Madness

[Nesty]

to leave out Lallana and Vardy and pick Sturridge & Sterling (aka the chuckle brothers)

[leohoenig]

I thought this was going to be a Glastonbury thread

[Malabus]

330,000 population and they are tactically dictating the game.

[Ralph]

Biggest humiliation ever

[Ralph]

I just shouted "get it out" right at the end when England had the last chance lol. Fair play to Iceland. Good work. Ian Darke and Steve McMan were commentators. They were hammering England for the whole second half and rightly so. There are more players in the smallest state of Rhode Island here than in the whole of Iceland

[Nesty]

Release Roy...........

That was sh&te - Hodgson must go, how the hell did Sturridge stay on the pitch through 3 substitutions, Lallana has been our best player and yet sits on the bench.

That was the worst performance ever -

[art vandalay]

I thought Iceland were excellent and their fans have been fantastic at every game. Their desire is evident and it's a joy to watch them play, which is more than can be said for our lot.

No point blaming the manager as the same thing happens every 2 years.

[art vandalay]

Just watching the analysis on TV. Is Peter Crouch in a Bee Gees tribute band?

[Ralph]

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

STERLING TUMBLES IN EURO EXIT

[Malabus]

Pampered overpriced egos - no hunger or desire.

Get pure Englishmen from the lower divisions to wear the three lions. We will see the hunger.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Pampered overpriced egos - no hunger or desire.

Get pure Englishmen from the lower divisions to wear the three lions. We will see the hunger.

Holman would have shown more movement and inventiveness than England.

[confused.com]

should this not be in the non footy / jokes section ???

[asl]

Awful, yet again, from England. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, ITV tell us Gareth Southgate is 8/1 favourite for the job. GARETH FECKIN' SOUTHGATE. However, also on the list was Eddie Howe - now that might not be a bad suggestion... My ratings for the tournament:

Hart - 3: two absolute howlers against Wales and again against Iceland. Also guilty of some truly awful distribution. I wonder if Butland will have replaced him come half way through WC qualifying...?

Walker - 6: probably our player of the tournament. Prevented from doing much of what he does best in the last match by virtue of having Sterling in the way, ahead of him.
Rose - 5: did okay without being exceptional.
Clyne - 6: only had one game but was my choice for MotM in that.
Bertrand - 3: did his career no favours by playing like a plank in his one chance.
Smalling - 6: did alright. Not World-class by a long, LONG, way. Probably would not have gotten in any other squad in the tournament.
Cahill - 5: looked slow and ponderous. See comments on Smalling.

Dier - 5: will be a mainstay of the England line-up for years to come - but got worse as the tournament progressed despite a bright start.
Alli - 5: another who will learn and mature. HAS to play central and pull the strings from there.
Rooney - 5: surely his last tournament? Woeful v Iceland, but generally okay apart from that. Stifles Alli and must be dropped.
Wilshire - 3: when he's fit, he can be World class. Unfortunately, he clearly wasn't and Drinkwater must wonder how he didn't get on the plane.
Henderson - 3: one game. One extremely poor game. Never rated him and he did nothing to change my mind. 0-0 in injury time, needing to win, passes the ball back to Cahill. Sums him up.

Kane - 3: possibly the biggest disappointment of the squad. Dreadful set-pieces (particularly, but not exclusively, against Iceland) and showed a distinct lack of movement when our midfield was looking for options. How he was recalled ahead of Vardy is beyond me.
Sterling - 2: and he was bought for how much???? Total waste of space and, even worse, hamstrung the full-backs so they couldn't attack.
Lallana - 4: very poor v Russia but retained and actually did quite well in the other two games - yet was somehow dropped, last night. Not entirely sure what he brings to the party. Not a striker, not a creative midfielder - I dunno, you tell me.
Vardy - 5: the player I feel most sorry for. Inexplicably under-used in what, at 29, is probably going to be his only tournament.
Sturridge - 4: bundled in a last-minute winner against Wales and suddenly everyone thought he was Pele. Given a free role and was totally ineffective for the most part - but the effort was there.
Rashford - 5: terrified defences the moment he was introduced. Should have come on against Russia immediately after we scored; should have come on against Iceland far sooner than he did. Another who can look forward to a long international career.

Have I missed anyone...?

