Well written article, a good read. Sven was hounded and victimised by the press and unfairly so, but I cant remember many England managers who havnt been so I dont know whether the press have been xenophobic?

As for being a builder, he arguably had his favourites at England. He cultivated very good players and ignored others, McClaren seemed more willing to let players have a chance.

McClaren messed up in the first half of his tenure, the second half was not quite as bad, he was never the right man for the job. That begs the question, perhaps we need point the finger higher up the England heirarchy at the ‘old boys’ picking the managers?

I must admit i was not to impressed by the way England played under sven so was a bit apprehensive when he was made city manager, but i am pleasantly surprised by the style of football city are playing and the players he has bought, this leads me to ask the question why did England not play like this, the answer was for me plain to see on Wednesday night when the Croatia players all seemed comfortable on the ball and had a very good first touch something essential for a good passing game, you can only use the tools at your disposal comes to mind, so Englands loss is citys and the premierships gain, good luck sven.

Well written Alaric, I am a lifelong Blue, the last months of Svens reign over England, well he made some disastrous decisions with substitutes and players in general. The world cup wasn’t exactly his fault, the squad selection certainly was, but the players were all knackered for the second half of every match, due to a long season at home, and remperatures too high for our liking. Think ahead, the next world cup is AFRICA, just being realistic, we don’t stand a chance in that heat. Bring on one or two African teams plus BRAZIL and I think there is your winner. So, whoever takes control, will have no Euro 2008 to aim for, not a hope for the next world cup, his next target would be the Euros in ( is it ) 2012. On £2 million a year, thats 10 million pounds in his pocket if he lasts the distance. The money is great, the prospects certainly are not.

The lifeless England team were picked by Mc Claren, the formation and tactics were dictated by Mc Claren.
Sven was asked some week’s back why his England never played like our Manchester City team this season.
“I never had an Elano” he replied
The logic is that the players are picked according to ability and must be slotted into a system that suits thier strengths and masks thier weakness’s.
Mc Claren could not pick either players or a system and on his appointment every intelligent fan could predict it would end in tears.Not only the most unpopular choice but as it turns out just about the most unsuccesfull, another FA own goal, god help us on the nextchoice with the same buffoon handling the appointment.

Very well said. the first bit of sense I have read. Sven was a top draw manager when England signed him, he was a top draw manager when he was forced out (due to the apparently awful crime of not winning the world cup) he is still a top draw manager now as the league table rightly shows (but not many people care to mention!!) Sven did a great job with limited resources…yes limited. England, weather the gutter press like it or not are not blessed with great footballers, 90% of the England squad simply make up the numbers in there respective teams, doing the Donkey work for the more skillfull foreign colleagues !!! Team England will never cease to amaze me with its unrealistic ambition and alarming ability to shoot its self in the foot!! YES Sven didn’t win the world cup, but at least he got us there!!!!! Oh well…England’s loss….Manchester City’s gain!!!

The English system for developing youg talent breeds athletes who can kick a ball. The rest of the world produces footballers who are athletic. There’s a subtle difference but at the highest levels the footballers will always win.

Contrast Richards and Corluka, the two right backs on Wednesday Both play for Sven at Manchester City. For City both play the ball out of defence to a midfield wonderfully organised by Didi Hamman. Richards is kept in position by Richard Dunne’s organisation in the middle of the defence. On Wednesday one player played the way he always has done, the other reverted to the long ball to Peter Crouch.

Wednesdays debacle was mainly down to two things, no player in the midfield who could put his foot on the ball and take any control of the game, and then after the equaliser a complete loss of shape in the team (headless chicken syndrome). Who hit the ball out of defence to give Croatia the ball immediately before they scored - David Beckham. What was he doing near his own corner flag? Who knows.

With a bit of on-pitch organisation Richards would have been clearing the ball and Beckham receiving it. Why wasn’t Richards there - because he’s still learning the game and no-one took the responsibility of organising the defence.

To be honest I don’t think it would matter who is Englands coach. Sven probably took this current team as far as anyone could.

The problem lie with OUR country and not football. The lack of Parks for general kickabouts is a big problem and their relative safty from the local gang culture and the local weirdos, has seen kids parents become scepticle of local parks. Also the lack of contact sports being played in schools because of the blame culture. Schools just can’t afford the cost of insurance or the bad press a injury may bring.
The streets are full of traffic, so they can’t have the odd 4hr match of the past. A whole new rethink is needed.

