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norfolkbroadslim

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Couldn''t muster any enthusaism at all for this match. Watching in a pub this afternoon which was full of people,  no-one had the slightest interst in the match that was on the screen.  These kind of matches are more of a non event than an Ipswich match.   6-0.....St Marino....... well done .....yawn........I think I''d rather watch cricket..........

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If I''m being really, bluntly honest I don''t think San Marino are up to much - imho.

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Thought San Marino''s number 7 looked quite handy. Otherwise a functional win on a poor pitch against a poor side. Kane''s finish was lovely though. Bet Snodgrass taught him that one.

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And in other news this win made England the first team to qualify for the Euro 2016 finals. You can only beat what''s put in front of you by the way.

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Absolutely.

As often as England don''t produce much to get excited about I still get behind them. I wouldn''t turn my back on Norwich when they''re rubbish (and we have suffered some rubbish) and I''m the same with England.

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Boring, poor quality, tippy tappy, rubbish.

Why we can''t play with a bit of tempo I don''t know.

Harry Kane, if he was half as good as the London media make out he would be replacing Messi at Barcelona. Having said that, compared with Vardy .........

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I think England (and Wayne Rooney as an individual, to a lesser extent) are just flat-track bullies.

Always seem to be ruthlessly efficient in the qualifiers (with the odd exception of course) whilst grinding out wins against second, third, and in the case of San Marino, thousandth rate opposition, but then run out of ideas when it really matters.

England rarely need to get out of third gear in the qualifiers, and generally make it look easier than most of the big boys, but when those bigger sides need to turn it on in the tournaments, they can reach the higher gears. England, and Rooney, however struggle to reach those heights and never seem to genuinely threaten the bigger teams in tournament football.

In England''s history, we''ve only ever won five knockout matches in a World Cup or European Championship outside of Wembley, and those are against Paraguay, Belgium, Cameroon, Denmark and Ecuador. Every time we''ve played Germany (twice), Argentina (twice), Portugal (twice), Italy, Brazil etc. in a knockout game outside of England, we''ve lost.

I think it is possibly a mental block now. We know we''ve got a history of under-performing on the big stage and it is a difficult mindset to break out of. Spain had it for years and years too until 2008, when they opened the floodgates.

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A few competitive friendlies, or a tougher qualifying group, would be a big help to our footballers.

It''s like qualifying from League Two and going straight to the Premier League.

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Again, England are no different to Norwich.

Norwich would beat most teams in the country. As England would beat most of the sides they come up against.

But there are a few bigger/better sides you wouldn''t really expect Norwich to beat just as there are a few you wouldn''t expect England to beat.

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[quote user="GJP"]Again, England are no different to Norwich.

Norwich would beat most teams in the country. As England would beat most of the sides they come up against.

But there are a few bigger/better sides you wouldn''t really expect Norwich to beat just as there are a few you wouldn''t expect England to beat.[/quote]

The difference I suppose is that Norwich do not, will not and never have had the resources, power and infrastructure of those bigger clubs.

England however can match any nation in pretty much all these departments so probably should have fared better over time.

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I''m confused... Haven''t we won every qualifier so far? How anyone can try and bemoan the squad''s efforts in these qualifiers is beyond me. I actually think it''s been a very professional job.

Yes, completely outclassing our group is nothing to get overly excited about considering the opposition. However, it''s significantly more ridiculous to try and spin it as a negative.

The game finished 6-0, it was probably as exciting as this fixture is ever going to be. You can''t have an exciting end-to-end game when one team is guaranteed 75% possession. What on earth did some people expect?

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Quite enjoyed the first half, tactically interesting.  I like that we are trying to use our full backs as attacking weapons but not so keen on how easy it is to hit us on the break as a consequence.  And I have Shaquiri in my dream team and he looks a bit crap.
We need a few stiff tests, hopefully this will be the first of many so we go into a tournament with reasonable expectations for once.

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Can''t see anything special about James Milner. Seems to be the epitome of a bog standard English footballer. Huff and puff but no creative capability. About as exciting as a dental check-up.

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How on earth have we come to the stage where Milner and Shelvey are in the top 4 midfielders in England? Or is it just that they are the ones actually playing for their clubs at the moment. I know Wilshere''s injured (again), but apart from him there''s a dearth of decent English midfielders at the moment. Shelvey was dreadful last night against a mediocre side.

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I was thinking about the lack of midfield creativity, perhaps Howson should be getting his call up!

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To be fair if Howson and us as a whole have a pretty good season and he''s a regular part of that he can''t be too far away considering the players getting involved in the England setup at the moment!

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I think Shelvey is quite good tbf. He''s got a bit more natural flair than Milner and Henderson.

He needs games though. Thought it was a mistake to take him off last night.

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Not for me GJP, did ok in the San Marino game where he had space and time, but got caught out taking too much time too often v Switzerland. Better sides would have taken advantage of dispossessing him and attacking us.

Maybe I''m being a grumpy middle aged man but I find it sad that we don''t have players like Hoddle, Gascoigne, Robson and Gerrard either in our side or coming through.

The only one who remotely excites me is Barkley, so perhaps if we build our central midfield around him and Wilshere, rather than Milner, Shelvey and Henderson, perhaps we''ll be ok.

We seem ok wider with Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Sterling and hopefully Redmond.

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We seem to have a collection of skilful players, especially going forward.

Harry Kane is a must for me as well. Natural, and gifted, striker.

Now that the ''old school'' has gone, (Gerrard, Terry, Lampard, Cole etc.) we would seem to be lacking that certain player who can command and control.

We need a ''character'' player to impose himself upon the team and also the opposition and the current squad doesn''t appear to have one. Hopefully one will emerge.

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As I said, Shelvey needs games. Far too early to write him off when he''s still finding his feet at that level.

But he''s got plenty in his locker. He can create/pick a pass, score goals, get stuck in and run at people with the ball.

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Shelvey was poor against the Swiss but he deserved his call up and I''m sure he''ll prove himself a decent option at this level. It''s hard to gauge our midfield as key players like Wilshere, Henderson and to a lesser extent Delph were all injured.

With regards to the whole squad I''m happy with our wide players and should Sturridge get back to his best I think we have good options up front too. I''m very interested to see how the young back four holds up against the bigger teams in the Euro''s.

It''s quite a young team which is needed after the phasing out of the ''old guard'' over the last few years. I hope they can step up and give the euro''s a good go. That said, the fact we had no success over the last 12 or so years when we''ve had some genuine top class players doesn''t leave me too hopeful for any finals soon.

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