The Official *England's Journey to the Promised Land* Thread

[Duty281]

First topic message reminder :

"And here comes Hurst, he's got...some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over! It is now! It's four!"
England, despite drastically underachieving, are one of only eight nations to win the World Cup.

So here we are then, the eve of yet another FIFA World Cup, the grandest sporting tournament of them all. For the under-hyped England team, it's another chance to add to their one solitary World Cup and bring football home.

"Oh and he left Cooper standing...Pele! What a save! Gordon Banks!"
The greatest goalkeeper of all time makes the greatest save of all time.

The conception is that England will be lucky to make it past the group stage. The reality is that 2014 is the best chance of winning the World Cup since 1970, for the Three Lions. It is a squad largely unburdened by previous failure. It is a squad free of expectation. It is a squad that has the perfect balance between youth and experience. It is a squad fantastically prepared, tactically fluid in its play-making and with a wonderful manager at the helm.

"And Moore stops him! What a player this fellow is."
Now that was simply the greatest challenge of all time, made by the greatest centre-half of all time.

England are ready to win the World Cup.

"There's a header in there, and a great chance for the goal and it's there! Bryan Robson!"
Captain Marvel scores the quickest meaningful World Cup goal of all time.

In defence, Joe Hart has bounced back from his early season failings better than ever, and is all set to prove himself as one of the world's best goalkeepers this summer. Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka are a good partnership at the heart of the defence. Leighton Baines is solid, and Glen Johnson is...um..not the worst full-back in the world. The English shield wall won't concede many goals this summer, they never do; qualifying and history shows us that. And the depth remains solid.

Now is the time, that everyone sees/You never give up, that's how it should be/Don't get caught, make your own break/Express yourself, don't give it away.
That might bring back memories of when England last made a World Cup Semi-Final.

In the centre of midfield, Steven Gerrard has come off one of his best seasons for many years, fully enjoying his new holding role. Accompanying him will be his club team-mate, Jordan Henderson, who has rapidly settled into the England set-up despite not playing a single minute of qualifying. Frank Lampard adds the experience, and Jack Wilshere gives the style and energy of youth, both from the bench.

Three Lions on the shirt/Jules Rimet still gleaming/No more years of hurt/No more need for dreaming.
And this classic still resonates loud and true.

On the wings, England's main strength this year, Hodgson's team have a vast array of options. Danny Welbeck is as capable as ever out wide. Raheem Sterling is a superb talent with an eye for goal, plus enough pace and skill to trouble any defence in the world. Adam Lallana is as deft as they come: so very crafty, so skilled, so clever. And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain might just have the greatest potential of the lot, combining all the aforementioned assets. Not forgetting James Milner, who gives England crucial depth and brilliant crossing ability.

"Here's Gascoigne..oh brilliant! Oh yes! Oh yes!"
Just technically brilliant.

Up front, Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney together means England have, at the very least, a good strike pairing. Such a strike pairing haven't been seen for the England team since the days of Owen and Rooney at Euro 2004...or perhaps Shearer and Sheringham in Euro '96. Both Sturridge and Rooney have had great seasons for their clubs; the former is still in form, the latter is working hard to find his. And Rickie Lambert, who has also had a great season for his club, completes the striking package by offering a more-than-decent goalscoring threat from the bench. And he's not too shabby from twelve yards, either.

"Oh Owen's through again for England, what a chance for the hat-trick here. Owen! Oh this is getting better and better and better!"
England stuff the Germans in Munich..O happy day.

Then there's Roy Hodgson. A fabulous manager who has given England direction, tactical improvement and has improved their reputation off-the-field massively in the short space of two years. He's integrated many new players into the team, prepared them superbly and, after not being a million miles away from shocking the footballing world at Euro 2012, strolled through qualifying. A man with World Cup experience, he's certainly the best manager England have had since, at least, Sir Bobby Robson.

"Captain's example, David Beckham. England lead Argentina - those three little words that mean so much!"
And that was the last time England had a major win at a tournament.

After the humilation in South Africa, it's difficult to believe that England would be standing on the precipice of world glory just four years later. And here we are. England are seven games from winning their second World Cup. Football's greatest prize has, for too long, been absent from England's green and pleasant land.

"And Gerrard has found a way into the box, and he has found the net! And England are heading to the World Cup Finals!"
England seal qualification with a 2-0 win.

Bring her home, Roy, bring football home. Back to where she belongs.

[Hammersmith harrier]

Our defence is woeful, we had at least 6 central defenders in 2006 better than the best we have now which is an astonishing thing to consider, Cahill is decent but he's not international class while Jagielka shouldn't be anywhere near a world cup squad.

[Champagne_Socialist]

One bad result? The results have been shocking for months. Woeful qualifying campaign, where we couldn't win away against appalling sides. We then failed to muster a single win against Germany, Sweden, Chile, Honduras, Ecuador, Italy, Uruguay & Costa Rica. Results, not result.

Yeah, we wanted youth/style, Roy can only produce one of the two.

I agree, we were woeful in qualifying and then woeful in our friendlies and then worful at the WC. We have been poor for years under Roy.

[Champagne_Socialist]

John, why do you give friendlies such importance?

I, like many people, don't give a toss about results of friendlies - as Spain from 2010-2012 will attest, when you see the amount of friendlies they lost.

Because they give you an indication of how the team is playing and coping with the tactics etc. The friendly against hondorus and equador should have shown Roy that something needed to change but he kept with the same system and look what happend.

