Is it just me or do the England internations seem less appealing these days. When I was younger I would always watch the games on TV but now I carnt be bothered. Poor football with little passion. I think we have been let down so many times that it is getting to the point where you expect a poor game with a poor result. Dont get me wrong, I want the lads to win but I seem to have lost the passion just like half of the players. Anybody else feel the same?
Yes I'd forgotton all about it if I'm honest. Hard to get excited about a game I can't even see the highlights of. Hope they win, but like you it's not the same if you can't see it Token flag wave (england)
Completely Boring, poor football played by over rated prima donnas with little or no regard for the shirt they pull on. I detest modern footballers for reasons epitomised by the likes of Ashely Cole et al.
Im the same, i couldn't even be bothered to go and watch it on Saturday, its just boring crap played mostly by players i don't even like. Club football wins every time. Im going out to watch the game tonight and obviously i hope we win but it won't exactly cripple me if we lose.
I think they're on a hiding to nothing these days tho </p> I'vebeen listening to the debates on TalkSport and such, about poorperformances, Carra retiring toprolong his Liverpool career, and Wembley being a hard place for the national team to play (says Capello).</p> The National team have struggled since the last world cup when Sven was in charge. We did OK out there and lost to a decent team on penalties in the Qtr final. But that wasn't good enough.</p> Its never good enough, thats the thing. The last qualifying campaign was shocking, but it was a group of decent (but only decent) players managed by a cretin. All teams have a bad spell, and that was ours. But thats not acceptable to the Wembley crowd, which invariably has a large percentage of absolute (mainly cockney) idiots, who seem to love to boo our own players as soon as they make a single mistake. What can theplayers do about that, they're notperfect?</p> Not qualifyingseems to have lowered expectations however which can only be a good thing- before we lost to Croatia in the Euro qualifiers we were favourites to win EVERY match we played, which is complete ********. We've got a squad with potential to get to the World cup and do reasonably well, but you watch, win tonight and we'll be favourites to win the World Cup in the morning. The players are paid what they're paid, not their fault really, but because they are paid so much they're expected by most fans and the English media to win every game they play. I don't blame Carra from packing it in.</p> Not qualifying for Euro2008 may have been the best thing thats happened to us in years in that respect.</p>
RE: I think they're on a hiding to nothing these days tho Well said Harrow, but the players are also to blame for raised expectations. They talk about each other in world class terms constantly. They believe they are world class. They court the publicity and PR that they are world class in order to secure huge contracts and sponsorship deals. When frankly, they have proved consistently for the last 12 years that they are anything other than world class and are nothing more than a very average group of international players. Granted, the media and fans are partly to blame too for the raised expectations but thats what the media do to generate interest and boost their own profits/circulation. The fans that have ever believed the England side are genuine contenders for major championships frankly know very little about football and have simply been sucked in by marketing and PR campaigns.
Do the players talk themselves up to be world class? </p> Not something I recall to be honest. They'll always say they stand up well to their opponents and can win, but not much more than that. They're not saying that now I can tell you that for nowt- they're saying they're lacking confidence and will be happy with a point against Croatia.</p> The fans and the media are the ones that expect us to win every game by a minimum of two goals. Even then its not enough, you have to win with finesse and style and show the world how good English football really is.</p> Ballix to that, get one in off Rooney's arse tonight in an awful game, scrape a one nil and i'll be happy as a pig in ****.</p>
Individually...... they are world class players, but just cant seem to be able to play together, think people saying that there's no passion is a right load of B*ll*cks, we have the team on paper to be challenging for world cups and euro championships, but if they they cant play together you can have the best team in the world and they wont win a thing if they cant play together, capello cant be expected to come in and wave a magic wand.
I think the thing that annoys many England fans well, me at any rate, is that the manager of teams like Croatia would love to have the wealth of talent that the England manager has at his disposal. They'd swap squads in an instant. So why do we look so inferior as a team? There's something wrong somewhere.
RE: Do the players talk themselves up to be world class? I do recall on numerous occasions the like of Rio talking up Rooney in the media. Rooney rattling on about how Stevie G is world class. JT giving a verbal loving to Joey Cole. They do talk each other up repeatedly, or at least they have in the past. If they're not doing it this week then maybe its because they've finally realised Croatia are better than they are and that they themselves aren't that good. Lets be honest, the likes of Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard are practically ineffective in an England shirt.
Exactly, you can have the best group of indivdually talented players in the world... ... and still not be a team. The example to me of a 'team' was 96/97 under Wilson.... not the most outstandingly gifted group of individuals but they knew how to play within the system that the manager imposed.
Which England players are world class??? How many have proven themselves on the world and international stage?
RE: I think the thing that annoys many England fans Would they really want, David James, Wes Brown, Glen Johnson, Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Jermaine Defoe, Theo Walcott? This wealth of talent is a myth created by marketers, the media and the Premier League.
RE: Which England players are world class??? Gerrard's proved it in champions league as have Terry, rooney, joe cole, lampard, ferdinand, ashley cole, micheal owen, beckham, they have all done it at the highest level, premiership and champions league.
But not on the international stage Which is surely where world greatness is measured? There's a lot of **** players who have played champions league football too. Rebrov anyone?
We've been managed by idiots </p> And when we've been managed by decent managers they've not done well because of the pressure to win every game. Look at the difference between Croatia and England- we have millionaire, world famous players playing for global clubs in a stadium that cost £850m to build. Croatia have players spread across Europe who are not widely known, and play in a ramshackle stadium but its alwaysfilled with fervent nationalistic fans who'll always get behind them. And they're not expected to win every tournament they enter, so can play their own game.</p> Makes a big difference...</p>
RE: How about the English players who have played in the So is Wes Brown world class? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer? Steve Finnan???? Good. But no where near world class.