part one

This page is for reader comments regarding the England team or international football.  Send your remarks to England Football Online and we'll try to put them up soon after we get them. Please tell us your name, city or town and country.  Younger readers are welcome to contribute.
 

Forum Archive
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Shazna Ahmed, location unknown, 14 October 2006, on Steve McClaren:-

I would just like to say that, Steve McClaren was a completely WRONG choice, for the post as the England manager. Sven should never of left, the squad was doing really well with him and now were going to go back down to where we was! He cannot make good, firm choices, David Beckham should have never been kicked off the squad! Over the years he has become an legendary footballer, and if anyone was going to be kicked off, it should be Steve. We need someone who's talented and with a right frame of mind to do a job as important as this. On the good side of things, I would like to say that every single player is doing very well, and that we are proud of them. Everybody is allowed to have slip ups now and again and I wish the England squad the very best of luck in the future! COME ON

Dean Wybrow, from Southend-on-Sea, 13 October 2006, on England's defeat in Croatia:-

I would like to offer my condolences to Gary Neville and Paul Robinson for the freakish own goal against Croatia. Despite what the media might say, Robbo was not at fault and no one could have prevented such a random occurrence in such an unlucky week. Bad luck prevailed this week. Had Steven Gerrard's bar-rattling shot gone against Macedonia, the Croatia game would not have been so vital and England might have played with more confidence. Confidence is what I fear is lacking from England at present. The poor performance in the World Cup is strong in the memories of Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney and everyone else who feels responsible, and scraping four points out of six against Macedonia will not help matters. When players have the ball in midfield, there appears to be a tendency to absolve themselves of responsibility to create something by kicking the ball long to Rooney and Crouch, who are not at their best running onto long balls (a skill perhaps best practiced by Michael Owen). This is not due to a lack of ability, as watching the premiership clearly shows.

This lack of confidence doesn't seem to affect the English defence too much, as the back four seem to have been the most consistent players in the team. Where the lack of confidence affects England is in attack. No one is running at defenders, taking long shots or getting forward to support the strikers. It happens, but not nearly enough. No one ever won a game by defending and doing nothing else. To win, you need to score goals, and one would expect England to do so, with players like Bent, Gerrard and Johnson banging them in every week in the premiership.

Obviously the side is going to be below its best with Cole, Owen and Hargreaves out injured, but the system should still work. We need to have far more shots on goal, and to do that we need quicker passing and more dribbling. McClaren did a wonderful thing by putting Gerrard on the right, where he can be the deliverer of great crosses, leaving Lampard free to do his thing in midfield, and his other choices have been solid - I feel it is only a matter of time before Defoe gets another goal - but we need players connecting with each other more in the final third of the pitch. Too many times are England forced to play back towards their own goal in difficult matches. Players need to be moving around and creating space. Perhaps this is why we need to try new strikers. I fear that Rooney and Crouch are too inexperienced to pull defenders around and create space. Once again, Owen to the rescue, but we cannot rely on one player too much. We all know what happens when you do that.

I do feel that the England team tends to become stale and predictable (making it easy for the opposition) due to a lack of competition for places. Enrico Grimm has the right idea when he says "The England team needs to adopt the same attitude as Arsenal ("if you're good enough you'll get in")." No player should be automatically on the teamsheet (as McLaren said was true for Rooney). Why pick a player who is out of form? Playing for England is a privilege, not a right.

Enrico Grimm, location unknown, 12 October 2006, on the unused black players:-

It has become apparent since a very long time ago that the England football set up is very political and will not proceed to play the better players regardless of they're colour i.e Joe Cole, Darren Bent, Jermain Defoe, Shaun Wright-Phillips and until lately Aaron Lennon, there seems to be a trend with the England managers (Sven-Göran Eriksson) seemed at the world cup failed to prepare the England team physically and mentally and only played his favourites regularly despite clear bad performances, lack of physical fitness and spatial awareness.  This seems to be the route that McClaren is taking too?!

