The England Thread

[Ameritoon]

The reaction to the joke is hilarious, but I'm much more concerned with Hodgson as a person. What does that joke even mean, why would that be relevant at halftime of a fucking World Cup qualifier. I know he's generally painted as a likable guy, but ever since he's taken the England job it seems like he's a character from The Thick of It or something

[Ronaldo]

Who cares? He's a good manager that has passed his first two big tests.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

The reaction to the joke is hilarious, but I'm much more concerned with Hodgson as a person. What does that joke even mean, why would that be relevant at halftime of a f***ing World Cup qualifier. I know he's generally painted as a likable guy, but ever since he's taken the England job it seems like he's a character from The Thick of It or something

 

It's been explained multiple times this morning.

 

Instructions to astronaut = don't worry about anything else, just feed the monkey and it'll do the job.

Instructions to players = don't over-think what you're doing, just get the ball to Townsend or "feed the monkey".

[Ameritoon]

Who cares? He's a good manager that has passed his first two big tests.

 

Clearly I do as I just posted it I give no shits about the quality of the English manager, his strange appearance and even stranger personality are what affects me more.

 

The reaction to the joke is hilarious, but I'm much more concerned with Hodgson as a person. What does that joke even mean, why would that be relevant at halftime of a f***ing World Cup qualifier. I know he's generally painted as a likable guy, but ever since he's taken the England job it seems like he's a character from The Thick of It or something

 

It's been explained multiple times this morning.

 

Instructions to astronaut = don't worry about anything else, just feed the monkey and it'll do the job.

Instructions to players = don't over-think what you're doing, just get the ball to Townsend or "feed the monkey".

 

So that's really what he meant by it? I thought that was just the Sun drawing the wrong conclusions and making it an issue it's not.

[Ronaldo]

Roy Hodgson's 'strange appearance' affects you?

[Ameritoon]

yes

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Yeah apparently he waffled on about some NASA-related mission to try and get his point across.

 

Danny Murphy said on TalkShite earlier that Hodgson's a well-spoken, intelligent person.  In his eyes it's more a case of whoever taking offence not knowing the story and Hodgson using an example that players weren't familiar with.

 

IMO there's absolutely no fucking way Hodgson was calling Townsend, or any other black player a monkey ffs 

[Ronaldo]

One utterly thick as fuck player (there's a list to choose from) probably heard 'monkey' and ran off in tears.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

One utterly thick as f*** player (there's a list to choose from) probably heard 'monkey' and ran off in tears.

 

Without doubt.  Unsurprisingly all the theories flying around now suggest it was someone who wasn't getting a game as well.

 

Anyhow;

 

Chile - 8pm - Friday 15 November

Germany - 8pm - Tuesday 19 November

 

both at Wembley have just been announced.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

The monkey is a positive character in the story. More offensive to astronauts.

[Ronaldo]

Anyhow;

 

Chile - 8pm - Friday 15 November

Germany - 8pm - Tuesday 19 November

 

both at Wembley have just been announced.

 

Cool.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Apparently a home game against Denmark in May, and, wait for it...

 

An away game against "UZMUNUT" and Jozy Altidore in late May/early June are also in the pipeline.

 

 

Oliver Kay ‏@OliverKayTimes 1m

... but that hinges on England and USA not being drawn in the same group. Two other end-of-season friendlies (one at Wembley, one Miami) tbc

Expand

[Mole_Toonfan]

Chile and Germany are both very good tests for different reasons.

[NG32]

The media will not walk away from this. 

 

I walked past our plasma screen with the bbc 24 hour new channel on in reception, it had a big headline and they were discussing it with someone.

 

 

[Village Idiot]

The whole fracas wouldn't have happened if NASA had done like the Russians and sent dogs instead of monkeys to outer space.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The whole fracas wouldn't have happened if NASA had done like the Russians and sent dogs instead of monkeys to outer space.

 

Excellent point.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Bollocks. Hodgson was our manager in 2010. 1 year after we came second in the league with 86 points  (point tally that would have won 7 titles since formation of Premier League in 1992) and were first in UEFA coefficient rankings. City weren't even a top 4 side then, and Spurs had just managed their first top 4 finish in god knows how long. The gap was minimal. It's so easy to re-write history.

 

And the previous season before Roy yous had finished 7th. My point is the others, City and Spurs, were on the up and up and yous were on the slide. Hence Benitez getting sacked and Roy being appointed.

 

Hodgson replaced a CL winner, FA Cup winner, UEFA Cup winner and 2 times La Liga winner. It was an abject appointment because of his Fulham time. No one in English football even bothered with Hodgson when the entire of 2000 decade he was all over the place in the world, last managing Finland national team in 2007.

