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magic_eyes

Erikson Must Go

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Does anyone think it is time for Erikson to go? I think he has shown in the last world cup and last night that he doesn''t have the tactical awareness or balls to make the big decisions.

Taking an early lead is the worst thing that can happen to England - Brazil, France and now Portugal. We automatically sit back and let the other teams come at us, and the earlier we do this the harder it is for us to get out of that mode of play when the opposition equalize and they always do at this level of international football.

We should gave gone for the kill last night and really had a go at them, but that is not Eriksons style, he sits of the bench oooing and arrring and just hopes we can hang on. Compare that to Scolari, he was up on his feet urging on the team and the crowd for the whole 120 minutes, what a contrast. Scolari also has the balls to make big decisions, e.g. taking off Figo - can you ever see Erikson taking Beckham off, which he should have done last night.

All this and the fact that allegedly the players told him to stick his diamond formation where the sun doesn''t shine.

Come on Sven do the honorable thing and resign!

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Magic Eyes, I hope you''re not serious.

Everybody''s to blame except Portugal eh? Just accept we were beaten by a better team on the night, please. There''s always this type of hysteria after England are knocked out of anything, there are several other competitive nations out there as well as England you know -all of whom want to, and can, win.

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I agree that Eriksson is tactically naive, but I think to say he should go now is wrong as we have only be knocked out of Euro 2004 due to a dreadful refereeing decision and got to the Quarter finals of the World cup as well under him which not that many other England managers have stayed long enough in recent years to have managed England in a World cup and European championship let alone got to the Quarter finals. So why should Eriksson leave?

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Sven said when he took the job a few years back that his main aim was to build a team for the World Cup in 2006.

If we don''t win that, then we should probably think about finding someone new.

I don''t really know what the fuss is about to be honest. This Euro competition isn''t the World Cup and never will be. It''s probably been one of the dullest footballing tournaments in a long time.

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World Cup 2006 eh? Great, that means that we have two years of a dodgy qualifying campaign to look forward to followed by another outbreak of national hysteria as we all convince ourselves, that ''This is the One''......and then what?

Scenario 1: "And Beckham steps up to the ball to take the last England penalty - and he''s cleared the stadium! England are out in the second round!"

Scenario 2: "And Zidane steps up to the ball to take the last France penalty. He hits it low. And Green saves again!! England have won the World Cup!!"

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We did not get knocked of this competition by the reference. We got knocked out because having taken an early lead we sat back and hoped that Portugal wouldn''t equalise.

If we had taken the game to Portugal and got another goal or two, then a last minute goal wouldn''t matter nor would a bad decision from the ref.

Personally, I would rather see an England team knocked out of a tournament by having a real go at the opposition than limp out as we have done on both occasions that Erikson has been in charge.

This is not hysteria, this is an analysis of Englands performances in the last two competitions, both of which we have exited, after being in a very strong position early in the match, and the way that Erikson operates suggests that the same will happen the next time.

We cannot always blame bad luck and bad referees, what about bad tactics and bad substitutions?

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I think Sven should stay. Who would replace him? He certianly hasn''t done a bad job since he''s been in charge. Hopefully by the next World Cup some of our younger players will have matured a bit and we can get past the Quarters!!

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Ok, we''re out. That''s the main thing, and it won''t change regardless of what we say, but here''s my take on last night anyway.

We scored too early, I think. We saw when Croatia scored early against us, that we play better when we HAVE to play. When we HAVE to score.

After Owen''s goal, and particularly after Rooney''s injury, we sat back and invited them on to us. You just can''t do that at international level. Eriksson said that if he has done something wrong then he doesn''t know what it is. Well here''s an idea - don''t bring off two of most attacking midfielders (Scholes, Gerrard), and replace them with Hargeaves and Phil Neville Although Hargreaves did play well, he should have been brought on for Beckham, not Gerrard. Beckham was having another average game. I''m not here to slate him, but he hasn''t had an effective tournament.

After Rooney went off, we had Owen and Vassell up front. Both look good playing with Rooney, but they didn''t look good together, both too small to be leading the line, to be playing off the last defender. When Rooney was on, he came deep to get the ball and was able to link the midfield with the attack. Vassell and Owen didn''t do this, and were subsequently supplied with nothing more than long, hopeful balls.

We should have had the balls to really go for it at 1-0, and attacked much harder to get a second. We invited them on to us for 85 minutes, trying to cling onto our lead. We didn''t deserve to go through like that. Everyone has said how glad they are that Italy and Germany are out after being so negative - well we were exactly the same last night, and against France.

When we attack and HAVE to score (see Croatia, extra time last night after Rui Costa''s goal), we look as good as any team in this tournament. But when we try to defend a 1-0 lead, we look distinctly ordinary, struggling to keep hold of the ball, never threatening. With Rooney off we looked a much poorer team, too.

What annoys me isn''t going out, it''s that we played so negatively. All the foreign players in the Premiership say that they love how attacking our game is, for 90 minutes, regardless of the score. So how come our national team can''t play like that?

