[Richie1001]

Originally Posted by Apple_Crumble

"We should have picked Reo-Coker"

That's the only possible reason!

[indiana44]

Originally Posted by david1955

To an extent I was being sarcastic. This is a massive cock-up to put it mildly. No-one in the media seems to think that this is a problem though , as usual, you cannot criticise the England team or the set up. What would you prefer to do , take a half hour trip on a bus to the game , or get on a flight for two hours before a game . Madness

Are they seriously saying that they couldn't find a decent hotel with a decent football pitch close to the venues in the Ukraine

I've got kind of mixed feelings on this. They have said that there was at least one venue in Poland that they would have had to fly to, and the flight time to the furthest Ukraine venuw will be 1 hour 40 minutes.

If you are going to be flying at all, I really think that any flight less than 2 hours isn't that much of a big deal.

Also the Group D venues, Donetsk and Kiev, are so far apart they would have had to fly to at least one of them wherever based in Ukraine.

If you are going to be flying at all, I really think that any flight less than 2 hours isn't that much of a big deal.

To me, the only base that would have really meant any big saving travellingwise, woiuld have been within reasonable bus distance of Donetsk, where they play their first and third match.

[Jimmy_McNulty]

Injuries.

Travel time.

Euro economy

[CheeseyDude1337]

Scholes retiring.

Argentina being cheats.

[Principle]

The entire England set up need to show ruthless aggression.

[madanglian]

Non-English team manager

[Principle]

Any more suggestions?

[madanglian]

Originally Posted by madanglian

Non-English team manager

Originally Posted by Principle

Any more suggestions?

English team manager?

[Syntax Error]

He* should have picked Joe Cole.

*whoever the manager is at the time.

[Mark F]

Capello will be blamed for leaving the FA in a tricky position by resigning when he did.

[Get Den Watts]

The current chaos, caused by Capello (Johnny Foreigner). Redknapp will be giving it, "remember they were in crisis when I took over", as England go out in the quarter-finals.

[O'Neill]

I'll be surprised if England progress past the group stage. I think the training camp with the long distance between most of the group games, and Capello leaving will be the most used excuses if they fail to get out of the group, or maybe Rooney being unavailable for the first two games.

[Apple_Crumble]

"All Capello's fault"

"The players were tired"

"We had too far to travel"

[Syntax Error]

It seems as if the English media is much more measured this time.

Usually, by about the Spring before a tournament, we've already won it!

Maybe the WC 2010 debacle, aka, The Golden Generation's latest flop, has finally made them realise that England are not good enough to win major tournaments.

[Big Boy Barry]

1- "It was due to managerial instability"
2- "The manager didn't have enough time with the players"
3- "It's been a long season"
4- "It's our system. If we had played (X player) in (Y postion/formation) then (positive result would have occured)"
5- "These young players need time"
6- "(X) was injured"
7- "We should have taken (X)"
8- "It's because Rooooooooooooneyyyyyy!!!!! was banned"
9- "It was the fault of (various off-field distractions)"
10 - "Well, anything can happen in a penalty shootout"
11- "The (team that knocked England out) dived"
12- "We need goal-line technology!!!!"
13- "That sending off/disallowed goal was harsh!"
14- "The pitches didn't suit our game"
15- "It's only the European Championships. The World Cup is what matters"
16- "We need an English mentality/fighting spirit/manager/attitude etc....."

[tewkesbury]

Firstly, what do people honestly expect from the Euros, given our record in them ?

Since the Euros became a proper tournament in 1980 we have had "abysmal performance" as the O.P puts it in 84 and 08 (failed to quailfy) and '80,88,92,00 (been knocked out in the group stages)

We have only had two 'good' tournaments (quarters 04, semis 96). So thats 6-2 in favour of what most would consider dissapointing failure.

Until we rectify the fundamental problems which limit our national team I don't see the point in going beserk each time England "fail" in a tournament and alternating between "get in a clever foreign manager" and "we need a Englishman wiv pashun"

[Big Boy Barry]

Quite frankly I think Engelbert Humperdink has a better chance of winning Eurovision than England have winning Euro 2012.

[tewkesbury]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Barry

Quite frankly I think Engelbert Humperdink has a better chance of winning Eurovision than England have winning Euro 2012.

