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.
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.
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
@GeoffreyBoycott always uses the granny rule to have a dig at IrelandâŚhow many of the Welsh lads were born in England? Then again, Wales is EnglishâŚNot a country.
Most of the Eire team were born in Britain aswell, then you have a load of leprechauns supporting them who let on to hate England, you couldnât really make it up if you tried
you really have to laugh at the paddies trying their best to bask in the reflected glory of the Welsh win, doing their best to associate themselves with them, is there a more pathetic shower of simpletons in the world?
