Following England's horrendous, dour 0-0 draw with Costa Rica, Hodgson came out with this corker - "I'm pleased we gave the fans something to cheer about with our performance. We outplayed them in midfield." Is he on f**king crack? The man is so out of his depth it's laughable. I've said since day one he'd prove to be an awful appointment and he has done absolutely nothing to dispel that. God help us if Roy Hodgson is the man to take this team forward.
Take this team forward. Haha ha. It's at least a 18 year desert, we will stagnate under anyone, and that's if we start right now getting some sort of half decent coaching for da kidz
A tactically inept manager who left the best players we have on the bench. Still, with a proper preseason, I think he'll get the best out of the players.
Just embarassing to see him rave so much about what was a pretty sterile 0-0 draw in a dead rubber. To earn over £3 million pounds a year, struggle through a weak qualifying group, then get knocked out of the World Cup after just 2 matches, and then get a vote of confidence to stay on just fills me with so much indifference now to the national scene. You just can't help, a bit like with Watford really, that there is the nucleus of a decent side there and with a better manager the future might look a bit brighter than it probably will.
Alternatively make a new England team from the championship sure it would beat those muppets we sent to Brazil.
There isn't a nucleus of a decent side though. THE EMPEROR IS NAKED Stark ******* naked He is waving his tackle in your face and youre telling him what a lovely cloak he has He has been that way since the late 90s
I think there is the nucleus of a decent side. Not a great one but a decent one. You only have to look at how the likes of Sturridge, Sterling, Barkley, Lallana, Hart post-recall etc performed in the Premier League to see there are some capable players, although the defence looks a bit barren and there isn't much strength in depth. I'm certainly not one of those jingoistic people who thinks England should be beating everybody out of sight, but neither do I think we should be only scraping through a weakish qualifying group then getting 1 point from 9 in a dead rubber against a side with little to play for.
We went in to this tournament with a side full of clearly talented, young and in form players and we should have done far, far better. These players have shown their quality in one of the toughest leagues in the world all season and whilst obviously some of the blame has to be with them, I have to believe a better manager than the tactically inept, negative, managerial dinosaur that is Roy Hodgson could and would have gotten far more out of them.
England have been mediocre to poor for years under a number of different managers. At some point we need to accept that it isn't the manager that's the problem, it's the fact that we're not very good and our players are nowhere near as good as we think they are. Once we accept that, we can look at doing what Germany did after they finally admitted to themselves they weren't very good. ...or we could just continue with the managerial merry go round and continue to see awful results.
More of an observation than a dig! Thought I'd got away with it too Back to topic...Hodgson's had a fairly decent career record, although he was found out at Liverpool. He's a decent man, has obviously brought a good spirit to the squad, and the media like him so they won't ever use the turnip headlines on him. I'm with Nath though, I just find him totally uninspiring. Would Redknapp have got more out of this squad? We will never know but I imagine, although many people don't like the guy, many might think yes. I think it all started going wrong back in 1996. Venables was the last manager England had who got England playing some really good football, and he was not re-hired for matters that had nothing to do with football. Hodgson will never have dodgy business dealings or insult disabled people, and that seems more important for the FA than football results! I actually worked for Greg **** and he's a good guy but his background is media, as was Brian Barwick. Why are these people responsible for appointing England managers and giving them bonkers salaries?
I think Hodgson mirrors England perfectly. Pretty mediocre manager for a pretty mediocre team. Until England get at least world class player available to them, it is a futile process. Doesn't really matter who the manager is. Portugal have top player.....but are still pants. Argentina and Brazil are only getting through on the strength of Messi and Neymar. There are some very good teams in the WC though and a lot of the "big" players are performing. England do not have anyone you could call world class. They are fairly competent and have not been thrashed, but are not clinical when they create openings and are a soft touch giving away far too many easy opportunities. That's quite fatal at World Cup level. I believe it will take at least 12 years before you can see England as a potential force.....that's the minimum time to get the next generation through the system. If the system works, we should then see some benefit.
I think that's a terribly defeatest attitude. England may not be a great side but surely with a better coach they can do better? I just don't like the 'keep Hodgson because there's nobody else' attitude. Did I dream Greece winning a European Championship? A good coach can lift mediocre to something more.
I've been saying it from Day One; Hodgson should have picked young players, played attacking football, not played 4-4-2 and not played Milner in important games. Oh wait...
