jesus the micks are really coming out of the woodwork now, seething that a smaller country than oireland is better than them at sport and having the craic, the self proclaimed best fans in the world donât like it up em
Not a country
Everyone knows Bangor is the place for a night out in North Wales. Paddyâs, Y Glob, Rascals followed by the Occy. The hordes are flocking there as we speak. Cymru am Byth!
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Will ye just stop replying to those clowns ffs âŚ
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The thick roaster has no answer for this.
Gareth Bale is better than anybody England have. Overall England have a far better choice of players in pretty much every position and and thoroughly outplayed Wales when they played them.
There are numerous reasons why Wales have got further than them.
There is, in English football, like in English society as a whole, a deep seated anti-intellectualism, which manifests itself in several ways - in their approach to tactics, in their lack of innovation as to how the game should be played and coached, in thinking theyâre better than they are and treating opponents lightly, in their approach to physical preparation before the tournament, in the playersâ egotism, in their rush to make excuses, in the lack of leadership from both players and management, in the suffocating media goldfish bowl that surrounds the team.
Wales and the other British Isles teams also suffer from some of that, and England should be able to overcome most of that by sheer force of numbers playing the game, but what Wales (and Eire and Ireland) have is an underdogâs work ethic and a tremendous togetherness and organisation that England donât have.
Allied to a bit of luck, the fact that their one true world class player is a really good egg who shows exemplary leadership, builds team spirit and lifts those around him, and great support from the stands, like with Leicester, it shows what can be done.
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Super post
I trust youâve read Barney Ronayâs piece in the Guardian?
Missed that myself, any chance you can post the article up please?
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I think I skim read through it without having the concentration to read it properly, perhaps due to the influence of living in such close proximity to the English media environment.
All of us have known all this stuff for years though.
The anti-intellectual media thing is one which is having a really poisoning effect on societies, and while I canât be certain of this, my impression is that it is most peculiar to English speaking countries - the US, Britain and perhaps Australia being the three worst offenders.
National teams do tend to embody national characteristics (and thatâs obviously a self-conscious stereotype). @Fagan_ODowd made a great comment the other night that there has never been such a perfect synchronicity between politics and sport than in the Brexit result being followed by Englandâs defeat to Iceland. Ignorance, hubris, a hankering back to a perceived golden age that never existed, they were written all over both results.
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Yes
Thatâs a great post. I was thinking it earlier watching the game that England can never produce the togetherness you saw in that Wales performance. When the likes of Ireland or Wales play in a big tournament thereâs a touch of romance about every result they get. Very easy for players and fans alike to buy into.
Because of the way they talk about themselves, England doesnât have that. Instead they have all that âEngland Expectsâ bollocks. Expects what exactly? The record shows that the only thing they should be expecting is more failure.
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How has it got to the situation where you have the Spaniards, Germans, Italians, French, Dutch and Portuguese exporting managers all over Europe, yet England exports almost nobody and there are only two or three English managers in the Premier League?
Spain shows that you can have a great league with the best players in the world bought in, but that doesnât have to make the native football culture suffer, it can enhance it.
Four England managers over the last three decades actually have foreign coaching experience - two admittedly after they had the England job - Robson and McClaren - Venables and Hodgson beforehand, Hodgson in fact has the most extensive foreign coaching experience of any England manager ever. He shouldnât be insular in the way mist English football people are. And yet it seemed to make no difference, either in him or in how his teams played. Neither did two foreign coaches.
Since England played Argentina in 1998, Iâm struggling to think of any good performances theyâve put in at major finals, maybe against Denmark and perhaps Argentina in 2002, Croatia 2004 maybe. Since then, nothing. Theyâre a bit like Dublin football during the fallow years from 1996 to around 2009, a seeming complete inability to learn from mistakes. Dublin eventually learned, Iâm not so sure England will.
Thatâs very insulting to Wales comparing them to Eire. Wales are a serious team with designs on winning this tournament. Wales are not interested in paddywhackery or romance, as long as everybody loves our fans whatever happens on the field is a bonus. Wales have won 4 games within 90 minutes in under a fortnight and are spearheaded by the best player in the tournament. Eire won their 4th ever game inside 90 minutes in this their sixth tournament stretching back to 1988 against an unmotivated Italian reserve side and thereâs an outbreak of national hysteria and the tournament is deemed a resounding success.
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Rumours that Courtois and Wilmots were physically fighting in the Belgian dressing room after tonightâs match.
Aaron Ramseyâs performance tonight is up there with the greatest i have ever seen on a pitch
i have no more to add really
i was actually in awe watching him
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Bedgelert, Aberffraw, Rhosneigr,Bethal, Llangefni, Conwy, Beaumaris. A great day for north Wales! Cymru am Byth
Harsh on Robson Kanu, the three taff goalscorers from tonight are english.
Klopp should keep Joe and pack Lallana off to his spiritual home. spurs.
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