England Manager-Fabio Capello

[kyan]

To the Italians on board, if (and this is a major "if", but stay with me) England were to have success on the international stage, would you claim it as an Italian success?

[Aladino]

Baldini worked with Capello at Roma didn't they? They have been togther more than with Real Madrid. He is a great guy and knows what he is doing, he will certainly be out their scouting all the players.

Tbh, not 100% sure on whether Capello will do well or not but he is stubborn and I doubt he will give up without a fight. I know people who know him and they are also not too confident but we will see hwat happens...

Would be great to have an Italian succeed especially with a team that is suffering like England...

[Jager]

Originally Posted by kyan

To the Italians on board, if (and this is a major "if", but stay with me) England were to have success on the international stage, would you claim it as an Italian success?

Tough one.

You can't just give kudos to the coach, and that's it. The coach is part of the team, he is very vital, and deserves some of the credit, but not all.

English football is much better off, trust me. The first thing Cap is going to do is make the team believe in themselves, as opposed to reading about how good they are in the media.

That is the first step. You will also see a much more fitter club, meaning much more training. I think Capello has already mentioned as much in the Italian media, where English training is not up to Italian standards. Though the clubs could be partially responsible for this.

[NJ10]

Originally Posted by Cantona7

Spain winning the Euros in 1964 great lets all learn from the Spanish laughable mate totally laughable.

Italy won two World Cups in the 1930s and if you know anything about the game and read the history these victories were tarnished with controversy. Italian football have been bribing officials and everything and everyone else since the year dot. My advice to you is to read up about Italian football because they have never one an honest game in there history mate. Quite frankly anything they do I always treat with suspicion. Look at the recent scandals if that was England we would never be allowed to compete in the local Sunday let alone international competitions.

Give you your due the Germans are well the Germans hold me hands up to them.

The French are total class and how you have the front to run them down is beyond me. What Schumacher did was common assault and if that does not affect a team's concerntration then I would not like you to be in a team with you because that was a disgrace. That incident was the turning point of the match and he should have been sent off and banned for a good period of time at least. To win the World Cup in 1998 and then follow that up with Euro 2000 in my eyes is sensational.

Zindane is one the greatest players to grace this game and being a Liverpool fan you should know that Materazzi has has form all over the place. He is one of the dirtiest players ever to grace the so called beautiful game and I will forgive Zizou that misdemeanour because many other players would probably have done the same thing. He has always had a nasty streak and some of the things that he has got away with is scandalous to say the least.

Finally your beloved Stevie G. World Class for Liverpool no question but for England not good enough. He was captain against Croatia and he had a poor game and did not lead by example. You can make all the excuses you want but he was average like most of his England performances. The only great game that I can remember from him was when we beat the Germans 5-1.

Also Wazza has been much more consistent for England than Stevie G period. Wazza was England's best player at Euro 2004 and Stevie G not only gave the ball away for one of the goals against the French but overall his play in tournaments for England have been average at best. He also missed a penalty for England in the shoot out against Portugal.

1. no lets not all learn from the Spanish, lets not claim that they have not won anything when they blatantly have.

2. im assuming you dont know the ins and outs of any of the Italian successes, so lets not pretend otherwise just cos you have had a skim through wikipedia eh. dont tell me Ian Walker was bribed when he let Zola's shot inside his near post at Wembley?? that explains everything.

3. The French are class? Go on....explain to me how. yeah they had a great team around 1998-2000, some great players, before that they hadnt even qualified for the previous two world cups. Hardly a sustained history of World Cup glory is it? As for allowing Zidane off with costing his side the World Cup because he is a great player, sorry but it doesnt wash. Materazzi may be a dirty twat, no one will deny that, but if Zizou rises above it and plays his game, he can laugh his way to a World Cup winners medal, instead of ending a great career in shame, and with a losers medal. Im not condoing Schumacher's antics in any way, but it was a pressure situation and the French didnt deal with it- thats my point. No comment made on the way they defended their World Cup in 2002 of course. How do i have the "front" to do the French down for that?

