germany 2006 begins in a few weeks. time to get a thread going for anyone's thoughts and opinions.

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ah ......the beautiful game!! joga bonita!!

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coeliac1

Agree with many of your points, I have said my piece as regards the state of fottball and I don't propose to keep harping on, guess Bos and I will have to agree to disagree to a certain extent.

Personally I put England's failure to suceed down to Sven. We do have quality players, but rather than pick a balanced team he tried to pick a formation to suit the players at his disposal. A manager with guts would certainly have dropped Lampard who has had a dire competition and probably Beckham as well. Why he took Wallcott rather than Defoe or Bent is inexplicable.

I do fear for the future, McLaren as Sven's sidekick will perhaps have absorbed some of his tactics, I hope not the negative ones (although I cannot remember many postive Sven tactics). Teams should be picked on form, not on reputation, Lennon and Carrick should both have remained in the team. England looked so much better with Lennon causing problems on the wing. I have to admit I have never been a Hargreaves fan, but he was truly outstanding against Portugal, I am a convert.

pth

pete, i don't think we have to agree to disagree as i think we are both in agreement on most things.

"2. I am heartily sick of teams gaining an advantage by basically cheating."

"all footballers are "cheats". "

where we disagree is that you still believe english players are good as gold and have to resort to cheating to gain parity. my point is that all footballers cheat, always have done and always will. maybe some countries/clubs put more time and effort into it, but, essentially, they all cheat. they all commit fouls, they all claim the throw/corner/goalkick, they all fall over whenever there is contact, they all hold/grab, etc. the corinthian spirit died as soon as money got involved. this is why fifa issue directive after directive, to counter the way players push the boundaries until it becomes unacceptable. i found martin jol's piece in today's times appalling considering the way the dutch players behaved against portugal. the bottom line is that it is up to the players to change things. but we both know they wont.

Morning Lee
No, I don't believe for one moment that English (or British) players are good as gold, but I do believe, rightly or wrongly, that it is largely an imported disease into our game. Whatever I believe is immaterial really, FIFA/EUFA will never take the drastic steps required to eradicate the cheats, there is too much money involved.

morning pete. we agree on much, but, as you say, with the money that's involved in the modern game, the players will do whatever they believe they have to do to win.

If you back heal someone in the nackers you deserve to be red carded

Morning all,

Terrible pity about England going out. FWIW I think Sven's formation should bear a large part of the blame as how many times did somebody make a fantastic run up the wing and cross only to find that there was nobody to receive the ball? A waste of many golden opportunities, IMHO, and something that should have been changed after the Ecuador game as it was clearly causing us to miss out on opportunities to score at that point.

Here in World-Cup-Land the locals are convinced the Cup is theirs for the taking. Personally I think France are going to be lucky against Portugal and then go down 2-0 to Italy in the final.

soultraders, me too ;)

btw, how did your date go?

Hi Bos,

Errm, very nicely, thank you. :o)

ST.

I hope Ronaldos contract with Man U gets tawn up after that performance!! As for Lampard well what can I say, more attempts than onyone else on the WC.... Glad to see the back of Sven, with a bit of luck we'll McLarian actully knows how to pick a team. And finally hands up how many people would have selected Campbell, Lampard for the WC and how many would have played Willcotts????

Dont think it would be safe for Ronaldo on or off the pitch anywhere in England !!!..His reputation as a cheat is well covered by those who go to the match in the UK..So how can he even look his teamamates at Man U in the eyes after this ? Wish Vinny was still playing ! ..............................................But in the final analysis England were left bereft of strikers and what with such a congested midfield they played so deep in thier own half This dearth of strikers even with Owen and Roony looked fragile; but without them their formation looked defensive and not one the English employ ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, . ........As for France i knew once we beat Spain 3-1 we would beat Brazil due to the number of chances they give you at the back ....... lts a France V Germany final . !!........and Z.Z.crowning an incredible career in carrying the WC back to Paris ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, . ......As for Mclaren ? Uninspiring at best ; and irrational at worst .........................Whats that clown ever done ?? More of the same. YOU need a YONGER El Tel !!! @+ J

first of the semis tonight. i'm feeling very nervous already!!! christ knows what state i'll be in by the time the game begins. absolutely loving how no one is giving italy a chance!!! reading some of the papers these last few days you'd think there were only 3 teams in the semi finals. portugal getting a lot of press because of the england game, germany getting a lot of press going on about the wave of optimism carrying the team, france getting a lot of press because the pundits think they are wonderful, the brazil of europe!!! no offence , tfc, but take zidane out of that team and it suddenly becomes very basic. i hope to meet france in the final, get revenge for euro 2000.

Got a gut feeling it won't be a great much tonight, looks like a 0-0 written all over it... Do hope i'm wrong and the Germans go at the Italians... Reading back I agree on most of the points you raise reference the cheating that goes on in all football... About time we had a fourth ref who can view TV coverage (like Rugby League), it's the only way forward to deal with these cheats... As for McLaren I have a feeling we won't improve, how can you have an International Manager that has not had International experience either as player at international level or at least managed a high profile club to some degree of success... Why or why did the FA set themselves up for having to appoint before the world cup... Big mistake in missing out on either Guus Hiddink or Scholari...

germany have yet to beat italy in a competitive game. past scores are either draws, or italy winning by 1 goal. goes without saying i want the later. if it goes to penalties i wont even bother to watch. germans + penalties = victory.
a couple of coincidences before tonight's match. last time italy won the world cup it was against a backdrop of scandal in italian football. also, in that year there were four european teams left in the semi finals. ooer!!!

i'm absolutely stunned that people on here actually want a foreign coach. maclaren may not be everyone's favourite but, he is the best english coach in the game today. for me he just shades it from big sam as maclaren has won a trophy and has a few years european experience.

