GJP

[quote user="Cobain18"]Lumbered with bad management? funny how that always happens to england isnt it? never the players fault. if you recall i went through the england team and said why they are not good enuf[/quote] No I think in say the mid-late 90s England didn''t quite have the quality of players they needed. I think now most people generally realise that there is alot of talent and quality available to England but Sven and Steve are not the men to get the best out of some very gifted footballers. I know you highlighted that Paul Robinson isn''t the greatest keeper the world has ever seen and I would agree with that. And I know that Lennon hasn''t proven himself to be ''world class'' But what you seemingly fail to realise is that many of those Brazilians you''ve named have also never proven themselves to be world class. It just seems that you are only capable of seeing faults as far as England go. At least I can see what''s wrong with England but can also appreciate where other people fall short. Obviously there''s a couple of Brazilians who you wouldn''t mind in the England team but there''s some English players who''d improve Brazil. Aside from bad management there''s a lot of good out there for English football at the moment. Our squad has plenty of players who play at the very highest level and we have some very talented youngsters coming through the ranks. And you can be sure...going into any major tournament England will be regarded as one of the biggest threats, which is why we were amongst the top 2 or 3 faves to win the last WC. Because people look at us and know we''ve got the quality.

[quote user="Cobain18"] thats where ur wrong, im not a doom merchant - i think norwich will do very well next season, i dont think i no better than everybody else because not everybody appears to be so deluded over why it is that england constantly fail to perform, i am however a realist. the grass is not ALWAYS greener on the other side however england''s form for years has been worse than expected and they havent won anything for years - there is a reason for this. You clearly have run out of logical argument as you have now resorted to insulting me which doesnt prove anything, but i will guarantee you with this set of players england will not win any major tournament despite what the english media may say if we qualify through this group! [/quote] You just haven''t talked to me about football though so it''s difficult to continue this. All you''ve done is said all these Brazilians are better than the equivalent English player but you haven''t actually given any insight as to why you think that. At least I picked out a handful of players and said yeah he can do this but he can''t do that. Shows that I actually understand the game a bit. You''re argument seems to extend to...he''s Brazilian so he''s better. Oh wow look at me I can list the Brazilian squad so therefore I must know what I''m talking about. I''m disappointed by Englands recent form because they have the quality to do better. But also there can be only 1 World Cup winner, just because you don''t win the WC doesn''t mean you''re a bad side. I bet you wouldn''t slate some of the other big nations who haven''t picked up any trophies in recent times. I think most people, who understand the game, know that England fail to perform because a set of top players has fallen into the hands of bad management. An unnatural and unbalanced team isn''t going to perform, no matter who you are. Unfortunately we''re lumbered with a negative manager who can''t pick a team.

[quote user="Cobain18"] well of course media abroad puts focus on their domestic football, however the English media do not know nearly as much about other domestic leagues as the media abroad, i was in Italy for the world cup and instead of focusing purely on their players they actually took the time to look at the oppostion players from different leagues. Even look at the Scottish media and they have a much more balanced view of players from other domestic leagues.   "I''m also glad we''ve got you to englighten us that other countries produce some good footballers too. We''d never know if not." In response to that quote I don''t think you do realise the quality of other players abroad mainly due to the English media as usual, believe me i have been abroad and seen the French, Italian, Spanish, and other media and you will not find any media coverage as biased to their national side or as ignorant about the opposition as the English media! [/quote] No I can''t see that at all. It''s just plainly obvious that all you do is criticise anything English, nothing but a whinging doom merchant. You''re the kind of person who likes to think they know something the rest of us don''t. The English players don''t do this, the English media don''t do that blah blah blah. The grass is always greener on the other side. I''ve seen it a million times before and I''ll see it a million times more.

