Steve McLaren RIP

Jagger's formation is pretty simple, it starts off as a basic Christmas tree except instead of an out-and-out striker and a left back you sacrifice both for two men playing behind a striker, who isn't actually there. This gives more space upfront for the central midfield to run into. If you go more than (minutes of game left)/20 goals down, you just get the rightback to cross over into the left midfield position, so you have covered force on the left that you've sacrificed for your support men, and you get the goalie to act as a kind of erstatz centrocampista, except only within his box.

So who's operating the cappucino machine?

In fact, a year ago, I was saying this over on the Scottish football thread:

This has resulted in a slide down the world ranking as a result of not qualifying for any tournaments and by sliding down the rankings we fall down into lower-ranked seeding pots for qualifiers and then we get more good teams in our groups which means we get beaten more, don't qualify, fall further down the rankings, etc etc, vicious circle, blah blah.
I'm not sure how this is going to get better in this hellish qualifying group

xpost to myself

Grout, you're not paying attention, the formation is the capuccino machine

and Beckham is the choc sprinkles, applied right at the end.

I get it now.

They are now in the group of second seeds and could possibly face Italy, France or Germany in a potentially hazardous qualifying group.

About fucking time

"ersatz centrocampista" pretty summarises the state of the English game at the moment, tbh

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4W-tX_Bjbo0

Capello 7/2
O'Neill 4/1
Mourinho 15/2
Redknapp 14/1
Shearer 16/1
Scolari 20/1
Lippi 20/1
Hiddink 25/1
Coppell 25/1
Peace 25/1
Klinsmann 33/1
Pardew 40/1
Morten Olsen 50/1
Hughes 50/1
Ancelotti 50/1

Morten Olsen = the guy from A-Ha?

Rafa for England would be a pretty good call I think, he's got a good track record of making average players play about themselves and knows how to win knock-out tournaments.

The downside is that his teams take about six games to get going at the start of every campaign which is kind of disastrous in international football.

Also, hopefully Rafa would bring the glamorous, sexy, high-scoring brand of football that's made Liverpool so popular amongst neutrals to the England team.

Can we have a sarcasm indicator? I'm losing it here. Something like an (S) would be nice.

Also, hopefully Rafa would bring the glamorous, sexy, high-scoring brand of football that's made Liverpool so popular amongst neutrals to the England team.

You certainly won't be getting anything glamorous, sexy or high-scoring from O'Neill or Mourinho.

They're both good looking guys, O'Neill could do with more hair though.

That's what managing Bobby Petta does to a man.

About time Steve Guppy added to that one England cap

<i>Peace 25/1 </i>

I am frankly amazed that Didcot Town manager Stuart Peace is in the running.

Hey Dave B (The Boyler), I emailed you via this thread, just in case you don't check your ILX connected email account!

The ELO football ratings still has Scotland as far down as #33. One place behind Ireland!

Jeff Lyne in anti-Scotland shockah

Don't Bring Me Down, Jeff

Don't Bring Me Down, Brian.

(Damn, his name wasn't Bruce Barwick, what the hell, used it anyway)

The FA should either

a) Run a Football Manager 2008 competition for the job; or

b) Hand over team selection and tactics to a bunch of Internet nerds with 50 quid each to burn

b) Hand over team selection and tactics to a bunch of Internet nerds with 50 quid each to burn

ILX?

I'm so happy it's Friday and payday I just skipped right into that one.

ILXors who should manage England as a committee:

Pipecock
Nude Spock
Ian Riese Morraine
Kate the Saint
ithappens

I wd bet cash money that they would achieve more than MacLaren.

they should make the England job the prize for winning fantasy premier league this year

Kate the Saint

oh that'd work! she'd abolish the team completely and make the players form bands instead.

They should give the job away with a DVD covermount of Trevor Brooking's Tactics for Dummies in the Mail on Sunday.

Apt as England appeared to be fielding a back four consisting of showroom dummies on Wednesday

I will still defend Joleon.

oh that'd work! she'd abolish the team completely and make the players form bands instead.

-- Grandpont Genie, Friday, 23 November 2007 11:49 (4 minutes ago) Link

One of the players would claim that two of his team mates had died in the Munich Air Crash, he'd put on a testimonial match for them...

^
^^
^^^
^^^^
^

Ian R-M would be castigated for his dogged persistence in putting his mum in goal.

I will still defend Joleon.

That's apparently more than he can manage, fangyewfolksyouvebeenawunnerfulaudience

Penis Error Sank Sorry England

instead of singing 'Mila kuda si planina' ('You know my dear how we love your mountains'), he instead sang 'Mila kura si planina', which translates as 'My dear, my penis is a mountain'.

There's a great picture of a Croatian mascot smirking at that.

I wondered why those kids were grinning. I assumed they were English kids in Croatia tops and they'd found Lampard's sweet stash before the game.

I read "sweet stash" in a Cheech & Chong sorta voice there before I saw "Lampard"

OH NO O'NEILL DOESN'T WANT THE ENGLAND JOB THIS IS TERRIBLE

Our royal family on hearing the news:

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/images/windsor/princes_fune.jpg

"DOES ANYBODY WANT THE ENGLAND JOB?" IS THE 2000s FOOTBALLING EQUIVALENT OF "DID ANYBODY EVER SEE THAT MOVIE TRON?" AND HARRY REDKNAPP IS PROBABLY CHIEF WIGGUM

HARRY REDKNAPP HAS SEEN TRON

Mourinho doesn't want it either. Don't think Capello will get it. Put a coupla nicker dahn on 'Awwy, alwight?

DEFAULT: TWO SWEETEST WORDS IN VEH FACKIN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

As in "it was all de fault of that Steve McClaren"?

I was gonna say what with 'Awwy being a little bit waaaaaaaaayy and a little bit woooooooooh, the FA might be wary of giving him the job but I forgot the gave Venables the job once

If, within six months of 'arry becoming England boss, there's not at least four guys from Sierra Leone who've suddenly discovered an English grandmother in the squad, I'll be shocked.

Redknapp won't talk to the Beeb, can you have an England manager who refuses to talk to the BBC? Or will Joe Jordan be still doing it for him?