What if we put Englebert Humperdink in charge at Euro 2012 ?

[tennisman]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Barry

1- "It was due to managerial instability"
2- "The manager didn't have enough time with the players"
3- "It's been a long season"
4- "It's our system. If we had played (X player) in (Y postion/formation) then (positive result would have occured)"
5- "These young players need time"
6- "(X) was injured"
7- "We should have taken (X)"
8- "It's because Rooooooooooooneyyyyyy!!!!! was banned"
9- "It was the fault of (various off-field distractions)"
10 - "Well, anything can happen in a penalty shootout"
11- "The (team that knocked England out) dived"
12- "We need goal-line technology!!!!"
13- "That sending off/disallowed goal was harsh!"
14- "The pitches didn't suit our game"
15- "It's only the European Championships. The World Cup is what matters"
16- "We need an English mentality/fighting spirit/manager/attitude etc....."

I hope it's not necessary to make any excuses, although I'm not sure this time, the current team will be hyped up by the media. If anything, they may go the other way.

But that's a great list Barry.

Even after the defeat to Holland the other night, all the usual comments were coming out;

- friendlies don't matter
- Pearce didn't have enough time with the team
- key players were out

It's all part of a never ending process which I call 'play it forward'.

This process involves always trying to put a positive spin on the situation on the basis that next time, it'll be alright on the night.

Play if forward also means that any criticism, even constructive criticism is regarded as being negative, unpatriotic even, which puts a straight jacket around any objective analysis.

This process has been going on almost as long as I have been watching England, since '66 but more recently, it has escalated by increased media coverage (internet forums, Sky, Talksport and 5Live etc etc).

What it means is that it's always about what's going to happen in the future (lessons will be learned, 'moving forward'). It's never about NOW.

It's nearly 5 years since the Croatia game where the media and radio spent 48 hours non stop going on about the debacle that the Croatia game heralded. This was followed by all the naval gazing about our game and the problems with youth football, lack of coaches etc etc and from what I see, read about and hear about from my friends in youth football, nothing has changed.

There seems to be a view and a script developing about 'this young team' and I'm wondering how is it that a few months before another major tournament, we are still in the process of team building.

This team may well grow into something but why is it being put together now?

I've said before that although, no doubt, he is a solid pro but once Ozil had breezed past Gareth Barry in SA making him look like a knackered carthorse, Barry should never have pulled an England shirt on again.

And England team built around the very English football qualities that Barry and Parker exemplify are a microcosm of everything that our football is and always has been about.

They are good pros but we love them becasue, amongst other things albeit (Parker comes across as a humble man), they 'put in a shift', a cliche which seems to dominate football talk currently.

But putting in a shift won't get you anywhere at International level as it's assumed that you are doing this as a very basic requirement not as the key indicator of your reason to be on the pitch.

It would take real courage for whoever the manager is to start again but all the gradual changing of the team ends up meaning that the team is way too much a 'work in progress'.

Get outstanding youngsters like Rodwell et al. and fill the team with them. Take a few beatings but build properly for the future. Then perhaps we might not yet again be relying on players and playing styles which have long since passed their sell-by date.

Good luck to Pearce and the team for the summer.

[Alfie2008]

I'm not making any assumptions regarding England in Euro 2012, nor will I get sucked into any pre-tournament hype. I'll judge each match and performance as it comes.

[fast left]

Originally Posted by Alfie2008

I'm not making any assumptions regarding England in Euro 2012, nor will I get sucked into any pre-tournament hype. I'll judge each match and performance as it comes.

that's taken the fun out it then

[Alfie2008]

Originally Posted by fast left

that's taken the fun out it then

Sorry, It's been a long season so far and I haven't had a winter break, plus my finger slipped on the keyboard and accidentally typed the last post.

It's been a long journey travelling to the computer and logging into DS, so it's only natural that I missed the point of the thread.

[Principle]

"We would have won it if Harry Redknapp had been manager"

[Heavenly]

We would have won it if Jack Wilshere had been fit.

[iamsofired]

I dont think there will be one in particular, people are more realistic this time wrong, hopefully the press wont whip up the expectation again this time round.