Tackles, balls and Seaman - The footie thread

[the dirt]

Ok good, I guess it was nothing serious.

[badapple81]

I give Souness another 12 months max till he's sacked or leaves. Maybe even this season.

[Jim]

What would that achieve, if you can't go anywhere with a decent manager, where would you end up without one?

But of course, then Alan Shearer could take over...............

[badapple81]

Spain 1 - England 0

Havent seen it yet but soccernet says:

England gave an abject display in losing 1-0 to Spain in Madrid and Sven Goran Eriksson can take few positives from the game. Wayne Rooney had to be subbed after he narrowly escaped a sending-off, captain David Beckham limped out and Spain completely dominated an England side whose passing was nothing short of atrocious.

[Tj]

Gunner, don't watch it. Seriously, don't waste your time on it. It was awful, the only highlight was when Rooney pushed their goalkeeper. Had me laughing for a while 

[Danny Top Hat]

Dear God, that was quite possibly the worst football match I have ever seen.  England were acting like spoilt brats in the first half, resorting to some horrible, horrible tackles when they couldn't get the ball.  Rooney was the worst, but just about every player had got in on the act by the end of it.  The highlight of the game for me was when Reyes was substituted before Neville could do any further damage!

Spain were great in the first half, but both teams were a mess in the second.  Everyone just wanted the game to finish as soon as possible.  The worst thing of all though, above all the other negatives, was the crowd.  For fuck's sake, if Uefa threaten to kick England out of every tournement we play in because of our crowd, why the hell do they let European fans get away with the most unforgivably racist chanting i've ever heard?  I don't understand why Sven didn't just forfeit the game midway through the second half and say "sorry, i'm not putting my players through this anymore".

Something may be done about this offense because it's more high profile than usual but Viera, Henry and Wright before them have had to put up with that kind of thing for years in Europe, and nobody's done a thing about it.  It's games like that that make you realise just how little credit English football gets for eradicating that problem.

Oh, and the Spain manager is setting a fiinnneee example, of course.  I really hope that, after sitting through that game last night, he can take a nice long look at himself and think "hmm...maybe the whole of England is right, that what I said was out of order.  Maybe, it's something badly wrong with my culture, not theirs".  Before the game, his view was "fuck you all, i'm not a racist, you're all racist because you had all those colonies years ago".

[GNR_Green]

The highlight of the game for me was when Reyes was substituted before Neville could do any further damage!

Gary Neville is fucking scum, if I supported Man Utd I'd be ashamed of him.  If I was England boss he'd never get another cap, same goes for his brother.  It's a shame cos I used to think he (Gary) was a decent player.

Haven't watched any of the game yet, but you can't help worrying about England after these friendlies.  To be honest we would be better off not playing them unless we get a manager who isn't happy to lose them.  Keegan was useless tectically but at least he gave a fuck.

Is it any wonder that even the fans are starting to take their clubs more seriously if the so-called professionals seems to disregard playing for their country?

[Izzy]

Why haven't people realised yet that Sven has to go? That match was atrocious, but all the matches under him have been the same - the man is incompetant, u don't take 11 of the worlds best players and get them playing crap without a horrendous manager.

Spain were just as bad, just one past England? Pathetic.

As for the ''rascist chanting'' - while thats out of line, we're talking about 5 people in a stadium of 40,000. I notice the self righteous brigdade have been out, ffs, ur always going to get idiots, talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill. Yet again Sven gets away scott free because some other news story protects him.

Are people just to stupid to realise he is possibly the worst manager England have ever had? Not one shot on target, and the only reason we even managed to get two shots off traget credited is because they counted a deflection from 30 yards out!!!!

[axl_rose_700]

Why haven't people realised yet that Sven has to go? That match was atrocious, but all the matches under him have been the same - the man is incompetant, u don't take 11 of the worlds best players and get them playing crap without a horrendous manager.

Spain were just as bad, just one past England? Pathetic.

As for the ''rascist chanting'' - while thats out of line, we're talking about 5 people in a stadium of 40,000. I notice the self righteous brigdade have been out, ffs, ur always going to get idiots, talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill. Yet again Sven gets away scott free because some other news story protects him.

Are people just to stupid to realise he is possibly the worst manager England have ever had? Not one shot on target, and the only reason we even managed to get two shots off traget credited is because they counted a deflection from 30 yards out!!!!

Spot on!!

Sven alwys gets away with awful display's 'cos people forget about it when something else happens.

Brazil 2002 world cup, Seaman gets the blame!

Sven OUT!

[GNR_Green]

the man is incompetant, u don't take 11 of the worlds best players and get them playing crap without a horrendous manager.

Who are these 11 players?  If you ask me possibly Beckham, Cole, Ferdinand and Owen would be in a World's best squad or whatever.  Rooney has the talent but was a twat last night.  He's like a talented version of Alan Smith.

I can't stand these sorts of performances.  Like you say to not have a shot on target is amateurish.  I've seen the highlights now and it was like being back in the playground at school playing foul football.  Only with less goals!!

My opinion is that the team is not as good as they think they are, but Sven could get more out of them if he tried a different approach.  The only thing I like about him is his record in competitive games.  I only hope we can get far in Germany 2006 and don't capitulate like we did to Brazil in 2002.

[badapple81]

Sven has made a mockery of the pride and prestige that should be international football. Even if it is a friendly, I'm a firm believer that your starting team should always be the best possible 11. Changing around the majority of the line up at half time is just a joke. Take's the honour and prestige of international football away, and turns it into a training session.

I don't know who you would have replace him. An Englishman I hope. I'd rather an Englishman, regardless of how good the foreign manager is. As long as he has the pride, drive and determination. The manager of the England national team must be English.

[Jim]

Meh, you all seem pretty pro-continental.

