Taking into account competitive games, there were only 3 defeats to Brazil, France and N Ireland. The other 6 were friendlies that were never taken too seriously. England qualified for all 3 international tournaments and reached the qtr-finals respectably.
This shows remarkable consistency that has eluded past England mangers such as Robson. And even Ramsey failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.
But no, we are told that three qtr-finals isn't good enough for such a team of highly talented players. For such a highly paid manager.
Overpaid he may of been, but there are only 3 managers who have ever done any better. Ramsey with his World Cup win, Robson with his World Cup 4th place and Venebles with his Euro 96 semi-final.
With such things put into perspective, irrespective of the fact that England just missed the heights, he must be recognized as one of the better and certainly the most consistent of England managers.
4 comments:
You have a valid point.
Shame his half arsed catanaccio tactics never really worked in big matches.
Plus he was a pillock! ;)
LOL, I'm tempted to delete this comment but saved by the first line.
It was 4-4-2 most of the time which worked against Germany, Croatia, Argentina etc
A manager who always choose his favourite players for the games,instead of the in-form ones or the players required to carry out tactics(if he has any,by the way).Did he deserve our respect?Not for me.He is simply a so-called 'manager' who threw in his favourite players onto the field and hope for the best.Anybody can do that as well.Then,beat the likes of San Marino,and some people go round declaring he did very well!Please....once in a while,he may be lucky to win games.the 5-1 win again Germany is a one-off lucky break for him.Why can't he repeat that against Northern Ireland?And remember,England struggled to qualify for Euro 2004,getting in by the lucky free-kick of David Beckham against Macedonia.Where does Macedonia lies,by the way?Need I remind how they struggle to be Ecuador a couple of weeka ago?
1 question: With the quality of players they have,why do they always need 'luck' to win games?Why do you have to watch the games biting your fingernails?
By the way,what's the logic in bring a 17yo boy to Germany without a chance to run the pitch,only to face sticky situations in the striking department?Is Peter Crouch really effective as a striker?I think he's a much better defender...for the opponents.
You don't know what you are on about. I think the game you are referring to actually happened in the last match of the World Cup 2002 campaign against Greece. When he equalised in the last minute in the final game against Greece.
Secondly, England never played San Marino when Mr Eriksson was manager!
Do agree with the point about bringing the young sriker but PC was actually quite effective in the front role scoring the opener against Trinidad.
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