England

[Brianred]

just like to know what you would hope from England against poland tonight? will sven tell the players to go and enjoy yourselves ? play tactical ? go about using another formation in which the players don't about! or just looking dumb on the touchline wating for an understudy to help his poor tactics. OR sod it we have qualified . what would you do or change?

[PhatWill]

I ###### hope it's better than Saturday cus I'm leaving to go upto the game in a couple of hours.

Sven's still the man for the job though

[Andy082005]

I hope so, I'm going so don't want to be disappointed..............again

[CiderHider]

I saw the match earlier in my head, it's a disappointing 1-1 draw i'm afraid, i know Sven has a good record with England but i don't feel inspired by him, we won't win the WC with Sven becuase he's a cold specky t*##

too late now though, what a shame.

[Red Cloud]

a question? to be seeded for the world cup do you have to win your group or is it done on world rankings?

[Alex_BCFC]

a question? to be seeded for the world cup do you have to win your group or is it done on world rankings?

Good question. There is some confusion over whether tonight's result will have any bearing on the seeding for the World Cup- good job too.

[CiderHider]

a question? to be seeded for the world cup do you have to win your group or is it done on world rankings?

The last 3 world cups its ranked from

[albany P reds]

The last 3 world cups its ranked from

Its from the last 3 WC's plus current world rankings, so to make sure we are seeded we need to win tonight and beat the argies next month to be sure.

Leaving at 1 so its going to be a long long day.

And with this rain its not going to be a nice drive either so they'd better put on a good performance tonight.

[Rocky]

Don't think I can sit through another dire performance to be honest. I think it will be better, good luck in the traffic for all those going up!! (Saturday was a nightmare for me let alone a weekday!!)

[Alex_BCFC]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/i...als/4330152.stm

[Guest walshy shuffle]

I ###### hope it's better than Saturday cus I'm leaving to go upto the game in a couple of hours.

Sven's still the man for the job though

sven is not the man for the job.His tactics are terrible..plays wrong formations.Plays players in wrong positions,Cannot motivate properly.If we are losing a game,he does not have the tactical nous to change a game..in situations such as brazil in the world cup..he just sits in the dugout with half hour to go and looks like a rabbit in the headlights,with no idea how to change a game if we are losing..other than bringing on hardgreaves..enough said For those who say he cant be to bad we qualified for world cup..with the squad we have he would be shot if we didnt.

[Northern Red]

We'll win comfortably, just enough to keep the doubters quiet, before another friendly farce next month against Argentina. The pressure is off to a certain extent, so they'll probably be more creative and exciting than recent matches.

[PhatWill]

sven is not the man for the job.His tactics are terrible..plays wrong formations.Plays players in wrong positions,Cannot motivate properly.If we are losing a game,he does not have the tactical nous to change a game..in situations such as brazil in the world cup..he just sits in the dugout with half hour to go and looks like a rabbit in the headlights,with no idea how to change a game if we are losing..other than bringing on hardgreaves..enough said For those who say he cant be to bad we qualified for world cup..with the squad we have he would be shot if we didnt.

Remind me how many qualifiers we've lost under Sven? One.

Please tell me who would do a better job?

That Brazil game you mention - the one with the freak goal in it?

Also, I suggest you have a look at Spain (FIFA ranked 3 I believe) and France's qualifying campaigns for Germany...not even close to our w7 d1 l1.

Anyone that thinks Sven isn't the man for the job is either a) still got a chip on their shoulder because he isn't English or b) stupid.

[Guest Frank]

Remind me how many qualifiers we've lost under Sven? One.

Please tell me who would do a better job?

That Brazil game you mention - the one with the freak goal in it?

Also, I suggest you have a look at Spain (FIFA ranked 3 I believe) and France's qualifying campaigns for Germany...not even close to our w7 d1 l1.

Anyone that thinks Sven isn't the man for the job is either a) still got a chip on their shoulder because he isn't English or b) stupid.

Not to mention losing in the European Championships in a penalty shoot out after having a perfectly good goal ruled out.

Still, he's only qualified us for all 3 tournaments he's managed us in, so he should be sacked for losing one away game.

[Rich-TWSC-]

I think after pretty much every game during this campaign we've all said something on the lines of... "it'll be a better performance next time as they'll need to redeem themselves of that display" but it hasn't been the case.

I think Rooney will be a major force tonight.

[Guest Frank]

I think after pretty much every game during this campaign we've all said something on the lines of... "it'll be a better performance next time as they'll need to redeem themselves of that display" but it hasn't been the case.

I think Rooney will be a major force tonight.

I'm sure we have. But it's all about qualifying and Sven has a 100% record in that.

Nobody remembers all our results in previous qualifying rounds for major tournaments, but they sure as hell remember if we qualified or not.

