England V Lithuania Match Thread

[Manwell Pablo]

21 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

As I said, pre-qualifying groups, weeded out the weakest teams, Kosovo, San Marino. It helps those teams to develop and allows the stronger teams to go through.

 

Get rid of friendlies, releasing time to have larger, harder a groups, more competitive! 

 

Id not get rid of friendly games entirely but i do agree if we can lower the amount of international breaks we could lower the amount, they are used as keep busy games whilst other teams play qualifiers some times plus host nations also need to keep active.

 

the thing is as labelling them as weaker teams you are using a form of seeding.....and as I said before I think you need to look at the implications in how it would weaken us as a conferderation, you'd be playing into the hands of other continents when it comes to the finals. As I say it's not really feasible without totally global reform, Brazil Argentina Mexico Japan USA etc are going to qualify using the current format whether there is a seeding or not where as we'd potentially could remove 3/4 of our big players before the tournament.

[coolhandfox]

1 minute ago, Donut said:

I wouldnt say thats true of every nation to be honest.

 

Montenegro are quite a new nation to international football and have grown into being respectable opponents. Kazakhstan are another nation that have been represented in the champions league and theyre capable of nicking points off other teams. Kosovo have had two narrow defeats this campaign? one was Finland, not sure who they played saturday but thats pretty respectable, and of course the Faroes beat Greece twice.

 

Some of the smaller nations are quite a bit better than genuine whipping boy status like San Marino

Your right the reason they are better is because Kosovo have a population of 1,907,592, Kazakhstan has 17,855,384, they have a chance of having some talented players with the right infrastructure. Where as San Marino has 31,950 and Andorra 69,165, lets be honest the City of Leicester has 383,300 people to choose from and could maybe field a stronger side!

 

 

[Manwell Pablo]

Just now, coolhandfox said:

Your right the reason they are better is because Kosovo have a population of 1,907,592, Kazakhstan has 17,855,384, they have a chance of having some talented players with the right infrastructure. Where as San Marino has 31,950 and Andorra 69,165, lets be honest the City of Leicester has 383,300 people to choose from and could maybe field a stronger side!

 

 

 San Marino is smaller than Loughborough never mind Leicester 

[coolhandfox]

9 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Id not get rid of friendly games entirely but i do agree if we can lower the amount of international breaks we could lower the amount, they are used as keep busy games whilst other teams play qualifiers some times plus host nations also need to keep active.

 

the thing is as labelling them as weaker teams you are using a form of seeding.....and as I said before I think you need to look at the implications in how it would weaken us as a conferderation, you'd be playing into the hands of other continents when it comes to the finals. As I say it's not really feasible without totally global reform, Brazil Argentina Mexico Japan USA etc are going to qualify using the current format whether there is a seeding or not where as we'd potentially could remove 3/4 of our big players before the tournament.

Argentina, had to play Brazil, Chile, Columbia etc in qualifying, that's why the are Tournament ready, they had had a scrap on the way to get there!   

[Manwell Pablo]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

Argentina, had to play Brazil, Chile, Columbia etc in qualifying, that's why the are Tournament ready, they had had a scrap on the way to get there!   

 

Where as Germany came through European qualifying won the tournament and beat Brazil 7-1 in their own back yard in the process. 

[coolhandfox]

13 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Where as Germany came through European qualifying won the tournament and beat Brazil 7-1 in their own back yard in the process. 

 

True, a Brazil, who had lost it best defender and Captain Thiago Silva to suspension, and their star forward Neymar to a broken Vertebra, they were in disarray!

 

Or should we talk about how they have won it five times and made the Semi-finals in 5 other world cups?

[Donut]

3 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

 

True, a Brazil, who had lost it best defender and Captain Thiago Silva to suspension, and their star forward Neymar to a broken Vertebra, they were in disarray!

 

Or should we talk about how they have won it five times and made the Semi-finals in 5 other world cups?

Think i can sum this one up:

 

Germany have produced loads of world class players and win tournaments regularly.

 

Brazil have produced loads of world class players and win tournaments regularly.

 

England are unquestionnably shit.

 

The end.

[Trav Le Bleu]

5 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

Lallana Vardy has such a punchable face.

Corrected for historical accuracy.

[Alf Bentley]

Eyes a little bit moist reading this piece: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2017/m=3/news=bradley-and-jermain-s-special-bond-2877374.html

 

Well done to Defoe and whoever has organised the little lad's mascot appearances for Sunderland - & England tonight.

[Bert]

Lovely finish from Vardy, showed great composure in a ridiculously short space of time. A chance that in November he'd have took an extra touch and probably missed. Ridiculous what confidence can do for a striker. 

[Bert]

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Vardy in playing down the middle and looking useful shocker!

