The Three Lions

titosantill wrote:

rwo power wrote:

Spoiler:

lmao @ nos 2 "won't somebody think of the children"...don't know why, but that really got me laughing

M99 wrote:If you go back to pre Euro 16 prediction and discussion threads, you could see a lot of posters were actually serious about England being on of the favorites. A lot predicted they would win and make it to the final.

Euro 12 and World Cup 14 expectations were kept in check. Now a few good players emerge out Spurs and Leicester and its back to square one.

Spoiler:

RealGunner wrote:Strongly in "can't be worse than Roy camp atm"

ALAN PARDEW for the DAILY MAIL wrote: I still have faith in this England team

   Four or five England players could get in Euro 2016 finalists France's side
   Poor results in this summer's tournament don't make England a poor team
   Key man Antoine Griezmann aside, France aren't better than England
   Boss Chris Coleman has done a tremendous job with Wales at the Euros

By Alan Pardew for the Daily Mail

Published: 21:30 GMT, 8 July 2016 | Updated: 23:47 GMT, 8 July 2016

The celebration of France as a football team is fair enough, but I still think four or five England players could get in their side.

And that is why the players who lost to Iceland will be feeling a huge sense of loss as the final of this competition is played out on Sunday. A missed opportunity.

Poor results in this tournament do not make England a poor team. There is a rich vein of quality English players and I do feel we are about to embark on a period when England will be powerful again.

This French team is dynamic with lots of Premier League-style quality, but with the exception of Antoine Griezmann, who is the stand-out player for them, they aren't better than England.

They are the strongest and most balanced team and there is something we can learn from. They have a strong sense of togetherness and technical quality and, of course, they are still in the competition.

But the likes of Dele Alli and Harry Kane have not become bad players. There seems a nasty stain on this tournament from England's perspective, but this young group are better than how we are viewing them.

As Wales have shown, too, there is not a crisis in the academies, as some have suggested. We have more investment, better coaching and improved facilities — English football is not a million miles away. I'm sure of that. Whoever gets that job will have a real chance with this batch.

Alan Pardew for the Daily Mail wrote:England need a man to give our team an identity. I want the job one day... but not yet

   I aspire to be the England manager but for now I'm concentrating on Palace
   England team looked good before Iceland but are fragile under pressure
   The FA need to appoint the right man for the job, regardless of nationality
   Arsene Wenger would have the backing of fans and would inspire players
   It makes my blood boil when pundits, such as Alan Shearer, say 'I'll do it'
   He was a top, top striker but he has no coaching qualifications

By Alan Pardew for the Daily Mail

Published: 21:30 GMT, 30 June 2016 | Updated: 10:54 GMT, 1 July 2016

I want to start this column by declaring my position: I want to be the England manager. It is a job I aspire to and it is an ambition of mine.

But not now.

Now, I have a big job at Crystal Palace and we have an important summer ahead of us. We have already made a couple of big bids and I want to build our team.
It is an ambition of mine to manage England one day, but for now I am concentrating on Crystal Palace

I have signed a new contract, we have new, ambitious American investors and with my chairman Steve Parish we all want to attack this division.

I've been to the Euros, I am rested and feel galvanised and ready to push on from our FA Cup final appearance. That has made me hungry for more.

I do hope the Football Association will want to talk and I have strong opinions on England, but I have been asked if I want the England job and I have given my answer.

One day.

It might be that I am considered too inexperienced at international level so I am prepared to work for another nation to get that experience when the time is right, if that is what is required. But for now my time is at Crystal Palace.

Before the Iceland match the team looked in a good place. They knew the expectation was on them and they scored an early goal, which appeared to be the perfect scenario.

Then came two quick goals, which came from tactical and individual errors and seemed to shock the players and staff.

From that moment we played as if under enormous pressure and it seems that is a side to our game that we lack.

I firmly believe that we have very good footballers and that the squad Roy Hodgson took to the finals is as good as anyone's.

So that means technical and physically we are up there, but what about psychologically? That is where we fail. We seem fragile under pressure.

