England Vs Poland

[StevieH]

it could also be accidental though. one player thought it was a weird half-time team talk to give - which let's be honest, it is very, very, very weird - and happened to mention it to a clubmate or his agent or something. then word's out and someone not directly linked to the england squad could have leaked it to a journo. chinese whispers (not racist either btw). that some journo then thought this was remotely newsworthy is hugely irresponsible.

i think there's another concern though, which is that roy felt the need to spend five minutes talking about NASA and space monkeys when what he meant to say was "lads, townsend's roasting their full-back, get the ball to him quickly and regularly".

That would be my guess too. Whoever mentioned it, did so without malice, and purely because they thought it was a bit strange, not because they thought it had racial undertones.

As for what the analogy that Roy made says about him, i think not a lot, besides perhaps he is a bit less conventional than he is made out to be. Maybe he'd just been listening to a bit of Space Oddity on the way to the grounds and felt inspired by Major Tom.

Perhaps if it had been said in French or Italian, with a lot of grand arm waving and gesticulation, it might have come across a bit more profound and meaningful.

rix, roy hodgson does not listen to david bowie. he's strictly an ace of base and dr alban man.

and if it had been said in french or italian it would still have sounded bloody weird. the whole thing is a joke of a non-story though. that he and the FA have had to say absolutely anything about it, never mind issue an apology, is laughable.

[angsta]

Agreed, they didn't fulfill their potential at the big tournaments but at least they got to them. More importantly they always tried to play football hence they now have players who are comfortable with the ball and are able to keep possession and not just in a couple of games but every game. Spain could have 2 squads in the world cup such is their strength in depth.

I don't remember the long ball from the keeper onto the head of Andreos Carrolos very often from Spain in the last 25 years. We employed that same tactic 3 games ago. That was the most accurate pass between 2 England players in a game. Big hoof from the goalie onto the nut of the center forward. Thank God our groups sucks or we would have been in real trouble. Crap is playing like the 1987 Wimbledon or Cambridge United sides during internationals in 2013. Spain were never that. I think the jury is massively still out on England and Roy.

Prior to 2008, Spain's record at either the World Cup or the Euros was really no better or worse than ours. In the World Cup, they managed a few Quarter Finals, no Semis, and in the Euros, one Runner up and the rest Quarter Finals or worse. Apparently though all that failure and loss was ok for them, because it was all part of a carefully planned strategy to build up to the team they have today.

With regards style of play, winning cup competitions is all about playing to your strengths. It's about results, not performances. Ask Greece if you are in doubt about that. Bemoaning the fact that we don't try to play like a Brazil or a Spain, is just daft. We don't have those sorts of players, we don't play that sort of way in our country, and forcing our players to play that way, won't suddenly turn them all into Galatico lookalikes, it will instead most likely just make them look silly.

We play the way you want us to play, we get beat, and Roy is an idiot for trying to get players to play in a way they can't... we play the way we did, we top the group, concede only four goals, and Roy is an idiot for not playing the team with the sort of flair you demand. Deary me. I thought women were hard creatures to please.

We don't play that way in our country? Nice post, if this were 1988. It isn't. Greece or Denmark will not be winning the Euros or World cup ever again because football has moved on. Where have you been? You need to be able to keep the ball. We are not Norway, we have quality footballers playing in arguably the best league in the world (ahem) but we chose to do a decent impression of Stoke City circa 2011 in most of the games we play. Is this the fault of the players or the manager?

The players in the England team are managed at club level by Mourinho, Wenger, Rodgers, Moyes and Villas-Boas et al. Do you think any of these managers ask their defenders to knock it long and bypass the midfield every week? Of course they don't. They play football. You've probably seen them on Saturday and Sunday nights. It's called the premier league. England players at their club sides play decent football so why should they regress when they put on an England shirt? Stoke City isn't represented at the average England squad so why should we choose to play like them? And this isn't a recent problem, look at how we treated Paul Scholes, stuck him on the left wing? Playing Carrick is a step in the right direction but how often does he play?

The facts are we were taken to the last game in the weakest group and played appallingly until the last two games. Polands away form is atrocious yet with a bit of luck...I think the problem is some people are very easily pleased. Germany next, that should be fun??I reckon if we are lucky it might only be 3-0. As long as we run around as much as we can and tackle hard then we should be fine.

