Would England have performed better under a different manager, and who would you pick for the task?

Question

If not English, please try to be objective - personally I think Ericsson made some poor squad choices, and was far to negative - under a different manager we would have played much more attractive football - my choice is that the FA should have gone all out to get Gus Huddink at the time we hired Ericsson.

KMaker - yes that's nice and objective isn't it - I did not say would have won, I asked if they would have performed better and played more attractive football. Read the question next time.

Answer 1

If England had played much more attractive football we might not have reached the Quarter Finals but when it came to the crunch Sven's tactics and team selection and lack of ambition meant we ended up with penalties.Even with 10 v 11 you can still win a game if you take risks and are determined. Crouch,Lennon,A Cole and Hargreaves were the pluses to come out of the game.Sven said"I know what i have to do to win", yet when it was obvious to replace Lampard who was ineffective and keep Joe Cole on would have been a more positive step.You can talk all day about Svens mistakes and his negativity,personally, i wouldn't have changed the team and left Carrick in the holding role and Hargreaves at RB.Then again, i would have given myself more attacking options on the bench and also Defoe and Bent selected for the squad and play 4 4 2.I think Steve Mclaren will do a better job and it's right to select an English Man for the job.

Answer 2

Before getting a manager I think England should get a team psychologist to resolve two issues.
1- Unnecessary tempermental mistakes by players (Rooney this year and Beckham last world cup)
2- Give them some confidence that although they have not won anything in like 50 years they are still a great team
I think England has a ton of talent but they can not play under the spotlight. Another reason to look at. There are no British players that are succesful in other leagues aroudn the world. So they get used to only one way of playing football. The FA Premier League way. fast paced, long balls, passes from the wings and flying headers. Although FA Premier League (although I am Italian) is the most entertaining league to watch, it is a completely different game then the rest of the world. South America is based on finesse and rest of Europe is based on more defensive schemes and physical play. England always struggles against physical play. Portugese di not play dirty they just played physical.

Answer 3

Not English however, whether or not the players do the business on the park, the buck ALWAYS stops at the manager. After all - he picks the team.

You can blame bad tactics, injuries etc, all you want, but what I have seen over this England team is that they aren't playing as a team although they are highly paid and talented individually.

Different manager - You got one now in form of McClaren, but my concern is that he will keep Eriksson's squad instead of going for fresh talent. He would never have been my choice because he's been there too long as well.

Martin O'Neill would have been a great choice for I think, the majority of the English support.

Answer 4

Sven as manager was a joke, while all other coaches were on the sideline shouting instructions and getting behind the team, Sven looked like he was sitting in a dentist's waiting room all through the games and why keep on playing Beckham, apart from taking free kicks he's no good at anything else, can't tackle, dribble or head the ball. Should have played Lennon from the beginning.
Sven has made a lot of money out of English football, and what for.

Answer 5

the team was not 100% fit and some of the choices in the squad were strange. but blaming the manager is wrong(he wasn't playing)]

as for a manager the only man who would have won england the world cup is dead (brian clough rip)

lets get behind McClaren and forget the world cup now. Euro 08 is now the aim.

Answer 6

Yes they would atleast reach the Final if not winning it all . This is their best team in awhile , their midfields consider to be the best in the world , but they couldn't co-exist , couldn't play together .

To Kmaker . Even though the Players lost not the coach , but you have to understand that the coach decided on what tactic and what format to play. England's coach made so many mistakes:
This is 1 of them .
- Brought only 4 strikers to this WC . 1 of them is only 17 years old and not even play.

Answer 7

yes, Eriksson made some very poor choices in his line up. I'll pick either Hiddink or Scolari for manager. They both have very good strategy for their teams despite average skills. The way Australia held on against Italy until the penalty convinced me that Hiddink can take any team to the finals if he tried.

Answer 8

Well Sven was a truly sh#t coach who made rubbish decisions so yeah I'd say HELL YEAH they would've have performed better under a better managar!

and to all the yanks and foreigners you know nothing about sven and how crap he is. true he wasn't on the feild playing but he still is the driving force behind them all. England played OK against portugal but it could easily have been better had the right decisions been made. Its obvious for anyone to see.

Answer 9

YOU ONLY HAVE TO LOOK AT THE PICTURES FROM THE TV, WHEN THE GAME WAS TENSE WHAT WAS GOING ON , ON THE BENCH.......
MONEY BAGS SVEN WAS SITTING DOWN ARMS CROSSED AND DOING NOTHING.

MCCLAREN AND SAMMY LEE WERE UP OFF THE BENCH ACTING LIKE THEY WANTED THE TEAM TO DO WELL

HOW CAN YOU EXPECT A SWEDE TO WANT OR BE PASSIONATE ABOUT A COUNTRY HE IS FORGEIN TOO????

THATS WHY WE HAVE TO HAVE AN ENGLISH MANAGER AT ALL TIMES!!!!

MCCLAREN WILL SIGNAL A NEW ERA IN WHICH HOPEFULLY THE PLAYERS CAN PLAY AS WELLIN AN ENGLAND SHIRT AS THEY DO IN THEIR CLUB SHIRTS.
LAMPARD AND GERRARD WERE A DISGRACE.......

Answer 10

LUiz Felipe Scolari or Sir Bobby Robson

McLaren is bad choice he achieved nothing with 'Borough he will underperform like Keagan or Hoddle