TP27 Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 And battered they were too! Enjoyed the Match and could not help but think that Holland should really be in the Final! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted July 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 I'd much rather Holland were in the final and went on to win it. However, they didn't do themselves justice in the semi-final and when it comes down to penalties I felt they were awful on this occasion. It doesn't matter as long as the Germans hammer the Argentinians, I'll be happy. I think the Germans have been the most consistent and organised team so far anyway and certainly look most deserving of victory on the games played. Oddly enough I don't think any team has really 'shone', despite it being an excellent tournament (although I think the standard has dropped massively since the Quarter Finals, and even in some of the QF's). Even the Germans have had to put up a defensive rearguard against the likes of Algeria and the USA. If I was asked to name 3 teams that I was impressed with I'd name the USA, Chile and Columbia. I can't help but think Columbia and Chile could both have won the tournament with a little more luck and some dodgy decisions being removed from their games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 I'd much rather Holland were in the final and went on to win it. But then you would be totally unbearable 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 What, moreso? I didn't watch the third place match. Never do. Not even sure why they have it, you can be sure the teams don't really want it. As a long time Brazil fan I really hope this is the bottom of the curve for them. I predicted Germany would win this World Cup when the fourth went in against England four years ago. Much as England were diabolical that day (almost as bad as Brazil in the semi but not quite) Germany were magnificent. And it was the same qualities then that will see them lifting the cup today. Power, teamwork, passing, exploiting space and absolute ruthlessness in front of goal. I also said four years ago that the German model is something England needs to follow. None of what they do is technically beyond us. We desperately need to learn the lessons they learned from ten or so years ago, understand what they did, the plan they implemented to turn it around. Four years later England have made no progress at all while Germany have nurtured and developed a young team that could dominate international football for the next decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted July 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) Roy Hodgson could start by resigning. The fact he hasn't yet shows absolutely no personal pride whatsoever to me. Some of the comments he has come out with are disgraceful. How any England manager could stand after 3 matches and say "I think we could have easily won that" is beyond me. You might get away with it once, but 3 times in a row? Yet he did. Chris Waddle summed him up. He heard him talk after the Costa Rica match and said "I have no idea what planet Roy is on. I like the man, he has a lot of respect in the game, but he's just lost a lot of that." Hodgson talked about how pleased he was, how exciting some of the movement had been and how the tournament hadn't gone quite as well as he'd have liked but had "shown a lot more positives than negatives". Joke. Utter joke. The list of comments that he has come out with is far too long, and so is his reign as manager. I'm afraid I have zero respect for him as a manager now (and I used to have a lot). Edited July 13, 2014 by NewNiceMrMe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Who the England first team manager is for the next six or eight years is immaterial. The message is the same as it has been after every failure for as long as I can remember. And it's the message the likes of Waddle have been banging on about for a decade. We need to completely overhaul our entire approach to children's coaching. We need ten times the current number of fully qualified coaches, and we need them coaching 7 and 8 year olds to enjoy the technical game. We also need to incentivise our professional clubs to nurture English youth talent. Some say the problem is too many foreigners in the Premier League. I say there are too many in League One, blocking the development path of our domestic youngsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuprabob Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) My unexpected 3 teams of the tournament would be USA, Columbia and Costa Rica. Nobody gave Costa Rica a hope in hell of getting out of the group and expected them to be bottom never mind winning the group:-) Best pundit - Gordon Strachan Worst pundir - Ian Wright Edited July 13, 2014 by Cuprabob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted July 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 To be honest I'd forgotten about Costa Rica, so yes I'd probaby have them fourth. I watch far too much foreign football for my own good sometimes and Columbia and Chile were always going to be a huge threat to anyone. However, the sheer grit and spirit of the USA team was something else. I can foresee them being a major threat in the World Cup in 2018, especially if Jurgen is still in charge. I do think we're going to start seeing the rise of a few nations. Belgium should have