Euro 2016

Probably the only good game manager we've had in the last 20 years was Paul Scholes (comparable to Kroos, Xavi, Pirlo), and he never played in the right position for the England team.

The England team seemed paralyzed by fear.

This has been the story since I started watching them in the mid-70s... Bottle jobs to a man, that culture of fear seems to have been passed down through generations of England XIs... '66 was the worst thing that could've happened to English football... Unlucky at Mexico '70 tho'...

I think this is possibly unfair - plenty of examples of tactically literate English players when they play for their clubs under good managers (Dier/Alli/Noble/Lallana/Wilshere) but when they're put in the extreme pressure of an international tournament under a manager with no ability to 'manage' at this level - by which I mean provide players with a clear gameplan based on their strengths and opposition weaknesses and ensure a level of clearheadedness that allows them to play to their best - they wilt. The faults yesterday didn't look purely tactical - the players were clearly mentally disintegrating.

Would love to see Klopp/Poch/Bilic get the job - but top club managers don't take international jobs when they're in their prime. Wenger would be a really interesting shout, although you fear his team would be made up of nippy midfielders and Dier would be quietly dropped. I have no idea who else would be good, although would love to see Hope Powell get the job just to really mess with the heads of the EDL England fans...

shearer throws his name into the hat

That's about as inspiring as Jeremy Hunt ‘seriously considering’ a Tory leadership bid.

Right. Time for wimbledon - c'mon Tim.

Any bike racing happening soon. I want inspiring helicopter shots and motorbikes causing crashes.

I didn't expect anything and neither do I care. Sorry if I have given you the impression that I did.

You'd expect the team to do better than 3 wins out of 11 games played over the last three tournaments.

I don't think any of the players you listed are anywhere near international class 'game managers'. Do they compare to Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Kroos, Schweinsteiger (in his pomp), Pirlo, Modric, Rakitic? Dier is a stout defensive player, but he is hardly a regista. Wilshere has never been trusted with an extended run at centre mid by Wenger. Noble is an honest pro. Alli and Lallana need a set of central midfielders behind them.

So there really isn't anyone at all to dictate play?

Exactly

Oh, if your argument is simply that England don't have a world class central midfield conductor then I'm definitely not arguing with you - I was just making the point that English players can display tactical intelligence for their clubs, which makes the failure of the current management even more stark.

I don't think having such a player is an absolute prerequisite to do well - I wouldn't say Italy or Belgium are blessed in that department and they're both looking pretty good - a well managed and tactically set-up team can offer a decent challenge, and with the players we've got up front and throughout the squad we should clearly be doing better than we are at the moment. You could drop a peak Xavi into England's team last night and if no-one can hit a 5 yard pass or trap the ball he's going to struggle to make anything happen...

Well, if this shambolic tournament had proved anything, it's that Wayne couldn't run a lemonade stall.

His interviews are significantly better though - still fairly monosyllabic, but this time with an injection of pre-programmed humour.

a well managed and tactically set-up team can offer a decent challenge

I think you made your point.

Cyclocosm has a TDF 2016 preview show on Cyclingnews. Search for "how the week was won".

Haven't you heard, we voted out of the Tour this year.

Ironic that we got turned over tiny little Iceland who were playing 4-4-2. They did a Leicester on us and maybe it could of been harry's tournament if he'd been given the job.. Woy wanted width last night but then played with inverted wingers. douchebag.

All through the 90s and then 00s the problem was england had no left sided player. We have had a few false dawns like downing but now we play left footers on the right anyway. Then say they are shit. I would of loved to see Townsend running down the left wing last night in stead of sterling.

How about Chris Waddle for manager, he can have the nevillels do all the coaching and he can just pick the team. I bet he's been too busy in the pub to have his badges.

The talk on 5-live and harry's choice is Hoddle and Southgate, I'd prefer hoddle and waddle then maybe only current of ex spurs and southampton players in the squad.

Jo hart gets all excited and hyped up like a big baby (and gazzy in 1991 fa cup final) and ends up closing his eyes and bottling easy saves. Has rooney retired yet and where is the petition for having this result overturned. They only won by one goal.

I have memories of Chris Waddle as a manager. The high point of the season was invading the pitch after avoiding relegation on the last day of the season.

i stopped supporting engerland after 30 june 1998, beckhamgate, and exit against Argentina in st etienne..

we were away at the time, local cuntz decided to wreck all the cars in my street, and smash up my garden fence..

swift brexit, you muppets..

Yeah I'm over it already. The pain has gone.

Wales are still in, until Friday.

Of course it is. The FA is run by clowns, as long as they are in charge then it's always going to be shit.

We have this hand wringing after every international tournament failure, but no-one ever grasps the nettle and overhauls the structure of the game from top to bottom. If we focused on coaching kids to be comfortable on the ball and aware of systems from a young age, instead of having them playing competitive games on full size pitches we'd start to see an improvement.

There's no coherence either, we should have a plan for who's likely to be the next coach at all times, not suddenly panic when the incumbent quits/is sacked after yet another failure.

They do have a plan, the future is Southgate. Seemingly.

So a younger version of Woy, but without the experience of, you know, actually managing a team?

Your right, he only managed Middlesborough.

Remind me again how that went?

You'd think the FA would've learned their lesson in appointing ex-Boro managers.