WORLD CUP .......

[Sir Neil]

Originally Posted by Altair

You say it so casually Joe. I would say England had their 'best shot' in 2004 yes, the best squad they've had this century... but there were other countries in 2004 that were equal or better and they could make the same claim you made. In the end, Greece won.

That 2004 England squad was really good, but they couldn’t get the balance right. The midfield was lop-sided and basically used 4 central midfielders across the pitch. There was also the beginning of the ‘Gerrard-Lampard conundrum’ which was never fully solved by any England manager.

Up front, we had Owen and Rooney (two out-and-out strikers) playing together, which worked pretty well in the tournament, but it meant Michael Owen having to sacrifice his goalscoring prowess. He unselfishly played deeper, foraging for the ball and accommodating Rooney.

At the back, we were all over the place. The two full-backs were fine, but you could tell that we missed Rio Ferdinand who was suspended at the time. It meant that we mostly played Terry and Campbell as our centre backs, and they were both a bit too similar.

In the end, Greece won the tournament because they had a system which suited the players they had, and they played without any pressure. Most of the teams they played, were teams who were the favourite in the game, and all of the pressure would have been on them. Greece thrived on that.

[AngelBlue]

At the end of the day , the whys and wherefores don't really matter.
As it stands , we never won a cup again ( in men's world tournaments).
We were never good enough , plain and simple.

I've just been watching footage of world cup England goal that was ruled out by linesman but ref gave it.
England would still have won however , even if it was ruled out .
Great footage .

I've just reminded my husband that I can say I was alive to see England win the world cup..
But he can't LOL.. and most likely never will !!
( He's a toy boy !)

[AngelBlue]

Boom bang a bang ...
Just saying.
Don't know why , just felt like it !!!

[AngelBlue]

So I probably can't even watch catch up in morning on itvx . Complete waste of space.
They go "AWOL " every few weeks claiming it's the customers "fault".
Then all of a sudden it's back in action .
I've been on phone all day to complain ...
Get passed from pillar to post with no outcome .
Am disgusted .
Sorry , but this service is paid for ( by my son ) and you can't even complain.

[AngelBlue]

Update...
Graeme Souness says he has been talking to Alan Hansen in hospital on the phone and that he sounds good .
Hopefully he is on the mend...

[AngelBlue]

....Brilliant goal...
Romania 1 - Ukraine 0