England vs Montenegro 11/10/13

[PieEater]

It says something about our psyche that we're all doom and gloom when it's 0-0 then when we score we wonder how we could have struggled against a team as shit as this.

In hindsight they really weren't very good, Poland will be a more difficult game on Monday. 3 points will be harder in that game.

[AthleticoSpizz]

What an embarrassing thread this is.

why Slambo?

[winchester_royal]

Winch


for the Country that is meant to have the best football League in the World, and have had for years

Our National team are a disgraceful let-down

why is that?

Wow, we have "spanked" the 27th team in the world


....so we are evidently 26th best right now

That's not quite how the ranking system works bud, but nice try.

I wouldn't call them a 'disgraceful' let-down. Just because we have a popular league globally that doesn't mean we have a divine right to get to semi-finals and finals. The 'fact' of the matter is that other countries have moved ahead and we haven't kept up in terms of youth development over the past 15/20 years but we've managed to remain competitive throughout that period, have pretty consistently reached the knock-out stages of major tournaments, have lost once in our last 14 games at Wembley, and are looking good to qualify for another World Cup.

We should be better than we are, for sure, but wins like tonight should be celebrated. Only by taking these rapidly improving footballing nations seriously can we hope to do better in the future, and we definitely shouldn't be disrespecting Montenegro by pretending like this was always going to be an easy game.

[URZZZZZ]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

[SLAMMED]

What an embarrassing thread this is.

why Slambo?

Not even the Team Board goes into meltdown when we win a game

[Royalclapper]

But the top two go through...

Just group winners automatically go through, runners up (those with the most points/best record) will have to qualify via a two leg play-off. It is something to sober up a few who will no doubt be prematurely over confident before the reality and importance of the Poland game becomes apparent. Tuesday has the potential to become a very tense evening indeed for all concerned with England.

[ZacNaloen]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

Belgium have good players but not so sure how cohesive they are as a national side at the moment.

Germany duh

Italy duh

Spain Duh

France... not so sure. They are similar to us I reckon.


*edit*

actually take it back about Belgium, results massively improved recently.

[URZZZZZ]

Oh and spizz, the stuff about the PL being the best in the world is all a myth

[ZacNaloen]

But the top two go through...

Just group winners automatically go through, runners up (those with the most points/best record) will have to qualify via a two leg play-off. It is something to sober up a few who will no doubt be prematurely over confident before the reality and importance of the Poland game becomes apparent. Tuesday has the potential to become a very tense evening indeed for all concerned with England.

I think anyone that is paying attention knows how important the game is, and that that it will be difficult as Poland are better than their ranking suggests.

England will need to turn it on, but I do fear a different more industrious approach which could be our undoing

[winchester_royal]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

This is the same England that drew with Italy 0-0 over 90 minutes while still being in a complete transition phase with a new manager?

The same England that beat Brazil at Wembley and then drew with them at their place?

I'm sure 70/80% of the time we'd get beat by those teams, but 'wipe the floor'? Nah.

[URZZZZZ]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

Belgium have good players but not so sure how cohesive they are as a national side at the moment.

Germany duh

Italy duh

Spain Duh

France... not so sure. They are similar to us I reckon.

We struggled against Ukraine, and was far from convincing tonight. England are a below average footballing side who on paper should do much much better

[AthleticoSpizz]

Winch, and (in part)

I thank you for that


You have answered the questions of many of ouroverly-expectant football fans on here.

Personally, I find it hard to celebrate the wins like tonight....we let them score

But, as delirious I am for getting through,

the next rounds will show us up for what we are,

and what we have accepted as the norm

[URZZZZZ]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

This is the same England that drew with Italy 0-0 over 90 minutes while still being in a complete transition phase with a new manager?

The same England that beat Brazil at Wembley and then drew with them at their place?

I'm sure 70/80% of the time we'd get beat by those teams, but 'wipe the floor'? Nah.

Was any of them competitive matches?

[winchester_royal]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

This is the same England that drew with Italy 0-0 over 90 minutes while still being in a complete transition phase with a new manager?

The same England that beat Brazil at Wembley and then drew with them at their place?

I'm sure 70/80% of the time we'd get beat by those teams, but 'wipe the floor'? Nah.

Was any of them competitive matches?

Yes.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Oh and spizz, the stuff about the PL being the best in the world is all a myth

tell that to $ky

and their knobhead subscribers

[SLAMMED]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

This is the same England that drew with Italy 0-0 over 90 minutes while still being in a complete transition phase with a new manager?

The same England that beat Brazil at Wembley and then drew with them at their place?

I'm sure 70/80% of the time we'd get beat by those teams, but 'wipe the floor'? Nah.

Was any of them competitive matches?

Were*

[URZZZZZ]

Which one winch

[Avon Royal]

Second time in two days i've been accused of being in denial

Might be something in it then.........

England have been shit for as long as I have been watching football.

So your problem with me saying that they are shit is what exactly?

[winchester_royal]

Which one winch

The Italy game was a major tournament QF.

[ZacNaloen]

Imagine England against Spain, Italy, France, Germany or even Belgium in a competitive match, would wipe the floor with us





even reading are capable of beating England

Belgium have good players but not so sure how cohesive they are as a national side at the moment.

Germany duh

Italy duh

Spain Duh

France... not so sure. They are similar to us I reckon.

We struggled against Ukraine, and was far from convincing tonight. England are a below average footballing side who on paper should do much much better

Ukraine top the group, should we be surprised we struggled against them?

I KNOW England are below average that's my whole point about why it's silly to be critical or doom and gloom when we spank 27th in the world, and I'm not entirely convinced we should do better.

I think Englands problem is that we under rate the importance of certain footballing attributes and it means that teams who "on paper" should be poorer than us can in fact make us look very ordinary. In other words, our players aren't as good as our media, managers, coaches and fans think they are.

In terms of the quality of our national team we are reaping what we sowed for the last 30 years and are exactly where we deserve to be.