[Alex_BCFC]

Remind me how many qualifiers we've lost under Sven? One.

Please tell me who would do a better job?

That Brazil game you mention - the one with the freak goal in it?

Also, I suggest you have a look at Spain (FIFA ranked 3 I believe) and France's qualifying campaigns for Germany...not even close to our w7 d1 l1.

Anyone that thinks Sven isn't the man for the job is either a) still got a chip on their shoulder because he isn't English or b) stupid.

Remind me how many decent teams we have had to play and how many poor or embarassing performances we have had? In the land of the blind, one-eyed man is king.

Nearly every Premiership manager would do a better job. Jose would be great for the job but if you want someone English then take your pick from Big Sam, Curbishley or even someone like Paul Jewell would do a better job. You don't necesarily need international experience. Sven 'apparently' has it yet we are getting worse! If you don't give someone a chance that hasn't got international experience then there will be no international managers left. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but its worth the gamble, especially when we know that Sven will not win us the World Cup next summer based on previous tournaments, recent performances and his handling of the team generally.

Brazil were better than us for most of the game and Sven didn't have a clue what to do when losing.

France have actually had some decent opposition. I'd hate to see what the Republic Of Ireland would do to us after seeing Northern Ireland beat us.

[Guest Frank]

France have actually had some decent opposition.

So if we were struggling to qualify from a group containing Switzerland, Israel, ROI, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands, you'd be saying it isn't Sven's fault as we have some decent opposition?

[Alex_BCFC]

So if we were struggling to qualify from a group containing Switzerland, Israel, ROI, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands, you'd be saying it isn't Sven's fault as we have some decent opposition?

I'd be saying we should have qualified and it's a disgrace if we don't but at least we have some kind of excuse as these are reasonable sides. ROI are better than Poland. Switzerland and Isreal are quite good sides unlike Austria, N.I. and Wales. Cyprus and Faroes are minnows like 3 of the 6 in our group.

[Alex_BCFC]

The Goverment made me post twice.

[Nibor]

Remind me how many decent teams we have had to play and how many poor or embarassing performances we have had? In the land of the blind, one-eyed man is king.

Nearly every Premiership manager would do a better job. Jose would be great for the job but if you want someone English then take your pick from Big Sam, Curbishley or even someone like Paul Jewell would do a better job. You don't necesarily need international experience. Sven 'apparently' has it yet we are getting worse! If you don't give someone a chance that hasn't got international experience then there will be no international managers left. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but its worth the gamble, especially when we know that Sven will not win us the World Cup next summer based on previous tournaments, recent performances and his handling of the team generally.

Brazil were better than us for most of the game and Sven didn't have a clue what to do when losing.

France have actually had some decent opposition. I'd hate to see what the Republic Of Ireland would do to us after seeing Northern Ireland beat us.

Only Mourinho would possibly be an improvement on Sven. The others you mention have bugger all experience outside of England and would have a Tayloresque learning curve. Do you really not realise the difference between managing Bolton and England? They wouldn't be given the time they needed to be successful before people turned on them. If we changed the manager to one of these now we'd be virtually guaranteed to be out in the first round.

By the way it's interesting to note from the article on seedings that we're still paying for the last time we appointed a manager who'd done well in English leagues with zero experience outside them. Not qualifying for 94 hurt our chances in both of the last world cups and still affects them now since there's a chance we'll be in a group with a top 8 seed if we fall outside.

Brazil were better than us marginally in that game, no shame in that at all. France's opposition is no stronger than ours and as for what Eire would do to us - no worse than Poland who are a better side.

I'd be saying we should have qualified and it's a disgrace if we don't but at least we have some kind of excuse as these are reasonable sides. ROI are better than Poland. Switzerland and Isreal are quite good sides unlike Austria, N.I. and Wales. Cyprus and Faroes are minnows like 3 of the 6 in our group.

Rankings:

Poland - 17

R. Eire - 21

Israel - 44

Switzerland - 38

Austria - 79

Wales - 82

N. Ireland - 101

Cyprus - 103

Faroe - 134

Looks to me like the groups are of similar difficulty.

In football the manager usually is judged harshly by results. Sven's results have been more than good enough and I am absolutely certain that any other manager will not improve on them in time to make a difference in the comign World Cup.

There are more ways to achieve results than a Mike Bassett style vein pumping screaming from the dugout approach. He's merely getting it in the neck from the tabloids because a) they got it wrong about the latest bit of bedroom scandal and are irritated and b) he's not english so he's an easy target. Lots of people are influenced by what they've read in the press even when they think they aren't, me included. The tabloid press drives public opinion, it doesn't reflect it.

