Israel v Russia

[Boca]

If I was an England supporter I'd be worried

 

England's hopes of an Israeli upset in the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier with Russia on Saturday have been dealt another blow after the home side's goalkeeping coach hinted they may field an understrength team.

 

 

 

 

 

Russian-born Alexander Ubarov has also admitted he "would love Russia to qualify".

 

 

 

Steve McClaren's men will be all but eliminated from reaching next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland if Russia win in Tel Aviv.

 

 

 

Ubarov told Israeli sports website, one.co.il: "We may have some youngsters on the pitch - the kind of players who would give it (their) all since they are eager to prove themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scared

 

 

 

 

"In the 18 years I have been involved with the Israel squad, we have never done anything but try our best in every single match.

 

 

 

"I would love Russia to qualify - but only if it means that they deserve to. Everything will be decided on the pitch - nowhere else."

 

Here

[Gunga Din]

 

Russia will win this game at a canter. if Israel play an understrength team all the better, as the whinging by the press will be fantastic, plus, and more importantly, it will mean even more of our players getting the summer off

[Cunny]

 

Russia will win this game at a canter. if Israel play an understrength team all the better, as the whinging by the press will be fantastic, plus, and more importantly, it will mean even more of our players getting the summer off

 

 

only really Gerrard and maybe Crouch if he's still here

[Rimbeux]

only really Gerrard and maybe Crouch if he's still here

 

 

Aye, Chelsea and Man U will have lots getting a rest

[ManxRed]

Plus, Chelsea won't have the same opportunity to tap players up.

[Cobs]

, plus, and more importantly, it will mean even more of our players getting the summer off

 

oh aye

 

 

not because you hate England at all

 

 

 

chinnyreck-on

[RP]

I'm English - I have travelled overseas to watch our rugby union and cricket teams play this year.

 

I hope Russia win. I hate the whole f***ing set up of the English national team, f*** em.

[cymrococh]

Just wait for Yossi to start getting booed by away fans.

 

The way the papers are going it's as if it's completely down to him whether England qualify or not.

Edited November 14, 2007 by Paul Caruso

[RP]

Better than the other extreme where he scores the winner and then gets cheered by away fans in the league - that would really p*** me off.

[John am Rhein]

The game should be moved to Monday - 65th anniversary of the counter-offensive at Stalingrad.

[Guest petelfc]

England are out. They blew it at home to Macedonia and then in Russia.

 

Russia deserve to go through and will.

[John am Rhein]

England are out.

 

[Ostrich Man]

Better than the other extreme where he scores the winner and then gets cheered by away fans in the league - that would really p*** me off.

well not all away fans.

[Gilps]

I'm still half expecting it to be a draw, but for England to still f*** it up losing at home to Croatia.

[Guest petelfc]

I'm still half expecting it to be a draw, but for England to still f*** it up losing at home to Croatia.

 

 

Even better.

[Stevie H]

i agree / disagree with this article.

 

http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/200...ost-selfis.html

 

The most selfish bunch of stiffs to wear the Three Lions

 

It’s hard to believe that the future for England seemed golden as recently as last month. A clutch of 3-0 victories appeared to indicate that Euro 2008 could be anticipated with glee.

 

Now, we prepare to watch the slow, painful strangulation of Steve McClaren. Unless Israel or Macedonia can pull off a shock at the weekend, the lynch mob will begin to gather on Saturday and begin the torchlit journey to Wembley on Wednesday night. In seven days’ time, if events go as anticipated and Russia win in Tel Aviv, we will see an England manager pilloried by his nation. Expect heightened levels of invective as McClaren clings to a job that will be untenable as soon as the Russians start celebrating. How, the nation is entitled to ask, has he botched qualification in a European Championship group that appeared awkward rather than difficult? Especially with this squad. The golden generation.

 

Over the past few days, hope has been a frivolous luxury for anyone connected with England. The best defence the squad members could muster for their head coach has been summed up by Steven Gerrard: “The players must bear responsibility,” he said. These words feel hollow — spoken by rote. A short, perfunctory valediction over the body before the retreat is resumed. A show of just enough respect to maintain the speaker’s self respect. Say all the right things and get ready for the new man, the next qualification campaign. And surely the next man into the Soho Square office - Martin O’Neill, anyone? - will relish the opportunity to work with the golden generation.

 

Yet, for all McClaren’s faults - and who could say, hand on heart, that he is international manager material? - the players must take a large proportion of the blame. Like Sven-Göran Eriksson before him, McClaren was fatally undermined by the men who appeared to be his ticket to a trophy. For England’s finest players, the world-class talents whose reputations fuel the daydreams of a nation’s football fans as well as their manager, are incapable of playing together. Put simply, they are the most selfish bunch of stiffs to wear the Three Lions.

 

Why should England win a significant trophy? Pose that question and most people will keep their reply simple: Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney. It appears self-evident. How many international managers would kill for that quartet? But all four suffer from the same problem: they need the team building around them. When the focus of the side shifts elsewhere, their performances drop off considerably. When they’re not the main man, they retreat into a shell of anonymity. Consider...

