Sven Scared.

[lampard10]

I keep asking myself, ( as probably most English supporters in the World do) why, did Eriksonn say he was taking Walcott, just in case it was 0-0 after 80 minutes and we needed fresh blood. Twice we reached that stage, with no sign of " The Boy Wonder" I honestly reckon that it was the " gutter press" and the English supporters that ridiculed the Swede, that stopped him from bringing Walcott on. Lets face it, with the reaction to his selection, if he had brought him on , and he didn't perform, he would have been laughed all the way to his next posting ( probably Kuwait) As it was, he didn't bring him on, and he is still being laughed all the way to his new position. Thoughts please.

Do you think the reaction to Walcott's selection stopped Sven endorsing it?

[johnh101]

I keep asking myself, ( as probably most English supporters in the World do) why, did Eriksonn say he was taking Walcott, just in case it was 0-0 after 80 minutes and we needed fresh blood. Twice we reached that stage, with no sign of " The Boy Wonder" I honestly reckon that it was the " gutter press" and the English supporters that ridiculed the Swede, that stopped him from bringing Walcott on. Lets face it, with the reaction to his selection, if he had brought him on , and he didn't perform, he would have been laughed all the way to his next posting ( probably Kuwait) As it was, he didn't bring him on, and he is still being laughed all the way to his new position. Thoughts please.

Do you think the reaction to Walcott's selection stopped Sven endorsing it?

Erickson's an @ss. After Portugal scored McLaren was out shouting encouragement to the players, Sven was sitting in the dugout with his head in his hands, great encouragement from the Manager.

As for Walcott, after selecting him I reckon Erickson started actually taking notice of what some respected commentaters were saying......"17 yo" "Too Young" "Never even had a first team game for Arsenal", etc. Nevertheless I am sure the lad would have been overawed by it all apart from also getting kicked off the park.

Erickson has gone now and we will see if McLaren can do something better with one of the greatest collections of individual football players in the world.

[tom yum goong]

For someone paid 5 million pounds a year, Sven really shouldn't be so spineless as to be swayed by the gutter press.

Oh well, hopefully Stevie Mac will have some balls.

[Tarragona]

Sven had never seen Walcott play before selecting him. I reckon he picked him and then from what he saw in training realised that Walcott wasn't ready for international football, especially the biggest competitive tournament in the game.

As for Steve McClaren having balls, I just can't see it. His whole philososphy with Boro doesn't seem to offer much hope. Let's hope he tries to make the most of his players, rather than making them fit his idea of how to play. You can go back and look at players who have been 'crippled' by being forced into the manager's rigid system. John Barnes took huge abuse over most of his England career but he actually played how he was told - stay out left, don't come in, don't push too far forward or you won't be able to help the fullback. Then, they still expect his magic.

We need someone who recognises what his players can do and plays to that. I'd love to be wrong, but I doubt it's McClaren

Edited July 3, 2006 by Tarragona

[Sing_Sling]

A few interesting stas about SGE:

SVEN’S RECORD

ALL GAMES: P67 W40 D17 L10

COST PER WIN: £625,000

COMPETITIVE GAMES: P38 W26 D9 L3

COST PER WIN: £961,538

MAJOR TOURNAMENTS: P14 W7 D3 L4

COST PER WIN: £3,571,428

[jackr]

I read somewhere that the reason Sven didn't want to use Walcott was because he was dire in training and way under his expectations.