The Spanish acted like twats last night, and while our tackling was very bad, it was no worse than their reactions. How a lot of them wern't booked for simulation baffles me.

I don't like that Reyes.

And how any of you are suprised at our performance towards the close of the game confuses me also. How Sven can justify brining on players such as Upson and Carragher that aren't even challenging for a position in the first team let alone ever get a competetive game is, likewise, beyond me.

[badapple81]

Meh, you all seem pretty pro-continental.

The Spanish acted like twats last night, and while our tackling was very bad, it was no worse than their reactions. How a lot of them wern't booked for simulation baffles me.

I don't like that Reyes.

And how any of you are suprised at our performance towards the close of the game confuses me also. How Sven can justify brining on players such as Upson and Carragher that aren't even challenging for a position in the first team let alone ever get a competetive game is, likewise, beyond me.

I can't stand Reyes. And you are spot on with Carragher.. 2nd rate player in club football, let alone internationals.

[GNR_Green]

Sven has made a mockery of the pride and prestige that should be international football. Even if it is a friendly, I'm a firm believer that your starting team should always be the best possible 11. Changing around the majority of the line up at half time is just a joke. Take's the honour and prestige of international football away, and turns it into a training session.

I don't know who you would have replace him. An Englishman I hope. I'd rather an Englishman, regardless of how good the foreign manager is. As long as he has the pride, drive and determination. The manager of the England national team must be English.

I still can't forgive Sven for the Australia defeat.  I know it's only a friendly, I've heard his shit excuses a thousand times, but we've built up a sporting rivalry with Australia.  I remember how the Aussies in the crowd were lording it up and taking the piss big style while every England fan in the country cringed throughout the entire game.  I really wanted to shut the Aussies up and make up for England's sporting embarrasments in cricket and rugby.  Remember this was before we got one over on them in the Rugby world cup!  And look at us now, they'd thrash us cos our team's fallen apart and we're shit again!  That might not be sven's fault but he should've taken it into consideration before making us a laughing stock.

Tactically he may be very good in certain ways, but we would never lose to the aussies if the manager was English.

[Izzy]

the man is incompetant, u don't take 11 of the worlds best players and get them playing crap without a horrendous manager.

Who are these 11 players?? If you ask me possibly Beckham, Cole, Ferdinand and Owen would be in a World's best squad or whatever.?

No, not the world's best players - but some of them, hence ''11 of the worlds best players', clearly there are very much better players out there, but England can field 11 world class players (okay, we lack a goalkeeper good enough even to be called third division standard)

[Izzy]

Oh dear, Milan Baros won't be kicking a football till Christmas....which leaves the club with no first team strikers left

Don't imagine we're gonna be gathering many points....


edit:

*slow hand clap for our fantastic performance against Middlesborough*

Are Liverpool a top 10 team any more? I just don't know.....we're awful and just don't get any better, we really should be beating rubbish like Middlesborough.....unless of course the team has declined so far that Middlesborough are actually a better team than us

Benitez hasn't made us a better side than Houllier managed.....either he's as bad (or worse) or the entire team is just awful....

[GNR_Green]

Izzy - I read your post before and after the Boro game.  I think you've got to give Benitez a bit more time before you can judge him.  He needs to find a striker and as he's new he might not be sure about some of the players he's inherited.  Losing Baros will be interesting as he's more important to Liverpool than some give him credit for, especially in the current climate.

Maybe Boro are getting better 

At least you didn't get robbed of 2 points by a dodgy ref like we did today - 0-0 vs Stoke.

[Izzy]

I don't think i have come to an opinion on him yet - but i think my point was valid, there is a major problem, and it's either his fault or the the overal quality of the team

Baros and Cisse were out which is a real blow but even so we got Luis Garcia and Kewel to cover, both accomplished in a striking role, and we conceeded two goals to Boro, that wasn't because of who was or was not playing up front but points to far larger problems

[Danny Top Hat]

while thats out of line, we're talking about 5 people in a stadium of 40,000.

Izzy, what the fuck are you talking about?  The noises were coming from all around, from huge sections of the crowd.  It was louder than all other chanting.  It was not just 5 people, it was close to being a majority.  Why are you trying to defend it and, almost as bad, why are you criticising the people who are condemning it?  This is a serious problem that needs to be condemned by everyone involved in football - people like you are not helping.

I don't like that Reyes.

Yeah, he should be a real man and ignore getting cropped every time he has the ball.  If he were given a tiny bit of protection from referees, you might see a different side to him.


I was at the Arsenal/West Brom game, by the way.  Great to be back at Highbury - shame the game was so poor.

[Izzy]

while thats out of line, we're talking about 5 people in a stadium of 40,000.

Izzy, what the fuck are you talking about?? The noises were coming from all around, from huge sections of the crowd.? It was louder than all other chanting.? It was not just 5 people, it was close to being a majority.? Why are you trying to defend it and, almost as bad, why are you criticising the people who are condemning it?? This is a serious problem that needs to be condemned by everyone involved in football - people like you are not helping.

Like i said the self righteous brigade are out in force. It was a tiny section of the crowd, on one of these blasted news channels they fiddled around with the sound levels and u can hear individual voices, it was a tiny section., there were tens of thousands in that crowd all of which were damn near silent which made it easier to hear what a small section where doing.

People like me aren't helping? So i should be claiming all Spanish people are rascist and should be banned from the world cup? Your always going to get idiots in every football crowd, and bursting into tears when u realise the world is not as cuddly as u thought will get nowhere, they were a tiny minority - punishing the majority would be just odd.

There really is nothing that can be done about it and i really don't think its the end of the world *Breaking news: idiots go to football matches too*, lining them up and shooting them just isn't going to work

Ya know it would be a rascist view to suggest all Spanish (or even a majority) where rascist? Think about it.