Sven

Are we happy with the outcome of the Mr Burns saga?

I have to confess that I never liked this dude at all so the sooner we see him the back of him I think. And I dont buy in to all this tosh about the announcement being made at the wrong time...just look at the '90 world cup.

My money is on Big Sam with Psycho and Ian Wright as his assistants. Back with the passion!!!!

 

I personally think Sven has been treated disgracefully by a xenophobic press and public determined to get him out of the job regardless.

He clearly needed a much much stronger lesson in the British media and their tactics before taking on such a position, but even so, whatever gripes you may have with him he has still produced fantastic results with a mediocre set of players. There have been two high profile defeats recently, one of which was in a friendly which I think should never count against a manager anyway as they are *supposed* to be a sandpit for experiment, but that's for another rant.
Whether you agree with his methods and mannerisms or not he has still produced an almost flawless string of results with absolutely no breaking in period and you could not ask for anything more. I believe that we will all get what we deserve now when a new manager comes in and we realise how good we've had it.

This unhealthy obsession with replacing managers as soon as there is a short period without brilliant stardom is a disgrace. Just look at how quickly Alex Macgleish has been replaced, or Graeme Souness. Both outstanding managers who have proved themselves in the past and would undoubtably have shone in the near future...but they haven't been given any chance to do so. It took Alex Fergusson a good few decades to get Manchester United to the side they were in 1999...and that's because he was given time to try, make mistakes and try again. You build up a system not just with present players, but with future players, tactics and systems and we need to give decent Managers enough time to do that.

What I think is even more disgraceful, and even the xenophobes amongst you should be able to get behind this one, is the way the media have completely unsettled our England team months before the World cup. How healthy is it now for our chances of winning that our Manager knows everyone wants him out, and our players know the guy in chance isn't staying regardless of the performance.

wow I'm in a bad mood tonight.
Leafy

 

A tad out of order leafy - but I'll let you off just because you're in a bad mood.

But don't call us all xenephobes just because we'd prefer to see the back of Sven. Happy to see anyone take over after the World Cup. But perhaps someone who talks more to his team than an undercover reporter, who is a tad more faithful to his partner (and hence less distracted from his day job) and is paid less would be good.

I completely agree that he has a good qualification record but we've hardly had difficult groups and the man has let us down at crucial stages in the final tournaments.

And what do you mean medicore players. OK we haven't quite got an Henry or Ronaldhinio (although Rooney 'ain't bad) but compare the current lineup with what we've had previously and it's the best starting X1 we've had for ages (although backup a bit worrying).

But there's a new line. Best England X1 from last 30 years??

After 30 secs thought, something like:

Shilton, Neville, Butcher, Cambell (at his peak), Cole, Gazza, Robson, Hoddle, Rooney, Beardsley, Lineker

and play on a narrow pitch.

Good alternative:

Clemance, Gerrard (at right back), Adams, Terry, Sansom, Platt, Beckham, Lampard, Barnes, Owen, Keegan

 

Right, so what you're saying is that you don't care about the results, you just want a fine upstanding gentleman to be our Manager?
That's fair enough I suppose. I can understand wanting England's lead Representative to be of the highest moral standings...but personally I just want us to win games. I may disagree with some of Sven's tactics, but I can't fault his results...and unless you are extrapolating his manner to future results I really don't think you can warrant asking for any more.

I have no doubt that "Big Sam" or Pearce, or O'Neill would be great Managers...but I fail to see how any of them would do better than winning our group. When Sven had served his purpose, or left of his own accord then these would have been great replacements...but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I just think we are making a big mistake kicking out someone who has got us into a consistent winning streak and replacing him with an amatuer at the international stage.

And I apologise for implying you were xenophobic. I'm sure you're not, but you have to agree that are large group of individuals have been gunning for Sven's dismissal even before he joined and that they are some of the loudest voices to be heard even now. And their only reason? We need an England manager for the England job. Rediculous. Should all staff and groundsmen be English too? Should we only accept English funding for Wembley and other investments? no. they just think a foreigner shouldn't be in charge of such an important job...in this day and age that kind of thinking makes me sick.

 

there are some hot agruments going on over here.....wohhh i can see the steam coming out of this thread already...ok...its a pj (poor joke)...but have to cool things down over here. well i am not a big football fan but here is my take,

1. the timing of this story is not correct. the reporter was just looking to make some quick bucks and i guess he was successful. but at what cost? that, only time will tell fellas....

2. i agree with leafy. it does not really matter what origin the coach comes from. at the end of the day whether its an english or a non-english coach, the bottomline still remains how good is he at winning games. sven with all this stupidity was atleast good at winning important games.

however we are all missing one imp point here....the coach can have excellent tactics..best in the world. however, the players have to live up to their reputation. england will have to play together as a team if they want to win the world cup...in other words...every man should perform his duty. Q: why did the porto win the uefa cup and the champions league? ans: becoz they had jose mourhinio..but they exactly did what they were told to do. why did chelsea lose 3-0 to middlesborough? they had jose mourhinio....but they played crap. i hope i get my message across.

 

Don't think that's quite what I said. I too want to win. But chances are that any other manager would have achieved simlar results with this group of players. I think I'd have had half a chance and would have done it for free. And who knows, perhaps a different manager would have attacked a 10-man Brazil.

You're right that now is not the time for the media to upset the "team", Sven seems to be doing a good job of that himself!! No doubt if we emulate 1966 then Sven will be King. Long live Sven.


Get back to that studying.

 

I dont really think that xenophobia has much to do with wanting sven out of the job. I agree with you though, that it does seem that the media are slightly over obsessed with wanting a Brit for the job to take over.

I dont agree that svens results are outstanding.
We have perhaps 3 of the best 10 footballers in the world within our team and we should be pushing for honours. I dont think that getting knocked out against 10 man Brazil or a lame Portugal side is anything to be proud of
sven is tactically inept and to further that, in the 5 years he has been in charge he has still not even tried to solve the left handed problem. that to me makes him foolish or niaive.

At the end of the day we should be qualifying for world cups and euro championships because we always get drawn with teams like NI or Poland (no disrespect).
The pure and simple fact is that with this team, we should not only be qualifying but going further in these competitions than we have done.

Personally I would be up for seeing Martin O'Neill or Gus Hiddink take over - thats how xenophobic I am.

 

"We have perhaps 3 of the best 10 footballers in the world within our team"

rooney and who? england's players are overrated beyond belief. watching that friendly in spain was embarrassing. the difference in ability between our players and theirs was huge. sven has done a great job for england, he identified our strengths as defending and counterattacking, so that's how we play (imo the most overrated player is gerrard, still done nothing of note at international level)

"sven is tactically inept and to further that, in the 5 years he has been in charge he has still not even tried to solve the left handed problem. that to me makes him foolish or niaive."

joe cole has done an excellent job on the left

all this talk of big sam and alan curbishley is scary

 

....now that is a good question.....lets start a new thread