Any opinions on Sven?...and his future?

Time for him to spend more time with his Volvo, I think - it's not so much a problem with him, it's rather our juvenile media. On the other hand, I think that, his personal life aside, there is only so long that you can be something like an England manager before you need to stand aside to let someone else have ago and bring in new ideas, particularly as national expectations of the team's performance far outweighs the team's ability anyway.

well i for one was hoping for an English manager, Sam Allardyce was the man for me. I think if the rumour mill is correct and Scolari accepts the England job, then it will be another missed oppertunity

Well I tend to agree with you big Sam was the man for me aswell, but on the other hand if we have to have a foriegn boss again we could do a lot worse than Scolari, his record in international competitions is good, winning the world cup with Brasil and reaching the euro semi's with Portugal. and making Sven look average twice with Brasil knocking us out the world cup then Portugal doing the same in the euro's. So i'm sad its not Sam, but also quite pleased at getting Scolari...............if reports are to be believed

Although I favoured Sam from the English lot , Big Phil is by far a better choice. He's just like Sam but with tons of experience and a proven track record at this level.

He'll certainly deliver a kick up the arse when its required.

I don't understand this emphasis on having an English manager for the English team - what you've got is to best of my knowledge is Premier League in which, what, 50% of the players aren't British? Whole sides are fielded in which there are only three British people on the pitch - and one of those is the referee! Same again for Managers leading the top teams of the Premiership - Fergy's the honorable exception, I'd have thought - but he's Scottish, not English. So to find a recent English manager with a couple of good domestic/European cups under his belt - well, that'll be a trivia question for people who know facts and figures; not something for people like myself who listen in from the outside.

The one thing English football does have is money, it seems. So you use that to get the best manager - and it equally seems to me that the manager by definition is not going to be English.

:doesn'tknowwhatallthefussisaboutsmiley:

The only current Englishman who fits the bill in terms of things won is Bobby Robson............and he's been there and done it already.

Oolongcha used ":doesn'tknowwhatthefussisaboutsmiley:" And he could be onto something there. All the English football team is made up of hardened professional players, stick them on a football field and like toy soldiers they should play the best they can...wtf is there to manage! Pick the fittest and best. Job done.

you sound just like my old man....................and he knows bugger all about football aswell

It seems that Scolari doesn't want the job, after all. Is he bluffing (because he's not permitted under his current contract to negotiate other contracts) or is the FA back to square one?

well the latest on the news was that he has decided not to take the job because of press pressure

he never even started the bloody job and the press was on his case

well the FA have shot themselves in the foot again. instead of keeping everything quiet and keeping the meeting secret, they told everybody what they are up to, now who ever gets lumberd with the job will know that they were second best in the FA's eyes. come on sam.

After the latest England game against Croatia, does anyone on here think that we have any truly world class players? When i say "world class" i mean a player, who for example, Brazil would love to have in their team. I believe that our so called 'golden generation' have been exposed as a bunch of overpaid, unmotivated, average, spoilt, underachievers. It's beginning to look as though Eriksson did pretty well to get us to the European quarter finals.

Arguably, he did pretty well to get us to the World Cup quarter finals, as well

England just doesn't have the depth of talent, and lacks consistency. In part, I suppose, it's because the football clubs have been handed over to businesses who buy in the talent hey need - usually from abroad - to make a quick profit. At least, that's how it seems to me as a non-football fan.

Sorry. That's what i meant.

I don't think that there is too much wrong with this current England team.

Rewind a few months to just before the world cup and the media were proclaiming that the team had the potential to win the tournament. We apparently had the best crop of players we'd had in ages and the team would only fail if good old Sven got his tactics wrong.

Steve Maclaran isn't the best man for the job but he isn't a bad manager. The crazy thing was that many of the Sunday papers were already talking about possible replacements. The guys been in the job 8 weeks!

The trouble with football opinion in this country is that it is driven by the media. You win a couple of games and you are the nations saviour. You lose a game and you end up on the back page of the current bun superimposed on a turnip

Let's have a bit more faith.

Come on England!

We will easily qualify and will hammer Croatia three nil when we meet again next year

Well put Rob, totally agree with you

Some one said to me the other day that the problem with the England team is that they are afraid to commit one hundred percent when playing for England because they have too much commitment to their own clubs. Eg. they cannot afford to get injured. Personally I think the problem is McClaren dropped Davy Beckham because of a personal issue and the team has gone to shite without him.

I disagree that "England just doesn't have the depth of talent."

Although England may not have had the most talented team at the World Cup, I believe England definitely had more talent than France. In terms of pure talent, I would pick only Italy, Argentina and Brazil ahead of England.

One can cite lack of sufficient talent only if a side plays to the potential of its talent and comes up short when faced with a more talented side. I don't believe that was the case with England at the World Cup because I don't believe England played to the limit of their potential. England underachieved.

Although I would make a few changes in personnel, I believe the problem with England is not talent but team cohesion and a game plan that takes full advantage of the available talent. These are faults of management.

