What went wrong?

[step]

Now i've had a few days to reflect, i'm trying to work out exactly where it started to wrong for England.

Was it all Ronaldo/Rooney's fault?
Was because of Sven's rubbish tactics?
Was it the player's fault for not performing?
Was the heat a factor?
Was there too much pressure?
Was the BIG mistake appointing Sven in the first place?
Or maybe we were never going to win anyway, and should be happy with the QF?

Personally, i blame Sven. Not for his overall performance in the last 5 years, but just the last year or so. And his biggest mistake has to be picking Crouch. By playing Crouch, it changed the way the whole team played. It was long balls and crosses ALL aimed at Crouch. Its not Crouch's fault, and i'm sure he played to the best of his ability, but it was a mistake. If Crouch had not have been picked surely we would have played a basic 4-4-2, with 2 of Rooney, Owen, Bent, Defoe or even Ashton. This would surely have eliminated all the high balls, allowing the team to keep possession for longer and, ultimately, score more goals.

I suppose i'm just looking for some answers. The team were 2nd favourites to win the damn thing, yet played rubbish from start to finish. WHY?

Over to you...
_________________
Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise

[SamTummo]

I dont blame Sven.

IMO we gave Portugal a footballing Lesson in the QF, but just failed to put the ball in the back of the net. Under-performances from Lampard/Gerrard and Rooneys isolation up-front is the main reason.

Yes Sven made mistakes in his squad by taking Walcott and maybe even crouch but why has no one applauded him for Hargreaves??
_________________
"Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same" Alan Ball 1945-2007. RIP Bally

[step]

How many caps has Hargreaves won? 34. And how many good games? Probably about 5. Yes, he was our best player in the last 2 games, but i think its only in comparison to his usually poor performances. Why have a defensive midfielder at all? We were supposed to have the best back 4 in the tournament, yet still needed someone to 'protect' them. Rooney was isolated upfront, who's fault is that?
_________________
Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise

[Seagull]

I don't get you Sam. Rooneys isolation was because of the formation (and the lack of a suitable partner to play in the correct one, 4-4-2) and who decided on that?!

The blame can only be laid at the door of one person. He chose the squad, chose the team for each game, picked the formation, decided on the tactics to be played, made the substitutions, "motivated" the players etc etc etc.

When the sum of the parts adds up to much less than the potential total how can it be anyone's fault other than the managers?

Enough has been written and said about the various mistakes, suffice to say that from squad selection to motivation and at every point in between Sven was wrong.

I've been saying since before it started that if we won the Cup it would be DESPITE Sven rather than because of him but if we had won it he would have been the first to accept full credit.

As we failed dismally he must take full blame. Simple.
_________________
Join the best FREE football management game at www.xperteleven.com The OLBG league 4th season will start in a few weeks! 51 teams and counting. PM me for more info or check the thread.
http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/forum/topic8_7166.html

[aye66]

I was trying to find a way to avoid blaming sven, because it's all too easy to make him the scapegoat... but as much as I've tried, he has to shoulder a lot of the blame.

a) bringing 4 strikers, 2 unfit. This affected the way england played, and limited the number of formations/tactics which were available to the team.
b) picking walcott but not playing him... I have only one thing to say.. "?"
c) not having the guts to drop star players who are not performing well... just look at klinsmann in contrast.. he did the most difficult decision in Germany which was to drop kahn, and he was completely justified in the end as Lehmann had a great tournament. I don't know why he just wouldn't drop Lampard. Lampard's a great player for chelsea, but when you're in a tournament which lasts for only 5 weeks, you can't afford to be carrying obvious out-of-form players in your team hoping they can suddenly turn it around in a high pressure (plus top level) envionment on the pitch. England are not a club side which has an entire season to discover their form! Gawd! Lampard has got to be the worst performer for England this tourney.

The only thing that Sven did well was to play Hargreaves... I was scathing in my comments abt Hargreaves and I'll hold my hands up and say i got it wrong on this point.

It's sad that England's best performance was against Portugal, and that it wasn't enough to avoid elimination.

Picking Crouch was ok by me... He gave the team options and is a good squad player. Long ball is ok as long as it's not the only tactic used by the team. It's good to have some variation instead of being predictable. And he was the only striker on form leading up to the WC.

[coopsy02]

well i thought sven was actually gonna shut you all up and bring it home, you can only look at the 1 thing, you were all on here talking about this in May, 4 strikers, Tactics, gerrard and lampard

have to agree also that Hargreaves was your best man for 2 games, the becksyboy the other 2, with j cole pushing in 1 match
_________________
Challenge Winners for November

Scot - Euro Scorecast: DjPeem
Scot - Euro 1-2-3: Beernutz
Premiership Scorecast: Craggy8
Premiership 1-2-3: Coopsy02

All Previous
http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/blogs/blog_post.php?t=coopsy02&id=41825

[STUBBLE]

I think Sven should take a fair shame of the blame for England's poor showing.

