Squad!
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Get in, Harry.Comment
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World's gone mad.
We seem to have a genuinely likeable team, playing for a genuinely likeable manager that is playing well and winning games.Comment
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Just need the England Supporters' Band to all die of dysentry now.Comment
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Two semi finals in a row, eh.Comment
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All kinds of shenanigans happening in Lucerne, where Belgium raced into a two-goal lead only for Switzerland to start playing and tie it up at 2-2 inside the first half hour or so.
Edit: ...and now the Swiss lead just ahead of half time.Last edited by Jah Womble; 18-11-2018, 20:31.Comment
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My recollection at the time of Southgate's appointment was that the OTF collective view was that his appointment was going to turn out to be a complete disaster....Originally posted by Guy Profumo View PostComment
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Switzerland now lead 5-2 - and are set to qualify - with just minutes remaining. Not a night for defenders, but a very entertaining match. Never thought I'd see Belgium concede five.
Guess nobody else is watching, eh?Comment
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@jdsx
That's the opinion about every appointment. You can't blame anyone for predicting based on past experience.Comment
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It was also down to Southgate's thin and less than stellar track record in management; three seasons in charge of Middlesbrough where he led them to relegation and a few years with the U21 side during which their only tournament appearance saw them finish fourth and last in their opening pool. There were some caveats with both of these, notably that the U21 squad for the 2015 Euros was decimated with withdrawals of established Premiership players whose managers prioritised a summer of rest over a major championships, but it's not the sort of CV that would have got him even considered for the role in circumstances other than how he was appointed. That was also important, there have been enough examples up and down Football of coaches who have done well enough in the caretaker gig to get the full-time role, only to demonstrate why they were not the main man once they are made the full time boss.Comment
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Dunno, this is a side coached by Roberto Martinez we're talking about. A man with such blatant disregard for defensive solidity he makes Ossie Ardiles look like Helenio Herrera.Originally posted by Jah Womble View PostComment
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That's not a thread about Gareth Southgate, it's a periodic request for new managers for the OTF Xpert 11 game.
(While I'm here by the way, we would love more of you ...)Comment
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It's amazing what a bit of success can do to people's perceptions.Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
Success is virtue, virtue success, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.Last edited by The Awesome Berbaslug!!!; 19-11-2018, 11:06.Comment
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Yeah but just wait until the team starts doing badly, and you'll all be on here saying you thought he was a terrible appointment... ;-)
"Success and virtue do not go necessarily together"Comment
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Amen to that brother.Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
Truth is beauty, beauty truth
All you know on earth, all you need to know
Superb, succinct
Pity then for you it’s not quite so
Hickstead, Hickstead, Hickstead, Hickstead
Duck Soup, 1933
Words beginning with K-N-O
Words that end in B-H-E-A-DComment
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One of the most jarring things about the endless reruns of Mock the Week on Dave, is that every five minutes there is a joke about how stupid wayne Rooney is. It's extraordinary just how relentless it is. I find myself staring at it, and wondering what exactly is going on here. Why is it acceptable to go on like this, I'm detecting a large slice of class hatred, regional rivalry and a soupcon of the Irish thing, which is deeply imbedded in a lot of the way that Liverpool in general was portrayed. Wayne Rooney isn't stupid. He was however quite shy, extremely distrustful of the media having his private life trashed by the News of the World since he was 16, and he is also aware that he is talking to people who know literally nothing about football or how it is actually played at a high level, so is trying to translate how he sees football into the language that most people see football in, while fully aware that people actually expected him to win the world cup for England entirely by himself, and likely to be outraged with him if he didn't.
