Allright, everybody is talking here about McClaren`s tactic (by the way Steve often used the 3-5-2 tactic as Boro coach so he didn`t supprised me) and Robinsons silly mistake. But the really stars are on the Croatian side this time - I may have criticized Van Basten and Donadoni as unexperienced and not fitting NTcoaches, but Slaven Bilić deserved to be praised. He really apsorebed all that motivational skills and tacticall intelligence from his tutor, Miroslav Blažević. Modrić, Da Silva, Petrić, Čorluka, the youngsters played really good. Å imić made a solid record - cap - match. Wow...

well done to the azzurris, and england.. ha..what a joke!

Forza Hellas !!!

And you lost 54 - 3 !!??

Malta Won !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spain 2-1 Argentina ! Mediocre/Bad match, good goals !! See Rossoneri7 ... argentinians scratching their balls as usual for time to pass in one more friendly game !! Gago still not called up; I hope he'll come to play more than Redondo ... unless his hair is a problem !!

Go Hellas !! Katsouranis (Benfica player) scored a great lob, Serbia gave up after the second goal ...

So Fillipo, talking about Simic's performance, define "solid" !!?

Oh and ... ES scored !! He can still do it !!?

Hmmm...solid...Had one unnecessary mistake, but all in all did well in a game not very tuff for the whole defensive line. 4 wide shots, 1 only on target - the England stats. Å imić also managed some accurate passes and blocked the english attacking players when expected. So I would rat him 6.5, but he really had not much job to do...

Who is ES?

A penalty.

... oh and Katsouranis scored 2 on the last 2 matches. In great shape that greek. He'll be on the first 11 for the whole season @Benfica. (This year Petit is playing really bad)

You mean Bosnia , right ?

Oh really ?? He-he !! That's good





Oh and about the U21 games: what a Walcott !!

Arsenal are an amazing team this season..do you see the way they play...


stands for English student. If you still can't figure who it is....maybe ur on the wrong forum

Beautiful !!

Yep we hadn't won an international match since 1993!! BEAT THAT RECORD !!

But I got to admit I saw the match, and we where playing some great stuff

Well isnt that something .. '93

Against which team did u guys play?
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that my favorite german international Bernd "Schnixx" Schneider played his 75th match for the german NT yesterday...great player

Yep there was, it was made by the Croatian keeper so he could kick the ball further!, I bet he will be using that tactic in every match from now on!



Everyone's saying this but we bashed Sven for never changing tactics, somebody does if it payed off no one would be blaming the formation! I personally think we don't have the team we are not a big international team that is a fact, compared to others, we are overhyped that's all...

Thanks



Hungary



Isn't EVERY british player overly hyped by the british media??

Yea they are .. In fact before any major tournament, their players get so much from the media, even the Brazilians dont get that much attention as the English.

I think the England team has amazing individuals from attack to MDfield, but they'r defence is not that solid .. The MAJOR problem is they dont have a GK .. I think that's their problem

Actually the English media is that way about any sport...take Tim Henman for instance...

I guess the biggest problem for the English is that they're not a team. They have so many great football players, and everyone wants to play a major part in the team. No one wants to do the dirty work. Great teams need that kinda players. And about the GK, I agree, England doesn't have any solid GK, and a bad coach...

To be honest no self respecting individual for the last 4/5 years believed Henman could win Wimbledon! Just the media!

First of all they don't look like a team and secondly they never seem so passionate. Another problem is that all of them (besides Hargreaves and former national Beckham) are playing in the UK so they don't have any experience of anything not English (football-wise) !! When Crouch is your best player there has to be a problem ...


Henman is a joke !! He wouldn't even win me even if we played like forever !!

Haha, get off that's taking it to far! Just because he scores, does not mean he is our best player! I think we are missing Owen a bit as well - a proper goalscorer.

Your team has no problem from the MDfielders to the strikers, the problem starts with the Gkeeping options ( there are no options, not in a long time .. ) ..

Well in my opinion, Robinson has done alrite for us, I mean yes what happened to him on Wednesday was unfortunate, but I think things like that happen to a lot.

Ironically, he was voted man of the match I heard, saying something isn't it!

Problem with England boils down to team chemistry....too many guys who are football gods suddenly find themselves playing with each other...don't know around whom the game should centre....

So nobody does their job properly...

Totally Agreed

I don't agree !! so what is France ?? don't they have "football gods" ?? Still, they made it to the final. IMO they're playing with complete lack of passion. Also, I think with the Carling Cup, EPL and FA they play more games than the rest !!

@dst: Yes France do have Gods...but in their case they had a super God around whom the game ought to revolve....ZZ(ZZ is to me what Redondo is to dst)...notice you don't have that in England....

McLaren says something in one game, then that flops so he tries something different in another game and so on and so forth....players are confused.

I guess it's that confused game playing which is leading you to think it's passionless. Because believe me...nobody who is worth his salt is gonna give less than 100% for his country....It's just that all that effort is uncoordinated.

OK then how about Brazil of 2002 !!?? They did not have any "super God" ... In fact they had more than one of such kind !!

In 2002...you did have a team full of football gods, but nobody walked in thinking they are GODS...I hope you get the difference.