I don't really agree. When a collection of players are so far short of what is required, it doesn't really matter who the manager is. Hodgson is competent enough and there isn't really anyone else that could massively improve England from the side lines....IMO. It's not defeatist, it's just the way it is. It's not England's time right now....let's be honest about that. They are not in a position to challenge and will not be for a number of years. Every nation has a period when things come good....in recent years in was France, then Spain. Italy are in the doldrums right now, but it wont be long until they bounce back no doubt. The Germans have not won anything since 1996!! Holland have never won the world cup. Greece and Denmark won the Euros because they seized a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sometimes a tournament comes along and a team can do nothing wrong. Everything goes for them and they end up winning it. Were Greece the best team....nope....but they won the Euros....it happens. That's England's only hope....is to almost fluke their way through against the odds. Even in this competition, England were involved in 3 tight matches. Had lady luck smiled, they could have won all three. They didn't deserve it, but could have achieved it.
I feel sorry for anybody who accepts mediocrity with a shrug of the shoulders and has no ambition to try and improve. I see Sannino and Hodgson as being similar. Experienced and competent for sure, capable of occasional success, but not ones to blow you away with their performances. When you settle for averageness, it's normal to frown on anybody who dares to question whether we could be aiming higher.
Agreed. To be fair, we did draw with Costa Rica with all their world class players. They did, after all, beat two teams that we didn't (because of bad luck). I bet there aren't too many foreign players in the Costa Rican league.
I don't rate Hodgson as an England coach but even our lord GT wasn't great as the national team boss. Had we kept Hoddle in charge, I'm certain England would have won a major competition. Collectively, the FA like to **** things up again and again and again.
Who's accepting mediocrity with a shrug? As a fan, what can anyone do about it? All that can happen is for the people that run the game realise that things are quite badly wrong and put things in place that will improve the situation. Fans can only accept that this will take time....and in England's case at least a decade....before it will get better. There's absolutely no point in getting frustrated because we all knew this World Cup was going to be like it has been for England. One point from the group is no surprise for most. Ok, there was a hope that maybe we get lots of good fortune and get through, but that's really flying against the wind and rarely happens. As long as there is something in place for a promise of a better tomorrow, that's all you can really expect. England will have to suffer for a number of years before things improve. It may not sound very palatable, but that's the stark reality.
You are! You're saying that just because expectations were low, we're wrong to have hoped England might at least get out of their group. You're saying you don't believe a different coach could have made any difference. You're saying our squad is so short of what's required, yet I maintain there is some talent there, based on the evidence of watching PL matches last season. Not a huge amount I agree, and still lacking a lot of basic skills like not giving the ball away, but still something for a better coach to work with. How about Martinez maybe? Would he do better than Hodgson? I believe he might. By saying the squad is poor, the manager is competent and therefore the best we can hope for, I believe you are accepting mediocrity with a shrug of the shoulder.
Well your surmise is incorrect. I accept the reality of the situation because that is what it is. You cannot deny it. We got 1 point, so anyone thinking it would be anything better than that were just fooling themselves. To me, and many others, it was obvious England would not qualify from this difficult group. Where was the form leading up to the tournament that would make you think differently? All the clues were there when we laboured with Ecuador and Honduras. We had to rely on winning our final 2 group matches to even qualify for the World Cup in the first place. We had no form whatsoever going into this competition. Your analogy of accepting mediocrity with a shrug of a shoulder is linked with having no ambition to improve. That's just plain wrong. Even the buffoons in the FA will want to improve things. Accepting reality for what it is, does not mean there is no ambition to improve.
We have a mediocre team and an uninspiring buffoon for a manager I'd say 1 point from 9 was about right Fixing one without the other is pointless
Come on. It was a good little effort from England. We put up a good fight against far superior opposition and nearly got a win in our last game. We are a good little outfit that does well to qualify for these big events, giving our fans a nice holiday.
Without money to spend, Redknapp is nearly useless. He is one of the most tactically inept managers out there.
Maybe so but would he have inspired better? Hornetboy1 England's first match was against an Italian side who hadn't won since September, whose last match was a draw against Luxembourg, and who we know now were also eliminated from the group. England signed off with a 3-0 win against Peru (admittedly with some defensive frailties), a draw against a decent Ecuador side followed by a match spoilt by the weather. Therefore their form going into the tournament, while not red hot, was not bad and many people expected England to have a chance of progressing through the group. Many experts thought a point against Italy, a point against Uruguay and 3 points against Costa Rica would get us through. It's a total nonsense to say 'it was obvious England would not qualify from the group' but of course, as ever, you are writing with the benefit of hindsight!! We don't have the greatest of squads. We don't possess many players with great technique. The PL is all conquering, to the detriment of the national team. However, the thread is about Hodgson and I believe England CAN do better for a coach. His interviews yesterday were embarassing. For people to shrug their shoulders and say we can't expect better is frankly unambitious and sad.