[confused.com]

forgot a few ASL
McGovern - 10
Hughes - 10
McCauley - 10
Cathcart - 10
J Evans - 10
Ward - 10
Davis - 10
C Evans - 10
Norwood - 10
Dallas - 10
Lafferty - 10
McGinn - 10
Washington - 10
Magennis - 10

Michael O'Neil - 1000000000

#GAWA

[Malabus]

Big Sam for the job.

[Ralph]

I read last night that Roy was paid about $4.3m and the Iceland mgr is a part time dentist.. says it all really.

[confused.com]

Big Sam for the job.

you would be better off with Paul Daniels

[confused.com]

To be fair, at least Roy had a coherent Europe exit plan

[Nesty]

Does it really matter who takes over - c!#p national anthem, passionless overpaid players, no plan A yet alone plan B
How come NI , ROI, and Wales can put on a better show using Championship, L1 players etc?
Why do we keep ignoring obvious managers like Clough, Martin O'Neil Redknapp ??

I dont mind losing, but I dont like losing when they dont even fecking try

[confused.com]

Does it really matter who takes over - c!#p national anthem, passionless overpaid players, no plan A yet alone plan B
How come NI , ROI, and Wales can put on a better show using Championship, L1 players etc?
Why do we keep ignoring obvious managers like Clough, Martin O'Neil Redknapp ??

I dont mind losing, but I dont like losing when they dont even fecking try

That is an easy one to answer. They have and understand what a team ethic is. They give 100% to the management, they engage with the fans. Their fans give them 100% support as long as they are putting in the effort. If you get beat by a better team , fair play.

They know what system they have to play as a team, they know the rest of the team have their backs and most importantly of all, they know that the team is the sum of all talents, no matter what league that talent plays in, they are no less a member of the team.

When you consider NI had 40 professional players to pick a squad from, you have to wonder what Michael O'Neil could do with the resources at England's disposal.

Oh and one more small point, they don't sit in the dressing room with headphones on, they talk to each other. pretty basic stuff in a team sport

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Plus the lack of options for NI means that M'ON has to pick a sytems and then has to work hard find the best players to fit those roles. On the other hand RH thought he could just pick supposedly top players and try and fit them to whatever system he thought might work.

You knew it would end in failure when Wilshere was in the squad.

[confused.com]

Plus the lack of options for NI means that M'ON has to pick a sytems and then has to work hard find the best players to fit those roles. On the other hand RH thought he could just pick supposedly top players and try and fit them to whatever system he thought might work.

You knew it would end in failure when Wilshere was in the squad.

The huge problem with England is that them and their public are taken in by the fact they watch them playing among quality players at their home clubs (as a rule). However, when they end up in the England team, the skill and intelligence level drops of dramatically. Thus leaving them exposed.

When you hear people gloating over the Man City team, the first or second or third name on their lips, is not Cahill. Could it be that Russia, Wales, Slovakia, Iceland is the correct level for them ? Results would tend to suggest, yes

[confused.com]

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 39159.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When is the England home coming celebration ?

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Plus the lack of options for NI means that M'ON has to pick a sytems and then has to work hard find the best players to fit those roles. On the other hand RH thought he could just pick supposedly top players and try and fit them to whatever system he thought might work.

You knew it would end in failure when Wilshere was in the squad.

The huge problem with England is that them and their public are taken in by the fact they watch them playing among quality players at their home clubs (as a rule). However, when they end up in the England team, the skill and intelligence level drops of dramatically. Thus leaving them exposed.

When you hear people gloating over the Man City team, the first or second or third name on their lips, is not Cahill. Could it be that Russia, Wales, Slovakia, Iceland is the correct level for them ? Results would tend to suggest, yes

Agree with that. Alli and Kane look good when Eriksen and Lamela are pulling defenses apart, same with Coutinho/Ferminho, Aguero, Mahrez.

English players need to learn how to move defenses apart and get defenders out of position. Compare Slovakia keeping an easy back four vs England with how their defence was made to look a shambles getting all out of position against Germany.

[Shade]

If we played to those players strengths then we would have had a chance. Sturridge out on the wing most of the time? Never played there for his clubs and should have just been in with Kane or Vardy in a two up front with Alli behind.

Watch Harry Kane smash in a free-kick in his first Spurs game of the new season...