The official "England have no hope at the World Cup" thread.

To all the pessimistic windbags moaning about how bad our football team is, REJOICE, for here is the thread you've been looking for!

Instead of pouring your shite on the other threads about how England "probably won't make it through the group stages" or "Definitely won't make the knockouts, and even if we did we'd probably go out on penalties", please feel free to leave your ramblings below.

The thread will also double as the "I don't watch football, it's like watching paint dry" thread. (super interesting, by the way - why did you open a thread about F****NG FOOTBALL YOU DOPEY ****ER????)

Just to save the rest of us who enjoy the spectacle a couple of months of moaning, please PLEASE leave your bile in this thread, where it can be contained and (hopefully) deleted after the World Cup has finished.

To the rest of the footie fans of the forum who have a little bit of hope and a good dollop of National Pride, see you on the other threads. :eagerness:

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Originally Posted by kevkojak

The thread will also double as the "I don't watch football, it's like watching paint dry" thread.

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Count me in - Promise I won't bother opening it EVER again, Kev ! :eagerness:

And I quote:

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I'll follow that first paragraph by openly stating that I am not a fan of the so-called 'beautiful' game of English Football (Soccer) and especially not of the ludicrously overpaid primadonnas that play it and the morons that follow it so slavishly. http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...es/redcard.gif

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I’m one of your pessimistic windbags, but I’m still looking forward to it: excitement, some jubilation and the inevitable trauma. There’s always surprises and giant-killers, let’s hope it’s England that pull off the shocks this time.


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It is most bewildering is that there is always some kind of expectation that England might do well or are realistic competitors - what is this based on? Having the richest football history? Winning it once half a century ago? What?

The squads England have had over the last few tournaments have been objectively worse than the 4/5 usual suspects and even less so have they had any sense of 'team' to compensate.

There really is a comical level of delusion at times like this.

Very much looking forward to the spectacle in general though and seeing some high quality and/or interesting matches.

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Originally Posted by Complex

It is most bewildering is that there is always some kind of expectation that England might do well or are realistic competitors - what is this based on? Having the richest football history? Winning it once half a century ago? What?

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It is more bewildering to me that people in England write England off before the tournament has even started, despite a formidable run in the qualifiers (8 wins and 2 draws) and a reasonable run in the recent friendlies.
All this despite a lot of shuffling team and formation (which is the purpose of friendies after all!) and whole lot of uncertainty with squad selection with some "wet behind the ears" players making their international debuts.

We're by no means the favourites by a long way, but neither are we the rank outsiders.

I think the current level of expectation is quite refreshing. I don't think the current squad is drastically worse than what has been to tournaments in the recent past but the level of expectation is generally a lot lower.


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I actually think with the very low expectations England could get to the Quarter-finals the only concern is of the superb u-19s,U-17s,etc.,not many of those are first teamers or getting even decent playing time unless they drop down divisions.

Squad announced

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Originally Posted by BBC

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Kyle Walker, John Stones (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Jones, Ashley Young (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Eric Dier, Dele Alli (both Tottenham Hotspur), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).

Forwards: Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) Harry Kane (Tottenham).

Standby: Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski (Burnley), Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Jake Livermore (West Brom) and Adam Lallana (Liverpool).

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Personally I've been stocking up on paint and decent quality brushes for a while, ready to slap it on and watch that 'bad boy' dry.

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Originally Posted by Complex

It is most bewildering is that there is always some kind of expectation that England might do well or are realistic competitors - what is this based on? Having the richest football history? Winning it once half a century ago? What?

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Usually based on having a decent squad of individually talented players that have performed well, week in week out in the most competitive league in the world. Unfortunately when these players put the England shirt they don't seem to play well together. And we've yet to final a National Team manager that can solve that problem.

Yawn:neutralskull:

We (England) are shite and won’t make it out the group, it’s what we do

Watching England is like buying a lottery ticket you are always hopeful but deep down inside you know that it will end up in the bin:neutralskull:

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Originally Posted by kevkojak

It is more bewildering to me that people in England write England off before the tournament has even started, despite a formidable run in the qualifiers (8 wins and 2 draws) and a reasonable run in the recent friendlies.
All this despite a lot of shuffling team and formation (which is the purpose of friendies after all!) and whole lot of uncertainty with squad selection with some "wet behind the ears" players making their international debuts.