It does not appear that Steve Maclaran is addressing these problems or that he's inclined to do so. Based on his actions thus far (e.g., dropping Beckham), Maclaran seems focused on image and on proving he is "his own man." I hope I've read him wrong.

Anyone who thinks a manager cannot significantly change a team's results need only look at what Martin O'Neil has done with essentially the same Aston Villa side that did so poorly last year.

Also look at one of his rivals for the england job, alan curbishly. Years at Charlton, running them on a shoe string budget, soon as he leaves there rock bottom of the premiership. Hope Leeds go for him.

A lot of what you say is spot on Zoro but don't be too quick to jump on the 'Lets Blame Maclaren Brigade'.

After the disappointment of the world cup the nation was demanding some sort of drastic action and most people wanted Beckham out of the side. This wasn't Maclaren making his mark, it was him pandering to public opinion. Of course that's all changed now since the Crotia game with the 'Let's Bring Back Beckham Brigade' in full voice.

Football is a game that is decided on fine margins. There is a lot of luck involved. If the divot wasn't where it was maybe we could have snatched a draw and the tone of this thread would be different

Norfolk Rob of the' Stand Up If You Support Steve Maclaran Brigade'

Norfolk Rob, Sorry mate but the job should have gone to Martin O'Niell. Theres a guy with passion, drive and the proven track record. Steve M spent too much time under Svens wing and didn't do alot for Middlesbro.

Another lacklustre performance last night against Spain. With the exception of Dyer & Wright-Phillips I thought the team lacked any bite and never showed any real threat beyond the first ten mins of each half. For me it's Crouch virtually on his own up front that just doesnt work! Thought we'd have done better with Defoe on from the start with Dyer just off him. Granted we had a lot of missing players but in all honesty we had a decent enough squad out there - Spain werent amazing either.

Oh and yeah Frank Lampard on the left of midfield???WTF???

crap, that about sums it up

The performance was poor against Spain but we had a number of decent players out the side.

As is par for the course with England managers Maclaren is starting to get flack from the press. Some of it is deserved- some isn't. He's only been in charge for 7 games. If the performances don't improve soon then he'll be forced out of the job

I don't think Crouch is ever going to be world class. As soon as Owen is fit again we need to play Rooney and Owen up front.

England were doing better than they have done for many years under Sven. There was a buzz about every match, and the frenzy was almost glamourous.

Now, it's a gut feeling, but it's like rewind back to the late 70's and 80's. There is no buzz any more, there is like a black cloud over the English national team, like something good has lost.

Beckham was losing it, but he had some charisma and qudos, there hasn't been any real replacement.

So what's the answer? Dunno, might have to be a change of manager though to give any chance of a lift. I reckon. Once you lose the moral, it's damned hard to get it back.

I know i'm an outsider here but i think the problem with england is Team Spirit
The talent is there but without team spirit you can forget it
Scotland and northern ireland are doing well in their groups because of team spirit

Hmmm, you could be just right here fella.

I wonder if this is tied in with the Beckham thing. I maintain he was losing it as a player - but he had it in other ways (I even knew of Scots who supported England sometimes because Beckham was in the team )

Some very interesting comments in here, but tied down to one player, and an overrated one at that, Beckham was "ok", but players like Gerrard, Joe Cole, Terry & Rooney are far more talented i feel. I would also mention Lampard, but for some reason he just does not do it for England, i've always said he can't play on the same side as Gerrard.

It just seems to me at the moment that the team are playing for themselves, as already been said, there isn't a team spirit there, people trying to compete with each other. If you look at the world cup final, the two teams got there because they were willing to fight for each other. I never forget what Gattuso said, he said that Italy would never have won it if the team didn't fight for each other and want to play for each other, and that was clearly the case when Italy won it, they looked like a family that had known each other for years. England should have made the Semi Final's, i expected them to, but then the last 4 would have been down to chances & errors and who had the bottle the most, but at least they would have given it their all, i don't think England at any one time looked "interested" in progressing, there is definately a motivation problem in the team.

It's looking a bit dangerous now as they have to win virtually every game from now on to ensure qualification for 2008, they won't do that with this current attitude.

After the England v Israel game they interviewed Mclaren and to be quite honest I don't think the man has a clue what he's doing. They asked him what was he going to to rectify the problems and his response was "just keep doing the same thing, just keep going!" Hmmmmmm doesnt sound like any management training course I have been on. Yes we have got a plethora of talent in the squad (incidentally Owen will do nothing when he gets back, he was bad enough before his injury) but McClaren can't seem to unlock that talent.

Change the boss I say.

well i said from day one that the FA had made a big mistake putting him in charge. his first big mistake was dropping beckham, at least have him in the squad, seems odd getting rid of the captain like that. Well at least northern island look like making it so there will be a british team in the finals, what an embarressment, northern island being the top british team

that's a funny way of spelling scotland easy northern island hahahahahahahhaaaahhahahahhahaaahhaha

Well done England on a very good win against the russians

and poor northern island as easy would say

but now for the big one COME ON SCOTLAND WHAT A GAME france who are they hahahahahaha

great win for the scots mate

No mention of the Cricket here !