10 May 2018 10:33:20
With the world cup coming up I thought I would get people's opinions as to why England never perform on the international stage. Is it a lack of playing time together? A lack of motivation? Or just not having good enough players?

1.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 11:06:21
They have an easy qualifying phase and never get tested. That’s just one of the reasons imo. It’s probably why lesser teams do better in the tournament- they’re for lack of a better term, match fit while England who are better on paper are blown away by the improved competition.

2.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 11:09:23
Because the majority of English players that get selected are over hyped and are pretty average. For me it goes all the way to the youth set up, in this country big and strong comes before technical ability and until that is sorted out England teams will be poor. As I think Ed001 pointed out the other day, the reason the England youth teams have done so well lately is because they could physically bully their opponents but once they step up to the senior game they can no longer use this attribute and they have to learn the game again.

3.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 11:25:37
This is a Liverpool forum 🤣👍.

4.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 11:51:21
It varies from generation to generation. Sometimes it's average to poor management. Sometimes it's a lack of team cohesion. Right now? Our players just simply aren't particularly good - of the 27 players available for the last round of friendlies I'd say at a push, 8 of them would stand a chance of selection by any of France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Brazil or Argentina. Even for the second tier teams like Portugal, Italy, Netherlands etc would select no more than half of that squad. It's a poor quality squad at the moment, simple as.

5.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 12:07:23
England have certainly under performed but possibly by less than you'd think.

Based on our population size and our football infrastructure we should probably be a top 10 side which means that the QFs should be our basic target and if you look at our history that's generally what we achieve (with some standard deviation) .

The country we should most compare ourselves to is Spain, they have a similar population and football culture. Up until 2008 their History was worse than ours. The difference is they made the most of their 'golden generation' whilst we squandered ours.

I think our biggest problem is our failure to produce a world class star, a Ronaldo type, who scares other teams and can win a game from nothing, someone who can lift a decent team into a great one.

6.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 13:22:28
At least the FA appointed a manager with a proven track record. oops wait.

7.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 13:49:20
I think it’s three things

1) the coaching isn’t world class

2) the team isn’t as good as Brazil, Germany, Spain and France. look at their sides and bench

3) most importantly, the players don’t often fit together all that well. Many Brazilians play a very similar style, likewise Germany, but England has a wide variety of players playing different styles all the way from Liverpool/ Man City and a fluid attacking system through to pragmatic Chelsea and Man Ute, and down to the Tony Pulis inspired defensive defensive block. Given they have very little time to gel, they almost never look a cohesive unit.

Personally I think they’d do a lot better picking a progressive coach like Eddie Howe, building a cohesive style of play (like liverpool) and picking the right kind of players to play that style. If they can’t play the system, they aren’t picked regardless of form. For example (biased of course) i think the midfield would be a lot stronger just picking Hendo, Milner and Ox who play a similar pressing game than then trying to shoe horn in Dele Ali who functions without having to do those hard yards because he has Dembele and Dier behind him. Don’t even start on Wiltshire. Having a constent style of play and players that understand and fit that system is far more important to getting results than individual talent, which is why we get beat by so called lessor sides more often than we should.

8.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 14:45:20
SG, one thing I'd say about Southgate is that he's decided on a style of play and is picking the players that suit it best.

It may not be revolutionary but it feels like progress.

9.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 16:26:31
The players aren't that good, good early coaching at grassroots level for youngsters is miles behind the continent (in terms of quantity of coaches), there is a result at all costs mentality in much of youth football which hinders development, there is still an emphasis on physique which, as they mature, reveals them to be bang average. In short a smaller pool of genuine quality to pick from due to poor infrastructure from the grassroots up means we simply don't have loads of great players and, thanks to the FA and their antiquated approach, no chance of any sort of forward-thinking, quality coach getting the job either.

10.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 16:55:30
Fair point Putney, Southgate hasn't done too badly but I still worry players are likely to be picked on name at the WC. He'd do better with backing a few youngsters like Lingard over the likes of Wilshere.

Actually I probably missed biggest problem at this WC for England is likely the be the lack of midfielders. Hendo looks the only obvious pick, and then maybe Lingard. Dier and Wilshere are awful. Ali has lost form and Lallana, Ox injured and Milner retired.

Compare that to France with Kante, Pogba, Matuidi, Rabiot, Fekir. and even after those I'd still probably pick Nzonzi, Sidibe, Lemar and Coman over almost anyone but Hendo.

11.) 10 May 2018
10 May 2018 17:48:19
SGred one point I picked up on was your comment about picking more youngsters like Lingard over Wilshere, you realise these guys are born in the same year with only 10months between them. If ones not classed as a youngster neither should the other be.

12.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 05:19:22
Fair point - didn’t realize Wilshere was that young. I probably just assumed older as his career seems to have peaked and on the way down and he’s constantly injured. Lingard’s on an upward trajectory, he’s just being played because Mourinho doesn’t like anyone under 30! Rashford and Lingard should be the bright young up and coming stars but they hardly ever get played.