Comments on: Croatia follow in Hungary’s footsteps and give England a Wembley lesson

By: CREATIONPOOL - Agentur für Internetseiten und Flash Programmierung in Berlin

CREATIONPOOL - Agentur für Internetseiten und Flash Programmierung in Berlin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:37:39 +0000

Nice post. Well done. Thanks.

By: A-A-Reisen - günstigster Anbieter für Balaton, Plattensee - Ferienhäuser | Ferienwohnungen | Pensionen in Ungarn und Tschechien

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:50:03 +0000

I love it.

By: She never calls: Wannabes - an update - Reuters Photographers

She never calls: Wannabes - an update - Reuters Photographers — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:59:51 +0000

[…] course, that explains it! I was forgetting that this is English soccer - there are no expectations of covering the national team in a major tournament, silly me. Now I […]

By: bubimir13

bubimir13 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:54:03 +0000

problem with england is that you don’t show any respect to other country’s and the fact that you invented football means nothing today. for example see the previous game against croatia. i’m not telling that because i’m croatian, in fact my uncle is welsh who serve in NATO forces for royal army and we talk about problems in britain often. You(english) must take serious this problem with football, and not just football because the same problem is reflected in British foreign politics as well, and if you don’t take serious you will fall deeper and deeper in football

By: Oleg

Oleg — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:09:37 +0000

Guys, I’m sure you should limit the number of foreigners like we in Russia did. In this season three Russians were on the pitch and not less. In the forthcoming season the minimal number will be four, than five, six, etc. And finally the quantity of foreigners allowed to take part in the match will be reduced to four only. And the results of this policy are clearly seen even now: we have a capable team, some players advanced themselves incredibly, and, of course, WE go to Austria and Switzerland, not you!

By: Doddie

Doddie — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:59:00 +0000

Speaking as a Scot who had to watch his own team go out of the competition on Saturday evening,I have to say I fear for the England team right now. Most of your Premiership sides are overloaded with foreign players to the detriment of young home-grown talent. Some of those imports are top-quality - others are journeymen at best. England were without their best defenders last night - that had to be a handicap, since no team can afford to lose players like Cole, Neville, Terry and Ferdinand and not suffer. Playing a young keeper on such an important occasion was clearly a gamble that failed to pay off - incidentally, I thought he was at fault for the first Croatian goal, but also not entirely blameless for the third, either. What would worry me is that the squad as it stands is thin on quality - last night proves that, I’m afraid. Worse, though, is the scarcity of new young talent coming through - thanks, perhaps, to the presence of so many foreign players in your top league. I know there are players in the pipeline; the question is, are they as good as the players they’ll one day have to replace? I think not.

The tactical inadequacy of the management team simply compounded the problems. When talent is at a premium, the manager HAS to be able to make the best of the resources at his disposal. If I were England, I think I might look very hard at appointing Martin O’Neill for that very reason.

And BTW, I’m not gloating - the fact that Euro 2008 will happen without a single British team represented is a scandal.

By: Samwse

Samwse — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:55:35 +0000

The problem with the english game is it’s very one dimensional…zero creativity.. i agree totally with that. Lets take a minute and realise most of the talent in the premiership.. of which is not even english. Its such a shame to see england go out and such a early stage but being honest they did not deserve to qualify regardless… mclaren should never have been made the man for the job.

I cant see england winning anything for a long long time, certainly in my life time.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:26:02 +0000

maybe you should start sending English youth players to play in smaller eastern european leagues to learn the “technical” game rather then trying to bring them up through the lower english leagues. The problem with the english game is it’s very one dimensional…zero creativity.

By: Gonzalo

Gonzalo — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:33:58 +0000

I’m not sure I agree with this assessment. Why would anyone hire “ordinary” foreign players when there are enough “ordinary” English players to go around? You’re just introducing yet another level of difficulty (acclimatisation, language) in integrating these players who, as you argue, have nothing special to contribute in terms of skill. McClaren was the wrong man for the job; he was not ready to compete at that level. And hey, sometimes, sh*t just happens.

By: Red Devil

Red Devil — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:28:17 +0000

You can’t have it both ways Mike. English clubs import so many “ordinary” foreign players because they are cheaper than overrated and overpriced English players and more talented for that matter too. Unfortunately, I think slapping quotas to limit foreigners is the only right thing to do, not just in the Premier League but elsehwere too, as having teams with 11 foreigners in their starting line ups is quite simply ridiculous.