[rixalex]

We don't play that way in our country? Nice post, if this were 1988. It isn't. Greece or Denmark will not be winning the Euros or World cup ever again because football has moved on. Where have you been? You need to be able to keep the ball. We are not Norway, we have quality footballers playing in arguably the best league in the world (ahem) but we chose to do a decent impression of Stoke City circa 2011 in most of the games we play. Is this the fault of the players or the manager?

Spain aren't doing anything new, radical or unseen before. They are doing what has been done many times before, just that they happen to be doing it very well.

So has football really has moved on as much as you suggest? I don't think it has. There have always been the teams throughout history that do well at playing the ball at their feet, holding on to possession, using guile and quick feet, doing the total football thing, just as there have always been the teams that play the high ball a lot, the teams that get in your face, the teams that sit back and soak up pressure and hit on the break, the teams that use physical strength and brute force.

There have always been different approaches to the game, and there always will be, and sometimes one approach, one style of play, will succeed, and other times it won't. This is especially the case in Cup competitions, which is what international football is all about. Saying that there will from now on never be another Denmark or Greece type winner is just daft.

And one thing that is certain, regardless of how much you think the game has changed, is that you have to play to your strengths. I think that England did that for the most part in qualifying, and the fact that England topped the group, never lost a match, and only conceded four goals in ten games, is testament to that opinion and to the tactics that were employed. Would we have won the group by a bigger margin, had we tried to play like Spain? Would we have won the group by a bigger margin, had we been managed say by Capello? No, i don't think we would. And who cares anyway? You either qualify or you don't. It's not a gray area. And we did. Job done.

The facts are we were taken to the last game in the weakest group and played appallingly until the last two games. Polands away form is atrocious yet with a bit of luck...I think the problem is some people are very easily pleased. Germany next, that should be fun??I reckon if we are lucky it might only be 3-0. As long as we run around as much as we can and tackle hard then we should be fine.

Weakest group? Where are you getting that "fact" from? Group G had Bosnia, Greece, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein. You seriously think that was a tougher group? Poland, Ukraine and Montenegro are no mugs, and for you to suggest that they are, and for you to think that England should have walked over them, shows that it's not the England fans who are living on past glories (or should that be "glory"), it's not the England fans who think we have some sort of divine right to do well just because we are England, and it's not the England fans who are arrogant. Ironically those are all accusations leveled at us by the England bashers, when it is in fact they who carry these daft sorts of attitudes.

Another "fact" of yours: "played appalling until the last two games". Before those two games, our results included two five-goals-to-nothing wins, one four-goals-to-nothing win, and one eight-goals-to-nothing win. And the rest draws. Now you can say those impressive scorelines came at the hands of lowly teams, but what else can we do but win convincingly and not let in any goals? Perhaps have them all blindfolded and their ankles binded together? I guess win like that, and by double figures, and you just might, if they are lucky, deem them to have not played appallingly.

[rixalex]

The players in the England team are managed at club level by Mourinho, Wenger, Rodgers, Moyes and Villas-Boas et al. Do you think any of these managers ask their defenders to knock it long and bypass the midfield every week? Of course they don't. They play football. You've probably seen them on Saturday and Sunday nights. It's called the premier league.

Yeah, and i've also seen them on a Wednesday and a Thursday night, and just as there is a difference between how England and Spain play on an international level, there is invariably a difference between how a Spanish club and an English club plays.

When Mourinho, Wenger, Rodgers, Moyes and Villas-Boas et al, are facing a team like Barcelona, they don't say, "if we want to win, we have to emulate the way they play".

[Travel2003]

Arrrh bless them. Now the tabloids are trying to start a race row in the England dressing room!

Pitiful.

it's disgraceful this. a new low for english football 'journalists'. it's like they're practising for next summer when they go out of their way to undermine the squad as usual. not to mention the impact this has on real racism incidents.

Totally agree with that. Of course the worrying thing here, as Joey Barton pointed out yesterday, is that one of the players must have leaked the details of this private team talk to the press. They really could do without a 'snake' in the dressing room. I hope the culprit is identified and crossed off the list for Brazil, regardless of who it is.

Not necessarily a player, could be one of the coaching staff, but i totally agree with what you say.

Glen Hoddle might still have some connections one can use to find out who did it.