International Football thread

[Chris de Burgh]

Hooper has no chance of ever getting into the England squad whilst he's sitting on Norwich's bench.

Jay Rodriguez, Fraizer Campbell, Gabby Agbonlahor, and Darren Bent I would say are ahead of him in the pecking order. And obviously Andy Carroll, once he returns from injury ("obviously" not because of his ability, or lack of, but because Roy has previously called him up). Maybe even Saido Berahino, if he can get a proper run in the WBA team.

As for Boruc, the man is a complete fruit loop. But he's also in some serious, serious form. Obviously I'm biased, but he's probably been the best goalkeeper in the PL so far this season. That said, Poland may well rest one or two players, Boruc included.

Boom

The likes of Lambert and Rodriguez have earned their call up. The amount of times they've been ignored due to playing for a "lesser" club was getting ridiculous. Yet you look at other names that have been called up in recent months/years (Sterling, Welbeck, Walker etc) and it does make you wonder how the England selectors actually pick their players.

[yuppie]

Somethings from tonights games that might be worth considering.

Maybe Englands world cup group was tougher than it looked considering that Ukraine have just beaten France 2-0

Baines appears not to be as good as Cashly at international level.

Forster is not an international keeper, and Hart really is the best England has, which is a worry.

England miss the ground Gerrard covers. Yes he plays to many hollywood balls and shoots to often, but he also covers such a large area of the pitch covering others mistakes.

England need a better back 2, why is Dawson not in the squad, worth a look.

England has a team that almost picks itself, the back up squad is not great. England are stuffed if certain players get injured.

Bring on Germany

[Chris de Burgh]

Somethings from tonights games that might be worth considering.

Maybe Englands world cup group was tougher than it looked considering that Ukraine have just beaten France 2-0

Baines appears not to be as good as Cashly at international level.

Forster is not an international keeper, and Hart really is the best England has, which is a worry.

England miss the ground Gerrard covers. Yes he plays to many hollywood balls and shoots to often, but he also covers such a large area of the pitch covering others mistakes.

England need a better back 2, why is Dawson not in the squad, worth a look.

England has a team that almost picks itself, the back up squad is not great. England are stuffed if certain players get injured.

Bring on Germany

I agree on Forster, nerves are going to play a certain part in your international debut but he looked really shaky tonight. imo he reacted really slowly to Chile's first goal and played his hand too early for chile's second. If he'd have stood his ground or come out at Sanchez it would have made his life a lot harder but as soon as he started going down Sanchez did what he needed to do. A fantastic finish and brilliant reactions but he was aided by some poor keeping tonight. If this is how they play v Chile come Tuesday it could be a lot worse for England.....

[Durhamfootman]

I've been banging on about our centre backs for a while now, and they were pretty shambolic tonight. Still a big worry for me. We looked vulnerable every time we lost the ball, tonight. I'm surprised Chile didn't score more, tbh

worst I've seen Baines play in an England shirt. Raises a few question marks about his defensive abilities against more unorthodox, and better quality, opposition

Lallana made a decent enough debut, without setting the world on fire.

Same cannot be said for Forster, sadly. It wasn't the easiest opposition for him to face on debut, and his defenders were just awful, but he didn't look up to the job tonight.

Reality check for England tonight, but that is probably not a bad thing. Chile are exactly the sort of creative/positive, yet cynical/negative South American cheaters that would give us a spanking in Brazil, so we might as well get used to playing them and try and work out some kind of game plan.

[mikesiva]

I was wowed by the South American flair exhibited by the Chile players....

They played the kind of football which has always appealed to football fans growing up in the Caribbean. That's why most Caribbean football fans usually choose a South American side as their favourite side for the World Cup. I expect this World Cup to be no different.

[Kim]

WoW!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1854 ... 1-training

[sussexpob]

I was wowed by the South American flair exhibited by the Chile players....

They played the kind of football which has always appealed to football fans growing up in the Caribbean. That's why most Caribbean football fans usually choose a South American side as their favourite side for the World Cup. I expect this World Cup to be no different.

The difference between Hodgson and the ghost of Bielsa, the greatest living football tactitioner.

The Chile side setup in such a brilliant and original way. They put 7 people in your box all closing the ball down at high tempo and make sure that you are spending all the game batting them away rather then attacking thier narrow bank of 3 centre halfs. The defence pushes up against the midfield so that the formation close into almost a 0-7-3 with both defence and midfield working together to close the space defensively, and make it damn hard to exploit anything on the break.

The fluidity of the system is also brilliant.... the attacking three swap positions and support each other, when they dont have the ball the wide men in midfield push up to close the space, and the midfield centres drop to fill in.

I also love the fact that Bielsa, and Siampaio in his absence, has the balls to play Diaz rather than Vidal in the most important playmaking position in the centre... it gives Vidal the space to roam to places where he can really do damage, and Diaz has become one of the underrated players of the world, his distribution and game management has rightfully earnt him the title of "The Chilean Xavi".

The problem for Chile is when teams with half a brain attack Diaz.... Spain and Brazil did it in the last world cup(although at the time it was Vidal) and shut the whole system down... they also outworked Chile by also pressing high up the field. It all unravels quickly once a team starts to take control against them and attacks the lack of width the 3-4-3 has once you can work the space behind the midfield. The centre backs end up having to walk wider, and this is compensated by the DM dropping into defence, whcih then leaves space in the channel between defence and midfield.

Playing 4-4-2 vs a 3-4-3 was both suicidal and tactically unaware.... you HAVE to have the extra midfield to close down the space and have your wide men backed up with full backs push their wide men back....

[st_brendy]

I was wowed by the South American flair exhibited by the Chile players....