Nibor

[Alex_BCFC]

Only Mourinho would possibly be an improvement on Sven. The others you mention have bugger all experience outside of England and would have a Tayloresque learning curve. Do you really not realise the difference between managing Bolton and England? They wouldn't be given the time they needed to be successful before people turned on them. If we changed the manager to one of these now we'd be virtually guaranteed to be out in the first round.

By the way it's interesting to note from the article on seedings that we're still paying for the last time we appointed a manager who'd done well in English leagues with zero experience outside them. Not qualifying for 94 hurt our chances in both of the last world cups and still affects them now since there's a chance we'll be in a group with a top 8 seed if we fall outside.

Brazil were better than us marginally in that game, no shame in that at all. France's opposition is no stronger than ours and as for what Eire would do to us - no worse than Poland who are a better side.

Rankings:

Poland - 17

R. Eire - 21

Israel - 44

Switzerland - 38

Austria - 79

Wales - 82

N. Ireland - 101

Cyprus - 103

Faroe - 134

Looks to me like the groups are of similar difficulty.

In football the manager usually is judged harshly by results. Sven's results have been more than good enough and I am absolutely certain that any other manager will not improve on them in time to make a difference in the comign World Cup.

There are more ways to achieve results than a Mike Bassett style vein pumping screaming from the dugout approach. He's merely getting it in the neck from the tabloids because a) they got it wrong about the latest bit of bedroom scandal and are irritated and b) he's not english so he's an easy target. Lots of people are influenced by what they've read in the press even when they think they aren't, me included. The tabloid press drives public opinion, it doesn't reflect it.

Nibor

You surely don't trust the FIFA world rankings?! Poland aren't better than ROI. I think USA were no.11 when we played them- unbelievable! It's like any kind of ranking system- debatable.

Sven's results haven't been good enough. We have beaten most of the teams we were expected to beat just about, except N.I. and have lost to anyone half decent except Argentina where we bravely hung on. He gets it in the neck from the media for those reasons you mentioned and the fact that we are playing very poorly. He has years to sort it out and nothing has happened except we look worse than when he came.

Only Mourinho! What Wenger, Ferguson or anyone really with a clue about how to get the best out of players because Sven doesn't do it I'm afriad. You say we will be out in the first round if someone new came in- we will be out in the first round with Sven anyway going on our last 5/10 games against poor oposition so we have nothing to lose. I'm not satying we need someone with ridiculous passion who goes crazy, but rather someone who doesn't sit there looking unmoved when we are losing to in the Quarter finals of the World Cup. He's had a crack at both major finals now and failed. Time for someone new before we waste the talent we have.

[Nibor]

You surely don't trust the FIFA world rankings?! Poland aren't better than ROI. I think USA were no.11 when we played them- unbelievable! It's like any kind of ranking system- debatable.

Sven's results haven't been good enough. We have beaten most of the teams we were expected to beat just about, except N.I. and have lost to anyone half decent except Argentina where we bravely hung on. He gets it in the neck from the media for those reasons you mentioned and the fact that we are playing very poorly. He has years to sort it out and nothing has happened except we look worse than when he came.

Only Mourinho! What Wenger, Ferguson or anyone really with a clue about how to get the best out of players because Sven doesn't do it I'm afriad. You say we will be out in the first round if someone new came in- we will be out in the first round with Sven anyway going on our last 5/10 games against poor oposition so we have nothing to lose. I'm not satying we need someone with ridiculous passion who goes crazy, but rather someone who doesn't sit there looking unmoved when we are losing to in the Quarter finals of the World Cup. He's had a crack at both major finals now and failed. Time for someone new before we waste the talent we have.

FIFA rankings are based on results rather than feelings, I can see how that would be an issue for some.

As for beating most of the teams we're expected to beat, when people expect to p*** all over every team except possibly Brazil and Germany as a worryingly large number of people actually do then yes, we will only ever beat most of the teams we're expected to beat.

Sven's results HAVE been good enough, we've qualified for EVERY tournament and been unlucky not to get further in them. If you judge a manager on how agitated he looks in the dugout then good luck to you.

We will be out in the first round if we put a manager with ZERO experience of football outside of England in charge. Interesting thing about internationals - every game is against an opposition that isn't English. Putting someone in charge who hasn't got a clue about anything south of the white cliffs of Dover will guarantee that we waste even the vastly overhyped talent we have.

If Sven is still in charge we will not go out in the first round and have every chance of winning. Why on earth would anyone think otherwise based on past experience? Because we played a couple of dodgy games recently? Hardly a big deal.

Sorry, you're arguing subjectively so we're not going to agree. For me his record and results speak for themselves. Have a look back and find an England manager with a better record.

Nibor

[CiderHider]

If we fail to win the WC Sven would have been a mistake, if we win then his appointment would be called inspired.