Footballers now are much better at dealing with being on camera, as they've been filming each other and taking selfies since they were children, the News of the World no longer exists, and newspapers are clinging on to access to footballers and football clubs by the tips of their fingernails, and people's expectations have gone from absurdly high, to far too low. then throw in a world cup where England played football every bit as bad and ineffective as in 2010, but because of a change in the way set pieces were refereed, England had a bizarre advantage because of their national obsession with corners, they got to the semi final. Suddenly Gareth Southgate is the new rinus Michels crossed with Jesus.Comment
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Was with you until that final broadside. The 'England' of now don't even begin to compare with the arrogant in-fighters of 2010 - of which Rooney was as guilty as the rest. That team, while not as gifted as that of four years previously, still had a goodly number of talented players but sunk itself through self-delusion and a transparent disregard for the manager, largely playing directionless football against opposition that should've been put to the sword. And then blaming the fans for their failure. The 2018 squad is hardly as 'ineffective' as that group: the players are young and lack the supposed flair of that 2010 side - but they play to some kind of order and seemingly, for one another. And have already made far greater progress.
As for the 'Rooney/Beckham being thick' jokes of Mock the Week, well, that show was built around victim-based humour, so nobody should be surprised. I agree, though - it's lazy, crass and panders to the lowest-common denominator of comedy audience: if you must go there, then use your skills to do something original with it. I stopped watching that show yonks ago - you should do, too.Comment
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England played nearly eight games of football and managed three goals from open play. A long range shot by jesse lingard at 2-0 up vs panama, a long range harry kane shot at 5-0 up against panama that took a huge deflection, and a back post header by delle Alli against sweden. 3 goals from open play in nearly eight games is not good. One goal from a free kick in two games against Belgium and 120 minutes against croatia is not good. Also I think you're looking at international football the wrong way. It's not about natural talent sunk by character flaws. It's about organization, clear instructions, tactical awareness and getting the various bits to fit together. Every team is made up of footballers, with broadly similar personalities. (the actual variations are relatively slight given how similar they are) It's about how the manager gets them to play together. Fabio Capello was an international manager combining the flaws of Giovanni Trappatoni and Martin O'Neill. Gareth Southgate not being so aggressively unsuitable for the job doesn't make him a great manager. There's an awful bang of Henman hill off praise for Southgate.Comment
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Errm, that's kind of what I was saying - it was the 'flaw' with the previous management/players. The current incumbent appear to be following clear instruction, tactical awareness, etc. The problem a decade or so back was that the players - I maintain a more talented bunch pound-for-pound - believed themselves (or were led to believe) that they were bigger than the set-up and management.Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
The praise for Southgate is merely a direct result of the team having made some kind of progress, as opposed to his being some kind of 'messiah', which you'll only really find in the gutter press anyway, if at all: I mean, he'd not have been my choice either - but I have to concede that he's galvanised something here. Sure, not enough chances have been created from open play thus far, but - with the current crop at a fairly embryonic stage - I don't think that matters too much just yet. The international game is stop-start anyway, so there are always likely to be opportunities from dead-ball situations - and frankly if it were 'that' routine, well, others would've been just as effective from set-pieces as England. Nobody expected a World Cup semi-final berth and nor was the progression to that position especially glorious - yet there it was.Comment
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The Rooney/Beckham are thick stuff (although to be fair you probably wouldn't pick Rooney for your pub quiz team if the topic was his own career) was absolutely driven by the jealousy of their fabulous wealth. The 'Golden generation' were the first who were signing multi-million pound contracts and flaunting it. Rio Ferdinand (a very articulate man) got it too, as did Frank Lampard which was especially ridiculous as he got better O Level results than almost anyone in the country.Comment
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How many international goals are scored from open play anyway? Rooney's record breaking 50th goal was a penalty.Comment
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Point of order: Lampard was born in 1978 so would have taken GCSEs rather than O Levels.Comment
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In fact he took them in the first year that A* was awarded.Comment
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I think Jonny Evans also got straight As.
Like many of the Goaldrought Generation, he is quite shy and tends to bypass media interviews. See also Davis and Baird (thick country accents); McAuley (hillbilly home village); Lafferty (just thick); Brunt (posh)
Is Berba claiming that the Dara and Ed show is anti-Irish about er, an England footballer?Last edited by Duncan Gardner; 19-11-2018, 16:47.Comment
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