There was a chump on 606 last night called Tom, who was complaining that England were boring and played "side to side football", and all the teams we'd played were rubbish. He also proudly said he rang up to complain after we'd beaten Germany in the Euros...
"Any other team" is doing so much heavy lifting in that little whinge it may as well be working as a stevedore.
England have always had good squads on paper, this has been the exact problem.
I think there's only one poster whose genuinely criticised Pep.
bleacherreport.com
the 98 team and the team that won the euros in 2000 were absolutely fantastic, Stéphane Guivarc'h apart so so much quality, Zidane was an absolute joy to watch. The brazil team they beat comfortably in the final was also full of talent, rivaldo, ronaldo, cafu and carlos.How Winning World Cup 98 Changed French Football Forever
It seems strange to claim that a World Cup victory could have had more of a negative effect than a positive on a footballing nation, particularly one that then went on to win the European championship immediately afterwards...
France’s triumph on home soil was seen as a miraculous feat, a snatching of victory from the jaws of defeat. Les Bleus approached the tournament with little hope of winning the thing, indeed it was feared by the press in particular that the team would embarrass themselves as hosts.
Aime Jacquet was under fire and an encouraging performance at Euro 96 was the only thing keeping him in a job. There had even been calls for him to resign from the position after the team’s farcical third-placed showing at Le Tournoi in 1997, a warm-up tournament for the follow year’s World Cup involving France, England, Italy and Brazil.
In fact, Jacquet had only got the senior job by default in the first place. Having been Gerard Houllier’s assistant as national team coach, he was in the right place at the right time. Jacquet stepped in to replace Houllier as an interim when he was moved sideways after a disastrous qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup.
The team responded under Jacquet, having failed to reach the showpiece event held in the United States of America, and he was appointed on a permanent basis. Being made full-time coach, he was able to make some of the tough decisions that French football had needed to make for some time.
France's national team was in dire need of a complete overhaul. Jacquet switched the focus of the team from the likes of Eric Cantona, David Ginola and Jean-Pierre Papin to the new generation of talent being led by the likes of Zinedine Zidane.
Bellingham is better than Gerrard
not sure you can say that yet, they're still young and careers can go down as well as up. The signs are very good for them though.
Absolutely agree
I’ve said it. Folks can disagree.. I’ve seen a few podcasts with folks still pouring over ‘the golden generation’ - I think this group of players bring much more to the table.
Southgate has been class for England. He's still learning his craft too, he'll improve. It's no easy task to build something that'll last the next ten years whilst enjoying a taste of some here and now success.
OK, Captain Pedant, I disagree with your point.
BEcause of the way the team is setup and the way they have a 'club culutre' when with England.
When you look at the trophies the players in those squads finished with then I believe it was underperformance not over confidence. They were some of the best club players in the world, they just didn't do it with England to the same level.
But it wasn’t a squad though that was the point it was a group of cliques of a bunch of over hyped, privileged prima Donnas that thought they were doing us all a favour by turning up to play for England.
They didn't play as a team, agreed. But on pure ability, that was one of the best squads. Now if Southgate was in charge of that lot....