The most annoying thing is the FA hasn’t foreseen this trend and has done nothing to arrest the situation. The money the FA generate should go straight back into the roots of the sport and not into fancy wages and jobs for the boys. your very transparent Mr FA.

The FA should pay all schools and local football academies insurance. This could be done on a grant type award scheme.

The problem in England we think problems can be sorted out quickly with a new manager or a new coach, sadly in reality we are along way away from any sort of diagnosis,with kids happy to sit on their computers and understandably parents are more than happy to let them, the longterm prognosis is poor.

FA please get off your over payed backside and do what your over payed to do and Develope a future side we can be proud of…NO KNEE JERK reactions please.

Id’e like to finish with a big thankyou to Sven for his days as the Engand coach and a bigger thankyou to Sven and Frank for their efforts at City.

I have never heard so much rubbish in my life since McClaren was sacked. Yes he was an awful manager in the sense of leadership and decision making but that has always been McClaren, that is why he was number two at Derby and Manchester, but to now jump on this bandwagon slagging off the English players - well it’s beyond me!

We all seem to forget that maybe only two of the players on Wednesday would have been first choice under normal circumstances. We had hounded our first choice goalkeeper out of the game before it even started, as is normal for England, who can’t pick a team without first the press having their say, destroying the confidence of key players and management and then tossing the remains to the ‘pundits’ who then put the words in the mouths of the eagerly awaiting bloggers and football fans.

To say as one fan has on here that English players only make up the numbers in their respective teams is absolute insanity. I live on the continent and can tell you all now that football pundits throughout Europe have been falling over themselves to lavish praise on England’s players, have been left speechless at times by the skills of Rooney, Gerrard, Owen, Lampard, Terry, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Cole, Neville, Joe Cole, … the list goes on, all great players, most first choice for their position with their respective clubs, and a collection of players that these foreign pundits have pointed out again and again as being young, having great technique and skill and capable of outplaying any team in the World when they click

. These accolades have turned into intense puzzlement regarding the tactics and management of England but also a recognition that teams can’t win things with their teams decimated by injury and that players react badly to certain managers, go through bad periods etc. No one is suddenly saying that the players are rubbish, only the English - and Sven, you had a Rooney, you had a Beckham, you had a Gerrard, you had a Ferdinand and a Terry, you had an Owen and a Scholes (until he got *pissed off with the whole set up), you had the players to win things, you certainly didn’t need an Elano, you just needed your best players fit and a bit of luck!

The media and the FA put the knife into the best national manager that we have had since Sir Alf and wrongly hounded him out. The guy is single and has different girlfriends. So what. Wouldn’t we all if we were unmarried and in that position. They have reaped the reward that they deserve. Muppets.

I think he took Walcott to the WC as a statement that he could spot the talent and that building for the future was the only option to improve further. England’s short-term mentality coupled with the added weight of unrealistic expectation of course will never allow such a vision to become a reality.

England’s loss is Manchester City’s gain.

Mico obviously can’t take that it’s the players as well as the managers fault

paul pearson should think again about the african heat in 2010.
remember the world cup is in June, the depth of our winter.
sure, winter in Durban is a balmy 23-27 deg during the day but temperatures drop at around kick off time to about a comfortable 20deg.
elsewhere in the country it can easily be below freezing, so i think it is perfect for European clubs, not African of Bazilian

I have got to take issue with Mico in what he says. I’m a Man City fan and I wiould agree about the skills of Rooney, Cole but as for the others in that list SKILL you arte having a laugh. When was the last time you saw Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves beat an opponent one on one with a piece of skill. Athletic definitely for 90 minutes of energy and endeavour they cannot be faulted but SKILL very little on show.

All cup competitions Euro’s and World are played in the Summer where heat will be an issue. Why should that affect English players more than anyone else especially when all the good foreigners(apparently) play in our league. It is because English players are brought up with the Mantra “run for 90 minutes and that is good” whereas foreign players are able to “play for 90 minutes and that is good” so whilst we are busy running round chasing the ball they are happy to let us and then when we tire………simple heh!!

Until someone at junior level 6/7 years starts teaching the kids that the person who has the ball controls the game and we lose the “clear it” mentality from all ages only then will English start to prgress.

have been left speechless at times by the skills of Rooney, Gerrard, Owen, Lampard, Terry, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Cole, Neville, Joe Cole, …

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Neville?????? You must be on drugs?

[...] looking clueless, worn-out and bewildered in the manner of the perennially ‘out-of-his-depth’ Steve McClaren. Indeed in spite of all of the above, and more, this role should not be considered as being a [...]

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