lilbandit said:
bbloke, what do you make of Sven? He's getting a terrible time on Irish coverage of World Cup. I love football and would watch it all day if I had the chance (Thank God for World Cup!!) Summer is always hard, go into withdrawal every year! Have to say that Sven is imo an absolute joke. Remember the pictures of him meeting with Abramovich? I swear that he did it to score a pay rise for himself. Leaving Dafoe at home, playing an unfit Owen and Rooney and bringing a 17 year old who never played a first team game for his club to the greatest football stage in the world?? Won't play Carrick despite having a great season and being the only holding midfielder in the squad? Long balls to Crouch seem to be the only tactic and Beckham is looking more and more past it (dead balls aside). I'd play Lennon ahead of him. Beckham finished the last game playing right back!!
Well, where to start? I'm not really a massive football/soccer fan. I know enough to know what people are talking about and I tend to watch international games, but I couldn't claim to be an expert.
My general feelings about Sven has been mixed. At first, I thought he was a good manager and he might turn things round. After some time, I began to think he was very conservative and was not playing to our strengths very well. He seemed, to me, to play people out of position, be too defensive, make some odd substitutions, tinker with the squad a bit too much, and general not allow the games to flow as we would like (going by Premier League experiences). It seemed like the team just didn't gel and didn't work together well. Stupid mistakes were often made, and I wondered how much of this (such as diabolical passing or badly timed runs, from people who normally would know better!) was due to confusion when it came to specific roles and tactics.
People have recently pointed out that he actually has the best record, as far as England managers go. I was surprised to learn this and started to wonder if we need to give him a little more credit. Even so, I've not been happy with the performances at the World Cup so far. To sum it up, it feels like England has some excellent talent, possibly some players who can hold their own against any other in the world, and yet, when put together as a team, it just doesn't work. It's a frustrating lack of realization of potential.
Not bringing Defoe was bad, in my view. Our strike force consists of two people coming back from injury and who are not yet fit (Owen and Rooney), and one unusual character who, to his credit, has actually not done too badly (Crouch). Joe Cole has also been very good, and I think he should keep playing. With Lampard and Gerrard, they are both very talented and it is hard to know how to fit them both into the squad, if possible. I think Terry has proven to be excellent and a good long term prospect. I'm not quite sure why Sven keeps using Hargreaves, although I know he is supposed to be better than the media give him credit for. Lennon really seemed to bring a lot to the game against Trinidad and Tobago, and I'd like to see more of him in future. To many people's surprise, Sven's subsitutions in that match actually proved effective!
In summary, I just feel England are not performing as well as they are capable of, and I don't know if that comes down to the manager or not. On the other hand, although England have lacked flair and a command of their game, they have at least won both games and have not conceded a goal. I think many fans would rather see England "play well" if you know what I mean, not just get points. As Sven will be leaving after the World Cup, I'll give him of the benefit of the doubt for now and hope England "comes good" as time goes on. *cringe*