I am a personal trainer, football coach and have worked alongside a lot of very influential coaches and managers and played at professional and semi- professional level.

It is clear even to me that the world cup was a complete write off from the start. Beckham only displaying one attribute (deliveries) where as Lennon has lots he can run at players, commit defences so can Phillips and Routledge if selected giving McClaren many options of quality young players.

Then Crouch who is tall but clearly can't jump to save his life. It was wishful thinking to suggest and even entertain that Crouch would have won the aerial battle against Trinidad and Tobago or any other Team at the world cup and the only reason he scored a header was because he committed a foul and pulled the defenders dread other than that he was bullied the whole game and his touches are very poor even for a big lad haha.

All the time we had Defoe and bent starving knowing they should be out there instead of Rooney who by all accounts didn't really do any damage but I'm sure when he is fully fit can produce but when will that be??? I can't see that occurring any time soon. The two clearly sharpest strikers England had were not selected and are clearly dejected and I'm sure just on the bench to look good ( All players of colour).

The England team needs to adopt the same attitude as Arsenal ( "If your good enough you'll get in") Wenger's words himself. If the likes of McClaren and Sven had the same philosophy then this country would progress and develop into a better footballing team and a better style of play and system to boot.
These days I find it sad and wasteful to watch England play and genuinely frustrated at the managers and the fear they have of playing the best team as opposed to they're favourites (the clique) as it was known in the world cup.

In the world cup it was apparent all the defences liked to defend in two banks of four getting all eight men behind the ball making it near impossible to penetrate unless you have the likes of Defoe, Lennon, Phillips, J Cole, D Bent, Walcott who can create space from nowhere and with electric pace and and tremendous skill. Only with this in our armoury can we truly succeed at international level.

CPJPRPVP, location unknown, 7 October 2006, on Beckham's omission:-

When for christ sake will the manager become a real MAN and admit we need Beckham!!!!!!!

Robscan, location unknown, 4 September 2006, on the Under 17's:-

I'm a Swindon Town fan who watched England u17 v Portugal.  I was not impressed at all by the standard of both sides, although we won 4-0 it was not good to watch, sorry it was ok, but I think these lads need to have a look at themselves, this is my only opinion, but they played as individuals, well a lot of them did anyway.  My other point is why is the bulk of these players from London area and its boroughs?

Martin Keron, location unknown, 4 September 2006, on our Black Players section:-

Isn't that racist
http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamBlack/PlyrsBlckMtchusage/PlysBlckUsedField.html
who wants to know most black players this or that.

CG: On the contrary on is it racist.  We have not created a 'black player's section' simply to segregate.  
It is to highlight the appalling treatment of black players in the game, and as a continuation, to show 
how it's improved over time.  It is only the bigoted that highlight this as being racist.

Dr. Nathalie van Meurs, Milton Keynes, 24 August 2006, on a Penalty survey:-

We are a research team that are looking into penalty shoot-outs and their alternatives. We looked at your website and wondered whether we could list the survey somewhere (it�s online) for fans to fill out?  This is the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=909292501068 We look forward to hearing from you.

Eizatty Nawawi, location unknown, 19 August 2006, on David Beckham's exclusion from the squad:-

I as a fan of england hope that david beckham will call back by steve. even though england was beat greece but there have some weak in passing a long ball. i know people say that becks cant skill but he has an advantages in give a long ball,free kick and corner. i have reads some resources that steven gerrard had say becks always give a long ball in world cup. gerrard u have to thank becks because his passing give u a score. i also see some picture both of u, how he teach u in england training. other than that,we have to watch again how beckham do many thing to successed england. i hope all england player and management have read my statement.

Joseph Mignogna, from Macedonia, 12 August 2006, on David Beckham's exclusion from the squad:-

I'm disappointed that the new coach of the England National team did not include David Beckham in the England National team. He's one of the most skilled player that England currently has and a team leader. The problem with England is that they lack on midfield play, regarding controlling the ball.The team is playing to many long passes and missing the midfield control play. Furthermore he was injured in the world cup, so he was limited in play. I think you should reconsider regarding Mr. Beckham for the Euro.