As for Sol Campbell''s ''goal'', well it was a foul. Terry''s arm came across the goalkeeper''s chest, and he wasn''t able to jump. Campbell himself did nothing wrong, but it was still a foul. If it had happened at the other end we''d all be calling for a foul. The Portugese would have felt robbed had we gone through 2-1 with a goal like that, after they had dominated basically the whole game.

Now I''m not trying to be negative, I''m as much of a patriotic England fan as you''re likely to meet, but it annoys me when people look at things through such blinkers. The bottom line is that when we play like we did last night, we don''t deserve to win anything. When we really go for it, as we did against Croatia, and for spells against Switzerland (also in extra time yesterday), we''re as good as anyone. But the truth is that we have hardly played like that at all in this tournament.

As for the penalties, well I thought Beckham''s was awful (though I''ve just seen on Sky Sports that the ball did actually move when he went to kick it - his standing foot must have moved the sand / ground to a sufficient degree that the ball moved too, and that may have been why he sliced it). The rest of the guys were brave and fearless, and I don''t blame Vassell (or, indeed, Beckham) for us going out, not at all. Eriksson should have been far more attacking, as that''s how we play best. The negative, defensive, ''try and break us down'' attitude never gets us anywhere, as has been proved again.

And one final point - I thought Ashley Cole was wonderful last night. I hated him before this tournament (I hate Arsenal, though, which may have had something to do with it!), but he was exceptional. The Guardian slaughtered h

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I agree with just about everything you said. It''s not the fact that we are out, its the way we played, we didn''t deserve to win with that negative defensive approach. It was the same in the last world cup and it will be the same in the next while Eriksson is in charge.

With the quality of players at his disposal, I could get England through the qualifying stages, but true international class is required in the finals, and Eriksson hasn''t got it.

Fortune favours the brave. We were not brave last night, we were weak and passive and we got punished for it.

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Hooray!! After the France game I initiated a thread that was critical of Erikson''s negative and naive tactics. The fact is that we do defend too deeply, we are unable to take control of games, our midfield does not dominate in the way that we would hope.
Sure we were unlucky over the "goal" that was disallowed, but the truth is that in the main we were outplayed by Portugal in most areas of the park.
Other than Rooney, and possibly Lampard, the only area of our outfield that performed throughout the whole of the campaign was the back four......and I am deliberately leaving Calamity out of the defence because that is exactly what he is, a calamity waiting to happen.
Someone like Alan Curbishley will do for me, let''s ditch Sven and prepare for 2006 under a more positive Coach.

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Isn''t the National Team becoming a bi-yearly version of the hysteria that follows Tim Henman?

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Bloody hell you lot are cruel sometimes. Now I like Sven a lot, and Nancy even more!. But I think you anti Sven people are wrong, I''ve seen the future and its rosey I tell you.

He has more foootball nonce in his left toenail, than you lot combined. The blame rests squarly with the Euro cheats and a toblerone munching offical, rather than Sven.

He must stay.

And don''t get me started on Tim ''nearly man'' Henman!, or that stupid sport for the alleged upper classes!.

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1st Wizard, do you really think we deserved to beat Portugal playing in such a defensive manner? Personally, I think we got exactly what we deserved.

I''m not saying Sven should quit or be sacked, but surely you can see that we play better when we attack, not when we invite teams on to us for 80 minutes? I think Sven has done a good job so far, but he has the players to play an attacking game, so why doesn''t he do it?

In some ways it''s similar to Worthington earlier in the season. At some point he realised that he had the players good enough to go out and score two or three goals a game, and we played an attacking formation for the entire 90 minutes. Look what happened, we won the league.

Sven should do the same.

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I''m beginning to believe that Eriksson can''t take England beyond the quarter finals of any major competition. You can''t go one up and then hope to hold on to a game against quality opposition. It happened against Brazil in WC 2002, then against France in Euro 2004 and finally against Portugal in Euro 2004. Both the France and Portugal games were games that England should have won if the manager and team had been prepared to go at the opposition.

Contrast these games with some of the games Erikssons England sides have performed in: England 5 Germany 1, England 2 Turkey 0.

He has the same nucleus of those sides to:

England vs Germany
Seaman
Cole
Ferdinand
Campbell
Neville
Beckham
Gerrard
Scholes
Barmby
Owen
Heskey

England vs Turkey
James
Bridge
Campbell
Ferdinand
Neville
Beckham
Scholes
Butt
Gerrard
Rooney
Owen

So why does the team and manager freeze when they get to the knockout stages of major tournaments. It''s like Eriksson has drunk too much Italian water and can''t conceive of conceding a goal even when his side are capable of scoring two.

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Personally I have never particularly rated Eriksson and would be delighted to see him sacked/resign. Ok he has a good record in qualifying games but to be honest you can count the number of games in the last 3 or 4 years when England have played really well on one hand. He has done nothing selection wise/tactics wise that you or I wouldn''t have done and even had to be convinced by the players to ditch his idiotic diamond formation.

