Sack Sven. Burn Sven. Throw his ashes overboard.
Sven Goran Eriksson is a gutless imberceile.
That is my opinion of the man. I am not of the persuasion where I go around criticising England managers because I am normally the most optimistic person when it comes to the national team and their chances on the International stage. But I am fed up with Sven Goran Eriksson now. His ideas are stale, his team selection is unadventurous and media accomodating, his style is dull, and in my opinion he is not the man to lead England to 2006 World Cup glory in Germany.
We need a man with passion, like Allardyce, a man close to the players, like McLaren, a man with motivation, like Curbishley, a man with a sense of adventure, like Keegan. Eriksson, for me, fulfils absolutely none of the above criteria. Our last two friendly performances have gone from woeful to distinctley average, we haven't found the net in 180 minutes of football, and Mr. Eriksson is far too accomodating of would be critics if he dares to take a gamble on his team selection.
I would wholeheartedly welcome a change in management, heck I think that some form of co-management would work brilliantly, like it did for the Swedes. If the F.A don't think that there is an English manager out there that has the competence or the necessary experience to do the job himself then why not appoint two. Allardyce and McLaren would work for me. Adventurous styles combined with tactical knowledge and experience at the highest levels.
My rant stems mainly from the international friendly on wednesday night. I thought Sven's poor tactics were reflected by the poor performances on the pitch. Playing SWP and Becks in the same team was almost a given, but setting it up with Beckham doing whatever he liked while Shaun played down the right AND left did neither player any favours. Owen was starved of chances because of this, he was only getting high balls down the centre coming in to him.
But my biggest gripe, and it was the gripe of the BBC pundits also, was the utilisation of Andy Johnson. He does NOT want to play down the right. Never, ever, ever. He is striker's striker, in the Lineker mould. 15 goals this season, the highest scoring Englishman on planet Earth right now and Sven doesn't even have the decency to revert to a 4-4-2 to accomodate him when he was brought on. He substitution came at the same time as Downing's introduction. Downing could have played on the left, Lampard and Gerrard in the centre, Becks on the right, Owen and Johnson upfront. Owen would have enjoyed playing alongside Johnson, a strong centre forward is what he thrives off.
Anyway, you can give your opinions about the performances of the players and the manager and vote on the poll. Is Sven Goran Eriksson the man to bring England glory in 2006?