[quote user="Cobain18"]I dont think that every other team in the world has world class players, i think that there are easily four or five teams in the world who are better than England - for this reason we will never win anything because we don''t have the quality of players they have. I think that the reason English players are so well known and everyone loves them is because most of them play in the premier league (the most exciting league in the world) However they play around foreign players, the majority of who are the best in the world. The English media do not seem to apprreciate a foreign player that plays abroad as they know less about them and theyre less household names in Britain, this doesn''t make them any less of a player. Take Fred as Smudger said, he is an awesome player but isn''t given as much credit as English players because people don''t see him week in and week out [/quote] "I think the reason English players are so well known and everyone loves them is because most of them play in the premier league" Well...terrific insight there. I''m also glad we''ve got you to englighten us that other countries produce some good footballers too. We''d never know if not. I''m relatively sure ''The English media'' know a good footballer when they see one. But I don''t think there''s enough hours in the day to spread their focus to every single professional player in the world. Therefore they tend to concentrate on players and teams wh actually mean something to people in this country. Unless of course you think it''d be a good idea for your Sunday supplement to be a roundup of the games from the Turkish championship. I''m not particularly well travelled but I imagine if you go to other countries the media there tries to put focus on their domestic football. Oh and also...maybe just maybe...because of the more intense media focus on domestic football players are more critically scrutinised and therefore the fans are made more aware of faults and errors. I wonder if Fred would still appear to be as ''awesome'' if you saw him play a full 38 fixture season in a more competitive league and also if he wasn''t Brazilian but from a more bland footballing country.

[quote user="Smudger"] Fred is more than pretty good in my opinion!!! [/quote] Yeah I think Fred is a pretty nifty player. I haven''t watched him loads and loads though so I won''t pretend that I know all about him. Got some good touches on him though and knows where the goal is, will be interesting to see if he goes to play in 1 of the big boys leagues.

[quote user="Cobain18"] no no GJP, i do know these players, so i presume that either you don''t know these players OR as i suspected you have a highly inflated deluded idea of the England national team players skill. The English media make sure that every England fan does, everyone needs to get this idea out of their head that we are that good. Robinson is not world class, Rooney is only 20 and dissapoints more than produces, we don''t have a top class let alone world class partner for him. We do not have a world class left winger, Aaron Lennon has not proven himself to be world class, his dribbling is awesome but he lacks a final ball, gerrard is world class in CENTRAL midfield, the amount of goals Lampard scores at club level is world class but he is not an all round world class midfielder and does not score for England. I could go on but the fact is whatever anyone says, we are not individually good enuf! Oh and btw Ronaldo has been top class a Milan, and yes I have seen him so I suggest you watch him and a few other players I mentioned GJP [/quote] You definitely make some good points about where England fall short, however, nobody is perfect and there isn''t an international side out there without it''s faults. You only have to look back at Brazils tame efforts at the WC to see that all those big name stars don''t always do what they''re supposed to. I don''t ''have a highly inflated deluded idea of the England national team players skill'' because a little bit of common sense will tell you that most of those players play for big big clubs at a very high level and therefore those players have got quality and ability without question. All Englands problems stem from the manager, in my opinion. We''ve got the players, without doubt, to cause any team in the world problems but we need someone incharge who can make it work. And also I think if you read what I say about players and how I pick strengths and weaknesses in their game it''d be fairly clear that I know a bit about what I''m talking about. I mean you suggest that I should watch some of the players you mentioned but if you go back to my previous post you can clearly see that I can pick out a few players and give an opinion on them. I just like to try and see things a bit more evenly, but if you want to carry on thinking that every other country in the world has a world class player in every position then you do that.

[quote user="jas the barclay king"] ive got a bet on him, placed in august, to become top scorer this season in the league! i hope he comes back scoring as i still have a chance of winning my money! jas :) [/quote] Me too, got it at 10/1