 

He was wasted under Woy's tactics, and tbh largely for the most part of this season, is it just me who's thought Vardy's looked like how he played for England/Woy for us this season? Wasted out wide, until the last few weeks and surprise surprise his form has improved.

He couldn't leave Vardy out because of the season he was having but also couldn't leave out Kane because of the season he was having too. The infatuation of matching up teams and/or not playing to the teams own strengths with the most in form players was the biggest problem, for me under Hodgson. 

[The whole world smiles]

On 26/03/2017 at 19:43, coolhandfox said:

 

Great being honest, I prefer him to be tactically brilliant and a complete nob! It a sad state of affairs that the best English manager is a failed Middlesbrough manager, before anyone says he was good with the under 21's so was bloody Taylor and Peace, two other poor managers!

And Chris Coleman was a failed Coventry Manager and is probably regarded as the best manager Wales have ever had. 

 

Michael O'Neil is doing wonders with northern Ireland after managing the mighty brechin city and shamrock rovers.

 

Where as Fabio Cappelo and Sven are two of Europe's most decorated managers at club level and look how they turned out.

 

International management is completely different my friend and Southgate is winning me over in a big way.

[Donut]

25 minutes ago, The whole world smiles said:

And Chris Coleman was a failed Coventry Manager and is probably regarded as the best manager Wales have ever had. 

 

Michael O'Neil is doing wonders with northern Ireland after managing the mighty brechin city and shamrock rovers.

 

Where as Fabio Cappelo and Sven are two of Europe's most decorated managers at club level and look how they turned out.

 

International management is completely different my friend and Southgate is winning me over in a big way.

No other Wales manager has had Gareth Bale at the peak of his power. Chris Coleman is a bang average manager at best. Hes shit to be honest.

 

Michael O'Neil, i admire the job he is doing i must say. Northern Ireland seem to unashamedly revel in being a tough underdog. I have no problem with that. they get the most out of what they have and have great spirit.

 

Southgate might talk well but lets see come the world cup. Weve fallen that low id take not going out in embarrasment as a good tournament.

 

 

[The whole world smiles]

On 26/03/2017 at 23:29, Donut said:

No other Wales manager has had Gareth Bale at the peak of his power. Chris Coleman is a bang average manager at best. Hes shit to be honest.

 

Michael O'Neil, i admire the job he is doing i must say. Northern Ireland seem to unashamedly revel in being a tough underdog. I have no problem with that. they get the most out of what they have and have great spirit.

 

Southgate might talk well but lets see come the world cup. Weve fallen that low id take not going out in embarrasment as a good tournament and.

 

 

Yup bale is good but we had a team with Beckham, Lampard, gearard, Terry, Ferdinand, Owen etc etc and never made a semi final. 

 

I agree hes a poor manager and thick as shit too boot but as i say international management is different and bale or no bale you can't argue with the job he has done at wales. big Phil Scolari was another shit manager who won the world cup and was a runner up at the euros. 

 

 

[Dan]

That is actually how bad it has gotten for England now. We'd probably consider going through to the last 16 of the World Cup as a non-disaster.

 

I don't think Southgate's doing badly but it's hard to judge really. Games like today you're on a hiding to nothing. It was wank but the whole thing was a procession. There was quite literally no way it wasn't going to be rubbish.

 

They've got to consider giving the whole thing a bit of a shake up. Far too many games like today's which all in all are a bit of a farce. To think we've disrupted the domestic season for that nonsense.

[Manwell Pablo]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

 

True, a Brazil, who had lost it best defender and Captain Thiago Silva to suspension, and their star forward Neymar to a broken Vertebra, they were in disarray!

 

Or should we talk about how they have won it five times and made the Semi-finals in 5 other world cups?

 

7-1, does it really matter? If as you suggest the Germans had had no real preparation and were playing away in Brazil do you honestly think two players a) constituted disarray b) vindicates a 7-1 reverse score line?  

 

 

How many times have Germany won it? Italy won it? Spain? France? Even us compared to south Americas total haul, How many semi finals have we made? European teams are a force at the World Cup always have been. There are two all European World Cup finals out of the last three from my memory.

 

You're making a total none point, I'm afraid seedings are there to ensure our best teams get there and if they don't it's because they aren't fit to to be there. Totally pointless the 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th teams in Europe don't get to the finals while the 32nd do purely because they've found themself drawing 4 or 5 of the twenty teams ranked below them. 

[Wymsey]

It's no surprise after any win that some people predict England will crash and slip-up against the 'real' professionals of world football.

 

This type of thought-process won't help in the player's minds with them knowing that these fans expect them to fail at some stage rather than supporting and being happy about the national team doing well under a new manager.

 

A win's a win.

 

The Iceland defeat was obviously embarrassing but Hodgson in this case failed to adapt against this type of side with a unique approach that worked for them, and Southgate very recently admitted that the team must adapt more effectively against different oposition types - and I back him to do this, with general squad confidence being high at the moment and the players seemingly playing for him.