 

Owen: Strikers should be selfish but the Newcastle United man takes that notion beyond parody. If he doesn’t get the right partner, then he sulks - ask the procession of forwards who tried and failed to operate alongside him at Anfield. Milan Baros, in particular, suffered at Owen’s hands. Of course, give him a willing runner who will do the donkey work, drift deep and get the hell out of Owen’s way in the danger areas, then he’ll score. Emile Heskey, for example. Except that Heskey, when he was at Anfield, did so much fetching and carrying that he forgot that he needed to score every now and then. That seemed to suit his little mate, even though it nearly ruined Heskey’s career.

 

Gerrard: Why does Rafael Benitez seem to have mixed feelings about his captain? It’s simple. Gerrard does not have the discipline to play in a Benitez team. So they butt heads and, in an attempt to get Gerrard to obey orders, the Liverpool manager resorts to actions like taking the midfield player off during the Merseyside derby last month, even though he looked like the team’s only attacking threat. It was the wrong decision at the wrong time but indicative of the Spaniard’s exasperation. 'Stevie-Me’, the sulky Doctor Jekyll aspect of Gerrard’s personality, is too close to the surface for comfort. If McClaren does get shown the door by the FA, he should leave a note on his emptied desk: “Well, go on Martin, you get Stevie and Frank to play together.”

 

Lampard: He makes Chelsea tick - and he knows it. He wants to make England tick. But then someone has to take the responsibility for covering his runs - forays forward into the same area of the pitch that Gerrard likes to inhabit. So there are bound to be comparisons between the pair and suggestions that the manager should decide which of the two to build the team around. And when a journalist does make such an assertion, plumping for the Gerrard option, what does Lampard do? He gets on the phone to said journalist and complains. Ego running wild, England’s midfield treading water. Not good.

 

Rooney: Less consciously self-centred that the other three but a player who needs to roam to get the best out of him. Rooney is not an out-and-out striker, nor a Continental No 10. He’s better picking the ball up in deep positions but that means his team-mates have to accommodate him. Sir Alex Ferguson has got the system up and running at Old Trafford but could even the Manchester United manager get the other three to revolve around Rooney? That would test the Scot’s management style.

 

At least McClaren can count himself lucky. Eriksson had this four plus Golden Balls himself, David Beckham. At his peak, Beckham did two things better than anyone else in the world: swing in early crosses and take deadly set-pieces. Then, during Eriksson’s reign, he got away from this. Suddenly, he wanted to play in the middle, a role for which he is manifestly unsuited. At the same time, he neglected his two strengths.

 

But Eriksson had to get him in the team. How could he leave Beckham out? Or Gerrard, Lampard, Owen and Rooney, when fit? How indeed? At least Sven is now enjoying life at Eastlands, rehabilitating his reputation and making the best of players who twinkle with less lustre than his former charges. The best McClaren can hope for is a similar future, when the world wakes up one Premier League weekend and says, “you know, old Steve isn’t such a bad manager, after all”. And then McClaren will be able to smile, ruefully.

 

Because, like Eriksson, he will know what it is like to be seduced by Fool’s Gold.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Gerrard does not have the discipline to play in a Benitez team. So they butt heads and, in an attempt to get Gerrard to obey orders, the Liverpool manager resorts to actions like taking the midfield player off during the Merseyside derby last month, even though he looked like the team’s only attacking threat. It was the wrong decision at the wrong

except we went on to win the game with his replacement all-but winning the game....

 

 

I have a sneaky suspicion that England are going to qualify

[Guest petelfc]

Hard to disagree with what he says about Gerrard.

 

The bottom line is the players just aren't as good as they're hyped up to be and we expect miracles from them.

 

Get Martin O'Neil in. If there was ever a manager unsuited to the pressure of managing England it's him. We won't win anything but the press conferences will be hilarious.

[John am Rhein]

Now, we prepare to watch the slow, painful strangulation of Steve McClaren. Unless Israel or Macedonia can pull off a shock at the weekend, the lynch mob will begin to gather on Saturday and begin the torchlit journey to Wembley on Wednesday night. In seven days’ time, if events go as anticipated and Russia win in Tel Aviv, we will see an England manager pilloried by his nation. Expect heightened levels of invective as McClaren clings to a job that will be untenable as soon as the Russians start celebrating.

 

Please let this be true

[muleskinner]

Hard to disagree with what he says about Gerrard.

 

It isn't, it's a piece of piss.

[Stevie H]

Please let this be true

if russia beat israel it could be a really ugly atmosphere at wembley next week. well i say ugly, i mean funny.

[Bailo]

If Mclaren goes, The FA should wait until after next summer for the best candidate. Maybe a Hiddink, or someone of that stature, who commands respect from the egos.

 

But they won't and England will end up with Chris Hutchings as manager.

[Cobs]

if russia beat israel it could be a really ugly atmosphere at wembley next week. well i say ugly, i mean funny.

good point that

 

 

everyone getting booed for very touch would be funny

[sutty]

I've been offered a corporate for the Croatia game.

 

Might go, to boo everybody*

 

 

 

 

*except Gerrard and Crouch.

[Gunga Din]

except we went on to win the game with his replacement all-but winning the game....

I have a sneaky suspicion that England are going to qualify

 

Has Kahnee said they will qualify?