England v Ireland

[whoareyaaa]

Wasn't expecting much from this game anyway, players are meant to be on holiday.

[Leicesterpool]

Didn't enjoy that to be honest, it was a poor england performance. 

[BlueSi13]

Get Capello back, we'd usually win this game and we'd have little doubt about qualifying.

 

Now we have a real danger of not qualifying. Grass isn't always greener.

 

Exactly, played Ukraine, Poland, and Montenegro, and not beaten any of them, and have been dominated each time.  Was a fan of his to begin with but things are seemingly going downhill fast.....again.

[Danno]

Sick of Hodgson. Yawn.

[BlueSi13]

Didn't enjoy that to be honest, it was a poor england performance. 

 

It's always a poor performance, probably explains why the atmosphere is always bad.

[Tom17LCFC]

Just very, very boring.

[Leicestermad85]

why doesnt cole like speaking to the media??

[Leicesterpool]

We've got a young england squad coming through we need a young manager to inspire them. Hodgson's dinosaur tactics aren't working.

[Kitchandro]

I can't believe people didn't see anything wrong with Hodgson in the euros. He picked players on reputation instead of form and basically made all the mistakes previous managers have made.

 

We played shit football then and that's what we'll always play until we bring in a manager who is willing to shake things up, demand some passion and try to instill a philosophy.

[Finnegan]

You say we're dull but we think we're brill!

[marko]

So much for putting yourself in the shop window, eh Shaun?

To be fair, he did. Just a shame for us that it was Poundland.

[kingfox]

Yet another shit international game involving England no surprise.

 

And what did I say 1-1 with Lampard scoring and St Ledger, got our goalscorer right and the score

 

St Ledger was at fault for the goal, but he cleared his lines when he had to, and made some good clearances. 

[Donut]

Youd have to question the quality of England when we couldnt deal with Irelands main tactic (at f**king international level) of the keeper booting it down field and playing for bits and pieces. It makes me despair

[Pride_Of_The_Midlands]

"Close to a sellout?" Really?! Empty seats everywhere

 

How do England games not sell out?

 

60,000 at Arsenal every other week. 

40,000 at Chelsea. 

35,000 at Tottenham Hotpsur. 

30,000 at West Ham United. 

25,000 at Fulham. 

That's 190,000 people without even considering Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers etc. 

Enough to fill Wembley twice. 

It should be impossible to get a ticket at Wembley. 

If you live in London and go and watch a London club play every other week, why would you not go and watch England at Wembley every other month? 

It's the same with Wales. Cardiff City and Swansea City fill their stadiums every week but when Wales play at their stadiums there are empty seats. 

Makes no sense.

[z-layrex]

How do England games not sell out?

60,000 at Arsenal every other week.

40,000 at Chelsea.

35,000 at Tottenham Hotpsur.

30,000 at West Ham United.

25,000 at Fulham.

That's 190,000 people without even considering Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers etc.

Enough to fill Wembley twice.

It should be impossible to get a ticket at Wembley.

If you live in London and go and watch a London club play every other week, why would you not go and watch England at Wembley every other month?

It's the same with Wales. Cardiff City and Swansea City fill their stadiums every week but when Wales play at their stadiums there are empty seats.

Makes no sense.

Because England are shit, Wembley is shit and the ticket prices are shit.

[Tielemans63]

That was a ****ing dreadful game from start to finish. The ball was in the air 90% of the time and both sides struggled to string 3 passes together.

Depressing.

[john doe]

That was a ****ing dreadful game from start to finish. The ball was in the air 90% of the time and both sides struggled to string 3 passes together.

Depressing.

bring on brazil 

[Kitchandro]

How do England games not sell out?

 

60,000 at Arsenal every other week. 

40,000 at Chelsea. 

35,000 at Tottenham Hotpsur. 

30,000 at West Ham United. 

25,000 at Fulham. 

That's 190,000 people without even considering Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers etc. 

Enough to fill Wembley twice. 

It should be impossible to get a ticket at Wembley. 

If you live in London and go and watch a London club play every other week, why would you not go and watch England at Wembley every other month? 

