England v Ukraine v The Great British Bake Off

Greenjock wrote:

Bandwagon wrote:

Just back - had to endure the ponce Itilians on every frggin telly available - still great win away from home, Scotland shirt hanging with pride for the beach tomorrow!!

   

Great debut by Anya, nicely taken goal too.

Not seen anything yet - got result on phone!! Back at hotel now, wife crashed after heavy Black Russian, liquid type hahahaha,, lying on bed and catching up!! Steaming for the euros now - little old ginge is pulling a team together Jock, we could be in France - if I last that long!!cheers!!

Great free-kick by Maloney as well.

Scott Brown missed a sitter when one on one with the keeper and Griffiths I think was clean through in stoppage time and just had to drill it in but his shot grazed the post on the wrong side.

They played really well bar a couple of times when the defence panicked. Definitely more optimistic with wee Gordon at the helm  

He's only got Keith Harris and Orvill.

Was quite excited about this game, rearranged my whole day to be able to watch it.

Then when it came to it, I couldn't arsed and missed the whole first half.

Saw the first half highlights and then the second half...what a load of absolute shite!

Not a brilliant game between two teams that looked fairly average on the whole. You could argue that a point was all we needed but that is the problem with our outlook now, a Ukranian team that isnt on good form we should have turned them over. I thought Walcott was difficult to judge because he was let down by Wilsheres passing, thought Gerard and Lamps were pretty solid, thought that Walker had a nightmare, Ashley Cole didnt show up, Lambert was ok but lost the ball too easily as did most of the team.
Onto two home games now, we have to fire on all cylinders and go through top of the group for any chance in the world cup, but on this showing we dont have enough world class players to mount a challenge, I wouldnt have fancied playing Germany or Spain with last nights team.

It wasn't vintage by any means, but Ukraine are no mugs and have won their last four qualifiers. We've got four or five injured who would have otherwise been pressing for a place, so yeah, not a great performance, but we're still in pole position.  

Czarcasm wrote:

It wasn't vintage by any means, but Ukraine are no mugs and have won their last four qualifiers. We've got four or five injured who would have otherwise been pressing for a place, so yeah, not a great performance, but we're still in pole position.  

Indeed. Job almost done but the bigger picture is almost as depressing as Argyle, when it comes to longer term ambition.

It has been obvious to some of us for many years, that the national team would suffer through the 'success' of the Premier League. Despite the latest statements little will change.

The success of the national team is helped by the success of the Premier League - more English players compete in European competitions than ever before. The real issue for us as a nation is that kids aren't taught properly - still. They still play on huge pitches where physicality is just as important as skill and even at under 11 level, winning is seen as the most important part of the game. It doesn't help that agents are convincing young players to stay at Premier League clubs earning £6k a week and play reserve team football rather than take a little pay cut and play regularly in a league below - that could be the fault of the Premier League - but for me, we don't have proper coaching.

I heard a youth team coach the other day comment that in Spain, the youth/academy coach is paid the same as the reserve coach - in England, the coach gets a pay rise when they move up an age group - with a non-hierarchical system like that, the youngest players don't get the most inexperienced coaches.

Another thing I'd like to see is subsidised youth football - it costs a good £750 to play a full season - pitch fees,'insurance, league fees, kit, paying the ref. If pro clubs, the FA etc. put in just 1% of their money, most kids would be able to play for free.

Another reason is that we aren't that good at football. We're good at other sports but being good at football seems an absolute obsession. Anyone for cricket?

I concur with much of what you say hairybloke but along with the improvements you suggest for youth football, I feel the easy availability of foreign finished products and the paucity of English players in the Premier League, is a major factor in the ongoing struggles of the national team.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2392791/Just-68-English-players-start-Premier-League-season-according-estimates.html

Smaller pitches and teaching youngsters to have fun rather than get hung up on the result all the time is a must in my opinion.

Too many competetive parents who all think their Jimmy is going to be the next Beckham and pushing them rather than letting the kids just go out and play with a smile on their faces.

I did a post a while back somewhere about kids in Spain. I was in Santander a while back and having a stroll about when came across a load of kids in a play area playing football. It was a sports centre area and there were adults there presumably coaching. The kids weren't doing a load of running about they were actually playing with a ball. The skill some of them had with the ball at their feet was very noticable and they looked comfortable doing it. None of this kick and rush stuff they passed and moved. They were really young kids of around 8 to 11. In this country it is all about being big and strong and a work ethic. Look at the Spanish national side compared to the English. In terms of ball skill there really is no comparison. Most of the England side were in that age group 10 years ago and it hasn't changed one bit since. If Messi was English probably nobody would ever hear of him cause he's not big enough so nobody would have taken him on.

It's called futsal. We have only just started to introduce it. It's a small sided game where the focus is on skill and technique.

The emphasis on strength, size, work rate [running their socks off  ] and winning today, has been prevalent in English youth football for far too long.
One of the chief architects of this folly was bloody Howard Wilkinson.Wasn't he paid £200k a year to plot the way forward by the FA ? I remember his boneheaded Leeds side winning ugly at Home Park, on their way to the Div 2 title ? Had the misfortune of attending an FA Preliminary Coaching badge course, led by him at Loughborough in the 70's. Any flair was discouraged and work rate, pass and move, applauded.

When I was coaching a local youth team in the late 90's, I had a very talented 14 year old, with two good feet and who read the game brilliantly. He reminded me of a young Colin Todd. Through cricket I knew the Watford U15 coach and I called him to suggest he give the lad a trial. His first words were............'How big is he ?'  
The lad did end up playing for QPR reserves for a season, including a game at Home Park. Ian Holloway released him ! W@NKER !

Fecking ell Tring did we just agree on something? I think.....

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

Fecking ell Tring did we just agree on something?     I think.....

I was about to say the same but as I'd been drinking, I thought I'd wait............ yes  

Tringreen wrote:

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

Fecking ell Tring did we just agree on something?     I think.....

I was about to say the same but as I'd been drinking, I thought I'd wait............ yes  

When passing go you will both be allowed to pick-up £200....this time.....don't let it happen again.