[quote user="Cobain18"] gjp, no one rivals us for quality? look at the other teams in the world this kind of delusion is y everyone is always so dissapointed when england lose. the only thing i can think is that maybe u aren''t aware of som freign players. just as an example look at brazil''s 1st team squad:    1 Nelson Dida 2 Marcos Cafu 3 Ferreira Lucio 4 Silveira Juan 5 Fereira da Rosa Emerson 6 Roberto Carlos 7 Leite Adriano 8 Ricardo Kaka 9 Luiz Ronaldo 10 Gaucho Ronaldinho 11 Jose Ze Roberto 12 Rogerio Ceni 13 Joao Cicinho 14 Anderson Luisao 15 Cristiano Cris 16 Da Silva Gilberto 17 Gilberto Silva 18 Jose Gomes Edmilson 19 Juninho Pernambucano 20 Luis Ricardinho 21 Chaves Fred 22 Soares Julio Cesar 23 De Souza Robinho the fact is that this team is just better than england''s whichever way you look at it, robinho, fred, ricardinho, gilberto, cicinho, ze roberto, ronaldinho, ronaldo, kaka, adriano, carlos, emerson, lucio, cafu and dida and juan would all stroll into our team, so i really can''t see why you think England have the quality. [/quote] This is what I''m talking about - you''re just naming names. You don''t know these players games. There''s only two world class players in that group - Ronaldinho and Riccy Kaka. Although obviously Cafu was outstanding in his prime and Ronaldo used to be awesome. Let''s pick some names...Emerson...good footballer but nothing special - lacks a yard of pace. Cicinho....ultra athletic but can''t defend when used as a right-back or wing-back and his end product going forward is very much hit and miss. Adriano... once rumoured in the media to be worth £60mil but that''s a lot of money for a player who can only use 1 foot, has no pace and is prone to long spells without a goal. Lucio...known to be caught out of position, however, on his day he can be immense. Ricardinho...has largely failed to succeed at any decent level, although he does use the ball well I think. Robinho...fantastic dribbler of the ball but let down by being too lightweight, having inconsistent end product and being too selfish. So no...it''s not really a ''fact'' that it''s better than England. You''re one of those typical people who go on about the superior art of football on the continent or in South America but really know very little about the players you praise up.

[quote user="jas the barclay king"] no place in my squad for the over rated Ferdinand, [/quote] Just wondering...how is Rio Ferdinand overrated? He''s first choice central defender for pretty much the biggest club in the world that currently sits top of the (arguably) the worlds best/strongest league. He is one of the best in the world in his position, that''s why he''s got to where he has.

I''m guessing the reason he has played so many games is because he''s decent in the air, he just about has enough pace and he can actually play the ball quite well with both feet. It''s also a well known fact that since Woodgate left Newcastle have remained a Premiership club and have played in contintental competition.   And well you know... Djimi Traore has actually played in the European Cup final for one of the worlds greatest clubs and actually came out of it victorious. Clearly the mark of a poor player who would never be good enough for Norwich. Use a bit of common sense, players who have played at that level have done so because they have a bit of ability. Very rarely do you get that far in the game if you''re not up to it.

England clearly don''t lack quality players, a large majority of our first choice players play for the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool. All players that play at the very top of the game. So really...just that bit of common sense says we don''t lack quality. What we lack is a manager who has the ability to pick the best players in the best positions that allows the team to function well. If we had a better manager England wouldn''t need to fear anyone because nobody rivals us for quality. I know people will bang on about Brazil or Argentina or something like that but nobody really has anything much better than us. People often say that we have a tendency to overrate the quality of our players but the same is true of people who think there''s half a dozen or a dozen international sides out there that seem to have a world class player in every position. Oh and just for anybody who seems to think Peter Crouch is our best striking option/scores goals....look at his record. He can bang in hundreds against any really weak side but when it''s against the more established sides he generally produces very little. He''s good against the average and average against the good. Michael Owen is still the best goalscorer this country has.

[quote user="deano"] word was at the stoke game that we''ve had a 1.5 million bid from middlesboro for shackell. its quite a bit of money but i don''t see why he''d wan''t to go there. [/quote] If he did want to go there I''m guessing it''d be because they''re a fairly big club that plays in the Premiership and aren''t short of a few quid. Just a guess though.  

[quote user="jjohnny"]Why would you like to see someone who is prone to errors in the team?.My god he''s the last player i would want to see at norwich[/quote] How many Norwich players have played as much Premiership football as he has for a big club?

We''ll all get to see how good Shacks really is in the years to come anyways. If you look at say Lescott, Dawson and Davenport they''re all young centrebacks from this league who (biggish) Premiership clubs were prepared to pay money for. If he never gets any further than a club like Norwich then we''ll all know he''s just ordinary.

Should be in the senior squad, he''s a more natural footballer than Lampard and he''s got more to his game than Downing. But this is Steve McClaren who is completely and utterly clueless.    