We're by no means the favourites by a long way, but neither are we the rank outsiders.

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We went in to Euro 16 with ten straight wins and look where that got us!

England general always do well in qualifying but then.....

No huge superstar names this time, have a feeling they might surprise people.

oh, i see Eddie has appointed a moderator.......oh wait...........

It's our year, boys and girls.
We're going to win it, I know it. Don't ask me how but I do.

I pay little attention to football thesedays, but at the age of 60 I`m able to remember England winning in '66 and the euphoria surrounding it. Over the years my interest in football has gradually waned, but I remember Mexico '70 when there was a very high level of expectation, we genuinely believed England would win. As the years have gone by the memory of England winning has diminished and realistically we've rarely had much chance. Despite doing well in '90 we never really looked like a good side, but losing on penalties to the Germans was unfortunate to say the least. 2006 was the best opportunity in my opinion, probably the best squad we've sent to a World Cup, but as we all know it just didn`t happen.

I can`t see England making much impact this time. This may upset the purists but I question the relevance of international football thesedays, do we still believe it really is the highest level in the game? Real Madrid or Manchester City would probably beat any international side, club football has reached a higher level than international in my opinion, and it's a whole lot more entertaining too.

I`ll be glad when the World Cup's over, I don`t find all the flag-waving appealing, it's what I call the 'Engerland' culture and it isn`t pretty. It wasn`t like that in '66!

Paul

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Originally Posted by seadog1408

oh, i see Eddie has appointed a moderator.......oh wait...........

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No no, just another member with the fantastical ability to........ create new threads. It's mind-blowing. :eagerness:

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Originally Posted by Complex

It is most bewildering is that there is always some kind of expectation that England might do well or are realistic competitors - what is this based on? Having the richest football history? Winning it once half a century ago? What?

The squads England have had over the last few tournaments have been objectively worse than the 4/5 usual suspects and even less so have they had any sense of 'team' to compensate.

There really is a comical level of delusion at times like this.

Very much looking forward to the spectacle in general though and seeing some high quality and/or interesting matches.

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Where is this expectation you talk about? Has anyone said England will win the world cup?

What I find more comical is this deluded notion amongst the other home nations that England fans getting excited about the world cup and waving a few flags apparently means we think we're dead certs to win it.

More my kind of thread :thumbsup:

I haven’t given a flying fiddlestick about England since Italia 90 (maybe Euro 96?)

I will watch it of course, but, don’t have any expectation and don’t feel at all excited... I have no connection to this side and feel ambivalent at best...

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Originally Posted by walkerwek1958

I pay little attention to football thesedays, but at the age of 60 I`m able to remember England winning in '66 and the euphoria surrounding it. Over the years my interest in football has gradually waned, but I remember Mexico '70 when there was a very high level of expectation, we genuinely believed England would win. As the years have gone by the memory of England winning has diminished and realistically we've rarely had much chance. Despite doing well in '90 we never really looked like a good side, but losing on penalties to the Germans was unfortunate to say the least. 2006 was the best opportunity in my opinion, probably the best squad we've sent to a World Cup, but as we all know it just didn`t happen.

I can`t see England making much impact this time. This may upset the purists but I question the relevance of international football thesedays, do we still believe it really is the highest level in the game? Real Madrid or Manchester City would probably beat any international side, club football has reached a higher level than international in my opinion, and it's a whole lot more entertaining too.

I`ll be glad when the World Cup's over, I don`t find all the flag-waving appealing, it's what I call the 'Engerland' culture and it isn`t pretty. It wasn`t like that in '66!

Paul

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I was 11 and remember 66 very well, those players were hero’s. By the way, we lost one of the team this week, a great full back Ray Wilson

But we’ve already won this sometime in the past and therefore have it for ever, no? I thought the last 50 years of competitions were merely ceremonial for the other fellas?

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Originally Posted by Scottd

I think the current level of expectation is quite refreshing. I don't think the current squad is drastically worse than what has been to tournaments in the recent past but the level of expectation is generally a lot lower.


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I dont know - man for man it's a noticeably weaker squad than the 'golden balls' generation and they couldn't do very much!