[Stella]

Hodgson got some criticism for picking Foster, but he looked a lot safer than Hart. Not just the free-kick save, his handling in general.

[Champagne_Socialist]

Hodgson got some criticism for picking Foster, but he looked a lot safer than Hart. Not just the free-kick save, his handling in general.

The criticism was more because Foster refused to play for the ENgland national team for 2 years to focus on his club team and suddenly when the world cup arrives he makes himself available.

We shouldn't be playing any player in a world cup game that refuses to play for England.

[Stella]

Hodgson got some criticism for picking Foster, but he looked a lot safer than Hart. Not just the free-kick save, his handling in general.

The criticism was more because Foster refused to play for the ENgland national team for 2 years to focus on his club team and suddenly when the world cup arrives he makes himself available.

We shouldn't be playing any player in a world cup game that refuses to play for England.

Fair enough reason. he certainly looked good enough last night though.

[Riggs]

Promised land! Are you kidding us?

Lets get real and be honest to the fact that we'll not be champions for a long time especially if players don't want to play for their country http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2665524/Harry-Redknapp-refuses-players-avoided-England-duty.html

Some say we'll never be champions again, I tend to agree.

People have plans/structures that play to their advantage and not to that of England's favour.
I reckon the whole club scene in England will have to change in order for England to become respected again.

I don't recommend holding your breath though, these things are business biased.

[super_realist]

Promised land! Are you kidding us?

Lets get real and be honest to the fact that we'll not be champions for a long time especially if players don't want to play for their country http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2665524/Harry-Redknapp-refuses-players-avoided-England-duty.html

Some say we'll never be champions again, I tend to agree.

People have plans/structures that play to their advantage and not to that of England's favour.
I reckon the whole club scene in England will have to change in order for England to become respected again.

I don't recommend holding your breath though, these things are business biased.

Again??????????????????????
     

[Riggs]

Promised land! Are you kidding us?

Lets get real and be honest to the fact that we'll not be champions for a long time especially if players don't want to play for their country http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2665524/Harry-Redknapp-refuses-players-avoided-England-duty.html

Some say we'll never be champions again, I tend to agree.

People have plans/structures that play to their advantage and not to that of England's favour.
I reckon the whole club scene in England will have to change in order for England to become respected again.

I don't recommend holding your breath though, these things are business biased.

Again??????????????????????
     

It seems that more than one thread/subject are worded differently but ultimately are about the same or similar thoughts.
It is laughable but then again it is all just a simply bad joke. And obviously one that leaves a bit of a sour taste in people's mouths....that's a given.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Harry Redknapp is as trustworthy as Jeffrey Archer

[NickisBHAFC]

Get a thread up for England's journey to Euro 2016 Duty!

[Guest]

Friendlies with Norway & Scotland to come. Confidence builders & created by the F.A to help Roy get a result, most probably.

[Riggs]

Friendlies with Norway & Scotland to come. Confidence builders & created by the F.A to help Roy get a result, most probably.

And here are the fixtures for England........http://www.thefa.com/england/mens-seniors/fixtures
Have they really fallen that far behind?

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Every friendly has to be against a world leader now or John will lose those knickers right up there

[sportform]

Some say we'll never be champions again, I tend to agree.

People have plans/structures that play to their advantage and not to that of England's favour.
I reckon the whole club scene in England will have to change in order for England to become respected again.

I don't recommend holding your breath though, these things are business biased.

England should be winning major tournaments and regularly getting to finals and semi finals. We have the richest league in the world and six of the top 20 richest clubs in the world according to Forbes from May 2014.

These clubs along with others should be produce loads of young English players as they do in Spain, Germany and Italy. English clubs would much rather play English players that come through their youth systems rather than wasting money on foreigners (there would still be marquee signings). The simple answer is the players that we are producing from youth and grassroots through these clubs are just not good enough.

I don't think you can solely blame the clubs and foreigners for us not producing good enough players. We need to looking at coaching, getting more coaches (particularly in schools), better coaches, look at what we coach, positions, tactics, technique. We need to make football more accessible to kids and that means looking at ticket prices and tv rights. We need to inspire kids. Cycling gets plenty of free tv coverage and has boomed.

I don't think there is much wrong with the club scene overall but I think we should definitely look at the sizes of squads and how many players a club can have signed on. I would scrap the U21 Premier League. I would have each club having three squads U17, U19 and a 1st team. I would then limit them to 20, 20 and 25 players respectively. 45 players from your 1st team and U19 should be more than enough for any season.

Any players over 19 that don't make the 1st team squad would have to be sold or released. The idea being if they are not good enough for Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal etc they will filter down the league and find their playing level. If they are good enough and work hard they would filter back up. I would have no quotas or homegrown rule for 1st teams (but would for U17 and U19). For instance Richards, Rodwell and Sinclair may not be good enough for Man City so why have rules that say Man City have to keep them? Why not let Man City sell them to clubs who will give them 1st team football?

Looking at the Class of '92. Two broke into the 1st team when they were 18, two when they were 19 and two when they were 20. Only Beckham went on loan and only played five league games for Preston. If players haven't made it at a club by the time they are 20 then let them go. Let's stop mollycoddling them with homegrown rules and possible quotas. Let's make them realise that they will have to work have for their places (and money).

I am trying to get some relevant data of some Premier League clubs or the Premier League on signed players and ages to see if it would make any difference.

[Riggs]

Your thoughts/opinions please.

This article, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28295153 , is the beeb accurate or talking out of its rear end?

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