His major error seemed to be picking what he felt was the best 11 players, but not picking the best team.

It has been obvious for some time that Gerrard and Lampard could not play together as the central two in midfield, as neither player is disciplined enough (they both play their club football alongside holding players, i.e. Makelele or Alonso/Hamann). Sven needed to be strong enough to pick one only, and give that player the same role as his club.

Also, the decision to play Rooney as the lone frontman backfired spectacularly. This was a role that he doesn't play for Man Utd (it would be Saha or V. Nistelrooy) and his frustration was plain to see. It was interesting to see how well Crouch played this role when required.

There were other obvious faults that have been well documented, but I think some of the players should not be absolved of blame either.

Defensively, they did well and we seem to have finally 'discovered' Owen Hargreaves. Unfortunately, England lacked virtually any semblance of creativity or composure further up the pitch, and that cannot entirely be blamed on the manager. The tendency of both Gerrard and Beckham in particular to play 'Hollywood' 70 yard passes to the one man up front was particualrly stupid given both the conditions and the fact that no one could get forward quick enough to support the striker. In addition, Lampard's habit of shooting from anywhere and everywhere became something of a joke during the tournament.

Hopefully, Steve McLaren was watching Italy yesterday and saw what can be achieved by short passing, clever movement and defensive discipline by the entire team.
_________________
Confidence in tips ranges from the most confident which is 5 stars to least which is 1.

If you fire enough arrows, one or two are bound to hit the target

[danwith]

I can't understand svens tactical substiutions!

why bring carragher on for lennon in extra time and play for penaltys when we all know we aren't any good at pens.

we should have done what Italy did against ze germans and gone for it. Even with ten men we should have took the chance and all out attack as portugal never looked like scoring.

[jkmccrann]

Attack is the best form of defence danwith, you've got a good point there.

I watched England's games with increasing disappointment from over here, eventually falling asleep at half-time of the Ecuador match.

I agree with all the points made above regarding Sven's failures - at the end of the day, he simply lacked the bottle to make the tough calls.

Lampard/Gerrard and there haphazard midfield partnership being the glaring example of that. And bringing 4 strikers - 2 unfit, 1 a 7 foot, somewhat one-dimensional sort of frontman, and the other an untested 17yr old with ZERO Premiership experience. It sounded a bit dodgy and in the end it turned out that way.

Watching the match against Portugal, and seeing the match going into extra-time, I really thought this was Sven's big chance to redeem himself. Given England's woeful record in penalty shootouts, surely he couldn't possibly play for a shootout - asking for trouble.

With that in mind I was convinced he'd bring Walcott on for a run, perhaps taking off Ferdinand or Neville, and just go all out for the victory. The fact he didn't really disappointed me, and seeing Carragher coming on as a 120th minute tactical substitute said it all. At that point I knew there was no hope for the team.

Sven picks a daring and dashing young teenager and then when the opportunity presents itself, he shows absolutely no faith at all in the kid! Woeful managing and a disappointing exit were all that Sven's management deserved.

I think he started out with the right intentions as the England manager, but by this World Cup he'd really lost interest in the whole job and that showed IMO.

[STUBBLE]

On reflection, I've decided that it's time to face facts and accept that England were not good enough and there can be no excuses, except the following:-

1) It was Sven's fault
2) and Cristiano Ronaldo's
3) It was too hot - play future World Cup's in Iceland in December
4) Did you know that referee was an Argie?
5) Sepp Blatter
6) Penalties, penalties, penalties
7) The WAGs
8) We didn't have a faith healer
9) Erm, Graham Taylor
10)Those sneaky foreign types who cheated by playing better football than us.

Still, it could have been worse. At least the English refereeing representative didn't embarass himself in front of the rest of the world (DOH!)
_________________
Confidence in tips ranges from the most confident which is 5 stars to least which is 1.

If you fire enough arrows, one or two are bound to hit the target

[funkyav]

One person to blame = SVEN
How can so many players who performed fantastically all season under different club managers all be so unimpressive under Sven.
Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Terry, Beckham all underperformed and the blame has to lie with Sven.

He had no idea tactically, he has singlehandedly ruined International friendlies, he has blown arguably our best chance of winning a major tournament. I will never forgive him.

In Steve McClaren he has a ready made replacement, a really good coach but not the inspirational leader we need.

When Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger walks into a room everyone stops what they are doing. When Sven walks into a room any sane people walk out!
_________________
"Lets have a look at what you could have won!"

[Will8ace]

Agreed. Management is the key, sadly, Sven was not a locksmith.
_________________
Ordo ab Chao