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Originally Posted by Appocomaster
What I find hilarious is that for example when we beat Germany 5-1, everyone went on about how great he was. I can't understand his reasons why he's done what he has, but I'm willing to give him a chance to see how things pan out in Germany before I completely slag his ability off. We've not done too badly under him, although arguably we could have done better.
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This is where I'll disagree. Almost every International manager who fails in a major tournament either resigns or is sacked, Sven hasn't and he's now going for his third bite of the cherry after two dismal failures despite having a squad of players most countries would kill for.
I don't see how England have not done too badly ? They play dull, unimaginative, negative football, they've limped through the qualifying rounds for the last two major tournaments, I hardly call loosing to Northern Ireland, drawing with Macedonia and drawing with Austria not doing too badly. Both times they've been eliminated from major tournaments under Sven they've taken an early 1-0 lead only to sit back and try to defend it when there has been long periods left. Brazil were beatable, England were 1-0 they attempted to defend the lead for a short period, after half time they then found them 1-2 down but Ronaldiniho was sent off, Brazil are well known as a weak team defensively but England showed little to no imagination or plan to get back into the tie. Euro 2004 was the worst example though, with the side England had and the quality of the competition it was theirs for the taking. Again on two occasions (Against France and Portugal) England again took an early lead only to sit back absorb pressure and live by the skin of their teeth until finally giving in, then (Less so in the France game as there was very little time left) being unable to come up with any plan to get back into the game.
Sven did have a glittering career as a club manager, he didn’t just win the Italian championship with Lazio, he won a UEFA cup with IFK Göteborg and took Benfica to a European Cup final (As well as dominating both countries domestic competitions). When he came to England his reputation was as a great tactician, I'm not sure what's happened to this nor am I sure how his previous sides played, either he's doing what worked at club level in the 1980s and 1990s (Long balls till you take the lead then defending on mass coupled with frustrating football and more long balls) and it isn't applicable to modern International football or he's simply not up to the job and has got lucky in his old posistions. His bizzare tactics coupled with his inability to motivate the team and his faith in players who are either not in form or not up to the job while refusing to give those players in form a fair chance at International level gives a a fairly robust case on which to totally slag him off but we can wait until July 10th if you want.