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Originally Posted by JohnGeorge

I dont know - man for man it's a noticeably weaker squad than the 'golden balls' generation and they couldn't do very much!

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Did you read the interview with Rio F? There wasn’t much team unity amongst the players from the big clubs and the coaches weren’t up to scratch: Sven E, Steve Mc., Fabio C.


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Originally Posted by BillyCasper

Did you read the interview with Rio F? There wasn’t much team unity amongst the players from the big clubs and the coaches weren’t up to scratch: Sven E, Steve Mc., Fabio C.


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Was a lot of picking individuals without any thought of how they would operate as team instead of looking for a cohesive unit.

I still feel a lot of the 'golden balls' generation were overrated as well. Performing to a high level in your home league does not necessarily make you world class.


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Originally Posted by Chicken Pox

Squad announced

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Cahill, Stones, Jones = not the faintest chance of progressing past Germany in the quarters


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Originally Posted by JohnGeorge

I dont know - man for man it's a noticeably weaker squad than the 'golden balls' generation and they couldn't do very much!

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I reckon that seven or eight of the squad are no more than makeweights.


(I know that's what a 'squad' is, BTW. Good players mixed with, ahem, less-good. There seems to an over-abundance of the latter, IMO.)

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Originally Posted by Scottd

Was a lot of picking individuals without any thought of how they would operate as team instead of looking for a cohesive unit.

I still feel a lot of the 'golden balls' generation were overrated as well. Performing to a high level in your home league does not necessarily make you world class.


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To be fair though some of those players also performed at a high level in European club competition.

I will also use this thread for F1 as that is also like watching paint dry...

Although I don't really do football these days, I will support my national team as for as long as they remain in the competition... and then I will switch my allegiance to Iceland who have the most impressive fans ever.

FWIW, I think we may have a chance of doing quite well. Gareth Southgate has made a brave decision to take players who are currently performing well for their clubs rather than a bunch of prima donnas who think they belong in the squad because their egos say so. I don't even know who half of the squad even are, but I'd much rather that they were selected on merit than being part of the boys' club.

I will still laugh at the w##nkers who put bloody En-ger-laaaand flags on their cars, though :la:
tw#ts.

I would like to wish England good luck in the World Cup...but I'm Welsh and bitter that we didn't make it!

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I was going to say that no hope is harsh...then I realised this wasn’t a rugby thread! Couldn’t care less about football. Glad I can continue to avoid all related threads 👍🏻

Cool

I am a fervent English fan but title is right.

Sigh 😔

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Originally Posted by BillyCasper

Did you read the interview with Rio F? There wasn’t much team unity amongst the players from the big clubs and the coaches weren’t up to scratch: Sven E, Steve Mc., Fabio C.

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It must have been so painful to be all matey with the guy you were trying like **** to kick the shit out of.. only a couple of weeks before....

I'm not an ardent fan of football but I'll watch a World Cup, it's only every 4 years.
England? well the 66 team had the passion and not the money, the 2018 team have the money but not the passion. That gets knocked out of them at school now. I've no high expectations of them but I hope they do well.

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Originally Posted by chrisparker

Usually based on having a decent squad of individually talented players that have performed well, week in week out in the most competitive league in the world. Unfortunately when these players put the England shirt they don't seem to play well together. And we've yet to final a National Team manager that can solve that problem.

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Fair enough. However in the context of the competition (as in, the obvious favourites for the World Cup) I would not regard a lot of England's first 11s of the last few years to be especially talented and more importantly they frequently have large holes in certain positions where talent is very lacking, something which the other main competitors seem to suffer a lot less.

England teams are never very organised and very few players can think for themselves or adhere to a system that works, enthusiasm only gets you so far.
It will be the usual win/lose/draw and go through second to be spanked by a proper team.

I never understand why the fans get so gutted at never progressing to the sharp end? I mean what is different this time round? Absolutely nothing so why expect a better result?

On the other hand , as I do in most of the World Cups , hope England do really , really well .........all the way up to the semi-final , where hopefully either a disallowed goal for them , an offside goal for the opponents is allowed , or penalties sees them put out .

No other drama is quite like it .....can't wait.

If England are put out at the group stage it will be a sh!te World Cup