Tragic Football Stories - Let us Kick Around the misshapen Jabulani that is English football right here

abio trying to get kudos for changing everything while switching round only peripheral figures imo.

otm but i guess many things come into play - lennon was rubbish at the wc, watching him in training, 'the capello index', if he's been joining petey in any taxi rides etc. etc.

Another one bites the bullet rather than soldier on http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8896134.stm

haha, who's next then...

Goodness. I was hoping Capello was going to clear the decks and pick the unshowy guys who don't mind doing it for the team. If even they don't fancy it, he'll be on his way ere long.

Not really. Wes Brown ws probably going to be made redundant.

But Robinson? A lot of crap about concentrating on his club career (as if there was less focus before) and family (er what dude you play footie for a living?! What's a few more games adding to that commitment). But the goalkeeping position is really open: James is effectively off, so is Rob Green - only 'marginal' on paper. Wouldn't have lost much by sticking with it for a bit.

The retirements are all spineless. People who think they deserve more. Again, goes w/out saying that Capello's record at club level still carries weight - just great how there is no hiding place for the current bunch.

Can't wait for Big Sam's verdict on this affair.
Said he'd imagine Robinson would change his mind if Capello could guarantee that he'd be 1st choice.

yeah, england need more 'guaranteed first choice' players alright.

I'd only describe the decision to retire as 'spineless' if it was out of fear or lack of fight, tbh.

IMO, an england career doesn't actually matter enough to most players in that pool to qualify.

But the goalkeeping position is really open:

umm... only if hart gets an injury in the next 15 years aaaand then foster isn't available as back-up?

Can't see Hart getting one injury in his career tbh

this is awesome
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/08/article-1301389-0ABAB2D1000005DC-809_468x286.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/08/article-1301389-0ABAA95D000005DC-967_468x286.jpg

even better if you read it as a taunt tbh

ahahahahahaha

It was out of lack of fear.

only if hart gets an injury in the next 15 years aaaand then foster isn't available as back-up?

Hart was 3rd choice when arguably he should have been 1st for the wc, bit like I said he could've had stuck around.

I really hope this brave effort from some world class genii intent on unseating Capello succeeds. It's about time there was some player power re: England.

i thought that hiring an unquestionable like capello would break it, but tbh he's made himself fairly questionable and weakened his position.

but a new strategy is needed- i reckon gerrard/terry/ferdinand should be the new player managers.

said it before and I'll say it again: MARADONA. Wasn't afraid to drop big name, backbone of the team players like Cambiasso and Zanetti, exactly what England need.

MARADONA for VILLA you know it makes SENSE

england needs gazza.

he's the only person who recognises the england players the way they truly are.

good people. who have done very bad things.

england with gazza mnanager- joey barton gets a call up

'yo joey, it's gazza'

"I've got a dressing gown and a box of chicken"

o_O

Not familiar with the Gazza/Moaty connection, LJ?

nono I am o_Oing at yet another player pull-out and a dude called Frank Fielding being in the squad

Foster is just straight "ooh I'm injured" 3 days before a League fixture shenanigans I think. Wes Brown retiring from international football is about on a level with me retiring from international football.

whatever happened to lee camp

Summer season supporting Bernie Clifton at Skegness Futurist Theatre iirc

I tell you when I know Scotland was in trouble: on 1st June 1997, I sat down to watch highlights of a friendly between Scotland and Malta, and soon realised there was a player wearing a Scotland shirt who I had never heard of before - that man was David Hopkin

― I am utterly and abjectly pissed off with this little lot (Tom D.), Tuesday, June 29, 2010 11:53 AM (1 month ago)

I've sat down to watch a Charlton match and not heard of our striker once - that man was David Mooney - and yeah, trouble loomed

Yeah, I have no idea who either of England's reserve keepers are now. can't remember the last time I hadn't actually *heard* of a Scotland player, but I don't think I could pick, say, Scott Robertson out of a lineup.

when yer reduced to calling up some guy you just made up you know that the darkness has truly fallen and you may as well get it over with and try to Anglify Almunia.

I was just checking that Scott Carson and Chris Kirkland are still alive, and it turns out that they are, though they aren't feeling too good right now.

Anyone watch it?

talk was in the euro thread dude

doh, sorry.

wasn't much of it.

feelin for dawson tbh, tho it's probably truer to say he overperformed last season than to claim he's international quality.

ashley young looked lively but didn't really beat his man, disappointing enough for all teh good reviews this mornin.

Capello half out - next boss to be an Englishman

Have any of these fuckers ever put together a coherent argument as to what the advantage is of having an English manager, or do their eyes just mist over and they start singing "Theme from Carling Black Label" and flexing their bulldog tattoos?

I kind of see the logic behind wanting the national team to be a reflection of the best players, manager and coaches that England has to offer, but that doesn't seem to be the reasoning behind this statement.

The FA always just bows to any kind of pressure, whatever it happens to be at the time in question. I doubt there's any kind of strategic thought going on, but if there is it'll be something like "hopefully this'll keep the redknapps off our backs for a while"

For some dudes running a business worth billions or something, they sure do spend a lot of time listening to what the gutter press tells them to do.

'To be honest, I watched in the first game and we got a free-kick just inside our half. John Terry knocked it long for Emile Heskey into the box and I was thinking: "You wouldn't have done that for Chelsea. You'd have passed that straight to Ashley Cole and just started playing again". Is it the fear? I don't know. I can't explain it, but that wouldn't have happened at Chelsea.

'As players, you obviously speak about this. I was sat on the bench with Michael Carrick watching the Germany game. And don't get me wrong, Germany were one of the best teams at the World Cup, but I was saying: "If Man United played them at Old Trafford you'd beat them 2-0". If Liverpool played Germany at Anfield, I think we'd beat them. Chelsea would beat them. If they were a Premier League team, they wouldn't win it.

Tactically, though, he concedes, England are lacking. 'I think it's the brain. I think they're cleverer than us'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1303119/JAMIE-CARRAGHER-EXCLUSIVE-On-England-Capello-Liverpools-foreign-owners.html

Carra using the royal "us" there

Yet, what of the severity of the remote training camp in Rustenburg, where the players were restricted to the confines of a luxury hotel with only the occasional golf day and safari to amuse them?

'To be honest I don't get that,' adds Carragher. 'I mean, what do you expect from a World Cup? Are you expecting the fair every afternoon?'

Kudos on that tho.

Wow, that's really good!

some other player - ozil or a dutch fella or someone - also came out with a similar "HOW CAN U BE BORED AT THE FUCKING WORLD CUP" quote at the time iirc

That one line has pretty much given him a free pass from me until the next time he gets away with suplexing some guy on the edge of the box.

It's the image of Rooney moaning cos he hasn't got a balloon that makes it I think.

joe cole crying because he's dropped his twist behind the waltzer