Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Thing is, I think that England generally do play to their potential, at least in the major tournaments.
We have been around 10-15 in the FIFA rankings for many years now & tend to reach 1/4 finals or semi's (if we qualify!).
I see a pattern emerging...
We are significantly under performing.
England are just about getting results, but we are also playing very badly.
We often get to the last 16 or 8, but we rarely play like a decent side.
We need a manager who has proven over the years that they can get players to play in a formation that works.
England have never played with shape or any kind of cohesion for years.
Not consistently since Venables had Gascoigne playing well for England.
Imagine this team in the Champions League manager by Sir Alex or Wenger:-
Owen
Rooney
J Cole Lampard Gerrard Beckham
A Cole Terry Ferdinand Neville
Not Sure
When these players are playing well (Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, A Cole, Terry, Ferdinand) they are as good as any players in the world in their position.
People say Lampard can't do it, but he kept Ballack out the Chelsea midfield and Ballack is one of the best midfield players of his generation.
Its the manager, if Sir Alex managed this team he'd be working on the linkup play between Rooney,Gerrard, J Cole.
Sir Alex would concentrate on wing play as well and force Beckham and J Cole to stay out wide, opening up the game.
A Cole would be making overlapping runs all the time with J Cole.
Both Wenger and Sir Alex have produced multiple top class sides playing the way that they want them to play.
Also top class managers like Sir Alex and Wenger drop players that are not playing well. Sven would never drop Beckham, McClown can't get Lampard and Gerrard to play well together but keeps on playing them.
Its a joke.