Fabio Capello looks set for England

All the talk is that he'll get England mentally right. They still can't comprehend that ball retention and technique is where the players fail and as long as they think like that they can have Harry Potter managing them and they won't win anything. Nobs like Michael Owen and Alan Shearer perpetually spout on that England's players are better than the players at the other top teams. They were outclassed by Croatia in many facets of the game at Wembley and Croatia will do well to get to the last 8.

My personal theory is that teams like United who play and win by playing a high tempo attacking game where the players work like mad to regain possession when they lose it (which is frequently because they're happy to put in crosses early) works well in cool climates. This style of play suits England well.

In the soaring temperatures of summer tournament football this style of play is simply not sustainable. My worry in this context is that in South Africa it won't be as hot - it's their winter in June/July, yes?


England are like Paula Radcliffe: good in cool conditions, outclassed in the heat.
Can Capello change that? I doubt it.

I think it's becoming clear that Ericsson is a far better manager than they gave him credit for and I'm not sure Capello will do much better. Q/Fs, maybe S/Fs. I'm not saying England will never win anything - if Liverpool can win the CL then England can win a tournament, but they'll need an awful lot of things to go their way.

I think this comment in the Telegraph (by a reader) is quite apt (for us as well)

"Spike Milligan once wrote that if Einstein stood for 20 years in front of a cage full of monkeys, explaining his theory of relativity, at the end of it all they would still just be monkeys.

Good luck Mr Capello
Posted by Steve Cook on December 14, 2007 8:48 AM

Crazy money. 6 million sterling a year. Almost a million a game. Haven't read the small print but no doubt it's an 88 year contract with a huge pay off if it goes pear shaped.

Any future Sun headlines ?

Cop out by Capello

Not Capeablle

Cape Clear of Capello

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ls/7143259.stm

Would they ever quit their rubbish whining?:rolleyes:

For what it's worth I agree with Ince. I'm with Wenger, Southgate and the rest in saying that a national manager of a major footballing country should come from the same nation. For England to have to go outside of Britain at least is a pretty sad state of affairs.

Wenger made a point about being slightly embarrassed for Sven when England played Sweden and he just stood looking awkward when the Swedish national anthem was played

In principle I think international football should be about the best your country or association can offer. That applies to management as well as players. If you were to be picky I think it applies more to the bigger footballing powers.

However, it's a professional game so it doesn't work this way.

His nationality won't be an issue if he's successful. If he isn't, well...you know the rest.

There just wasn't any decent English manager in the picture. The one and only successful one was Alf Ramsay and that's only because they were playing at home.

opinion may be divided but Alan Curbishley and Harry Redknapp would have done a job for England if you ask me

One thing is if Capello can't get it right for them then it'll be a long time before anyone can. If they can get to the semis of a tournament then I'd say that that's a very good tournament for them, but whether it would be enough for the press is another matter. Everyone in England forgot that Eriksson took them up a fair few notches when they sacked him (went out of Euro 2000 at the group stage FFS) and then they went back to where they belong when they appointed McClaren. They just don't have the players to do it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jebus

Harry Redknapp would have done a job for England if you ask me

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Why??

An absolute spoofer of epic proportions.

Makes Martin O'Neill look like a tactical genius ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

Why??

An absolute spoofer of epic proportions.

Makes Martin O'Neill look like a tactical genius ;)

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yeah cos MoN really outfoxed 'Arry boy last Saturday, didn't he?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

Why??

An absolute spoofer of epic proportions.

Makes Martin O'Neill look like a tactical genius ;)

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I think he's a better choice than the previous 4 English managers at least (I actually quite like Taylor), he fits the mould of a proper Englishman, and he would keep England on their steady track of mediocrity. Don't get me wrong 'Arry would never win anything with England, but in general I think England are on their right level in international football, the second tier alongside countries like Spain, Holland, Mexico and Portugal, countries that might do something at a tournament, but probably won't, and Arsene Wenger aside, there's not a man on this planet that could change that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldKentRoad

yeah cos MoN really outfoxed 'Arry boy last Saturday, didn't he?

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Only really serves to prove how crap O'Neill is then tbh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

Only really serves to prove how crap O'Neill is then tbh

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make up your mind - you said Redknapp makes MoN look like a tactical genius, next post you say Harry proves O'Neill is crap......hmmmm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldKentRoad

make up your mind - you said Redknapp makes MoN look like a tactical genius, next post you say Harry proves O'Neill is crap......hmmmm

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O'Neill is obviously a lot poorer then I thought.

I haven't been taking much notice of the Premiership recently.

Of Course you could argue Arry has a better team I suppose

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

O'Neill is obviously a lot poorer then I thought.

I haven't been taking much notice of the Premiership recently.

Of Course you could argue Arry has a better team I suppose

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You could also argue that that's because Harry has built a better team through his transfer dealings though, thus pipping MoN to that post too

The RTE pundits' take on Capello's appointment: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2007/...alysis_av.html
Notable for the closest Dunphy has ever come to criticising Roy Keane

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jebus

You could also argue that that's because Harry has built a better team through his transfer dealings though, thus pipping MoN to that post too

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Indeed you could :o

Although I reckon Arry spent far more.

Let's just say they're both rubbish huff merchants who will never ever be good enough to achieve anything at the highest level.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

Indeed you could :o

Although I reckon Arry spent far more.

Let's just say they're both rubbish huff merchants who will never ever be good enough to achieve anything at the highest level.

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Agreed

So far so good:

"I'm going to try to understand what happened by talking to the players," he added. "I believe that wearing the England shirt should be a matter of pride - I want to see all players playing for England like they do for their clubs."

So, player power returns and all that's missing is a bit of pride.

Great start! Nothing to do with technique, ball retention, superioty complexes...