JamesB
TFF member
Posts: 1,526
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Post by JamesB on Dec 2, 2011 19:50:39 GMT
Spoilers below
England aren't going to win
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Dec 2, 2011 20:38:21 GMT
How is that a spoiler James B - a REAL spoiler would have been if you had told us about an uncertain and unsettling situation with the manager, players drinking / adulterising (probably not a word, but you know what I mean!) / fighting /racial abusing / drug taking, the press building the chances of the team in the weeks leading-up to the plane to Kiev, a key player carrying an injury and never making full fitness but *still* playing, the press knocking us as the worst England side in history when we don't get past the group stages and all crappy St George's Cross car flags reduced to 20p after the second game! Same old England, same old story!
Mind you, I really don't care about England and haven't done since having to go up to Wembley on a Friday night as the FA staged a friendly match against Egypt or Saudi Arabia!
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JamesB
TFF member
Posts: 1,526
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Post by JamesB on Dec 2, 2011 21:56:49 GMT
To be fair, at the end of the tournament only 1 team will win and the 15 or 31 others will look back and try to find reasons, many of which will be scandal-related. If England had some of these problems and still managed to win, the media would build a narrative of triumph through adversity
I've actually been more hopeful and positive about England lately, mainly because expectations are low at the moment, which usually means they end up performing well (1990, 96). However, this draw has been perceived to be kind, which is the exact thing that they didn't need to happen. And I don't believe it is an easy group, anyway. It is deceptively difficult. In the 3 previous Euros where England have played the hosts (1980, 1992 and 2004), they've lost every time - the last time they beat the hosts in a major tournament was in 1954 when they beat Switzerland 2-0. Ukraine aren't going to be easy to beat - indeed, England have already lost out there in recent times. Added to that, they still haven't beaten Sweden in a competitive match, and that's before we get on to France, who are unbeaten in 17 and starting to return to being a force in international football after the last 2 disastrous tournaments. Without Rooney, we don't have a talented talismanic figure in the side like Shevchenko, Ibrahimovic and Ribery
Added to this, even if England scrape through, chances are they'll face Spain in the quarter-finals. After that, it's most likely to be either Germany or the Dutch, and the same again in the final. The Euros, unlike the World Cup, is traditionally much better than the World Cup if you want to see the best teams come up against each other (if you like that kind of thing - I'm looking forward to the expanded Euro 2016 with some new faces hopefully qualifying). England will have to beat the best teams to get deep into the competition and that's something I can't see happening. Without Rooney in the groups, with a base that's up to 900 miles away from where they're supposed to be playing, and tough opponents, they will be once again lucky to get beyond the first round
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Post by aussie on Dec 4, 2011 10:38:18 GMT
Mind you, I really don't care about England If your English then that is truely shocking! You`d never hear an Aussie saying they didn`t care about Australia, guess that could be one of the reasons Australia over achieve and England fail so often, attitude and application. Seems that over here it`s all about money whereas any Aussie would play for Australia for nothing, just look at what`s come out in the world of English rugby, once upon a time they didn`t give a hoot about the bank balance, it was all about representing your country and being proud of that! Now their all whinging about the fees being too small. Club vs Country no comparison and I don`t give a monkeys about who pays their wages, wages doesn`t come into it! You play better when your paid more makes no sense to me, if your not playing to your ability then you need to have a word with yourself, I`ve watched games were people have played for free and played just as well as when they`ve been paid handsomely so if money is your insentive then I wouldn`t select you in my team! I think it`s high time the whole ethos of professionalism in sport is changed to reward players purely on performance, if players want the money so bad then they should also be able to accept that when they lose they get nothing! Lets see how Tevez likes that, not mention most of the top flight pre-madonnas! And I`d go as far as to only pay out 60% of their wages until the next win, holding back money to re-imburse fans who have gone to watch their team lose so fans would only have to pay to watch their team win and get a 50% refund for a draw and 100% refund for them if they had to witness a loss. You would find more effort and application from your squad if you did that to them, you would soon find out who the honest grafters are! |
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Post by martyfeldmanseyes on Dec 5, 2011 2:26:31 GMT
You are spot on about attitude, Aussie. The English team at RWC2011 was more like "Brits in Benidorm" than a serious professional rugby team.
But as for deducting wages......could we also deduct wages from the surly shirleys on the supermarket checkouts, or the council "jobs-worths" etc etc. As for footballers I expect most would be in the poor house by half way through the season. Already TUFC players would have lost 25% of income!
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anton
TFF member
Posts: 2
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Post by anton on Feb 3, 2012 7:45:28 GMT
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