 

Who could you have appointed really of real high quality? Yous had no CL footy. I do agree that Roy was the wrong appointment for yous and after Benitez, no doubt a bit of a come down but there is no denying he wasn't given a chance by LFC fans from pretty much the get go.

 

 

And no. I don't want to compare ourselves with you. With no disrespect, It's always better to compare yourself with those better than you than ones below you. That's when you get to grow and improve. Despite our abjectness in the last  2 decades, we've still won 1 CL, 1 Uefa Cup, 3 FA cups, and 4 League Cups in our "misery days" since the 90s. It's in a completely different league than 95% of the teams in the football division in the same time period.

 

You have become a cup team pretty much like Spurs used to be. Rafa won some cups but failed to deliver the title despite spending huge sums of money. At the end of the day, he underachieved league wise and you could see, despite one very very good season where yous finished 2nd, the other seasons were not very good in terms of challenging for the title.

 

Benitez was sacked because he failed to get the team in Top 4. Hodgson replaced him to do better. Did he f*** ?! Not to mention he played some of the worst football I've ever seen from a Liverpool side, consistently bashed the fans and players and laid blame on anyone but himself.

 

Well, its hard to do better when after a few games the fans want you out. Dalglish didn't do much better league wise and I doubt Rodgers will get you into the top 4 too.

 

And yea, I am glad that our "internet terrorist" fans acted against our shitty owners and hounded them out, or else we'd be in championship or league 1 now, after going into Administration pulling a Rangers with 400M debt. RBS was 2 days away from giving up on receiving payments and putting the club in administration when John Henry bought the club despite Hicks' claims (and the law suit that followed and was rejected).

 

Doing a Rangers As if yous would have went bust!

 

As for the comments, (Solely speaking about football), a manager's mentality translates into his players. Rafa's first interview when becoming manager in 2004 was : "I have come here to win. I want to win a lot of matches, and make history in this football club." Sorry for having some ambition.

 

So...

 

LFC fans in general are spoiled, delusional heart bleeders. Yous still think your club is up there with the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and now City when yous aren't. Yous are a cup team like Spurs used to be, big enough of course to challenge for the top 4 but no way title contenders. That's not so much your club's fault btw, that's the way footy is now because of the money. That's what I meant about yous now being a top 6 type club.

 

Like I said we have as much chance of winning the title as yous, f***ing zero!

 

I used to like Liverpool a lot as a club btw until they won the CL... they become bat s*** crazy as fans. Yous booed your team off after a 0-0 home draw that took yous top of the table FFS. The whole Suarez thing, f***ing RAWK.... just a horrible shitty club.

 

Give me Everton any day of the week.

[Disco]

Playing Chile and Germany in upcoming friendlies

[Guest Slippery Sam]

The whole fracas wouldn't have happened if NASA had done like the Russians and sent dogs instead of monkeys to outer space.

 

What if the comments had been at the ladies football ?

[Ketsbaia]

England vs Chile at Wembley.....memories of Salas, Zamorano and that beautiful Chile shirt. And that twat Michael Owen.

[Cronky]

Hopefully, a more sophisticated tactical plan is in the offing than just giving the ball to Townsend.

 

The lad's done very well, but I think Oxlade-C has more to his game, and is likely to have more of an impact against the better sides.

 

Nothing against Townsend, who I'm sure will be in the squad, but the Ox is an exceptional talent IMO.

 

I also think we will need younger legs in midfield, and only one of Gerrard, Lampard and Carrick should start.

AOC is a central player imo. In any case Townsend has earned his spot.

 

Yeah, I'd prefer him down the centre, but I think he's such a talent I'd really try and make room for him.

 

A difficulty we have is that Rooney does look at his best in a central, free role behind a striker, which then pushes you in the direction of a 4-4-2. I'd rather have the Ox as one of the wider players in a midfield three.

 

Maybe we could have -

 

Sturridge

Welbeck Rooney

Wilshere Gerrard Ox-C

[biggs]

The whole fracas wouldn't have happened if NASA had done like the Russians and sent dogs instead of monkeys to outer space.

 

What if the comments had been at the ladies football ?

light relief

[wacko]

Right, even though I rarely agree with GC, I'm not having that.

 

Bollocks. Hodgson was our manager in 2010. 1 year after we came second in the league with 86 points  (point tally that would have won 7 titles since formation of Premier League in 1992) and were first in UEFA coefficient rankings. City weren't even a top 4 side then, and Spurs had just managed their first top 4 finish in god knows how long. The gap was minimal. It's so easy to re-write history.

 

And the previous season before Roy yous had finished 7th. My point is the others, City and Spurs, were on the up and up and yous were on the slide. Hence Benitez getting sacked and Roy being appointed.

