Why didnt England Qualify

[topnotch]

all of these professional players have played in a 4-5-1 at some time in their careers. both crouch and gerrard have done so for liverpool, chelsea under mourinho have played with the lone striker system, but now they suddenly lose all basic knowledge of playing in shifting formations? are the players that thick or amateurish? do me a favour.
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top rugby tipster april 2007

[BoozyBeggar]

It's a bit sad that "Missing Players" doesn't feature in the poll list.

Lescott and Campbell or Ferdinand and Terry? Owen and Rooney or Crouch plus any midfielder? Wouldn't those four upgrades be worth a goal? Carragher. Scholes.

That said, "Missing Players" would be my number two choice. Poor management / tactics was the crucial factor. Hurt us in the winnable games we didn't win. Hurt us in the last match too.

Come the interviews, first question should be: can Lampard and Gerrard play together? Anyone who says "Yes" should be shown the door immediately.

And playing a rookie keeper in our most important international for over a decade was ultimate dumb. Experience does matter, at every level: we need a coach who has proven himself at international level already.

[STUBBLE]

[AcesJones]

I do think an option for "All of the above" would have gathered a large number of votes.
I cant really add much to this thread that hasn't been said already. I did site that "Poor Management/Tactics" as the main reason for England's downfall.
I believe that this was the case because Steve McLaren, like Sven, picked a system to accommodate his players rather than the other way round. This forced a number a players to play out of position and in a style that they rarely employ at club level on a weekly basis. These frailties showed game in game out on the international stage.

The only good thing to come from this very disappointing qualifying campaign is the inevitable sacking of Steve McLaren.

Onwards and upwards
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Think Big, because if you pay peanuts your only going to attract monkeys.

[Roger Green]

I really believe that technically we have fallen behind most countries. This is confirmed by he number of " foreign" players, playing in the premiership....Most of the stars are foreign, all of them are better ball players....How many foreign players wre good enough for the Premiership say 10 years ago....far fewer than today... there are less home grown players available for England and it will only get worse

[rerykama]

When will people in this country realise that we are a 2nd class footballing nation with 2nd class players and managers.We have been in 1 major final in our football history and that was 40 years ago,that says it all.Changing the manager will not make much difference as the main problem is the players who are poor technically compared to foreign players.All the best players in the top teams in the premiership are foreign and the best footballing side (Arsenal) have hardly any English players at all.Football in this country has always been played at a fast pace with the emphasis on fitness and strength rather than technical skill and tactical awareness.This type of football can bring limited success against mediocr opposition but when it comes up against quality teams,then it becomes embarrassing.IF we really want to succeed at international level we must encourage people who coach youngsters to try and place the emphasis on skill rather than making the result of the game the be-all and end-all

[BoozyBeggar]

rerykama wrote:

[welshie1]

Although I am not English, my viewpoint is England's problems go all the way down to the Grassroots and the Academys. There are so many foreigners in the Premiership at the moment and I would think the Premiership is bottom of British players playing week in week out. If you look at the England team a lot of the players dont start especially the Squad numbers. There should be a quota of at least 5 British players in the starting line up, how are these young players going to get discovered by going on loan to a lower league club or in the reserves, they are not are they? I think if there was a quota I would think all 5 Home nations performances would improve. And it can be done all of Italy's World Cup winning squad played in Italy and they became World Champions.

[spider2097]

Quotas (if that's the correct plural of "quota") are a red herring designed to feed the minds of xenophobic among England supporters. With EU regulations the way they are, many of the top teams in the English Premiership fill this requirement easily. It's against European law to introduce a regulation that would require a set number of English players per team or limit "foreign" players. Plus it would only serve to drive up the price of English players even more. The price of English players is a huge problem at the minute. £17m for Darren Bent? Can anyone else not see this problem?

If it's to do with the number of English players in the Premiership, how do you explain the relative success of the Northern Irish side?

It's possible to point at the Scottish team & say "Since the Glaswegian sides started employing more Scottish players, the Scottish team improved.", but again it doesn't really answer the problem. It's entirely possible to say the Welsh overperformed due to the fact they had to pick a large number of players from outside the EPL. Again, it misses the point.

The reason England didn't perform well is due to the players on the pitch not working together as a team. A good coach/manager gets talented individuals working together well. That's true in whatever sphere of work that takes place.

I have no doubt whatsoever that there are world class English players. Until they learn how to work together as a team, they'll only be world class individuals.

The "Head Coach" is also at fault as he picked the perceived most talented individuals rather than players who were in form & getting games at the time. Selecting Bent, Defoe & Crouch for the squad - all players who have not been getting regular games - was a sign of naivety. Yes, Carson has been playing well for Aston Villa but surely for a crunch game if you're going to drop Robinson then David James was the better option rather than a player making his competitive debut? There are plenty of English players getting regular games for their clubs that could of/would of/should of been picked & maybe performed better than the players that were chosen.

There was a huge outcry when Carragher retired from international football. His reason was that he was behind defenders coming back from injury despite his imperious club form. He wasn't getting the international games in the first place, why shout him down? If he can't keep his place when Woodgate gets chosen after 1 game back from injury, why should he be bothered? There wasn't the same outcry when Paul Scholes retired from international football & he was a much more important player for England than Carragher ever was.

The majority of the team last Wednesday knows that whatever the result they'll more than likely be picked for the next game.

That is the problem.
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[thatsa donkey]

I think that poor tactics was the 'most' important reason we lost. But I do agree that there should have been an injured players option and an all of the above option.

The best available english players cannot be expected to perform when playing out of position. The formation should fit the squads strengths. We do need better coaching and skills training for young players who show a great deal of promise, we should be employing the best retired players from all over the globe to be teaching them.

We dont have a chance of being a great footballing nation until we invest more in training in all aspects of the game.

Donkey.

[willieboy]

As said...def. some of all the reasons.....but starting with Crouch
upfront on his own shows negativity from the start.

We`re at home so why not play attacking football with players
in their correct positions. The biggest loss was Rooney and Owen.
They would have made a difference...goes to show we don`t
have quality in depth.

Far too much money in the game......no incentive to give your
all....still get a kings ransom no matter what happens. It`s about
time this happened!!....25% of wages if you lose....50% of wages
for a draw...full wages for a win (every week, not just Int games)

They`ll be booking their trips to the Caribbean as we speak!

Controversial or what!?!

[Clacton]

As with probably all of you I watched the game on Wednesday and was disappointed with the performance. The pitch was not fit for a major international football game. The FA have a friendly game the friday before the last qualifying game why? money or assumptions that England would have qualified already? No stadium in the world has cost as much money and we allow a US soccer game to destroy the pitch. The FA deserve not to have qualified. If I was in charge as soon as Chelsea released Mourhino he should have been approached to see if he would be interested. McClaren was part of the previous management and should not have been given the position. I have read in the press that Shearer should be cobsidered How and Why? somestimes I believe that the FA is run by idiots no successfull company would allow some of the decisions that have been made by them.