[Donut]

10 minutes ago, Wymeswold fox said:

It's no surprise after any win that some people predict England will crash and slip-up against the 'real' professionals of world football.

 

This type of thought-process won't help in the player's minds with them knowing that these fans expect them to fail at some stage rather than supporting and being happy about the national team doing well under a new manager.

 

A win's a win.

 

The Iceland defeat was obviously embarrassing but Hodgson in this case failed to adapt against this type of side with a unique approach that worked for them, and Southgate very recently admitted that the team must adapt more effectively against different oposition types - and I back him to do this, with general squad confidence being high at the moment and the players seemingly playing for him.

I just dont see it, sorry

 

I see us labouring to wins against Lithuania and even Malta.

 

I expect them to fail because look at our team. Its miles worse than loads of other countries. The only young prspect coming through im genuinely excited about that i think is quality is Alli, the rest are just squad filling junk.

 

History tells you quite clearly we do slip up against "the real professionals" of world football, thats why theyve won the world cup 4, even 5 times across different generations while weve done almost nothing except our win on home soil.

 

The Germany performance was encouraging ish, but even that means next to nothing if were honest.

[Izzy]

44 minutes ago, Donut said:

No other Wales manager has had Gareth Bale at the peak of his power. Chris Coleman is a bang average manager at best. Hes shit to be honest.

 

Michael O'Neil, i admire the job he is doing i must say. Northern Ireland seem to unashamedly revel in being a tough underdog. I have no problem with that. they get the most out of what they have and have great spirit.

 

Southgate might talk well but lets see come the world cup. Weve fallen that low id take not going out in embarrasment as a good tournament.

 

 

Reading your recent posts it's almost like you're desperate for Southgate to fail. Not sure what you've got against him but it seems most are prepared to give him a chance so maybe you should too...

[Donut]

Just now, Izzy Muzzett said:

Reading your recent posts it's almost like you're desperate for Southgate to fail. Not sure what you've got against him but it seems most are prepared to give him a chance so maybe you should too...

Got no problem with Southgate, its just England in general.

 

Cant take their lack of quality, lack of enthusiasm, rubbish players and inevitable failure any longer.

 

Some of these England games are the longest 90 mins to sit through you could imagine.

 

I have absolutely no idea why Allardyce acted so naively. With him in charge, maybe there might have been some kind of plan and change of direction, i dont know its worn me down now and im pretty patriotic.

[Dan]

Seeding is necessary but I do think we need a bit of a reshuffle. Games like that one earlier were just a farce and it's gone on for years.

 

I wonder if we play preliminary groups and eventually chop it down to 24 teams left, 6 groups of 4, top 2 going through each group qualifies for the World Cup and then some kind of play-off to determine who gets the 13th spot.

 

This weekend's game just wasn't worth having a break from league fixtures for. Not for us, not for Lithuania's players, not for the vast majority who played. Farce.

[Finnegan]

11 hours ago, Donut said:

For a brand new nation, Kosovo are miles ahead of the likes of San Marino, Gibraltar in their quality to be fair to them.

 

I think theyll grow to become similar quality to that of Montenegro, competitive and capable of scoring 10 or 11 points per group.

 

Probably because they've got shit loads more people to call on. Kosovo is small but it's not a micronation.

 

Plus, there's Kosovan expats all over Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and obviously Albania.

 

If you made a team of everyone that COULD play for them, they'd be comfortably better than the rest of the Balkan nations except Croatia.

 

Literally about half of the Swiss national team plus the odd straggler like Januzaj.

[Donut]

13 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Probably because they've got shit loads more people to call on. Kosovo is small but it's not a micronation.

 

Plus, there's Kosovan expats all over Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and obviously Albania.

 

If you made a team of everyone that COULD play for them, they'd be comfortably better than the rest of the Balkan nations except Croatia.

 

Literally about half of the Swiss national team plus the odd straggler like Januzaj.

Basically yes.

[foxy boxing]

England were always going to win, the opposition were always going to put ten men behind the ball and squeeze the space, at least it was nice to see Vardy get a well taken goal. whoever the three players behind the striker are they need to do more to get them in scoring positions and keep hold of the ball more and to run at defenders and get into the box and link up with each other.

[foxes21]

1 hour ago, foxy boxing said:

England were always going to win, the opposition were always going to put ten men behind the ball and squeeze the space, at least it was nice to see Vardy get a well taken goal. whoever the three players behind the striker are they need to do more to get them in scoring positions and keep hold of the ball more and to run at defenders and get into the box and link up with each other.

agreed. the service to the strikers is diabolical. too many sideway and backward passes. rashford had the most dribbles/take ons and he was only on the pitch for half an hour.