They played the kind of football which has always appealed to football fans growing up in the Caribbean. That's why most Caribbean football fans usually choose a South American side as their favourite side for the World Cup. I expect this World Cup to be no different.

The difference between Hodgson and the ghost of Bielsa, the greatest living football tactitioner.

The Chile side setup in such a brilliant and original way. They put 7 people in your box all closing the ball down at high tempo and make sure that you are spending all the game batting them away rather then attacking thier narrow bank of 3 centre halfs. The defence pushes up against the midfield so that the formation close into almost a 0-7-3 with both defence and midfield working together to close the space defensively, and make it damn hard to exploit anything on the break.

The fluidity of the system is also brilliant.... the attacking three swap positions and support each other, when they dont have the ball the wide men in midfield push up to close the space, and the midfield centres drop to fill in.

I also love the fact that Bielsa, and Siampaio in his absence, has the balls to play Diaz rather than Vidal in the most important playmaking position in the centre... it gives Vidal the space to roam to places where he can really do damage, and Diaz has become one of the underrated players of the world, his distribution and game management has rightfully earnt him the title of "The Chilean Xavi".

The problem for Chile is when teams with half a brain attack Diaz.... Spain and Brazil did it in the last world cup(although at the time it was Vidal) and shut the whole system down... they also outworked Chile by also pressing high up the field. It all unravels quickly once a team starts to take control against them and attacks the lack of width the 3-4-3 has once you can work the space behind the midfield. The centre backs end up having to walk wider, and this is compensated by the DM dropping into defence, whcih then leaves space in the channel between defence and midfield.

Playing 4-4-2 vs a 3-4-3 was both suicidal and tactically unaware.... you HAVE to have the extra midfield to close down the space and have your wide men backed up with full backs push their wide men back....

Less than 12 months into the job, and it is already clear how lucky we (Saints) are to have a disciple of Bielsa, in Pochettino.

[GGAS]

I think the problem with England has often been that you focus too much on finding the right system for yourselves, and forget about considering the shape of the opposition, Chile being a prime example. I do rate and like Hodgson, but he seems a bit tactically rigid. It's nice to see Roy finally picking the Southampton lads, they've been knocking on the door for a while though I'm still unsure about having Gerrard or Lampard in the midfield and despite Baines' error against Chile, I'd still have him over Cole.

[sussexpob]

I think the problem with England has often been that you focus too much on finding the right system for yourselves, and forget about considering the shape of the opposition

Couldnt agree less. England have no system.... they have no style, no national psyche. They are too rigid, but rigid not to a system but on the belief that such systems dont even exist. It isnt a priority to find a system because the press think the best 11 players can guide themselves, and that is engrained in the national game... In the same way that the best instrumentalists playing the most expensive instruments would sound shite if they had a bad conductor,England find themselves indulging in the creation of some rather bad music.

Germany were a team similar and then Klinnsman created a way for the national team to play that filtered down.
Spain have a clear way they play, both on a national level and international.
Argentine sides always have the enganche
Even Italy, the MOST boring and inflexible team in the planet have changed the way they play in recent years!
Brazil changed 10 years ago to sacrifice flair with power and pace.
Holland did the same....

They all had clear ideas basing a game around a set of players they had..... the coaches said to themselves "how do I make something strong out of these parts"...

Roy Hodgson picks 11 guys and expects miracles on the pitch to do his job.

[Alviro Patterson]

Roy Hodgson has got a thankless task of getting England to compete on the international stage, when it's the Premier League who effectively run English football. All these billions generated every season but it's going to the wrong places, a culture of spending over the odds for players (mostly foreign) who have no real benefit to the game. The FA comission should be looking at taking down the Premier League if they want the national game to prosper, but instead there will be plenty of hand greasing.

[Chris de Burgh]

Roy Hodgson has got a thankless task of getting England to compete on the international stage, when it's the Premier League who effectively run English football. All these billions generated every season but it's going to the wrong places, a culture of spending over the odds for players (mostly foreign) who have no real benefit to the game. The FA comission should be looking at taking down the Premier League if they want the national game to prosper, but instead there will be plenty of hand greasing.

The Bundesliga has brilliant focus on youth developement in clubs, they also develop the technical side of their youngsters
La Liga also has a strong developement program which helps the youngters improve many aspects of their game.
This is just 2 examples of leagues that encourage homegrown talent and technical aspects that will help youngsters to thrive on the national and international stage. The PL does little to none of this and the English culture of football is stuck in the dark ages, hence the youngsters coming through lack the aspects of the game a lot of PL sides want.

This leads to little representation at top level for most of the younger English players coming through. Those that do make it through often lack the ability to retain the ball, the technical ability compared to our European counterparts and a football approach that when it faces superior opposition often results in being found out quickly or with backs to the wall for long periods. Look at the top German young players that have come through (Gotze, Reus, Lars and Sven Bender, Ozil) the top Spanish youngsters (Illaramendi, Isco, Inigo Martinez, Thiago) and then compare them to young English players. Ask any PL manager if he'd take either Gotze/Isco or Welbeck/Sturridge I know who most would pick. Most English youngsters pale in comparison to other European nations.

I'm no expert and I don't claim to be but it's England's football culture that has lead to the this problem and unlike the Germans (following their embarrasing world cup performance pre 2010) the FA don't seem to want or be able to make the required changes. You could have the best manager in the world but England will get nowhere even with the best manager in the world with the current FA and league attitude to youth developement.

[dan08]

Gibraltar drew against Slovakia in their first ever international!!

[Gingerfinch]

Thought I wpuld watch a meaningful game last night, and glad I did. ronaldo's goals, aided by some sublime passing were a treat

[Aidan11]

Glad I never saw the England game last night.

Hopefully these last few days will stop the nation as a whole having huge expectations in the Summer. Relieve the pressure on the players.