done much better and in truth they disappointed me. They have so much talent that a semi-final spot was a minimum expectation in my view. I also think Wilmotts is a manager we'll see drawn to the Premier League in the near future. I was reading the other day that England were ranked 24th out of the 32 teams in respect of their performances. I think that is very kind to them. I'd have had them 30th. Only Spain and South Korea could be ranked lower for very different reasons in each case. Oh and did I say I think Hodgson should man up and resign? I think I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted July 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) Who the England first team manager is for the next six or eight years is immaterial. The message is the same as it has been after every failure for as long as I can remember. And it's the message the likes of Waddle have been banging on about for a decade. We need to completely overhaul our entire approach to children's coaching. We need ten times the current number of fully qualified coaches, and we need them coaching 7 and 8 year olds to enjoy the technical game. We also need to incentivise our professional clubs to nurture English youth talent. Some say the problem is too many foreigners in the Premier League. I say there are too many in League One, blocking the development path of our domestic youngsters. I couldn't disagree more in terms of the manager being immaterial. I understand the other point and I agree entirely with Waddle, but there is one point he stresses time and time again... We're too regimented. Everything is too structured. Nobody knows how to enjoy the game anymore. He quoted statistics about 7 year olds diving and being coached to always take the safe pass - and how creativity had been completely elminated from our youth coaching. I couldn't agree more. I see it week in and week out at the local club you know I support. The kids are so damned pre-programmed it is heart breaking, and that's a club that follows the FA guidelines to a tee. We've spent hundreds of millions on St Georges Whatever-it-is Academy and we're filling it with people who don't take other players on. The problem is that we will not change it. Not a hope in hell. The reason I want Hodgson out is because only a less old-guard manager will argue it. I know you might laugh at this, but I would like to see Hoddle back in the job. He went out with a very good record and only because he made a stupid mistake that he has since learned from. Creativity in our squad was never higher than with him in charge. If you take out the omission of Gascoigne (which he still says was the right thing to do) then he didn't do a lot wrong on the pitch. If they won't give it to him then just hand it to Gary Neville and sit back and watch him tear the FA apart. There are plenty of journalists who say he is on the edge of quitting the role anyway because he is sick of the Hodgson approach and is embarassed by what happened. He's the only player who all fans, of all clubs, respect from the perspective of speaking his mind. Even the scousers acknowledge his football nouse and not being afraid to call a spade a spade - regardless of club loyalties. I don't get many predictions right but I got this one spot on. England were doomed to fail long before qualification. I said it and they did it. The qualifiers showed we are a stuttering wreck of a team with no tactics, no real identity (another one of Waddle's gripes) and no idea what we want to do when we get the ball. I hope we don't qualify for Euro 2016 too, although I suspect Switzerland will ensure that anyway. If we scrape through it'll be another disaster. Just because we have a lot of young talent doesn't mean anything. I have one example I will cite for Hodgson going. John Stones. A real talent and very young. Why the feck take him out there and then send him back with just 15 minutes of playing time? Hodgson said 'the experience'. What experience? Of being dragged half way across the planet and not being trusted to play more than 15 minutes against Peru? I know he said it was back-up for Phil Jones, but it was complete mis-management of the most inept scale and the man has to go. Finally, he's just embarassing. His pitch-side antics made a good case for Clive Dunn looking less qualified for the role of Grandad. And he's dead. Edited July 13, 2014 by NewNiceMrMe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) The only reason I say the first team manager is immaterial is that our first team will be crap for the next generation whether that manager is Pep Guardiola or Neil Warnock. Of course that changes if we change our structure and give the England Manager responsibility for FA youth strategy and player development. We need to concentrate on the next generation. Today's kids who'll be pushing for the squad in 12 years time. I completely agree with the point on being too regimented. As far as I'm concerned they shouldn't be playing 11 a side til they're 12 let alone being drilled about formations and choosing the safe pass. Oh, and I'd ban all parents from the touch line. Edited July 13, 2014 by garcon magnifique Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Putin next to Blatter. I expect they're discussing human rights and equitable distribution of wealth. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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