CG: Thank you for your comments - and [we] entirely agree.  Beckham is still one of the world class players and I do not believe England have seen the last of him.  The last I heard, Steve McClaren was not deaf, stupid and blind....

Pane Perunovski, from Macedonia, 22 July 2006, on Macedonia against England:-

Hey guys. I am a Macedonian and a great fan of England. You cant imagine how happy I was when I saw England drawn in the same pool with Macedonia... meaning England in Skopje again! Wow! I work in a hotel and I'd like to help the fans that are coming in September. It's in 3km from the stadium and 1km from the city center. It is very new and still hard to find in the listings online. And the listed ones are predominately either old or more expencive or far away. I only regret this one wasnt bigger... it is only 9 rooms but seeing them full of England fans that day will be like a miracle to me:)

Eugenio Palopoli, from Argentina, 7 July 2006, about the website:-

Hi, I'm a football fan from Argentina, and I have to say that although we are rivals, I've always admired some of your players, and specially, your shirts.  I think your site is pretty cool, and the information about England's uniforms during all those years is very valuable.
I always wanted to know about the shirts worn by England during the Spain World Cup, and finally you got the answer.  Those uniforms are unbelievable, I would like to know if there is any chance to buy a replica of any of them (home or away).

CG: Unfortunately, I can't reply to everyone regarding this subject, but the answer is always going to be the same... The Admiral shirts are simply not available commercially, you may get lucky on ebay, but other than that...Admiral are basically losing out on a lot of money by not releasing the license, so please stop asking me....

in response, Gill, from Liverpool, UK, wrote on the 8 July:-

Hi, this message is for EUGENIO PALOPOLI from Argentina... I read his forum and noticed on ebay that somebody is selling an Admiral England shirt from 1982 world cup  for �49.00 plus postage.

ENGLAND, YOU'LL DO IT NEXT TIME NOW THAT SVEN HAS GONE.

With Love from a mesmorized Liverpool fan. STEVEN GERRARD IS THE MAN.

Nigel Sloan, from Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, 6 July 2006, about the beautiful game:-

In Canada, where football takes a back seat to ice hockey, interest in the World Cup has been astonishingly high.  The same may well be said for the U.S.A.  This genuine interest would, no doubt, please the autocrats dictating soccer from FIFA HQ in Zurich. Indeed North America is last piece of the FIFA global domination puzzle.  What might not please them though is the popularly held opinion that soccer is a farce � a laughing stock - . The so called Beautiful Game is riddled with cheats, divers and superannuated pretty boys rolling around in agony at the slightest contact.  Not to mention the behavior of Argentine and Portuguese players, to cite two examples of poor sportsmanship, serves only to re-enforce this negative impression of soccer.

North Americans like their sport to be rough and tumble.  They�re educated enough to know that Association Football is a rough, physical game. Millions play soccer here.  What they can�t understand, however, is why out and out cheating is tolerated � even encouraged  and celebrated by players, officials and fans.

Soccer had a great opportunity to make gains in North America this time round.  Instead the World Cup Three Ring Circus will fold its tent in Berlin on Sunday. Then we can go back to watching men skating around the ice with nice big sticks mangling each other and slugging it out without whining.  Ice hockey is not a Beautiful Game but at least its integrity is in tact.

Stan Collymore, the ex-professional footballer from England, 5 July 2006, about the website:-

Having just got home from Germany, and been given the link to your site by a fellow supporter over there,  I just wanted to say what a bloody good site you have put together, and to thank you as an England fan first, ex footballer second for the hard work that you guys must have put in.

In an age of hype in the football world, it really is nice to be able to see the kits, stats, and players that have played for our country over the last century or so, and information present on your site is as good as there is anywhere!

Thank you again

CG