Its all a load of old bolox really, he's still an oversexed dull specky slaphead.

[Guest walshy shuffle]

Remind me how many qualifiers we've lost under Sven? One.

Please tell me who would do a better job?

That Brazil game you mention - the one with the freak goal in it?

Also, I suggest you have a look at Spain (FIFA ranked 3 I believe) and France's qualifying campaigns for Germany...not even close to our w7 d1 l1.

Anyone that thinks Sven isn't the man for the job is either a) still got a chip on their shoulder because he isn't English or b) stupid.

phatwill i don't care hes not english and I'm not stupid.far from it,i just have common sense,sven does not know how to change a game,you wait and see,its happened twice now...he did nothing with half hour to go in the brazil game to change the game.against 10 men!!!.the same with the ireland game,he brought on hargreaves when we needed an attacking option..what a joke!!!he is simply not up to the job and that is that,we will not win the world cup with him in charge

[Guest Frank]

He's had a crack at both major finals now and failed. Time for someone new before we waste the talent we have.

He got us to the quarter finals in both. Losing one to the eventual winners by virtue of a fluke goal and the other on penalties after we'd lost our best player in the tournament and had a perfectly good goal ruled out.

In the european championships, we have failed to qualify or get out of our group on all but 2 occasions before Sven took over.

In 1968 and 1996 (when we were hosts so didn't have to qualify) we made it to the semi finals. Other than that we either failed to qualify or were knocked out at the group stage.

Has any other manager managed to get England through to 3 consecutive tournament finals? I don't know, but I imagine he is part of a quite exclusive club in that respect.

[Alex_BCFC]

He got us to the quarter finals in both. Losing one to the eventual winners by virtue of a fluke goal and the other on penalties after we'd lost our best player in the tournament and had a perfectly good goal ruled out.

In the european championships, we have failed to qualify or get out of our group on all but 2 occasions before Sven took over.

In 1968 and 1996 (when we were hosts so didn't have to qualify) we made it to the semi finals. Other than that we either failed to qualify or were knocked out at the group stage.

Has any other manager managed to get England through to 3 consecutive tournament finals? I don't know, but I imagine he is part of a quite exclusive club in that respect.

With the talent he has he should be doing better and we shouldn't be scraping to wins against Wales and Austria. Although we narrowly lost those games in the major finals, we were poor in both of them and never looked like dominating the oppostion. We were hanging on in both games, and that goal was a foul where the ref took a lot of unfair stick, once again hyped by the tabloids (especially The Sun). Sven has got worse and so has the team since he took over. We are now stuck with him for next summer.

[Nibor]

With the talent he has he should be doing better

Rubbish. The talent he has at his disposal is not as good as the 1990 team that only got to the semi final.

Why do you think the players we have are suddenly good enough to be a team that jump from quarter finals (top 8) to semis - the top 4 in the entire world?

We have no decent right back, no left wing, a mediocre keeper at best by international standards and a front line lacking depth and variety. Central midfield is strong, centre back is strong.... that's it.

Look at France's team when they won, you seriously think we have the quality in depth they had?

Nibor

[Guest walshy shuffle]

Rubbish. The talent he has at his disposal is not as good as the 1990 team that only got to the semi final.

Why do you think the players we have are suddenly good enough to be a team that jump from quarter finals (top 8) to semis - the top 4 in the entire world?

We have no decent right back, no left wing, a mediocre keeper at best by international standards and a front line lacking depth and variety. Central midfield is strong, centre back is strong.... that's it.

Look at France's team when they won, you seriously think we have the quality in depth they had?

Nibor

I have to disagree nibor..robinson is a top quality international keeper.certainly not mediocre

[Alex_BCFC]

Rubbish. The talent he has at his disposal is not as good as the 1990 team that only got to the semi final.

Why do you think the players we have are suddenly good enough to be a team that jump from quarter finals (top 8) to semis - the top 4 in the entire world?

We have no decent right back, no left wing, a mediocre keeper at best by international standards and a front line lacking depth and variety. Central midfield is strong, centre back is strong.... that's it.

Look at France's team when they won, you seriously think we have the quality in depth they had?

Nibor

There's no way Robinson is a mediocre keeper but a decent one. James, yes. Sadly we miss Gary Neville a right back, but when you have 3 quality defenders it's ok to have the 4th as good rather than world class. We have always had a problem on the left. Upfront Rooney and Owen are pretty good. Even Owen managed a decent goal record at Real Madrid when given the chance. We miss a decent left winger and another good centre forward but if we have no injuries then we should be getting to top 4 maybe toop 2. With Sven we won't do it. You only have to look at the way the players play for their clubs and when they play for England to see something m,ajor is going on. That something is Sven, and perhaps that they play as individuals and not a team.