It's the same with Wales. Cardiff City and Swansea City fill their stadiums every week but when Wales play at their stadiums there are empty seats. 

Makes no sense.

 

People just don't care about England, they have no affinity with them. There is no atmosphere from the fans and minimal passion from the players.

 

I have no interest in watching these people I don't like play the kind of football I don't like. I don't even care if they do well at major tournaments nowadays.

[Guest MattP]

I stopped watching England friendlies two years ago and a scan through this yet again confirms I am not missing much.

[Wymsey]

I stopped watching England friendlies two years ago and a scan through this yet again confirms I am not missing much.

 

This.

 

I'm even starting to think whether I should watch the upcoming qualifiers - The passion has very much gone in international football at the very least in this country.

 

I've enjoyed watching Scotland a few times (sorry), and even though they are sh*t most of the time, at least their players are determined to play well for their respective country. 

[Tielemans63]

I think these last few posts have hit the nail on the head. You get the feeling that playing for England is a chore for a lot of these boys. International football is down the list of priorities, some way behind the Champion's League and the Premier League.

It takes a lot to knock the enthusiasm out of England fans who are among the most passionate on the international stage but I think over the last couple of years the team has managed it by consistently putting in some of the most insipid and careless performances imaginable. If the England players don't give a fvck why should the supporters?

I think, all things considered, this is pretty much rock bottom for the English national team. There can't be too many teams from the past who wouldn't give this current side an absolute hiding.

At least the Irish boys looked proud to pull on the green jersey.

[Guest MattP]

This.

 

I'm even starting to think whether I should watch the upcoming qualifiers - The passion has very much gone in international football at the very least in this country.

 

I've enjoyed watching Scotland a few times (sorry), and even though they are sh*t most of the time, at least their players are determined to play well for their respective country. 

 

Can't remember which game it was but I just thouht fcuk it.

 

They didnt care, I didn't care, I looked at the starting lot and I thought they were pretty much a bunt of tossers, that was it for me after that.

 

I'll still watch the qualifiers providing I'm not doing something more interesting but wasting my spare time watching them play friendlies has long gone, what possesses people to actually shell out hard earned cash to watch an international friendly I can never get my head around.

[Tielemans63]

Can't remember which game it was but I just thouht fcuk it.

They didnt care, I didn't care, I looked at the starting lot and I thought they were pretty much a bunt of tossers, that was it for me after that.

I'll still watch the qualifiers providing I'm not doing something more interesting but wasting my spare time watching them play friendlies has long gone, what possesses people to actually shell out hard earned cash to watch an international friendly I can never get my head around.

Thing is Matt, the players seem to treat qualifiers with the same disdain they do friendlies these days. I really think they struggle to motivate themselves - why else would they be making such hard work of qualifying from what is really an absolutely piss easy group.

Makes me laugh when after the game Stevie G is describing Montenegro as if they're fvcking Brazil. England seem unable to play with any style or urgency whatever the occasion.

[Guest MattP]

Thing is Matt, the players seem to treat qualifiers with the same disdain they do friendlies these days. I really think they struggle to motivate themselves - why else would they be making such hard work of qualifying from what is really an absolutely piss easy group.

Makes me laugh when after the game Stevie G is describing Montenegro as if they're fvcking Brazil. England seem unable to play with any style or urgency whatever the occasion.

You could be right there, you probably are in fact.

 

I'm not sure it's a lack of motivation though or some of our players thinking they are just far better footballers than they actually are. From what I have seen in the last 3-4 years of competitive games England are little better than Poland or Ukraine.

[Captain...]

This is even more reason for getting the Neville Beckham dream team in, even if it would be just to galvanise the fans and players. Roy, Crapello, Shteve, have all been really uninspiring appointments, and I don't think 'arry would have done much better. After 2014's dismal failure we will need to retire off the last remnants of the Golden Generation Frank, Stevie, Ashley, Rio and Terry, as I think it would be too much for Beckham and Neville to manage, make Rooney captain, I would hope it would have the same affect as it did with Beckham, and get in Golden Balls and Red Nev, classic good cop bad cop duo and actually get a bit of interest back into the national team.