4. My "beloved" - see my posts, i cant stand the prick- Stevie G/Wazza. Its not a contest of who has been better or worse, the fact is that neither of them have been at their best for England in a long long time. In fact Wayne's last consistent run of form came at Euro 2004 in fact. Remember how long he went without a competitive goal after that? Gerrard was the one England player who rose above the dirge and the boos in Andorra, dragged us to the win. Yeah, Andorra are shite, but there were other players on the pitch that night who didnt wanna know. As for World Cup 2006, Gerrard was our top scorer with two goals and had to do the majority of the midfield defensive work alongside a misfiring Lampard, he was certainly one of our better performers, whilst Rooney was the man who effectively ensured penalties for England with a petulant stamp on Carvalho's tezzys. Gerrard missed a pen in that shootout, fair point- but then no one doubts the quality of Baggio, Trezeguet, Platini, Pearce, Maradona do they? And they all missed penalties in World Cups. Gerrard gets a raw deal because the press have decided all of a sudden that he is shite and Barry is good. Just like they decided that Hargreaves was shite, and then that he was good at the World Cup, and that Lampard was shite earlier this year. The sad thing is, people buy into it without a moments thought.

[azzurri]

Originally Posted by kyan

To the Italians on board, if (and this is a major "if", but stay with me) England were to have success on the international stage, would you claim it as an Italian success?

I imagine most would smile, considering it would have taken an Italian coach to break decades of coming short.

[Cantona7]

Originally Posted by NJ10

1. no lets not all learn from the Spanish, lets not claim that they have not won anything when they blatantly have.

2. im assuming you dont know the ins and outs of any of the Italian successes, so lets not pretend otherwise just cos you have had a skim through wikipedia eh. dont tell me Ian Walker was bribed when he let Zola's shot inside his near post at Wembley?? that explains everything.

3. The French are class? Go on....explain to me how. yeah they had a great team around 1998-2000, some great players, before that they hadnt even qualified for the previous two world cups. Hardly a sustained history of World Cup glory is it? As for allowing Zidane off with costing his side the World Cup because he is a great player, sorry but it doesnt wash. Materazzi may be a dirty twat, no one will deny that, but if Zizou rises above it and plays his game, he can laugh his way to a World Cup winners medal, instead of ending a great career in shame, and with a losers medal. Im not condoing Schumacher's antics in any way, but it was a pressure situation and the French didnt deal with it- thats my point. No comment made on the way they defended their World Cup in 2002 of course. How do i have the "front" to do the French down for that?

4. My "beloved" - see my posts, i cant stand the prick- Stevie G/Wazza. Its not a contest of who has been better or worse, the fact is that neither of them have been at their best for England in a long long time. In fact Wayne's last consistent run of form came at Euro 2004 in fact. Remember how long he went without a competitive goal after that? Gerrard was the one England player who rose above the dirge and the boos in Andorra, dragged us to the win. Yeah, Andorra are shite, but there were other players on the pitch that night who didnt wanna know. As for World Cup 2006, Gerrard was our top scorer with two goals and had to do the majority of the midfield defensive work alongside a misfiring Lampard, he was certainly one of our better performers, whilst Rooney was the man who effectively ensured penalties for England with a petulant stamp on Carvalho's tezzys. Gerrard missed a pen in that shootout, fair point- but then no one doubts the quality of Baggio, Trezeguet, Platini, Pearce, Maradona do they? And they all missed penalties in World Cups. Gerrard gets a raw deal because the press have decided all of a sudden that he is shite and Barry is good. Just like they decided that Hargreaves was shite, and then that he was good at the World Cup, and that Lampard was shite earlier this year. The sad thing is, people buy into it without a moments thought.

Spain always qualify for World Cups and Euros but always let themselves down that is fact. Remember we knocked them out at Euro 96 albeit on penalties. Spain always flatter to deceive.

France well lets look at there side of 1998 to 2000

Barthez
Thuram
Desailly
Blanc/Lebeouf
Lizarazu

Zidane
Viera
Deschamps
Petit
Pires

Trezuguet
Henry
Anelka
Wiltord

Great players or am I imaging things. World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000 the two biggest tournaments in World football won.Those players above are outstanding many being World Class.

