number, more often than not.

As was clearly evident last night.

UTB

Oh I agree. The sooner we stop picking players like Lingard, Alli and Trippier purely because of the height and strength they provide the better we will be for it

 

[LJBlade]

View attachment 41464

Sterling 23, Alli 22....It's easy to forget just how young some of these players are as they seem to have been around for ages

 

[Booker4]

Great effort by England but with France and Belgium having superior players to us particularly in midfield and up top that are also young, I can't see us winning a Euro's or a World Cup in the playing careers of this squad unless we find players of the ilk of Modric, Mbappe, De Bruyne, Hazard etc. Each time we got in a decent position and needed a killer ball they over hit it and when we did have a golden chance we weren't clinical. That's not taking anything away from this team that have done themselves and the nation proud.

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

 

[Booker4]

I've had a Scottish "friend" banging on about how England deserve everything they get due to the media bigging them up. Some of these provinces get a bit uptight about England don't they! Would anyone actually give a shit about what happens to Scotland/Wales/Ireland/NI if they qualify for the next world cup? My view would be GLTTL's and that's about it.

What our media says makes no difference to the lack of technical ability that our players - generally - lack. The Celtic nations are hardly excelling right now and they're jealous of the fact that we did well, which is totally understandable but they want to concentrate on producing better players. The SPL has never being as bad.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Oh I agree. The sooner we stop picking players like Lingard, Alli and Trippier purely because of the height and strength they provide the better we will be for it

Lingard makes the squad primarily cos of his engine. He isn’t very good technically.

No sure what Alli brings these days, other than a questionable attitude. He is quite tall !

Trippier has had a good tournament. But he does play the wing back role, which I am sure you will know DEMANDS a high level of athletic prowess.

I will leave you with this.

A statement of fact with precisely no evidence to back up !

There is only one current England player who’s name will ever have been mentioned in the boardrooms of the European super clubs with any degree of seriousness. His name is Kane.

It’s possible that Walker has been murmured, and also that one or two that have had a good WC2018 (we know who they are ) MIGHT get mentions in the future.

But you have to go back several decades to find an Englishman that has gone abroad to an Elite side and genuinely been a success. For all the reasons I have stated.

Vive the LJB revolution

UTB

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Lingard makes the squad primarily cos of his engine. He isn’t very good technically.

No sure what Alli brings these days, other than a questionable attitude. He is quite tall !

Trippier has had a good tournament. But he does play the wing back role, which I am sure you will know DEMANDS a high level of athletic prowess.

I will leave you with this.

A statement of fact with precisely no evidence to back up !

There is only one current England player who’s name will ever have been mentioned in the boardrooms of the European super clubs with any degree of seriousness. His name is Kane.

It’s possible that Walker has been murmured, and also that one or two that have had a good WC2018 (we know who they are ) MIGHT get mentions in the future.

But you have to go back several decades to find an Englishman that has gone abroad to an Elite side and genuinely been a success. For all the reasons I have stated.

Vive the LJB revolution

UTB

And Kane has arguably been one of our most ineffective players.

 

[McGrath]

If they’ve got any sense they will identify where the core players of this group came from and where they got their football grounding. I do worry about the way the academy system outside the PL is going. While ever we allow the PL teams to hoover up hundreds of kids in the hope one or two make it the more likely that real late blooming talents are lost. Brooks is an example of this who has managed to succeed despite being rejected but how many others are we losing?

You look at the players in the England team. They've fought the hard way to get to the top. Even someone like Kane, he got told he was too fat when he was a kid, he got farmed out on loan all over the place, yet he fought for it put in the hard effort and now he's England captain. You can say the same about the likes of Harry, Alli, Trippier, Pickford .

Academies like Man Cities and Chelsea are the best in the world. Man Cities is incredible, but they won't pick them and reward them too much before they've made it.

That Jadon Sancho did the right thing going to Dortmund, still a teenager and he's now in their 1st team. He could have taken the easy route and stayed at Man City, but where would that have got him, nowhere is the answer

 

[McGrath]

Lingard makes the squad primarily cos of his engine. He isn’t very good technically.

No sure what Alli brings these days, other than a questionable attitude. He is quite tall !

Trippier has had a good tournament. But he does play the wing back role, which I am sure you will know DEMANDS a high level of athletic prowess.

I will leave you with this.

A statement of fact with precisely no evidence to back up !

There is only one current England player who’s name will ever have been mentioned in the boardrooms of the European super clubs with any degree of seriousness. His name is Kane.

It’s possible that Walker has been murmured, and also that one or two that have had a good WC2018 (we know who they are ) MIGHT get mentions in the future.

But you have to go back several decades to find an Englishman that has gone abroad to an Elite side and genuinely been a success. For all the reasons I have stated.

Vive the LJB revolution

UTB

To be fair to Alli, he's playing out of position and Lingaard ain't a first team regular. England have no centre midfielders outside of Henderson ... It's scary

 

[SB_90]

seeing some of the comments from late last night, at least we are finding out some of the people who are bit clueless about European football & assume that because Croatia are a small country they cant be that good. when the group stages had finished i looked at the draw & thought i could see a france v Croatia final. this was with Croatians beating Spanish in quarter finals that's how high i rated them. i wont list their achievements i did that enough pre match. but most of that team dont play key parts for the big Europeans clubs for nothing unfortunately head beat the heart this time

i really take massive problem, with the 1st half decent side we lost to. what are you on we beat Columbia on penalties & for 75 mins were the better side. they topped the group with a quality players like cuadrado falcao sanchez & 1 of the most comfortable displays in quarter final England has seen v Sweden side that a topped their group beating mexico 3-0 & seconds from a draw v Germany. this England was never supposed to get anywhere close to this. if England can blame anything it is the premier league & the amount of alright foreigners in every starting 11, because we didnt have the strength in depth the percentage of English players playing is under 30% considering Spanish & German are around 60%. shows our limitations no offence to Danny Welbeck but the fact that he only got place not on merit just because he was English. we didnt have anyone else it was him or glenn murray. if we can get managers to trust more of our academy players then we can only be in more strengthen position. as the talent is there look at Kane, Rashford & Alexander-Arnold

 

[Davalon]

Totally agree with you other than:

'Southgate has been a class act throughout.'

He's been detailed in the way of Clive Woodward, but I'm afraid I don't think he has the necessary experience or quality to manage.
And it is, full stop.
He's just a.FA yes man, in a waistcoat.

Tbh I was referring more to the way he's conducted himself.