I have to cut in here having read John's comment sorry. He didn't back heal him in the knackers. It makes me livid to hear people saying this. He stood up during a sandwich, didn't fall to the ground like the portuguese did and tried to play the ball after having fairly won it - which might I add is an honourable way to play. Unfortunately as he had beaten them both (being fouled in the process) one of them (on the floor- suprisingly!) got his legs tangled and as a consequence Rooney caught him in the knackers. Serves him bloody right, if he hadn't been playing for a foul in the first place he wouldn't have put himself in that predicament. Rooney got red carded for 'violent conduct' i.e pushing scum bag Ronaldo. Drives me mad people suggesting otherwise. It's a tragedy of circumstance but I am convinced that had Rooney fallen to the ground he would have doubtless won a free kick, because he played the way the game should be played we've effectively been eliminated. Fourth TV ref is definitely needed, I really can't be bothered with the game as it is at the moment, it's a joke.

Some good posts here, guys. Agree with most of the Rooney stuff. He did very little albeit technically he was at fault, yes, and should've been extra specially squeaky clean with an Argentine ref. I have been called "narrow minded!" by mates when I was totally opposed to Swedish-Sven being put in charge in the first place. But can you imagine the Germans or Brazilians with a foreign coach? Doubt this will ever happen in our lifetime! It is only fair that Mc.Claren gets his chance, for all the right reasons. But, if things go pear-shaped early on, then I think there will be huge public outcry for Big Sam. We shall see anyway...

Totally neutral tonight - but hope Les Frogs win tomorrow!

chiva, ref has confirmed today that he red carded rooney for the stamping, i.e. violent conduct. he also confirmed ronaldo played no part in rooney's sending off and that sven said rooney deserved to go off after the game. i think a few of you are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think the english players would have behaved differently if ronaldo, (or any other portugese player ), had done the stamping. rooney lost possession and then chased the ball down, committing fouls then being fouled in the process of trying to win it back. full credit to rooney for his tenacity and determination. i certainly hope he doesn't get the beckham treatment for his moment of madness and i think the media are helping avoid this by placing the focus on ronaldo. ]
people are saying scolari would be a great coach for england, far better than sven , yet he has only beaten sven once, and that was because of a moment of genius rather than tactical superiority. the two remaining games went to penalties and it could also be argued that england were the better team in both matches. so how would scolari be a better coach than sven? just a thought.......

I agree, Bos. Good post, mate

he couldnt be any worse Bos, but Hiddink would have been a huge improvement

My posts from Traders room:

It had been proven for at least 3 yrs that gerrard and lampard couldnt play together but still we persisted. Beckham has been past it for a long while yet started every game against a youngster (lennon) who had pace and the ability to make things happen. We picked the supposed best players not the best team which resulted in a midfield of very similar players with no pace and no one to make the runs into the box (remember like scholes used to). We played Rooney up front alone but didnt change anything when Portugla kept dropping deeper and deeper leaving him more and more isolated. When Rooney got sent off we took off our only creative midfielder to enable Lampard and Gerrard to cancel each other out and leave the left hand side exposed. We took more fit goalkeepers than strikers to the world cup. We took 6 central midfielders yet only 4 strikers (2 cripples, a beanpole and a yts lad). We took off an attacking midfielder for a defender to take a penalty.

At the end of the day we got knocked out by a poor side on penalties in the qtr finals, the sad thing is of the sides left in the world cup with the right structure and organisation we could beat any of them - with the approach we used we struggled to beat an egg!

At no stage did the manager know his best side - he tried 3 different players in the holding role from the last friendly through the group games - a position he never deemed viable to consider prior top that

As you guess my criticism is squarely pointed at an incompetent manager and also at some very big egos within the side. The preparation, use of friendlies etc was hit and miss and poorly planned, we didnt practise different situations for different scenarios we went in blindly with the assumption that we had the best midfield in the world (which was conclusively proved as bollox) and ultimately we relied on an unfit temperamental 20 yr old (who is heavily overrated) as the man to win thw world cup for us



McLaren will be same old im afraid, no personality and no inspiration. Never handled the big egos at club level and cant see him being brave enough to make the needed changes.

Look at his record with Boro, hardly inspiring, often struggled to get the best out of the players hes had. At highbury this yr, 4-0 at half time he didnt change anything just sat there watching his side getting humiliated until it ended 7-0 and then explained it as one of those days. In Europe they played poorly and got lucky coming from behind a few times.

Personally hope he doesnt last a yr in the job

To think we turned down Hiddink for the job - look at his record with Korea and Australia, has won the champs league yet the FA wanted to interview him 4 times to see if he was suitable!!! Instead weve got a yes man who will do as the eejits in charge of the FA tell him to


good luck to your lot later

Hear, hear, Fundy - spot on, amigo!