All the British teams have improved.... except England

[Nick Bateman]

Was rather good to see Scotland, Wales, Northern and Republic of Ireland national teams, get decent results and play such exciting football, while England stutter and bore in the weakest qualifying group of the lot.

The reason for this is the other national FAs all have the desire to put their countries FIRST, while the English FA are controlled by the megabucks of the Premier League.  They put the clubs, like Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea before the country needs, as we saw with Raheem Stirling (a non-Englishman) declaring he was too tired to bother training probably under instruction from his Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers.

The English players behave as though it is a chore to play for thier country rather than an honour; there is little competition for places as Hodgson merely picks from the top clubs automatically regardless of form or even match fitness.  A clear example was the choice of Calum Chambers who was tormented by Edin Hazard in the Chelsea-Arsenal derby to then receive a call-up from Hodgson.  He performed exactly as poorly as he did for the Gunners in an England shirt.

Hodgson is a "company man".  The FA have got him in the job because he will do whatever he is told and never go against the 'big' teams.  He will always sacrifice England's cause and do the Premier League's bidding, hence the woeful World Cup and the continuation of the same style against these low level opponents. 

We have NO hope of winning the Euros and unless we get a very weak group, will probably fail to qualify for the knock-out stages.

But best of luck to all the other British & Irish teams - I truly hope they do well and embarass our FA into finally putting our country before the clubs!

[Deanothefulhamfan]

You make some very good points and then some very bizarre ones....

England may have an easy group, but we can only beat what is put in front of us.... Which is more than can be said for other big footballing nations. Spain, Germany, Portugal and Holland all spring to mind.

The biggest point you have made is where you say that it is a chore to play for your country rather than an honour. I could not sum that sentence up better as it is exactly the right choice of wording. Our young players need to earn their trade in the under 21's before they are thrown into the senior squad, because look what happens when they get there without earning it, they come out with rubbish like I am tired. Not only that but they miss the most important part of the U21 set up which is experience at tournament level. I am disgusted with some of Englands players and their attitude to wearing the shirt.

Hodgson does need to start looking at other teams, but picking out Chambers is a strange one. He firstly didn't have a bad game, and secondly has been excellent this season for Arsenal. Clyne would have got my vote but it is not really an area that needs addressing. Of all the experienced players who didnt perform you pick out, one of the youngest on his debut?

I am not sure what the answer is, but I feel you are being a bit OTT with your critical approach to England who have 9 points from 9, and Hodgson who may have made some selection errors, but has done the job of what was needed, and someone who simply can't win with our media picking out every detail in him and determined in making him fail.

As a footnote I will agree that it is great to see the other British teams being competitive at last. Long may it continue

[jarv]

England have 9 from 9 because they have a group of semi pro teams to play against. If you took the best players from all the other teams you might end up with one decent opponent.

As far as players treating it as a chore, a number of factors weigh in. I think you are correct about the premier league influence but also FIFA is out of control these days with too many internationals.  In the 80s, despite living in Berkshire, I used to go to Scotland internationals with a couple of mates regularly. The qualifying groups were smaller, so less games. We used to go about 5 times a year.

Scotland had an issue with players not wanting to play but their problem was a series of crap managers which the players did not get along with. I don't see that with Roy, but I am biased towards him. Strachan seems to have fixed the attitude in the camp.

Yes it does seem that the players come from the big clubs. The days of Johnny Haynes playing even though Fulham was a 2nd division team are long gone.

[MJG]

Well to be fair the Base level the other home counties had was pretty low. So there was only one way they could go.

[Mince n Tatties]

The difference is they have no so called superstars like England.
They run their socks off for one another, the Scottish and N Ireland teams
work rate was phenomenal last night.

[Mince n Tatties]

Well to be fair the Base level the other home counties had was pretty low. So there was only one way they could go.

It was low as they  have limited populations to pick from.
We (England) are the most underachieving nation world wide considering our size
and population.Even the great Pele says winning the world cup once on our own
soil is nothing to shout about.I dont think we have ever reached the European
Final either if Im correct.

[irishfulham]

The republic of Ireland had a great performance/result against Germany however we are not part of Britain !

[Bracken White]

P3  - W3 GA - 0. Still lets not let facts get in the way of berating England.

[nose]

the biggest problem we had was that too many of the over hyped old guard dominated. The team is now almost devoid of the so called golden genration that wasn't actually that good in the first place and personally i think the england team looks more of a team now with better structure.
What we do not have are an abundance of really good players.... sterling is vastly overated I like him but he is 19,  and often it shows. sturridge is very overated and and obviously a selfish and slightly disruptive element. Rooney is miles away from his best form and we simply do not have better. there are insufficient players from england playing in the premier league... until that changes we are unlikely to improve.

However under Roy i think we will get the best from the players we do have and you really cannot ask for more than that. Also I d think milner seems to be very undervalued by the british media and lots of supporters, he always looks extremely effectiev and is very versatile.

[HatterDon]

Sorry, I disagree. England has also improved under Roy. They're playing like an actual team now. He's doing well with the paucity of talent he has.

[shnlwswlkr]

So we have won all our qualifying games and we've played against teams that have all parked the bus against us, severely. The other teams mentioned would have played against teams looking to beat them, which would lead to a game which is open, therefore more exciting to watch and a lot more likely for more goals. I think England are moving in the right direction, be it very slowly. I just don't understand the slating of England even when we're getting the results.