That is a key component for any sports team and it is something that needs to be addressed.

We need a new manager and a new outlook. I feel the new manager needs to bring experience. I've read names mentioned, such as Eddie Howe, who I'm sure will be a very good England manager of the future. But he is not right for now, either.

There is no outstanding candidate and, while I would like to see an English coach given the chance — we are a dying breed at the top of English football — the FA need to make sure they get the right man.

There will be a lot of pressure on the new manager and that is evident in the way the press, the FA and the game have reacted.

The England fans — and I'm one of them — need to be behind the man the FA choose. And I can see why Arsene Wenger would be that man.

We need someone who doesn't start on the wrong foot, who has the backing of the supporters and who can inspire the players.

Playing for England cannot be second-class compared to the Champions League. Players would want to play for and learn from Wenger.

When I went to Newcastle we were starting on the wrong foot. I wasn't the popular choice and whenever there was a wobble, the fans reverted to that position. We can't afford that with England.  We need an appointment that has the fans and players saying 'yes'.

Who is that man? Can anyone see a candidate who satisfies that need, beyond Wenger?

I would like the next manager to have an 'end game', a vision of what we aspire to be. What I mean by that is: how do we want to play?

When you watch Italy you see their 'end game', their strategy — defensive power and kill you on the break. When you watch France, they play a possession game.

My 'end game' at Newcastle was when we beat Manchester United 3-0 at home. We had a fast mixture of manoeuvring the ball quickly, dangerous set-plays, discipline and power. Now you can say, of course, there wasn't enough of that, but that was what we were aiming for.

I know what I am aiming for at Palace and, again, we need to produce more of it.

Another word might be 'identity'. Leicester had it — sit deep and break quickly. They were very good at it. They knew their target, they aimed for that way of playing in every game and they won the Premier League.

I am not going to pull apart Hodgson's tactics but I'm not sure what the identity of his team was.

Sometimes they played with a diamond, sometimes with three up front and they finished the game against Iceland with four forwards on the pitch.

The England teams who stand out for me as having this 'identity' are Bobby Robson's team in 1990 and Terry Venables' side at Euro 96.

It makes my blood boil when pundits on TV, such as Alan Shearer, say 'I'll do it'. He was a top, top striker but he has no coaching qualifications and his only experience as a manager was very brief — when he took Newcastle down into the Championship.

What experience does he have of putting on a session, of building an identity, when every session needs to be about building, creating that identity and taking the players with you?

They need to understand and buy into it. Together you then move towards that. It's easy to say 'I'll do it' from a comfy chair, but he has nothing to back that up.

Gary Neville has shown how hard the transition is. You can go into any cafe in the country and they'll give you their England team. But it's not as simple as picking the best players.
The new manager needs to have a clear plan, it did not seem as if the Three Lions had one in France

As the coach, you have to prepare your sessions, lead your team and take them with you. There are not many of us who would have chosen a different team for the Iceland game, but England's best player in this tournament was Adam Lallana. He is not the best player, but he was a big miss against Iceland.

It's not about picking the best players, it's about the players having a clear picture of what they are working towards.

Did England have that clear plan? If France lose a holding midfield player they don't replace him with their best player, they replace him with another holding midfield player. They know exactly how they want to play.

The new England manager needs to be clear about what he wants and how to go about getting there.

“Could I manage England?‚“ Wenger said. “Why not? I would never rule that out, but I am happy and focused in club football. I have one more year to go with Arsenal and I have been with them for a long time. I have always respected all my contracts and will continue to do that. What will I do after that? Honestly, I don’t know.

“England is my second country. I was absolutely on my knees when England went out against Iceland. I couldn’t believe it. But when you watched the game you could sense, after 60 minutes, that the worst could happen. Did they panic or were they tired? I don’t know, but England couldn’t find an answer to what Iceland posed.”

Jay29 wrote:The top candidates are Klinsmann and Allerdyce.

I just can't do this anymore. It's not worth it.

RealGunner wrote:Hopefully it's just for a year or something