 

It all went tits-up for Benitez because he—quite rightly—joined all the fans in coming out publicly and hard against the shitbag then-owners. Everyone knew it was curtains for him then, and no lame duck ever does well.

 

Hodgson replaced a CL winner, FA Cup winner, UEFA Cup winner and 2 times La Liga winner. It was an abject appointment because of his Fulham time. No one in English football even bothered with Hodgson when the entire of 2000 decade he was all over the place in the world, last managing Finland national team in 2007.

 

Who could you have appointed really of real high quality? Yous had no CL footy. I do agree that Roy was the wrong appointment for yous and after Benitez, no doubt a bit of a come down but there is no denying he wasn't given a chance by LFC fans from pretty much the get go.

 

That's beside the point. Even if we couldn't have attracted one of Europe's established top managers, that doesn't mean a complete muppet was the only other option.

 

And no. I don't want to compare ourselves with you. With no disrespect, It's always better to compare yourself with those better than you than ones below you. That's when you get to grow and improve. Despite our abjectness in the last  2 decades, we've still won 1 CL, 1 Uefa Cup, 3 FA cups, and 4 League Cups in our "misery days" since the 90s. It's in a completely different league than 95% of the teams in the football division in the same time period.

 

You have become a cup team pretty much like Spurs used to be. Rafa won some cups but failed to deliver the title despite spending huge sums of money. At the end of the day, he underachieved league wise and you could see, despite one very very good season where yous finished 2nd, the other seasons were not very good in terms of challenging for the title.

 

You're taking a very superficial view of things. In all-but-one of Rafa's seasons in charge, we were out of the running for the EPL by November (admittedly due to his early-season rotation leading to a slow start while the competition at the time was going gangbusters). From that point on, his focus was 100% on the CL. And it showed. We didn't have the depth in the squad of the top clubs, so our best players were rested in league games. Europe was a different matter. Number 4 in England, but top-ranked club in Euro competitions.

 

That's nowt to be sniffed at.

 

Benitez was sacked because he failed to get the team in Top 4. Hodgson replaced him to do better. Did he f*** ?! Not to mention he played some of the worst football I've ever seen from a Liverpool side, consistently bashed the fans and players and laid blame on anyone but himself.

 

Well, its hard to do better when after a few games the fans want you out. Dalglish didn't do much better league wise and I doubt Rodgers will get you into the top 4 too.

 

We wanted him out because he was clearly hell-bent on turning Liverpool into a distinctly mid-table side. Dalglish was up and down, not just down. His signings weren't great, but at least there were somewhat ambitious. Poulsen for Mascherano? Fucking hell.

 

And yea, I am glad that our "internet terrorist" fans acted against our shitty owners and hounded them out, or else we'd be in championship or league 1 now, after going into Administration pulling a Rangers with 400M debt. RBS was 2 days away from giving up on receiving payments and putting the club in administration when John Henry bought the club despite Hicks' claims (and the law suit that followed and was rejected).

 

Doing a Rangers As if yous would have went bust!

 

You're spot-on with that one. We were nowhere near going bust. The yanks' holding company was 2 days from going bust, at which point their only asset, Liverpool FC, would have been taken away from them and sold to pay their debt, not the club's.

 

As for the comments, (Solely speaking about football), a manager's mentality translates into his players. Rafa's first interview when becoming manager in 2004 was : "I have come here to win. I want to win a lot of matches, and make history in this football club." Sorry for having some ambition.

 

So...

 

LFC fans in general are spoiled, delusional heart bleeders. Yous still think your club is up there with the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and now City when yous aren't. Yous are a cup team like Spurs used to be, big enough of course to challenge for the top 4 but no way title contenders. That's not so much your club's fault btw, that's the way footy is now because of the money. That's what I meant about yous now being a top 6 type club.

 

Weeell … the potential's there, profile-wise, but we're a long way financially and in footie terms from being able to compete.

 

Like I said we have as much chance of winning the title as yous, f***ing zero!

 

But I wouldn't be surprised if we bag number 6 before you unlucky fuckers finally snag some silver

 

I used to like Liverpool a lot as a club btw until they won the CL... they become bat s*** crazy as fans. Yous booed your team off after a 0-0 home draw that took yous top of the table FFS. The whole Suarez thing, f***ing RAWK.... just a horrible shitty club.

 

Give me Everton any day of the week.

 

With a brush that broad, you should be a painter and decorator.

[Sifu]

The media have already started derailing the England team in any way possible I see, what a surprise - as ever a comment has been taken out of context.

[Ste]

It's really frustrating how against the national team a few of the papers seem to be. Obviously if it is something serious, then it should be reported and dealt with correctly, but this was such a nothing story. I think they knew that as well.