Come anticipate Fabio Capello's two years as England manager with me

too ugly

When he eventually is no longer a pundit

eh? what's to stop him continuing his punditry 'til he pops his clogs?

So Rio now has the most misshapen lips of any England captain ever, right?

I love how everyone's pretending this is a big deal when we already knew full well Capello was planning on rotating the captaincy over the next few months?

Still, if it annoys John Terry it's good with me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38542000/jpg/_38542365_milligan238.jpg
http://footyfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/england-coach-fabio-capello.jpg

[7. Instal Harry Redknapp as part time manager with Jamie Redknapp as assistant and Louise as half time totty cheerleader

8. go web2.0 with rateyourenglandplayers.com - Social media and user generated content is the future

9. instal systems thinking courses, there is more than 4-4-2 or 4-5-1]

"The Moore in question is, of course, the late Robert, captain of England, winner of 108 caps, the World Cup, and the respect of every opponent down from the uniquely competitive Pele, who, after their soaring duel in Guadalajara in 1970, tore off his shirt and entered an embrace known only to the bravest and the best of warriors.

Also in the firing line, of course, is another Robert, Sir Bobby Charlton, who scored more goals than any other Englishman in international football, won the World Cup and was told that his 106th cap would be his last immediately after he had guided England into a winning position against West Germany in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final, only to be pulled off because, in the one great aberration of his brilliant career, Sir Alf Ramsey wanted to keep him fresh for the semi-final against Italy.

The trouble with Beckham's self-promotion and the sentimentality which has swept him to tonight's milestone here is that it appears to owe no debt to the reality of football history, the smidgeon of it his career represents and the mountainous scale of those of men like Moore and Charlton."

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-a-mickey-mouse-milestone-to-cap-beckham-fantasia-800477.html

wow: I turned on R5 and I think Platini was talking about respect for referees. and now - David Ginola, radio pundit!

kick-off at 8:00.

Ginola as pundit

will Alan Green show his notorious LFC sympathies?

I hope France score a few goals. But maybe 1-1 or so is more likely.

GOAL for france

in case anyones interested

I am. It is nice to hear of James giving away a penalty, then watching it go past him.

Subs: Terry, Gerrard, J Cole, Rooney all off!

poor Austria went 3-0 up against Holland but are now 4-3 down

plus, Russia whipped in Bucharest! Greece win in Portugal!

must be really annoying for Portugal even if it is only a friendly - still no revenge for two defeats four years ago

I'm annoyed too, to hear that.

But not at England's result. Allez les bleus! Ginola was assez bon aussi.

how can you prefer france to win over england? i say this as a man who bet on france to win 1-0 to soften the blow

Spain deservedly beat Italy, game played out like a League Two relegation six-pointer where someone's gone into the Football Manager data editor and raised all the player's attributes by 50. Except Iaquinta, who on tonight's performance would probably be a great fit for Bury's sub's bench.

High points of the match numbered two: the Spaniards quite clearly having a sweepstake who could antagonise Camoranesi to the point of him getting sent off, and Grosso executing a perfect sweep kick on Alonso, suggesting that after his football career ends he could get down with some UFC.

Je les aime

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/uk_enl_1206550186/img/1.jpg

Hmmm, poor game last night. I hadn't seen England play in a while, now I understand why you guys didn't make it to the Euro. England players seemed to play for the first time together.

... while France played at being Italy

England in not-worth-watching friendly shockah.

Attendance: 78,500. Do people never learn?

"The Moore in question is, of course, the late Robert, captain of England, winner of 108 caps, the World Cup, and the respect of every opponent down from the uniquely competitive Pele, who, after their soaring duel in Guadalajara in 1970, tore off his shirt and entered an embrace known only to the bravest and the best of warriors.

Where's this from, BNP News? England are in trouble, cannae even beat France.

Would BNP News be happy to hymn the greatness of Pele?

The "unique competitiveness" of Pele you mean... what unique competitiveness?

Pretty sure it's an impotence gag.

Question: Why does the English team underperform so much? Its not like you guys are lacking for talent so what's up?

They're lacking in talent

the season's too long and there are too many competitions. Scrap the League Cup, reduce the size of the Premiership to 16 teams. Let the resultant time be taken up by the national team training together, esp in things we're weak at (eg penalty shoot outs). Job done.

Plus they're lacking in talent.

the season's too long and there are too many competitions. Scrap the League Cup, reduce the size of the Premiership to 16 teams. Let the resultant time be taken up by the national team training together, esp in things we're weak at (eg penalty shoot outs). Job done.

Haha this is mental.

Clubs also bigger and more important than the national side - tho I suppose that's probably true in many other countries

all this soul-searching after a 1-0 friendly defeat?

Yes, but losing to France, embarrassing or what?

the season's too long and there are too many competitions

Doesn't seem to bother all the very good players of other nationalities who play in England.

Scrap the League Cup

Hack the season apart just because the FA and the Premiership can't get their mutual act together and sort out proper coaching of, y'know, basic technique, with English players?

reduce the size of the Premiership to 16 teams

Even smaller pool of talent to choose from.

Job done.

Erm, no.

Yes, but losing to France, embarrassing or what?

Why embarrassing? They've got a better record than England's.

(Hint, it's a Scot talking...)

thought it was stupid how Lineker was saying it's going to be MORE boring under Capello (compared to previous two managers). not possible.

Why doesn't Egnland have an equivalent to Clairefontaine?

Who is Clairfontaine?

Or what, or whatever

they decided to spend all the money on new Wembley, i think, but it is supposed to be happening.

the other argument is that not enough English players develop as players abroad - but this didn't affect Italy or Germany much in the past.

French Youth Academy = better known as Arsenal FC

There are few things more satisfying than watching this self-important, humorless English side go down.

it's a tough call but i do prefer watching a team i want to win

There are few things more satisfying than watching this self-important, humorless English side go down.

-- Tracer Hand, Thursday, 27 March 2008 15:15 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Although I agree, the problem is that Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, and all your other "favourites" aren't actually affected on any level by England being shit.

any *personal level

i couldn't watch a game just on the basis that i wanted one of the teams to lose. i mean, what if they won? that would be awful!

England teams needs a tragic-comic, alcoholic manchild like Gazza to bring the lulz.

i couldn't watch a game just on the basis that i wanted one of the teams to lose. i mean, what if they won? that would be awful!

-- blueski, Thursday, 27 March 2008 15:20 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

It's like wrestling, you don't mind watching the evil Commie win a few matches, as long as he gets his comeuppance in the end.

or electing Boris so that we can watch him crash and burn a bendy bus