The referees decision was a joke but it wasn''t the reason we lost. The reason we lost was because we sat back on the edge of our own area for the entire match and simply invited the Portuguese onto us whilst aimlessly lumping long balls up to our midget strikers. It was tactically suicidal and they were bound to score given the amount of time and space on the ball that we gave them. The deep defending and backing off reminded me of the way Norwich played up until this season. Worthy sorted it out and the result was we got promoted. The trouble is i''m not sure Sven thinks there is a problem!

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I love you to bits, Wiz, but please take back your comment about tennis being for the upper classes. I am as un-upper class as you can get and yet I have played all my life, socially and in local leagues, just because my dad would take me to his matches as a kid and put a racket in my hand and hit with me for a bit afterwards. I would agree that if you want to get the best coaching and aspire to the professional ranks you probably still need plenty of money OR the great fortune to be spotted by someone who can guide you to sponsorship, but there are thousands of us out there who are happy just to play at a decent club standard and do so for fun and with little outlay. Rant over, and no offence meant. Just hope I''ve managed to put a few things in perspective for you. (Timmy is not a good example, I grant you, as he''s definitely from a monied background, and that just reinforces the stereotype of which you speak).

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There was a wonderful article in the Daily Mirror last year, and after a little search of their site, I found it.

I''m not a tennis player, nor am I from a rich family, and I''m not a huge fan of Tim Henman, but everyone in this country seems to slate him regardless of how well he does.

My opinion of him changed greatly after reading this article, and I suggest that others read this article too, before they have a go at the poor guy, as easy (lazy) as it is to do.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=13133797&method=full&siteid=50143

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All the points said so far have a degree of truth about them ........ but 1 factor seem s outstanding here !..........

the cult of the individual ....... Owen hysteria , Beckham hysteria .... now Rooney hysteria !! ... it looks good in the press, and suits the promotion industry ............. but its DEFINATELY counter-productive in a football TEAM !!! ......... repeat TEAM !!!! , its like saying my left leg doesn`t need the assistance of my right leg ...........

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As others have said, England play like City did a couple of years back. Worthington is a young manager who is still learning and found out that its very difficult to sit on a 1-0 lead for most of a match, no matter how good your defence. Sven on the other hand has spent many years in Italy where every team plays like this so the effects of it are less severe, so he doesn''t think that the case might be different in International football.

Can I just ask, What is an assistant manager? Surely its someone who offeres a different opinion, not sit there saying yes to everything.

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I also love you to bits Susie, especially as you have blond hair!. And I will gladly take back a small amount of what I''ve said, it was a little OTT, on a re-read.

But, and you knew there be a but, yes?. My point was, and I did''nt make it very well I agree, playing tennis at local level and being picked to play at, or indeed join Wimbledon tennis club, are worlds apart. I believe selection depends simply on what school you attended, or worse,, your financial abitly and not your tennis ability.

Add to that, the cost of a top tennis coach, and I believe it bars 90% of the population.

This is why the UK will never have a Wimbledon champion in the modern era, some kids are overlooked simply because their parents did''nt have the correct school tie, or are wealthy enough!. And that can''t be right or fair in sport.

No wonder foreign players always win, the''re not bogged down with the ''''upper class twits'''' syndrome who run/ruin tennis in this country. Do you think John McEnroe if he was English, would have ever gone on to be the great player he was?, because I don''t!.

In an effort to keep this post City related, this is why Eadie, Flecky, Iwan and co, are now legends at City. They were judged on ability alone, and not what their parents did or indeed their accents and cash flow!..

Enjoy you game Susie, and roll on August 14th, yes?. And we will beat Palace 3.1, I promise. you.

Mini rant ends.

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Timmy isn''t a good example but the Williams sisters (learned the game in courts in the Bronx) and Jimmy Connors (taught by his mother in loacl parks) are. They all did alright...

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Yes I agree with you Peter, but they are American, my point exactly!. Now if they had all been English, I wonder..........

I believe its our old ''snobby'' selection system thats at fault here, not the players.

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I think it''s partly to do with tennis as a sport being largely played in public and private schools in the UK, and only in a limited way in some state schools. When that is addressed then we might stand a chance of producing a Wimbers champ, as Wiz correctly says IMO. I merely wanted to make it clear that because I like and play the game that I am not in a certain perceived class. That''s all. (I think you guessed that for yourself anyway, Wiz. I hope I don''t come across like that on here ''cos I don''t mean to if I do!) The tennis-related posts on this thread have got me wondering what level I could have reached if I had had access to the best coaching in the county when I was a sproglet - not that I''m bothered now, but you never know!
On subject - wonder if Sven plays tennis! He could do with taking out some frustration on some furry yellow spheres, I would imagine. Would be something to do if he decides to jump ship before 2006, which, incidentally, I can''t see him doing.

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