Re: England our england!

Yes good luck England.

Re: England our england!

Bob, even though he would not have been my choice I think it is better having a home grown person in charge of the national team and I wish him all the best.

I am not sure that he alone could manage the high tensions that run with high profile professional footballers these days, oh! he is good with mediocre player but these are the elite but with the likes of Pearce and Neville he has people who are on the same level as those playing for England.

Re: England our england!

Yes you never know AB and lets face it, there is no substitute for real experience so Neville and Pearce could turn out to be very useful allies indeed.
Another thing has crossed my mind, it will be quite pleasant listening to all the various interviews as and when, I will actually be able to understand what the manager is saying and that has got to be a plus!
Hodgson has certainly been left with the 'bare bones' to select from so it will really be a test of characters all round tomorrow. I still find myself looking forward to it with a lot of interest.

Re: England our england!

Losing players due to 'injury' could be a blessing in disguise for Hodgson, he has as good a reason as any to get rid of the old 'Mafia' brigade and start afresh, Pity Terry's not 'injured' as he is the destructive force in that team. If he does not get his way he sulks and causes aggro.

Re: England our england!

Hello Bob.b - I suspect this is one thread that will run and run Let me come clean at the start and say I am not a football fan, so why read this Well like anyone from England ('tho of Welsh parentage) I would like to see the side do well. I endorse your comment about letting Roy Hodgson get on with the job but I am sceptical that the media will give him much of break. Time will tell, even 'tho I don't make a point of watching, I suspect the results will appear on the news headlines, wishing him all the best in the job.

Re: England our england!

Hi Losos and may I say 'snap' because I too am English by birth from Welsh parents.
I did watch this evenings match on the TV and once again thought the performance from the whole team was very workmanlike and they looked like they were difficult to break down most of the time with another very good goal to seal another 1-0 victory for the Three Lions, this time scored by Danny Welbeck assisted by Ashley Young. So it's on to the Euro matches and the confrontation with France to start our efforts. You are dead right about the media too but I think Roy will prefer to keep a low profile if he can.
I do agree with your remarks about the old guard (or Mafia brigade lol) Antibrown, especially JT who strangely did have a decent game this evening, nice not to see him trying to tell the officials how to do their jobs
Maybe only two 1-0 victories to start with for Roy and his lads but isn't it nice to see the clean sheets? Good luck in Europe to Roy Hodgson and his Three lions.

Re: England our england!

Must say this was not a performance to make you rush out and take the 16-1 odds on England winning the Competition. However a win is a win, and Belgium were reasonably useful. You have to remember that both they and Norway failed to qualify for the Euros. All the injuries and niggles are a worry, but thats the same for all teams participating. All in all, so far so good for Roy, just wonder what our friends in the press will make of it all.

Re: England our england!

Well of course John, the erudite members of the press are just waiting for the team to get beaten then they will start chorusing on about who should have been playing and who was rubbish etc etc, anything to sell newspapers! All they have to remember is one thing and that is that they do not select the team, Roy Hodgson is paid to do that, constructive criticism is fair at all times but all out witch hunting is pathetic. I expect all pencils will have been sharpened ready for the Euro matches on the horizon!

Re: England our england!

I see Ferdinand is stirring things up.

I agree with Hodgson on this, he would not have been in my squad neither. Ferguson has said that he does not think Ferdinands back would stand up to the riggors of the European games schedule.

Re: England our england!

Sadly for our football scene we have overpaid divas who cannot really speak for themselves so must have a representative, spokesperson, agent, Johnny come lately or whatever they want to be called which of course has pushed stupid player power to the forefront of things so when a manager disrupts the senior players comfort zone the trouble starts with mutterings behind his back, tweets on Twitter and even entries on facebook pages, the great technical age comes into it's own but I really hope that Roy Hodgson sticks to his guns over his decisions, what a ridiculous thing to read that he has been disrespectful to Rio Ferdinand just because he didn't call him up owing to the injury to Cahill, what utter tosh! The media bandwagon is really getting set to roll, nice to know that they are all ready to lynch the manager, yet again. Whatever happened to true patriotism?