Woodcock puts the boot in

[Tosh]

on the Beeb

 

Apparently, the trouble is with the FA, not Sven

 

Well, that's Woodcock out of the running for any FA job.

[Stevie H]

tony woodcock. the man named after his three most significant body parts.

[ifanew]

tony woodcock. the man named after his three most significant body parts.

 

 

Obviously you know him better than most!

[John am Rhein]

on the Beeb

 

Apparently, the trouble is with the FA, not Sven

 

Well, that's Woodcock out of the running for any FA job.

 

He's right.

[Gilps]

It isn't just Sven, it isn't just the FA, it's the whole English game being fecked that's the problem. We're doomed forever apparently.

[Montse]

Even Sir Clive is wading in, cant fault what he has to say though...

 

England were underprepared, not unlucky, says Woodward

By Russell Kempson

 

How one World Cup winner saw things go wrong in Germany

 

 

ENGLAND received heavy and sustained criticism for their limp underachievement during the World Cup finals in Germany. Sir Clive Woodward, who knows a thing or two about winning World Cups, continues that theme today with a similarly damning verdict in the latest issue of FourFourTwo magazine.

Few escape the wrath of Woodward, who guided the England rugby union team to success in the World Cup in Australia in 2003. Though a relative novice in football ? he joined Southampton as technical director in July last year and is now the club?s director of football ? he was as frustrated as most by England?s tame exit. Woodward is critical of Sven- Göran Eriksson, the head coach, the FA and the team?s preparations for taking penalties. England lost in a shoot-out against Portugal in the quarter-finals.

 

 

 

He also ridiculed the inclusion of the untried Theo Walcott in the squad and the free-spending and party-loving antics of the WAGs ? the players? wives and girlfriends ? at the England base in Baden-Baden.

 

?England weren?t unlucky in the World Cup,? Woodward said. ?It wasn?t about luck. The truth is that our overall performance was so abject that it merely proved that English international football needs to be modernised and reinvented from top to bottom if we?re ever to win another trophy.

 

?We didn?t fail because we didn?t have enough good players. Man for man, we had better players than Portugal, better perhaps than any of the semi-finalists. We failed because the team was not properly prepared.

 

?Look at every single thing that went wrong: the penalties, Wayne Rooney?s red card, key players underperforming, the preposterous situation with the WAGs, the injuries. Each was caused by a fundamental lack of preparation. To lose in the manner we did is unforgivable and cannot be allowed to continue if we?re serious about ever winning a major tournament.?

 

England lost 3-1 on penalties to Portugal, with Owen Hargreaves the only scorer out of four attempts. ?It is the fifth time in eight championships that we?ve gone out like this,? Woodward said. ?The chances of winning a World Cup without coming through a shoot-out are small, so to not prepare adequately is both criminal and amateur.

 

?We?re told England practised in training, but what are they practising? It?s no good practising the wrong technique. All you?re learning is how to do it wrong. Penalties are coachable. You can?t replicate the atmosphere and intensity of a shoot-out, but you can work on the technique of striking the ball correctly.?

 

Rooney was sent off for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho before the shoot-out. ?His red card was harsh,? Woodward said, ?but he should have never given the referee any reason to show him even a yellow.

 

?You want your men playing right to the line, so you get the best out of them, but never to cross it. This can be coached. Was Rooney thinking correctly under pressure when he was visibly frustrated at playing in a formation that did not suit him? No, because he hadn?t been coached to do that.?

 

Walcott?s inclusion ? he did not make an appearance ? bemused Woodward. He said: ?If I?d gone to my [England rugby union] captain, Martin Johnson, and told him that I?d left out a tried-and-tested player for one I hadn?t even seen play, he?d have pinned me against the wall and questioned my sanity. It?s not Walcott?s fault, he?s a smashing player, but he was a waste of a key squad place.?

 

Although Steve McClaren has succeeded Eriksson, Woodward sees the need for further change within the FA structure. ?The FA need to take a long hard look at themselves,? he said. ?Do they even know what has to be done? There?s massive scope for change and the time is now.

 

?McClaren needs to take on and win a huge political battle to get the FA and Premier League to work together instead of pulling in their own directions. England could have won this World Cup but, unless we rebuild from top to bottom, the same mistakes will be made again and again.?

 

 

The Times

[John am Rhein]

It's easy for Woodward to say something like that - and Sebastian Coe was saying something similar on the radio a few days ago.

 

But one of the reasons they don't get the ability to do better preparation is that the players spend most of their time and give most of their energy to club football. Which is the way it should be.

 

The likes of Woodward and Coe probably know that but are saying in an underhand way that this should be changed, i.e. international football should get more priority relative to football, like it does in their sports.

 

These calls should be given the short shrift they deserve.