Finally Zola may have scored the winner against England at Wembley but who qualified from that group?

[NJ10]

Hey i aint knocking that France team of 98 through 2000 (although i do believe Anelka didnt feature much, if at all during that period- save for a brace at Wembley), it was a stunning team with great balance and a team ethic. But I dont agree that France has a sustained history of a) great football or b) success.

Yeah, and Zola's goal was only scored past Ian Walker as well....

[Cantona7]

Originally Posted by The Hunter

Italian football:

English football:

The miscomception that nothing bad ever happens in English football is something that we should really explore.
The world cups in the thirties were won fair and sqaure, this has been explored by UEFA, and this only came up after some sour Englishmen decided to tarnish are repuation, probably out of jealousy. Its sad that some members of the British public believe these lies.

Lastly, to paint a picture that English football is holier than though, and nothing ever goes wrong is quite the laugh.

Capello was brought in, because unlike Cantona7, the majority of the English public are tired of losing to small tier nations like Croatia at home. That is scandalous.

In the 1930s if England had entered the World Cup they would probably have won them. The reason we did not enter was because there was a long running dispute between the FA and FIFA and we could not be asked to enter and as I have said there is enough evidence that questions those early World Cup successes Italy had in the 1930s. Even prominent Italian writers have questioned some of the methods used at the time. The 1982 success was lucky in my opinion. The best team was Brazil in that tournament and in arguably the best ever international game that I have ever seen Brazil scored two of the greatest ever goals for pure skill and technique that I have ever seen (Socrates and Falcao) and basically gave Rossi a hat-trick. Italy could never play great football like that even in there wildest dreams. There game plan has always been to counter attack or defend a lead. If the British public had to watch football like that the game would go bust in this country our fans just would not accept it.

The 2006 World Cup what a bore and once again the Italians knew there only way to win was to offend and abuse Zidane.

English football is more holier than what Italian football could ever be. There have been enough scandals in Italian football to last a lifetime and they always get away with it. So lets put that to bed straight away. The Juve scandal's are something out of a best seller. If the team doctor is not drugging all the players for a whole season then the president is bribing referees and other match officials. It's outrageous and then there are fans being shot and policemen being killed, I could go forever.

Finally the English FA are a spineless bunch of suits who don't give two monkeys about English football and never listen to public opinion. Capello is the easy option and he will fail because he will never understand the dynamics of English football. We dont play defensive football we play offensive in your face football and all we need is a little tweaking here and there and to get our players to understand how lucky they are to put on that shirt with the 3 lions. The players attitudes are the problem.

[Jager]

Cup successes Italy had in the 1930s. Even prominent Italian writers have questioned some of the methods used at the time. The 1982 success was lucky in my opinion. The best team was Brazil in that tournament and in arguably the best ever international game that I have ever seen Brazil scored two of the greatest ever goals for pure skill and technique that I have ever seen (Socrates and Falcao) and basically gave Rossi a hat-trick. Italy could never play great football like that even in there wildest dreams. There game plan has always been to counter attack or defend a lead. If the British public had to watch football like that the game would go bust in this country our fans just would not accept it.

Good to be lucky, lucky to be good as they say.

Counterattack is a very accepted strategy, as is your English football of lobbing the ball up field and hoping for the best.

You say defensive football, I say responsible football which entails the whole team fight for a common goal..that goal being to win. To entertain the fans should be left for exhibitions, having said this, I found the final very entertaining, as did many others. The last time I checked, not sure about you, FIFA has reported that the last world cup final was watch by more people and rated higher than the last one. Credit to France, they are hard team to play.

As for Marco and the Zidane incident. The story itself has been affirmed by Zidane himself. Zidane through a shot at Marco first, then Marco retaliated with his insult, then Zidane acted like an idiot and probably cost his nation a world cup. Good for Italy, bad for the losers. Case closed.

One more thing, the 1982 World CUp is the greatest world cup in my opinion. Many people rate this the best world cup.

I agree with you, Italy was not the best team. Brazil, France and Germany had better teams, but Italy had much more heart. I don't think luck had anything to do with it.

They beat Brazil by scoring three goals......if you give up that many, you DESERVE to lose. Not sure how anybody can argue that???