There was little confusion...Rivaldo doesn't do what Ronaldo does for instance, R10 was a little heard of phenomenon and Roberto Carlos was what he was not in 2006...efficient and precise. Everybody knew their job coz that was decided and they stuck to it...

Take England -Hargreaves,Robinson,Neville perform unique duties therefore they perform decently(I'm inclined to forgive them)...their mid-field is chaotic. Lampard and Gerrard both clash position-wise.

Playing Gerrard on the right is in my opinion a faux-pas coz that's where Aaron Lennon ought to be and Gerrard is basically slowing what should be a pacey attack for it to have any effect. Since Joe Cole ain't fit (isn't he) they play Downing on the left...and Rooney is well they play him every time hoping he's just one match away from striking form..a sure-fire way to burn the lad out....you can play experienced players into form, doesn't work the same way for youngsters...what they have is a confidence problem and the longer he strives in vain , the worse it becomes

Ashley Cole is in my opinion useless if the mid-field lacks direction.

So what do I think England need to go...stick to the 4-4-2 or play a 4-5-1 with Hargreaves thrown into the mix.

Defence: Cole, Terry, Ferdinand, Neville
Mid: Downing,Parker,Gerrard,Lennon
Attack: Rooney, Crouch

Do I think it'll work...I don't know but at least here we know what each player ought to do.

However I'am hampered here coz I don't know the entire English squad or all the player so I could be missing a lot of worthwhile names...

Defoe for instance..I'm under the impression is more a finisher than a target man else I would have replaced Rooney with him.

And Downing is the weak link here....I don't know of any left wingers except Joe Cole...so this isn't necessarily the best formation

what is ZZ to you Jack !!?? Cause Redondo is not exactly my favourite player ...

Neither is ZZ...remember I once said I had taken ZZ off a pedestal and put numero 21 in his place.

After Pirlo I'm afraid it's Cris Ronaldo I like...to watch that is...

I prefer Greek football !!

Oh yeah..Katsouranis..or are you saying u like watching urself u narcissist

No I just prefer actual football to entertainment !!

Well I found the matches I watched of Greece..way back when they won the Euro to be too defensive...it was just grinding, mistake-free football.

Trivia Question: Which team club/NT do you think still subscribe to the philosophy of Total Football?

Nothing to do with the greek nt. I just said that I prefer watching the greek league (which I loathe actually and can't stand watch) than CR ... I think the kid is a very good footballer but all his tricks and stuff ruin it for me; why does he have to the steps every single f@cking time he has the ball !!?

Answer: Well Lyon I think are closer to it than anyone, but still not "Total" !!

Oh...taht's an easy one...the Germany of 1974 with Franz Beckenbauer and Wolfgang Overath, and the German team of 2006 with Schweinsteiger(especially Schweinsteiger,he's such a HUGE talent), Klose, Schneider and Frings!

Oh and no complaining about Zizou please, for me he's still the best player since I watch football!

what exactly was 'Total' in Germany's defence in this World Cup ??

other than a total mess this is !!

ROFLMAO.....

Total football isn't about having an awesome defense, it's about every player on the field working in the offense AND defense, I've seen that kinda play by many german players in the WC. Frings for example is a great player in front of the defense but he's also able to attack, and if he does Ballack falls back and takes his position. And ig Lahm attack Schneider or Schweinsteiger fall back to defend.
The point is, the system was great but our defense was a little bit too young and unexperienced for a tournament sucha s the WC. But lets not forget that there weren't many goals scored against us after the opener...

No I'm not talkin about their last match .. I'm talking about last match till Seaman .. Then before Seaman .. It's been a looong time since England got a goal keeper to match the hype that's been given to the English team, in each tournament they play in.

I'v been a fan of the England team since I was a kid, as I lived in England till I was 13 .. But when looking back from this WC to the 94 WC .. England have been missing a GK .. ALways they would come in with a very strong team on paper, but their options for GK is horrendous

Maybe they can reactivate Peter Shilton

No .. GK of immense quality did pass by, but when has one passed by since WC '94 ??

Well there's not an exact definition of the term, it is quite abstract. In my mind it means to excell in every part of the game and Germany did not excel in the defensive part !!

And goals do not say it all; for example France conceded more goals in the WC than Italy (well just one but still more) but had a clearly better defence !!

This is what Wikipedia says:
In soccer, Total Football is a system where a player who moves out of his or her position is replaced by another from his or her team, thus retaining their intended organizational structure. In this fluid system no footballer is fixed in his or her intended outfield role; anyone can be successively an attacker, a midfielder and a defender.

Total Football depends largely on the adaptability of each footballer within the team to succeed. It consists of footballers being extremely tactically aware, allowing them to change positions at high speed - in its simplest terms, every player is comfortable in any other position. It also puts high technical and physical demands on the players.
Full article

So I still say our NT played total football ( I hope I don't seem to be too stubborn here )

this is so concrete it sounds anarchic !! Since Johan Cruijff is not the author of this article I simply do not care ...


See ... being stubborn is a virtue I also possess !!

For me it doesn't sound anarchic...
Oh and, the only guy that really could define total football is dead, former dutch NT coach Rhinus Michels....

Being stubborn rules...

for you ...
I'd trust Cruyff cause he's the one that exploited the theory ...


I obviously agree