iwasthere2012 wrote:Mikhail Chigorin wrote:iwasthere2012 wrote:Only caught the highlights late, of the Ireland v USA game and the Scotland v England game.
Only friendlies I know, but, Ireland made 11 changes and looked better, football-wise.
The game looked incredibly open, maybe even naive. Hard to tell from highlights. Two or three players might have played their ways into the starting lineup for next March. Hard to know with O'Neill. Two very good goals from Robbie Brady and two great assists from McGoldrick.
As for England. Like I keep saying. You have the guts of a decent team there. From the highlights, it looked like some nice one touch fast accurate football being played.
Friendly or not, I'm sure it feels sweet for you.
As for Scotland. I still think Strachan at least has them attempting to play football.
Unless Ireland really take advantage of their home games I can't see us finishing higher than them.
It was nice to put one over on Scotland and their baying hordes last night but, at the end of the day, they are only a fairly mediocre outfit, if that.
To put any credibility on that result is only papering over the cracks with regard to England's basic insufficiencies. It's one thing being able to play a bit of football against rubbish, but a totally different matter to do it against anyone half-decent.
I understand that your expectations are probably a lot higher than mine, when it comes to watching your team.
I take it you didn't subject yourself to watching Scotland v Ireland last Friday.
If you don't think much of the test Scotland were for you, then please spare me your thoughts on Ireland.
Believe me. I've suffered enough.
As long standing City fans, I think we all know about "suffering" (or the football equivalent of it) but perhaps the mixture of technical excellence and beauty that our beloved team is now capable of delivering (to some extent, even when we're playing badly), has somehow 'conditioned' or spoilt us/me when watching other sides perform.
I'm very critical of the way that England play, with all the deficiencies in both technique and tactics that are frequently shown up and merely bullying a mediocre Scottish team into submission can't, for me, hide the turgid dross that Shrek's stormtroopers are churning out season after season and disappointing tournament after disappointing tournament.
It's not so much losing games, a factor which every team has to cope with, but it's the lack of flair and skill, when compared to others, which stands out so much to me.
We really are now a third rate footballing nation. Nothing can hide that fact and, moreover, there's no excuse for it, given this nation's resources and, dare I say it, 'history'. Teams with far smaller populations and resources than ourselves seem able to produce players who are comfortable on the ball and can pass with a modicum of accuracy, whilst we always seem to fall down in this respect (perhaps it's that dreaded word 'history' which is also at fault here).
I didn't watch the Scotland-Ireland game and I wouldn't want to criticise, unduly, any other national team (although I've dismissed Scotland as being mediocre and rubbish) but I can't believe that, over a given period of time, any side would be as consistently hard to watch as England continually and inexcusably are.
End of tome like rant.