We beat Germany fair and sqaure.

But lets explore this non sense about being lucky further......

If you exclude the world cup wins....

90..third place.
94...final
98...qaurterfinal lost to world champion and host team.
02...out early....terribly officiated world cup, but we did not play as a team..so no excuse.
06..champions.

I see no luck, I actually see consistency.

But I will say this, you do need a little luck to win the thing, but you need a gameplan, committed players and good coach to win.

But being a good team will get you chances at it, something Italy is, judging by our recent record in the tournament.

Something that England doesn't have, and hopefully Capello will fix.

[kyan]

Blatter shock at Capello choice

The president of world football's governing body has voiced his surprise that England have named another foreign coach to manage the national side.

On the day Fabio Capello officially starts work, Fifa boss Sepp Blatter said England had "broken a principle of international football".

"I have never seen Italy, Germany, Brazil or Argentina with a coach from another country," said Blatter.

"In fact, most of the best teams have a coach from their own country."

In an article for the BBC Sport website, the 71-year-old Swiss also said the English game faced a "High Noon" moment after failing to qualify for Euro 2008.

Blatter blamed the Premier League's taste for expensive foreign talent as one of the main reasons for England's problems at international level and said English players and coaches must be given a chance to develop at club level.

Blatter, however, acknowledged that the Football Association was faced with a difficult choice following Steve McClaren's exit, particularly as there were so few English options with the required track record.

"When I started at Fifa in 1975 (former England manager) Walter Winterbottom was working for us and English coaches were respected all over the world," he said.

"But look at the international scene now. Which foreign teams are coached by English coaches? And where are the English footballers playing abroad?

"It is clear something has changed in terms of the world's appreciation of English football."

The 61-year-old Capello is the second foreign coach to manage England, following in the steps of Sven-Goran Eriksson, who held the job for the five and a half years before McClaren's dismal spell in charge.

Like Eriksson, Capello comes to England with a superb CV in club management. Unlike Eriksson, he arrives with a poor grasp of the English language - an issue that Blatter has identified as a potential problem.

"It is essential to speak the language," said Blatter. "You have to be able to motivate the players.

"I would say it is a little surprising that the motherland of football has changed a sacrosanct saying that the national team manager should be from the same country as the players."

Blatter said he welcomed the positive noises he had heard coming from England about the need to focus on player development and improving coaching standards, and pointed to the decision to go ahead with a national football centre as evidence of this.

"It is not for me to make a negative judgement on the appointment of Capello but it is definitely a good thing that English football is now talking about coaching schools," he said.

BBC SPORT | Football | Blatter shock at Capello choice

What a fucking c*nt.

Excuse me but what was the nationality of the manager who took Switzerland to their first ever international competition? English. But that's not breaking this principle? Talk about fucking hypocricy.

[D-Kin]

He's a prick.

But he does bring up an interesting point, are English coaches just shit?

In Italy all 20 managers in Serie A are Italian (and that doesnt included the likes of Capello, Lippi and Trapattoni), the same can't be said of the Premiership. In fact there's probably only a handful of English coaches.

[kyan]

There's a good number of English or British managers in the league to be fair, obviously not as good as in Italy, but over half the league is British. but the top teams aren't managed by Englishmen because the managers with a few exceptions aren't really good enough at the highest level.

It's the FA's fault, there are rules that a manager has to have a certain number of coaching badges before he's allowed to manage in the Premiership, yet I don't think any manager without these badges has been prevented from managing in the EPL. Which is stupid, because someone like Southgate has a good amount of potential as a manager but he's not been educated enough, most of his knowledge comes from his own experience with managers, whereas if he had some tuition he could take a step-up.

The problem is in England the managers are generally mediocre, those who do overachieve are seen as "small-club managers", like Coppell, Allardyce, even Redknapp. And nowadays few English players from the top level go into management cos they just don't need to and half of them aren't smart enough. But those who do seem to just rush in without any training like Stuart Pearce, Southgate, Roy Keane... They can do decent jobs but they're not going to be outstanding and that's something that needs to be looked at.

[jec1]

Haha, blatter is a nutbag!