I wouldn''t mind seeing Titus at Norwich. If PG could erradicate the lapses in concentration he has then he''d be a helluva player for us. He''s not a bad footballer at all to be fair to him, he does make silly mistakes though and that lets him down becuase he has the ability to be better than that. People mock him but lets see how many games Jason Shackell plays for a club the size of Newcastle.

As I''ve mentioned in other places on these boards I think he has been defending better in recent weeks but before that I''d always thought he was a fairly weak defender. Strikers with a bit of guile used to give him the run around far too easy and he also used to lose out on headers to players inches shorter than him. Not to mention his passing used to be an absolute disgrace for a professional footballer. But yeah... he''s done better in recent weeks. As he''s a left-footed centreback he''d probably get a higher fee than what he''s really worth as there ain''t too many left footers in that position and lots of managers like the balance. Because he''s a young lad who has come through the ranks I always get the feeling some people are inclined to think a bit too highly of him. It''s a bit like Ryan Jarvis...if he''d been brought into the club for a fee people would think he was tosh but because he came through the ranks some think he''s got some brilliant ability that the foolish Nigel Worthington couldn''t see. (for the record I think Shacks is a notch above Jarvis)

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"] I wonder where Ryan Jarvis would be today if Worthington had given him a real chance whilst doing well with England U-19s? OTBC [/quote] Where he is now probably. Do you think that giving Ryan Jarvis games would suddenly put him on a par with Wayne Rooney or something? It doesn''t work like that. Nigel Worthington knew Ryan Jarvis wasn''t up to it, plain and simple. And without being too disrespectful to the lads involved...the U19s is a bit of a mickey mouse level of football. U21 football is where you want to be. When players make the England U21 squad they have definitely got a bit about them. Not saying that none of the U19 players will make the grade because some of them will. But whereas a lot of the U19 squad will be made up of youngsters from the lower leagues, the U21 will have a lot of young Premiership players who are in their clubs first teams.

I think...the manager should be able to find a way to accomodate our best players. It''s pretty good for Norwich to have players with the calibre of Huckerby and Earnshaw so we should aim to get the best out of them Obviously Hucks should never be left out as he''s just awesome. Earnshaw is the best goalscorer in this league and is thoroughly worthy of his place in the team. That guy is money in the bank. People say he might only have eyes for the goal but the fact is that any good striker should have a selfish streak. There''s something wrong if a striker doesn''t want the headlines. As for Chris Martin, he has been mighty impressive since he came into the team but it''s always the first full season that''s the hardest. He might struggle next year, I think the technical term for it is ''Jon Stead Syndrome''. Of course he may not...he might be unstoppable. It remains to be seen how Earnie and Martin would function together, neither of them are cut out to be a target man. In conclusion I think we need to look at Earnshaw as our main striker but find the right strike partner for him. But also a strike partner who could work with Chris Martin, just so we''ve got the option to mix things up a bit.

[quote user="Alex Harvey-Jones"][quote user="chicken"]Healy?[/quote] Too similar to Martin and Earnie I would say.[/quote] And not as good as either of them.

Cresswell is a bit of an overrated duffer, in my opinion.  

Well I thought that was a fairly dull game. Thought it too long to bring Dion on, another difficult game for Chris Martin who didn''t do anything expect lay on the goal. He just didn''t get a kick other than that. That''s not his fault really it was just too much of an ask, as it was against Birminghams big defenders. Fozzie worked hard but he''s clearly not cut out to play wide left and when he did come on we lost the balance, nothing came down the left side for us after that. Things are still looking good for Norwich though and with Earnie back we''ll start winning games more comfortably than 1-0.

The decision is leave Gareth Barry out just about sums up how useless Steve McClaren is. Complete and utter phoney. Also thought David Bentley deserved a call up too.

It''s surely Huckerby, I can''t understand why anyone would think different. I know Dublin has done well for us...but lets face it...Hucks wins games.

I felt we''d have been better starting with Dion last night. It was always going to be a hard job for Martin up against Jaidi and Tiny Taylor, everytime the ball went up to him it came straight back. He left it to late to make the change and it was always going to be hard work for Dion to get into the game properly. It was just fortunate (although obviously we defended well) that Birmingham didn''t make the most of their domination of the ball. I don''t want to take too much away from the performance or result though, just thought it was too much to ask of Martin. And it proved to be the case. Now would be a good time to rest him if possible, me thinks.