Sven-Göran Eriksson
Since Sven-Göran Eriksson was appointed to the post of England manager in 2001, I've been in support. A good manager, very calm and considered, and exactly what the team needed after the débacle of the Keegan regime.
There have been disappointments - notably Brazil 2002 - and poor performances - Macedonia, Wales and Denmark spring to mind - but in general he's not done too much wrong. Last night, this changed.
Losing to Northern Ireland is simply not acceptable. Due to Northern Ireland's odd status as a quasi-Irish quasi-British province, it doesn't grate as much as losing to Wales or Scotland would from the point of view of national pride, but from a pure sporting point of view it's unforgivable.
Northern Ireland are a team who until Saturday hadn't won an international in Belfast since 2001. Their manager Lawrie Sanchez even admitted that they played poorly in ending this record against Azerbaijan. Listed at 116th in the world rankings, they are sandwiched between the mighty El Salvador and Azerbaijan, and are only just ahead of the footballing hotbeds of St Lucia, Hong Kong, and Barbados.
Eriksson must resign.
Congratulations to Northern Ireland. Perhaps the only positive to come out of last night's result is that the wretched Welsh team are occupying the position they deserve in the table - bottom.
Comments
I had too much work on to watch the game, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I checked the result. This really is poor. Of course his defenders will come out with the old cliché "there are no easy games in international football today", but we all no that that's simply not true.
Should he resign? Well, until England lost to Denmark I resented him for his poor performance in friendlies, but I recognised that he had changed us from being a mediocre side to being a world class side that actually had a chance of winning something. But after a thrashing by Denmark and a humiliation by Northern Ireland, it's maybe time for him to go, before The Sun start portraying him as a vegetable (a swede perhaps?). The only thing that would worry me is that with just two qualifying games to go, it's not really the ideal time for a change of management.
If action is going to be taken, it needs to be done fast. This World Cup we have the best 11 players I can ever remember us having, and it would be a shame if we were not able to capitalise on this and we ended up being humiliated Euro 2000 style. Or worse: not qualifying, like for the 1994 World Cup.
Posted by: Timothy Barton | 8 September 2005 at 20:57
I find it a little arse to demand Svenvaldur Goranthan Eiriksson leave because of one result. That smacks of tabloid mass media overreaction nonsense. Granted, England have looked shite for a number of recent matches and what happened against Norn Iron could easily have happened a few days earlier against Wales. Under SGE, we've never really outclassed poor sides in the way we should (Macedonia at St Mary's, Greece at Old Trafford for a start, plus more recent mediocrity against Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan) but the result was always there in terms of qualification. I think it will be the same this time - even if we drop further points and finish second, we are more than likely to qualify automatically without going through the playoffs.
I by no means believe that Sven is doing a great job. With the quality of players at his disposal we should be turning out far better performances - player for player, only Brazil are significantly better than us currently. But a blip happens to even the best sides (the Czechs got to the final of euro96 having lost in qualifying to, er, Luxembourg; Germany got to the final in Japorea having lost 5-1 at home to, er, England) and it would be crazy to replace a coach, who like Ikea and Volvos is at least competent if over-conservative, within two matches of a qualification that is still very much in our own hands.
Let's hope this result is just a collective kick up the arse.
Posted by: Timber | 3 October 2005 at 19:16